Opinion Entitlement

It's interesting how many people, when communicating (that's a loose term in a lot of situations) on the Web become almost an entirely different person. All of a sudden the need to share opinions rears its ugly head. I think it's pretty obvious that this is both a good thing and a bad thing. It'd be hypocritical of me to say otherwise. After all, you're reading my opinion right here. What I want to talk about is the almost resentment for those that intentionally close off the avenue for opinions to be shared.

I was listening to a recent episode of the 5by5 podcast called Back to Work. In it this topic comes up briefly and Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discuss specifically how John Gruber is essentially hated by some people and a primary reason is that they feel like he shuts them off to sharing their opinions. Gruber doesn't allow comments on his popular blog Daring Fireball. He writes about what he wants to and essentially never gets into any sort of online back and forth argument that so many people on the Web just love. This makes people mad. Some people.

The issue is that people feel like they are entitled to this sharing of opinion. This is certainly a new phenomenon that came along with blogging and Facebook and Twitter and all that good stuff. Think about the time before these technologies and ease of sharing. Someone wrote an opinion article and published it in a book or a magazine or a newspaper and that was it. The piece was maybe discussed amongst friends at the local pub.

A Web discussion is often a fantastic method to connect people with interesting viewpoints from all over the world and to have an intelligent, insightful, respectful discussion about a particular item. That is good and the way it works a lot of the time. The bad are those loud, sharp-toned commenters and opinion sharers who are essentially yelling into a conversation for real good reason other than to be assholes.

I don't blame Gruber for not allowing comments on his blog. He'd get slammed with these types of "opinions" because of the nature of his writing. He is successful and opinionated and that no doubt rubs some people the wrong way. When the option to share is turned off, certain people are enraged at this perceived lack of respect. The reality is that he has every right to close it off.

For the sake of everyone, if you're going to comment on post anywhere on the Web try to add some value to the conversation. There's no need to be an ass and it pisses me off when your stupid comments show up when I'm Google-searching for fedoras.

The 5by5 Model

5by5 is a podcasting network developed by a Web nerd by the name of Dan Benjamin. The podcasts do span a seemingly wide topic base, but would definitely be more appealing to the tech, Web, geek, entrepreneur, designer type of person. That may seem like an extremely wide range of topics, but it actually fits a group of people, which I'd throw myself into, just perfectly.

This is an interesting model and one that I have not seen in this form before. It appears like Dan has essentially created a group of podcasts that are focused on topics that he was interested in. It has most likely changed a bit as it has matured, but what I think Dan realized was that there is a fairly good sized group of individuals that share a lot of the same interests as he did. This is a tech savvy, sharing, creative group that is always looking to learn and are typically heavy technology and Web users. If that doesn't sound like a perfect podcast consumer base I don't know what does.

If I rember correctly, I believe I discovered the network from following Zeldman on Twitter as he was promoting one of the 5by5 podcasts. He is actually the host of one of the original shows called The Big Web Show. From there I explored further and with that discovered some very smart and interesting people along with some fantastic podcasts covering a ton of my favorite subject areas. I've never been a huge podcast listener, but I have to say it still felt like I hit the jackpot and my listening has increased tenfold since.

You'll typically find a blogger that also does a podcast. So you may stumble upon one podcast at a time that you find interesting. Very seldom (if ever) will youfind a group like 5by5 all in one place. Other listeners may only find one or two podcasts interesting, which would make sense, but there are a lot of us that find almost every single show worth listening to. The only problem we have is that there just aren't enough hours in the day to pull that off. It really feels like a thoughtfully curated topic list to a lot of people in the group mentioned above.

I've essentially stopped looking for podcasts from anywhere else. That's not necessarily a good thing, but that shows you what can happen when you create a group of products like 5by5. The topics and shows are well thought out and hosted by interesting personalities who are most often thought leaders in on the topics of their respective podcasts.

As I said, I enjoy listening all the topics covered, but here are a few shows I refuse to miss:

• Let's Make Mistakes - Mike Monteiro and Katie Gillum of Mule Design talk mostly about design and how to do it, with a few tangents along the way. Hosted by Katie Gillum and Mike Monteiro.
• The Big Web Show - The Big Web Show features special guests and topics like web publishing, art direction, content strategy, typography, web technology, and more. It's everything web that matters. Hosted by Dan Benjamin and Jeffrey Zeldman.
• The Talk Show - The Talk Show features discussion about technology, Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPad, movies, directors, and the Web. It's America’s favorite podcast. Hosted by Dan Benjamin and John Gruber.
• Back to Work - Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin on productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more. Hosted by Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann.