Doc strikes back, but what about Dave?

Duncan Riley> Doc Searls has refuted negative coverage by myself and others in relation to his comments about blogging for money, in case you missed them: “If you’re into blogs to make money, you’re into it for the wrong reasons,” says Searls. “Do you ask your back porch what its business plan is?”. Doc contends that this was part of a longer explanation which Jason states may have been lost in translation. I’m happy to take Doc’s word for it, he’s a long term player in the blogosphere with a high level of respect and we’ll leave it at that. There is, however, still a lurking cultural elitism amongst some of the bloggeratti that blogging for bucks is bad (BBB). BBB’s most famous proponent is Dave Winer, who famously sabotaged the “Making Money” session at BloggerCon which was, strangely enough, being led by Doc Searls, in what was reported as a stand against blogs for bucks. Whether this seeming cultural elitism stems from an economic superiority complex founded on the fact that Dave and others are well off and don’t require direct funds to support their blogging, is to be seen, but I believe Jason Calacanis sums it up best: “I agree that people should blog because they have passion for the topic, but I don’€™t think it is realistic for many people to work for free for some extended period of time. Some folks are not so rich that they can do whatever they want, some folks have rent, kids, cars, etc “.