The Phantom of the Blogosphere
27/04/2005

I remember well the first time the Phantom struck. It was a normal morning and I had risen before the sun, as is my wont, and was checking the blog for overnight comments. There are usually a few, sometimes the contributions of even earlier risers than myself, but more often the different time zone denizens from Europe and Australasia chiming in with their noble offerings.

As I recall, there were three new comments that morning, two merely nodding in sage agreement, and I passed over them sleepily while taking those first sips of coffee that herald the new day. It was the third that jolted me awake. There it lay in all its impudence and bravado, posted by "Anonymous", but in that so distinctive style that was soon to be recognized throughout the blogosphere as the work of the Phantom. The exact words escape me now but I remember that it was a brief but devastating assault on what I had written the previous day. What hurt most and made sure that all vestiges of sleep were driven instantly from my mind was that it pinpointed the weakness of my argument precisely, exposing my thinking as the pompous nonsense that it was.

Now, I try to be honest and open in accepting criticism of my blog, yet that day I was sorely tempted to remove the offending comment, in the hope that none other than myself had seen how utterly I had been deflated. I suppose that I should be proud of the fact that those base desires did not get the better of me and that, instead, I inserted a brief comment acknowledging myself beaten. But I wrote the next post hastily that morning and blogged it as soon as it was finished, hoping that covering the offending post and its comment might allow me to escape public ridicule.

And it seemed that I succeeded in this attempt, for no mention was made of the comment in the next day or so. I breathed a sigh of relief and settled back into my usual routine, adding the occasional post and responding to comments, visiting the blogs on my rounds and commenting in turn.

Three days later I came across the work of the Phantom again. It was a comment on a blog that I visited quite regularly and, once more, it was signed "Anonymous". With a few brief sentences and remarkable clarity of insight, it destroyed the reasoning in the post it referred to. There was no mistaking that economic style and the veiled sneer behind the words. This was the very same commenter who had so recently revealed a posting of mine to be the work of an idiot. I added no comment and passed on to the next blog, all my embarrassment and shame rising once more to the surface. I wanted only to return to the blissful state of forgetfulness that I had so carefully nurtured since my first encounter.

But such a return was not to be allowed. In the next few days, more and more devastating comments were to appear throughout the blogosphere. It mattered not whether the blogger were accepted authority or novice freshly arrived from reality; all were subjected to the most dissecting and revealing attack through the comments of "Anonymous". Nothing and nobody was respected and it seemed that there was no subject or opinion that the Phantom feared.

Very quickly, these comments became the hot subject of the blogosphere and it was then that the anonymous commenter was dubbed the "Phantom". Bloggers reacted to the attack in various ways. Some attempted to bluster their way through the criticism, only to be devastated again with a follow-up comment. Others accepted and admitted the flaws so heartlessly pointed out and these, for the most part, were spared a return visit. A few left blogging for good.

The blogosphere was running scared and furtive conversations were held behind double-locked doors as the bloggers sought a solution to the problem. Someone suggested that we should lock down our comments systems and so prevent entry by the Phantom. This was voted out as it would end all comments, that lifeblood so essential to the health and vigor of the blogs. There was a brief move to registered comments only but the Phantom defeated this easily, registering under false names and with email addresses that appeared and disappeared like morning mist in the heat of the sun. The bloggers raged but were powerless to outwit their shadowy foe.

A change in the blogosphere became noticeable then. No more were bloggers thoughtlessly casting their opinions and mockery upon all and any subject they fancied. A hesitancy crept into the blogs, an unwillingness to expose opinions to possible destruction and, for a time, posts became less frequent. It became rare to come across a blog espousing an opinion, most bloggers taking refuge in merely stating undisputed facts. Those who dared to venture beyond these safe shores were instantly castigated by the Phantom. He seemed to know instinctively when a post went up that offended even slightly against his ruthless logic.

It has never been ascertained exactly when the Phantom left. There was a period of several days in which none of his comments showed up. The bloggers remained nervous, not daring to believe that their persecutor had disappeared. Everyone waited for someone else to send out a tentative opinion post to test the water. In the end, several of the most respected bloggers agreed to do it simultaneously. They posted and waited for the expected rebuttals.

But there was none. All that day we waited, checking back on the offending blogs to see if the Phantom had visited. And silence reigned supreme.

In the next few days the noise and hubbub of the blogosphere returned. Within a week the posts were going up with a rapidity that rivalled the old days. Opinions were stated and preferences trumpeted. The hurly burly of the blogosphere lived again.

Not since then has the Phantom been heard from. It is as though he lived up to his name and melted away as a ghost in the morning light. But in one way his presence still looms over the blogosphere.

Rare indeed are the posts that shout unsupported accusations and mere wishful thinking. Proof and solid evidence is expected now.

Clive

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