For those few who make their living from the internet (like me) it is easy to become unrealistic as to the importance and impact of what we do. When day after day we spend our lives in a virtual world that feeds off reality but is not really a part of it yet, we can easily imagine that we matter. But the truth is we are talking only to those who have access to computers and have become used to getting their information online.
Ron Dennis
The majority of the world's population still read newspapers and watch television and the internet remains a strange and slightly sinister mystery to them. Times are changing, it's true, and gradually the net becomes accepted as a legitimate source of good information but it will be a long time before it shakes off the bad boy image of its early days.
So I think the F1 bloggers must thank Ron Dennis for the boost in publicity he gave us yesterday. He has ascribed to us an importance that we dream about and, in the process, given me a chance to write about our relationship to the sport.
For a start, I think he flatters our impact on the world and has a very one-sided view of what we are saying. Take a trip around the F1 news sites, blogs and forums and you will find as many McLaren supporters as detractors; you will find excellent sites that give solid and factual information and you will find completely biased and misinformed ones as well. Overall, I would say that it evens out and most F1 fans find the sites they like and stick with them; quality will out and only the best survive in the long run.
What a pity that Ron seems only to have found the worst sites in his internet adventures. Had he looked at mine, for instance, he would have found staunch support throughout McLaren's troubles this year, perhaps even to the extent of exaggeration as I attempted to balance the nonsense preached by the other side. Most of us care about truth as much as anyone and find the gold amongst the garbage, just like real people, Ron.
I suspect, however, that Ron does not actually have much time to surf the net a lot and he is reacting to what he is told, rather than from personal experience. And it is a fact of life that gossip tends to center on the worst and ignore the best. No doubt he has heard that misinformation has been spread by the net and that is certainly true; but it ignores the balancing fact that good information has also been conveyed by the medium and that people filter what they will from the mass of data they are fed every day.
The truth is that the worst of the gossip and lies has originated in the traditional media. Examples are legion but, to take a very recent one, consider how words were put into Kimi Raikkonen's mouth shortly after his victory in the title chase. His reply to a loaded question with implications regarding McLaren's guilt in the spy scandal was "I think so, maybe yes."
Forget that "maybe" - suddenly the headline is Kimi says title defeat "justice" for McLaren! But who asked the question and then twisted the answer? It wasn't a blogger - we are not amongst those privileged few who get to ask questions in press conferences. Surprise, surprise, Ron, it was one of that pampered fraternity, the "accredited" reporters of the traditional media.
Ron should wake up to the fact that his real friends are not amongst the newshounds of the press but in the reviled world of internet reportage. If he really wants McLaren to have fair treatment from the media, he should tell those guys who run the McLaren website that, from now on, there will be no nonsense about only "accredited" journalists being given access to the inside information and images handed out. Let us have it, Ron, and don't charge for it as some do (it's advertising, for crying out loud, and who pays for that?), and we'll make sure your company gets a full and fair hearing.
Take a look at Renault and what it is doing on the net. Think about how Flavio can say the most outrageous and ridiculous things and not be reviled as you have been. And then change your website's policy and let us in - you'll be amazed at how civilized we are.
Give the bloggers a chance, Ron!
Ron Dennis
The majority of the world's population still read newspapers and watch television and the internet remains a strange and slightly sinister mystery to them. Times are changing, it's true, and gradually the net becomes accepted as a legitimate source of good information but it will be a long time before it shakes off the bad boy image of its early days.
So I think the F1 bloggers must thank Ron Dennis for the boost in publicity he gave us yesterday. He has ascribed to us an importance that we dream about and, in the process, given me a chance to write about our relationship to the sport.
For a start, I think he flatters our impact on the world and has a very one-sided view of what we are saying. Take a trip around the F1 news sites, blogs and forums and you will find as many McLaren supporters as detractors; you will find excellent sites that give solid and factual information and you will find completely biased and misinformed ones as well. Overall, I would say that it evens out and most F1 fans find the sites they like and stick with them; quality will out and only the best survive in the long run.
What a pity that Ron seems only to have found the worst sites in his internet adventures. Had he looked at mine, for instance, he would have found staunch support throughout McLaren's troubles this year, perhaps even to the extent of exaggeration as I attempted to balance the nonsense preached by the other side. Most of us care about truth as much as anyone and find the gold amongst the garbage, just like real people, Ron.
I suspect, however, that Ron does not actually have much time to surf the net a lot and he is reacting to what he is told, rather than from personal experience. And it is a fact of life that gossip tends to center on the worst and ignore the best. No doubt he has heard that misinformation has been spread by the net and that is certainly true; but it ignores the balancing fact that good information has also been conveyed by the medium and that people filter what they will from the mass of data they are fed every day.
The truth is that the worst of the gossip and lies has originated in the traditional media. Examples are legion but, to take a very recent one, consider how words were put into Kimi Raikkonen's mouth shortly after his victory in the title chase. His reply to a loaded question with implications regarding McLaren's guilt in the spy scandal was "I think so, maybe yes."
Forget that "maybe" - suddenly the headline is Kimi says title defeat "justice" for McLaren! But who asked the question and then twisted the answer? It wasn't a blogger - we are not amongst those privileged few who get to ask questions in press conferences. Surprise, surprise, Ron, it was one of that pampered fraternity, the "accredited" reporters of the traditional media.
Ron should wake up to the fact that his real friends are not amongst the newshounds of the press but in the reviled world of internet reportage. If he really wants McLaren to have fair treatment from the media, he should tell those guys who run the McLaren website that, from now on, there will be no nonsense about only "accredited" journalists being given access to the inside information and images handed out. Let us have it, Ron, and don't charge for it as some do (it's advertising, for crying out loud, and who pays for that?), and we'll make sure your company gets a full and fair hearing.
Take a look at Renault and what it is doing on the net. Think about how Flavio can say the most outrageous and ridiculous things and not be reviled as you have been. And then change your website's policy and let us in - you'll be amazed at how civilized we are.
Give the bloggers a chance, Ron!