"The Rules of the Internet"

The last time that I sat down and tried to write some substantial material for my blog, I got roasted alive! It was either because the article was poorly written, I pushed some buttons by stoking some flames, or the idea was a bad one to begin with. The purpose of that article was to present an idea for a new type of tournament. Inadvertently, and much, much more beneficially, it caused a bunch of edrama/attention for my grudge match with stelek and the Battle for Salvation GT in October 2010. This is when I started to define or become aware of my own, "Rules of the Internet."
So here I am, sitting in the McDonalds on 125th and Broadway in Harlem, trying my hand at prose once again. This article that I am writing today has a dual purpose for me. The first one is practice. I'm going back to school for my masters in public administration and I need to be able to write better than I do now. Practice makes perfect, or at least it makes you better.
The primary reason for wasting all this paper is to discuss something that can't be defined well. Hell, the literal wording of the question itself can be twisted so many different ways that a focused discussion probably isn't possible. Like everything else, everyone has their own valid viewpoints and or opinions.

The Rules of the Internet, do they exist, and if so, what are they? From your personal viewpoint, are there predetermined lines that should not be crossed by yourself or anyone else? Does situation dictate the piety of your hateful outrage? And does the number who stand with you, or against, justify how high you build your pyre?
Ok, ok, ok! I phrased those questions in a literal and very un agreeable way;) That was my intent, to demonstrate one way the phrase could be interpreted if taken literally.

HOWEVER, I use the phrase, " The Rules of the Internet," quite often when chatting with fellow Blogger Fritz 40k from www.saimhann.blogspot.com. The phrase has a very loose meaning in our talks and would best be termed as a way to describe why we put what on our blogs, and the actual and desired reaction we try to elicit from the Interwebs. We often hypothesize about different situations and the consequences of posting those different things. We talk about why we blog and what we get out of something that we put so much of our precious time into.

When I first started this blog, what I wanted out of my efforts was to influence the Players Choice vote at the 2009 Baltimore GT. The more people who saw my army ahead of time, the more votes I would likely get at the tournament. It was just publicity. That got canceled and never happened so my reasons had to change. For a while, the attention and interaction with readers was enough until reality smacked me in the head saying, "You've lost tens of thousands in annual income, do something or FAIL!" Black Matt's Black Legion Blog allows me to build and paint armies, something I love, for a small profit.

So where is this tangent going? Well, "The Rules of the Internet," for me, are simple. It's all about numbers one way or another. The more people who visit my blog, the more armies I have commissioned, and that's directly related to how long my wife can stay at home with our beautiful son. Say what I need to say, act an ass with jokes, poke a hornets nest, or paint my heart out. It does not matter what the Internet thinks of me as long as I live truthfully and the commissions keep coming.
I am a potent commission painter who paints 40k armies to a higher standard, for a lower price than anyone out there. You won't find better bang for your buck anywhere! I am working very steadily, so I must be playing by my, rules of the internet.