Yesterday, a blogger that writes about another CAD package decided to write a post directed towards me personally and my fellow SolidWorks Bloggers. In Jon Banquer’s post, he refers to the SolidWorks blogging community as “Lame, Fanboy bloggers” and makes some rather unfounded accusations. I must admit, my first instinct was to write a response filled with expletives and ramblings; but that wouldn’t have been very productive. Besides, I do not have to answer to Jon himself. I work for you, the readers of The SolidWorks Geek, and I only have to answer to you. So I decided the best way to approach this matter is to directly respond to you, the reader.

Let me just start off by saying, I do not have a problem with Jon writing about me and the SolidWorks Bloggers. In my opinion, bloggers are an extension of the press and it is the job of the press is to make public figures accountable for their actions. Like it or not, I am a public figure. I maybe unknown outside of the SolidWorks community but I should still be held accountable for my actions as a SolidWorks Blogger. I don’t think it is correct to expect any blogger to censor him or herself nor should anybody attempt to censor the voice of a blogger just because his views are far from the mainstream. I am proud to live in a country where even wackjobs have a voice and I would always encourage Jon to continue writing his views on his blog. Ultimately, it is up to the reader to decide if his views are valid. With that being said, I feel compelled to answer the accusations made by Jon that I do not agree with at all.

Why I Blog

In his post, Jon states that bloggers are only in it for the “perks” from SolidWorks including press credentials for SolidWorks World. So does that mean that the White House Press Pool is only in it for the chance to fly on Air Force One? Or perhaps, the writers for Bon Appetit magazine are only in it for the cookies. Yes, I going to SolidWorks World 2009 as a member of the press and SolidWorks is paying for my entry and hotel but to claim that is the only reason I am blogging about SolidWorks is ludicrous. I started blogging over 6 months ago with one purpose, to share the knowledge and experience I have gained in the 14 years of my career in engineering. When I started blogging, I wasn’t even aware of any “perks” other then the wonderful emails of appreciation from my readers. The few perks I do receive from SolidWorks are awesome and I appreciate them but they do not affect the content of my articles in anyway. Even if SolidWorks never acknowledge my or my blog’s existence, I would continue to write about the software with the same amount of passion.

Why I Don’t Harp on Shortcomings

Like all CAD packages, SolidWorks has areas in which it excels and others that leave much to be desired. I have never claimed that SolidWorks is absolutely perfect. I can share my horror stories and gripes about the software and it would make for some interesting articles but that is not why I created this site. When I started blogging, I had one goal… Teach my readers how to use the SolidWorks to perform the task that they require. Rather then concentrate on the things that SolidWorks cannot do, I instruct users on how to use the tool that their company more then likely told them they needed to use. My readers, for the most part, don’t care about the debate between direct vs. history based, or how someone on ProE intends on using models created in Solidworks. What my readers care about is how they can create models and drawings that are required for their day-to-day usage of the software. If they wanted to read about the debates or shortcomings, they can read other sources as well.  Every blog has its specialty and The SolidWorks Geek is all about tips, tricks and learning.

Censoring Comments

Like I have mentioned before, I am a huge proponent of free speech.  I do not condone the censorship of different ideas and view points. Regardless of your county of origin, I believe that every man, women and child has a right to voice their opinions and that is what is so wonderful about the internet. The internet has no borders. No one owns the internet. It is the ultimate experiment in free speech. Of course, with that being said, every site is the property of it’s owner and no one can say what a site owner cannot do to ensure the integrity of their brand. On average, The SolidWorks Geeks receives close to 150 spam comments daily selling everything from Viagra to porn. If I didn’t care about what made it onto my site, I would never delete those comments and the site would soon be over taken by bots. User comments are different. Comments are a chance to expand the article written by me in a new direction that I may not have considered. Often, readers will post their questions or comments that either myself or other readers can contribute to the conversation. That is what makes a blog the best kind of media in my opinion… it is a multi-directional conversation that is currently not available in traditional media. I do have one rule for comments, however. The comments must be constructive and not hateful speech directed at either me or my readers.

The other day, Jon left a comment on the site in one of my previous articles. Even though it was a view point that I felt was completely ludicrous, I chose not to delete his comments because they were not vulgar, spam or abusive. However, I did warn him that if he intending on turning the product of my hard work into a giant flame war, I would ban him. I would do the same to anybody regardless of who they were. If Jeff Ray, the CEO of SolidWorks, insisted on starting flame wars with my readers; I would ban him in a heartbeat. (Lucky for me, Jeff is a very professional, rational person). Ultimately, it is my choice what happens here at the SolidWorks Geek. I can choose to delete all comments by anybody unless they are declaring me the king of all media but what would that do to my readership? You would find some other source for SolidWorks information and my site would be dead and buried.

In Conclusion…

I want to thank you for hanging in there during my long rant. This will be the last time I post article regarding the manner. In the end, my readers are the most important thing to me. Not because of the perks or ad revenue but because I care about the SolidWorks community.

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