Being a critic and the blogger’s revenge

In the Guardian Unlimited blog today (8th January 2007), Dorian Lynskey, the Guardian music writer, hits out at the 'web sphere' and the amateur critic that answers back in the blogs. Although Lynskey agrees that '…there is an appetite for genuine debate on the web…' he is obviously not at all comfortable with the majority of bloggers he encounters after each report hits the newspaper or its web equivalent.
Apparently, the '…howling of people who seem to regard the very existence of professional critics as an outrageous affront..' disturbs him. I agree entirely.
I do not visit the Gaurdian blog regularly and I certainly know little about music, but I thought I would put my two penneth in anyway. That is my right as Citizen editor and not as a '…weary, condescending sneer…' which he claims he receives after each of his articles.
Lynskey is generalising of course, but that may be understandable if he really thinks he is being '…put in the stocks…' by his blogger's comments. Feedback is nothing new My Lynskey, but it is just a lot quicker via the web. You will just have to put up with the Hitlerite echoes in the hope you will find those '…nuanced posts that broadened and enriched the discussion…' you crave. An alternative would be to introduce an edited version, whereby you could remove all the negative feedback, thereby ensuring your integrity remains intact. Perish the day we return to those days of censored or non-existent feedback! I pointed out yesterday on my 'Art Brit' page at TTS, that the image of Manet's 'Execution of Maximilian' was inverted on the page. That is a gross mis-representation of the facts. I'm sure it was not your fault Mr Lynskey, but it does not assist one in defending his/her position when the editors get it so wrong!