Skip to main content

ArcaNext.com -- Why Do We Need a Digg.com for Black People?

by Paula Neal Mooney

I’m never one to play the race card.

Let me start off by saying that I think O.J. Simpson is guilty as sin. And just a peek into my posts explaining why I voted for George W. Bush, why I agree with Ann Coulter’s writings and what I think about folks who tell me I talk like a white girl should give people a tip-off that I’m no Huey Newton-type.

But yet and still, my eyes are open to the racism that still exists today, no matter how many friends of other races that I obtain in my real life as true and close friends. The lack of response during Hurricane Katrina had me experiecing the same wake-up call that Paul in Hotel Rwanda received when he realized that he wasn’t really “one of them.” (But lets not forget the white president who came to his defense.)

Anyway, I’m prefacing this touchy post with a ton of explanation because I can already hear the backlash in my head upon my announcing my love of a new community called ArcaNext.com – a sort of Digg.com for black people -- founded by my new best bud, Mario Walker.

Separatist. Reverse racist. The insults swirl in my mind’s ear.

Why do you need a separate site for blacks? What if we created a Digg.com only for whites? How would you like that?

Let me just say that Digg.com kinda already is that. Okay, that’s not totally fair, but I have a big gripe against Digg.com for banning me for no earthly good reason. Sure they hate SEO blogs, but there are tons of SEO blogs out there that haven’t been targeted like mine has.

I can only surmise that the goofballs who decided to attack me on Digg.com until I got banned did this in large part because of the hue of my uploaded pic. I don’t fit the mold of the normal Digg.com user. (Jeremy Shoemaker is one guy who has proven how to get the young guy demographic to drive up his traffic and leave drooling comments by using the avatar of a gorgeous blonde woman.)

I know of what I speak because I’ve seen the racism in the techie world up close and in person. Working in or close to IT departments in and out of major corporations since the 1980s, I’ve seen them change from mostly white males who enjoyed a Silicon Valley, Ferrari-driving boom and eventual bust in the ‘90s to IT departments stacked with Indians even darker than me with colorful and odd-looking Buddha card on their shelves.

I’ve watched some white guys grow in frustration at the outsourced jobs – and gotten pissed off at people (even blacks) who claim they can’t understand some Indians’ thick accent. I, for one, was quite happy to see IT departments get more people of color. And if you take the time to understand people of other cultures, you actually can learn a lot from them…

Of course I don’t want Americans to lose their jobs. Some of these white tech guys are my friends -- good guys who work so hard and have wives and kids to feed. And these are the champions that always land on their feet at other tech firms.

But the bad-attitude-you-need-me-because-I’m-so-smart-I-can-code-VB.net-in-my-sleep type of techies – the self-same ones who fawned over replacing my white coworker’s monitor while dumping my replacement monitor on my filing cabinet for me to fool around with...those...I can’t say that I’m sad to see them go...

But I digress. The point of new sites like ArcaNext.com is not to shut out the white folks. The point is to give ousted (or any) people of color like me a safe haven to discuss the news of the day that other folks just might not be interested in.

So check out ArcaNext.com -- give ‘em a try and register. I know I just did. And I'll bet you a dollar to a donut (as my mom used to say) that they won't ban me...

Paula Mooney's Musings

Bookmark http://www.paulamooney.blogspot.com/ or
Add me to Technorati FavoritesTechnorati fav me, please!

Tags: , , ,

Comments

kystorms said…
Hi Paula
Good to see that someone is going looking for a place where they can get their posts taken,instead of just taking the treatment. I have read on some other blogs that Digg is being frowned upon more and more as they are really more a group of young teen types with really bad behavior. I have signed up,but do not really see serious attempts for posting news etc.
Digg will be sorry they let you slip through their fingers one day!
Anonymous said…
Hey, Paula. Well put!
I often wonder how social software would be different if it were more black-focused (or more minority-focused) and Arcanext provides a great starting point.

Narrowcasting is all the rage but I don't always feel like we get the bandwidth we deserve. Can't wait to see how this space develops!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the kind review Paula. Our goal is to give the African American community a voice.

Rate, discuss and submit news worthy content. We have a long ways to go and we welcome any feedback.

Thanks,


Thanks,

Mario
ArcaNext Founder
Jennifer Jones said…
Hey Paula... I'm right with ya on this. At times I feel like I need to hire an interpreter to live in my home so I can have some help when I need to call some tech service. I'm ALL about including others, learning from different cultures, and I believe the world thrives on diverstiy.... AND, I really wish, when I call an American company in America I could talk to someone who can speak English. LOL! Jennifer

Popular posts from this blog

Paula's List of Blogger Salaries...Are you on the list?

Update: For those who continue to enjoy this post, check out my website about 50 real online people making more than $50k per year , and my page where I update my online salary . UPDATE: Before you read any further or especially link to this old list, please check out "Paula's New List of Blogger Salaries (and Webmasters, Affiliate Marketers, Content Scrapers, Domainers and any other title you can think of) June 2007" by clicking here! ~ Thanks, PAULA NEAL MOONEY by Paula Neal Mooney One of my favorite features in Parade magazine is the issue where they grab a random sampling of people and report their incomes -- from the millionaires to the working poor. Since I'm fascinated with how much money bloggers and webmasters are making nowadays, I've created a similar list -- a random sampling of people making money on the net. Who's on Paula's List of Blogger and Webmaster Salaries? I spent hours and hours scouring the internet for the last-reporte

Paula's New List of Blogger Salaries (and Webmasters, Affiliate Marketers, Content Scrapers, Domainers and any other title you can think of) June 2007

FIND OUT HOW MUCH BLOGGERS REALLY MAKE ONLINE -- CHECK OUT THIS NEW WEBSITE ABOUT MONEY-MAKING ONLINE CALLED 50 OVER $50K... by Paula Neal Mooney The time has come. The time is now. Paula N. Mooney will you please publish that list now?! (Yes, I fancy Dr. Seuss' iambic pentameter.) My WebMaster blest me with a viral post called "Paula's List of Blogger Salaries," and the response was so wonderful, here lies an update. It's bigger and better than ever before with more pics, and double the amount of bloggers, webmasters, domainers, affiliate marketers (or a smidgen of some or all of those titles) and their reported incomes. How Much Do You Make? Money is funny. The abundance of it, the lack of it, the subject of cash in general gets attention. While some invoke their choice not to post their online income nor discuss it at all, I've always been of the Suze Orman mindset ever since I read her first book. Suze encourages people to talk ab

Digg.com's Autobury Secret Blacklist...Are you still being banned by automatic burying?

UPDATE: PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK TO DIGG THIS STORY AND TELL DIGG TO PLAY FAIR... by Paula Neal Mooney Many of us know the power of Digg.com, dreamed up by Kevin Rose, who touted it as a "user driven" site that says it allows the general public to determine the stories they want to see make it to the front page by voting for interesting articles they find across the web. The more votes the public gives an article, the better chance it should have to make it to the front page. Theoretically... The power of Digg's front page Digg.com -- according to Alexa -- is now more popular than The New York Times. Getting one of your articles or blog posts to the front page of Digg.com will get your website seen by plenty of eyes. John Chow experienced a one-day traffic record of 55,856 page views when one of his posts hit the front page of Digg. Digg Bans Domains...then Supposedly Unbans Them One day, Digg banned me -- I'm still not clear why. I found out they banned a whole bun