Gearing Up for a Word War: When Do You Push the Button?

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I had an interesting day in Twitter the other day. I followed a meta blogger who had many times baited an A-list blogger into a word war. I had read a few exchanges between the two and I must say the A-list blogger handled himself well. He remained levelheaded, answered the points raised by his nemesis with calm and deliberation. But the lesser light of the meta blogging world would not let go. Perhaps realizing the futility of engaging the other blogger in a long and fruitless debate the superstar blogger let it rest.

I am friends with both the superstar blogger and the superstar wannabe in Twitter. And a delicious thought ran through my mind. I'm in the front row seat of the Twitter coliseum. Has superstar wannabe outgrown his grievances? After all, I have seen their online tussle when I was still a mere blog reader and Twitter then was not as big as it is now. Will superstar wannabe use Twitter to showcase his gladiatorial skill? Interesting Twitter melodrama.

And this makes me think: Would I have acted with the same supreme coolness that superstar blogger displayed?

I doubt it. But of course I've been blogging for only four months now. I have not yet been tested in such sticky situations yet - no occasion to feel anger or betrayal. So I'm interested to know. What gets your goat? What are the issues or wrong moves of other bloggers that will surely get you riled up?

Will you write a stinging post? Are you up for waging a word war on a matter of principle? Or will you just hide your broken arm in your sleeves?

Tags: Twitter, blogging