Sushi Otaku

Well this is my second post that seems to have hit upon something because my traffic went up dramatically. But it raises an issue. About 80% of the incremental traffic came from one particular website where a link was posted, and I thought I’d address three issues that came up in that community (and some not too nice emails I have received). Many folks there were pretty nice when commenting on the link and appreciated that was not meant to be an end-all be-all definitive guide, just my observations. There were some outright hostile folks (where did that come from?) which was something that I don’t quite understand. I don’t want to name the site because I’d rather not give them any attention. But… To address what I feel was unwarranted (and some hostile) criticism:

1. The claim: I’m elitist.
I’ve never thought I was elitist, nor do I intend to be. I happen to have a fair amount of knowledge about the topic of sushi, and I want to share my opinions and what I have learned over the years. The use of proper terminology is useful, I think within the context of this blog. I also don’t feel it’s elitist to suggest that there may be a ‘proper’ way to eat sushi, at least when viewed traditionally, and I thought I was clear that I was not issuing an edict saying ‘you must do it this way.’ My goal is, again, to share my experience and knowledge, not to tell people what to do. See my blog as an item of interest or curiousity if nothing else.

2. The claim: I’m in it for the money.
I’m sorry to say that there is no money in what I’m doing. I’ve thrown a few ads up here and on SushiFAQ.com in the event that one day the pittance I receive might pay my bandwidth costs, but if you have ever seen the bids on sushi related keywords, you would find it underwhelming. In the seven months since I started Sushi Otaku I’ve gotten about 5 clicks on ads, each paying a few pennies. And I don’t make much more than that on SushiFAQ.com. I almost wish it were true that I’m just a greedy you-know-what, but if I were, I’d be writing about something with high paying keywords, not about sushi.

3. The claim: I’m dumb.
I’m not sure how to argue this one post my SAT scores? I acknowledge the obvious nature of some of my points in my “How to Find a Good Sushi Restaurant” piece. It was not meant to be an in-depth analysis of the situation, just a basic set of guidelines to think about. What else is a blog than the opinions of someone who thinks they know about something? It’s a blog, folks. Get over it and get angry about something that actually matters. Change the world (oh, but that would be too hard, let’s just make fun of a guy who writes about sushi).

There were also the standard “you’re a jerk” and other angry types of responses, but of course it’s never worth wasting the energy arguing those points since you can never change the minds of folks who fly off the cuff like that. Let them stew in their own unhappiness. I like constructive criticism. I like comments on my blog, and if I can make it more interesting or informative I ask everyone out there to tell me how I can do this. But most of all I’m just having fun and I hope entertaining a few of you out there who care about sushi. I really appreciate all of you who comment or just read and enjoy this blog. And to anyone who would rather disparage what I am doing, I ask that you perhaps just go do what you do best elsewhere. If you really want to know, I’m actually in it for the sushi.

Warren
The sushi guy.