Iain Dale: Evolution of an 'Expert'
"I did indeed start my blog in March 2002. However, Blogger somehow contrived to delete the whole thing so I had to start it again in 2003" - Iain Dale
Well, that's not entirely true...
Iain Dale made a few dozen entries on his shiny new weblog from April 2002 to July 2002 and then abandoned it. It sat neglected for a few months until it was deleted for reasons unknown. It stayed in its deleted state for close to 8 months until it finally re-emerged as a canvassing blog for "the Conservative Party's Parliamentary Candidate for the North Norfolk Constituency" at the same location in December 2003.
The blog closed again after the May 2005 General Election, when Iain failed to win his seat and accepted the position of Chief of Staff to David Davis. It did not return until the Tory leadership contest drew to a close in December 2005.
From January 2006, Iain began pursuing an audience - and inbound links - in earnest. On the same day as this post went live, an unknown number of unsolicited emails went out requesting a link exchange. You may also notice in the comments under this post that - even at this late stage - Iain still did not know how to use a custom design template on Blogger... yet it was from this point on that Iain Dale began to emerge as a blogging 'expert'.
"I have NEVER called myself a blogging expert." - Iain Dale
Again, not entirely true...
If you're ever the subject of MSM attention, you're generally asked how the host/writer should describe/introduce you. Standard procedure. Iain turned up here billed as a 'blogging expert' in late 2006 and made a number of appearances on BBC News and Sky News billed as a 'blogging expert' and/or a 'political blogging expert'. In some cases, his very presence to spout an opinion on blogging this or blogging that inferred expertise, but for a clearer example of this, one need go no further than his published 'guide' to political blogging which, essentially, was a long (yet strangely incomplete) list of blogs that he used for self-promotion and yet another link-fishing expedition.
It also needs to be noted that Iain has delivered lectures on the subject of new media (and reactions to his Cardiff appearance can be found here, here, here, and here).
But even as recently as March 2007, Iain had this to say about the belated introduction of 'time and date' comment timestamps on his Blogger.com-hosted website:
"I introduced full timestamps when I worked out how to do it in Blogger Settings." - Iain Dale
Beg pardon? You what?
Settings -> Comments -> Comments Timestamp Format... not much of a challenge for an 'expert', surely?
(Please Note: this last example could easily be one of the bold-as-brass lies that Iain Dale likes to throw about when he finds himself put on the spot.)
Now, it's a new medium, and the basic principles are easy to grasp, so it's to be expected that a few bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 'experts' will pop up here and there. Generally, they're harmless and easily ignored... but Iain happened along just as the mainstream started to (finally) wake up to the potential of blogging and the Tories (finally) decided to have a crack at it.
And here we get to the part that makes Iain Dale's status as an 'expert' so objectionable:
This is a growing community that can easily be shaped by perception. Newcomers arrive, think blogging is about 'X', join in on this basis, and before you know it, the majority of blogging is about 'X'.
In his role as 'expert', Iain parrots ideas and pays lip-service to the principles that make blogging valuable and unique, but he does not stand by those principles... and the majority of those who follow him will follow his example, not his words.
It's no accident that - in the last 8 months - a bunch of fresh (mostly Tory) blogs have emerged with authors who have some pretty misguided and downright selfish approaches to interactivity, accountability and transparency.
If matters are taken at face value, Iain can quite rightly claim to have popularised (his notion of) blogging... but he certainly hasn't done the blogging community any favours.
When Iain Dale touts himself as an expert and says "This is what blogging is!", he provides an easy 'out' for those who don't wish to engage in open and honest debate, and a master-class for those who wish to subvert it.