Arabisc: A Mysterious Bug Gnawing at Middle Eastern Bloggers · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Something is amiss on the Middle Eastern blogging scene .. and computers and modern technology are to blame.
In addition to trouble with the law in their countries, which are closing in on freedom of speech and expression as I write this, bloggers have another demon to confront.
Egypt‘s outspoken Sandmonkey is not tolerating the monkey business going on in his comments section and promises to get down to the heart of matter.
“My comments section seems to be greatly messed up!
“For weeks now I have been getting e-mails from people whose comments get eaten, or disappear, or mysteriously re-appear after a day or two. And now I am seeing it myself, with almost 10 new comments on the post below that are showing in the comments section in my dashboard but not in the comment section of the post. It's all messed up.
“So, dear commentators, I am really sorry. I am working on it, but I have no idea why it's acting this crazy. Once I find out I will let you know!” he promises.
In Bahrain, Silly Bahraini Girl is loud and clear about her desperate need for a new computer.
“My laptop is so crappy now. I mean. It has survived me for about two years!! It fell a few times. It is cranky like me. It has a crack on the side. Lemme check. Yes. That it takes from me too. It was soaked in coffee. It was lost with my baggage in Heathrow. It was traumatised, abandoned, abused and taken for granted. It had to be reformatted one too many times. It is on 24 hours. It gets fevers sometimes. It starts coughing and making noise. I haven't taken it to the doctor for its jabs, although it was infected with viruses. I don't know if it has contracted Aids yet.. but it has had some unsafe and unprotected practises with other machinery in its lifetime.
In short. It is time for a new buddy,” she pleads.
Meanwhile, Iranian blogger Mr Behi, who has just moved to Tripoli, Libya, is facing his share of computer woes.
“Actually I had one post in laptop prepared for today – this one I wrote before one of my meetings when the guy stood me up for an hour!- but just the day before yesterday, I saw smoke was coming out of my laptop when I turned it on. Man this was a brand new Dell M90. I hope my hard disk is not harmed otherwise I am so dead!” he writes.
In Kuwait, blogger Don Veto is battling spam, which he usually deletes. But one email caught his eye and he might push him to give up blogging and spend the rest of his life looking for Mark.
“I get the usual amount of Spam email which I delete promptly, but this particular spam was interesting, Alena wrote:
How are you? My name is Alena. I from Russia, city Cheboksary. To me 28 years. I shall tell to you about myself a little.
I corresponded with the man from the your country before. His name Mark. He is from your country. We had a long correspondence and Mark wanted, that I have arrived to him in the your country that I have seen what life there.”
You wouldn't want to upset Alena now.. would you?
Still in Kuwait, Kuwaiti blogger Spicy Pepper admits that the Internet is luring him into accumulating more bills.
“With all the websites out there selling everything from cars to toilet paper, its hard not to buy anything. I sometimes tell myself on holiday to avoid the shopping zones since I know i would buy stuff i dont really need. The Internet makes things even worse, you tend to see stuff and buy it quick without thinking about the consequences that usually results in MORE BILLS,” explains the blogger.
Conspiracy theories anyone? Or is it just a mysterious bug gnawing at some of the region's outspoken citizen journalists?