China: Bullog’s top stories of 2007 · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Is it top ten year-end list time yet? Bullog International blogger Song Shinan gives us eight choices [zh] in a vote for blog story of the year at Bullog, the small but growing blog service provider (BSP) which hosts some of China's most progressive blogger voices, centered around hope to move on from the beating public trust in government and media has taken in recent months.
2007 was Bullog's first full calendar year—if you include the month this autumn it spent ‘under reconstruction’—and saw several high-profile personality clashes, three nominees for the Best of the Blogs awards, at least two server blow-outs and, most recently, a move overseas. Just twenty-four hours after Song published his post on Dec. 12, eight pages of votes had already been left; he begins:
Ring out the old, ring in the new；
The year is going, let him go；
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
一年又要过去了，来，玩耍一下。
牛博2007年度新闻候选如下（您可以到留言里投一票，单选）：
1、牛博主力站被和谐。
10月19日，由于众所周知的原因，牛博主力站被北京通信管理局强行关闭。在107大报告中我们可以找到这个“众所周知的原因”，那就是“保障人民的知情权与表达权”。
案发后，牛博网友“主席手下一小兵”在豆瓣牛博小组里发贴《牛博不完全作者二奶地址目录》，经网友补充后，被广为转载（生前与牛博“不合则去”的爱心牌和菜头，也转了此贴）。
案发后，牛博总编辑老罗表现出令人惊讶的乐观。他没有愤怒地向政府开炮，扔出数以万计的“操你妈逼”，也没有委屈地摆出受迫害造型儿，高呼“牛博不朽，自由万岁”。他居然像个真正的胖子一样心平气和，默默地操着办着一件实事——
On October 19, for reasons that everybody knows are unavoidable, Bullog Central was forced to shut down by the Beijing Communications Administration. We can find in the 17th National Party Congress keynote report these “reasons that everybody knows are unavoidable, namely, “guaranteeing the people's rights to be informed and to be heard.”
Following this, Bullogger “the Chairman's foot soldier” posted “the incomplete list of Bullog users’ mistresses’ addresses” on Douban.com, and with readers’ additions, was widely spread around (He Caitou, loving supporter of Bullog alive—and “out of order”—also reposted this).
Following that, Bullog editor-in-chief Luo Yonghao shocked everyone with his optimism. He did not angrily go off on the government, or start casting thousands of curses upon anyone's mothers, nor did he start whining and playing the victim, shouting something like “Bullog forever! Long live freedom!”. Just like the fatty he is, stayed calm and reasonable, dealing silently with the issue at hand—
The old, and new, Bullog logo.
2、牛博国际站开张。
11月20日，牛博国际站（http://www.bullogger.com/）开张。除了读者评论、自行注册博客两个功能未开放外，从作者到界面，都跟老牛博一模一样。
牛博国际站作为“非电子公告牌性质”，比老牛博的点击略有下降，但日均独立IP访问数没有太大变化。这说明老牛博在1年零2个月里所形成的固定读者群，对它拥有相当的忠诚度。
在某个博客留言里，有网友声称：“牛博，我的精神家园”。
也许一些脸皮厚的人看了这句话会吐，但对于热爱牛博而且脸皮薄的人来说，他们将虎躯一震，星泪一闪。
我们身处的时代，是一个诡异的时代。一切有价值的正在被颠覆，比如正义、责任、人性，以及理想。一切没价值的则被颠覆更快，比如华南纸老虎、欧阳月球坑、节约型奥运，以及很成功的房改。而身处这个诡异时代的我们，也很容易就沦为虚无主义者。
但是，无论这个时代如何诡异，如何糟糕，仍有一些价值会幸存，也仍有一些珍视此类价值的幸存者会发出声音。
如果你愿意，在牛博，肯定能找到这样的幸存价值与幸存者。
On November 20, Bullog International (http://www.bullogger.com/) opened for service. Aside from the two functions of readers’ comments and open registration, from the users’ perspective, it was exactly the same as the old Bullog.
Bullog International, minus a bulletin board system, saw a decrease in click rates from the old Bullog, but the daily average of individual hits hasn't seen too big a change. This just shows how faithful the steady readers are that the old Bullog managed to establish in just a year and two months.
In the comments on one blog, one reader wrote: “Bullog, my spiritual home.”
Those with more thicker skin might have vomited upon seeing those words, but the thin-skinned, passionate about Bullog types, they were in for a shock.
This age in which we are living, is an age fraught with perils. Everything of value is now being subverted: justice, responsibility, humanism, and idealism. And things of no value are being subverted even faster, like the South China paper tiger, Ouyang‘s moon crater, an economical Olympics, as well as successful reform to the housing system. And us, here in this perilous age, how easily we end up nihilists.
But, no matter how abnormal, how messed up, this age may be, at Bullog, some values are surviving, and survivors who prize these kinds of values are still speaking out there.
Just so long as you are willing, at Bullog, you are guaranteed to find survivors and survival of these kinds of values there.
3、“厦门散步”博客直播。
6月1日、2日，数千名厦门市民自发上街“散步”，要求停建PX项目。牛博作者北风与一名国际友好人士赶赴现场，与牛博作者令狐补充利用手机短信及网络接力，在牛博博客上进行了全程现场报道。
在中国传统媒体对“厦门散步”报道集体缺席的情况下，牛博博客记录者所传播的声音，显得异常刺耳与悦耳。
Over June 1 and 2, thousands of Xiamen residents spontaneously took to the streets for “a walk”, demanding an end be put to the PX project. Bullog user Beifeng and one friendly international type rushed to the scene, and along with Bullog user Buchong, used mobile phone SMS and an internet operator to carry out live reports of the full duration of the procession on a Bullog blog.
In the collective absence of Chinese traditional media reports on “the walk in Xiamen”, the voices spread through Bullog blog-reporters were both exceptionally harsh and pleasing.
4、连岳获“德国之声”年度最佳中文博客大奖。
11月15日，“德国之声”国际博客大赛于柏林揭晓。最佳中文博客由牛博作者连岳获得。讽刺的是，从大赛投票开始到揭晓，连岳的博客始终无法访问。
之所以无法访问，是因为“连岳的第八大洲”与老牛博“咸鱼河蟹”了。
作为牛博的旗帜性人物之一，连岳在2007年因持续批评厦门PX项目而成为厦门乃至中国的言论英雄。
事实上，此次博客大赛的10个候选中文博客有3个来自牛博。除了连岳外，还有醉钢琴与老罗。
On November 15, the winners of Deutsche Welle's international blog competition were announced in Berlin. The title of best Chinese blog was awarded to Bullog author Lian Yue. What's ironic is that from the beginning of voting for the competition until the announcement was made, Lian Yue's blog was inaccessible.
The reason “Lian Yue's Eighth Continent” was inaccessible was due to the old Bullog's having been harmonized.
As one of Bullog's flagship figures, Lian Yue's persistent criticism of the PX project throughout 2007 made him a hero both for Xiamen and for freedom speech in China.
In fact, three of the blogs in this years Best of Blogs competition were Bullog bloggers. Aside from Lian Yue were Drunk Piano and Luo Yonghao.
5、罗方之争。
6 月4日，方舟子在他的牛博博客上发表声明：“今天有一名来自吉林延边的精神病患者通过代理服务器和刷贴机上了几千条内容相同的评论和留言，我没有时间删除和管理。在牛博网管理人员做到以下三条之前，我将关闭这里的评论和留言：一、删除这几千条重复的评论和留言。二、防止重复张贴和炸板。三、对评论和留言增加‘全部选择’的功能以便成批删除。”
随后，老罗发帖回应，最后说：“为了不影响我做编辑工作时的心情，我把我讨厌得要死的方先生的博客从牛博首页上拿掉了，从‘完整的牛博作者目录’上也拿掉了……今后我会一如既往的支持方先生的学术打假事业和科普写作事业，我过去支持方先生也不是因为喜欢他，现在讨厌方先生也不会因此不支持他的事业。牛博首页的新语丝链接和科技打假资金募集网站的链接也会继续保留，牛博的编辑推荐里也会继续推荐方舟子的科普文章，只是链接都会指向新语丝或新浪上的地址”。
之后就是打群架。略。
结局：方舟子离开牛博，部分新语丝网友自此视牛博为寇仇。
在我看来，罗方之争，不是利益冲突，也不是原则冲突，而是性格冲突。方舟子的离开，对牛博当然是个损失，但也不是什么无可挽救的损失。是个遗憾，但不是遗嘱。
On June 4, Fang Zhouzi wrote on his Bullog blog: “today, one psychopath in Yanbian, Jilin, using a proxy server and a spambot, posted several thousand comments of similar content [to my blog], which I do not have time to delete. Until Bullog webmasters make the three following adjustments, I will close comments on my blog: 1) delete the several thousand repeated comments; 2) prevent repeat postings and comment blasts; 3) add a ‘select all’ function so comments can me moderated en masse.”
Luo Yonghao responded to this, and eventually wrote: “so to not affect my mood while carrying out webmaster work, I've taken the annoying-as-hell Mr. Fang's blog down off Bullog's front page, and removed it from “the full list of Bullog users…from today forth I will continue as of old to support Mr. Fang's academic fraud-busting and science writing career. My past support of Mr. Fang was not borne of affection for him, and my loathe of him now will not mean non-support for his causes. Links to the New Trends and Dajiajijin websites will remain on the Bullog front page, and Bullog's “Editor Picks” will continue to highlight Fang Zhouzi's writings on science; only the links will be directed to New Trends itself, or Fang's Sina blog.
Then the fighting began.
The conclusion: Fang Zhouzi left Bullog, and some New Trends fans came from this to see Bullog as foe.
As I see it, the Luo-Fang War, was not a conflict of interests, nor was it a conflict of principles. It was a personality clash. Fang Zhouzi's departure was of course a loss to Bullog, but not an irrecoverable loss. It's a shame, but not a tragedy.
6、“歧视同性恋”论战。
2007 年8月25日，平客在他的牛博博客上发帖《同性恋是犯罪？》，力挺激情燃烧掉同性恋的傻逼孙海英，并给出了很神奇的理由：“我是反对同性恋的，即便我是同性恋我也反对它。那终究是有悖常态的非主流行为，同性可以有很深厚、绵长的友情，但性嘛，实在不堪。我反对同性恋，但我尊重周围彼此相爱的同性恋朋友，那是他们的自由。我在反波里谈过这个问题，现在的同性恋在政治正确的旗帜下，不仅是理直气壮了而已，大有“同性恋代表先进生产力、代表先进文化、代表人类进步”的趋势，那就全人类都同性恋吧，一代，只要一代，人类就会灭绝。”
牛博作者王老板随后发表《憋不住说几句》，《马蜂窝跟你没完》等文章，与平客商榷，只是双方的商榷稍微暴力了一点。
期间，网友一窝蜂涌上，绝大多数参与群殴平客，少数则劝架。最后以平客离开牛博首页收场。
在我看来，歧视同性恋在本质上与中世纪焚烧异教徒没什么区别。平客有坚持自己“反对同性恋”的权利，网友当然也有将他打成马蜂窝的义务。
On August 25, 2007, Pingke posted “Homosexuality is a crime?” on his Bullog blog in support of that stupid c*** Sun Haiying's passionate flaming of homosexuals, giving the very miraculous reason that: “I oppose homosexuality, and even if I was a homosexual I would still oppose it. It is, after all, still an abnormal minority behavior. Homosexuals can have deep, tender friendships, but sex? It's totally unbearable. I oppose homosexuality, but I respect my close homosexual friends who love each other; that is their freedom. I've discussed this problem on my podcast show, how now, under the flag of political correctness, homosexuals aren't only just becoming more self-righteous, but are all like, ‘homosexuals represent advanced productivity, represent advanced culture, represent human evolution.’ So let everyone go gay then—in a generation, just one, humans will go extinct.”
Bullog user Boss Wang then wrote the posts, “A few words I can't hold in” and “The wasps ain't done with you yet”, disagreeing with Pingke, only both sides’ disagreements got a little violent.
Meanwhile, bloggers kept poking the wasp's nest, and the vast majority of them took part in ganging up on Pingke, only a few tried to stop the fighting. It ended with Pingke leaving Bullog's main page.
The way I see it, there isn't much difference between discrimination against homosexuals and the burning of heathens during the Middle Ages. Pingke has the right to defend his “opposition to homosexuals”, and bloggers of course have the obligation to attack him like wasps.
7、《牛博文集》即将出版。
2007年11月，老罗四处给牛博作者打电话，希望对方同意将牛博博客上的文章选入《牛博文集》。
《牛博文集》出版策划者是京城10大熟女杀手莫之许，作序者暂定有中国10大文化名人：老罗、郭敬明、钱烈宪、徐静蕾、王佩、林志玲、连岳、田中爱、醉钢琴、蔡依林。
群星璀璨，敬请期待。
In November of 2007, Luo Yonghao phoned up all the Bullog bloggers, hoping they would agree to let their works be included in “The Bullog Collection”.
The mastermind behind the publishing of “The Bullog Collection” is one of Beijing's ten top ladykillers, Mo Zhixu, and the preface is tentatively set to be written by ten of China's biggest cultural figures: Luo Yonghao, Guo Jingming, ProState in Flames, Xu Jinglei, Wang Pei, Lin Zhiling, Lian Yue, Tian Zhongai, Drunk Piano and [the Taiwanese popstar?] Jolene Tsai.
A line-up of the brightest stars, coming to you soon.
Is the last one a candidate or Song's wishful thinking? Bullog founder Luo Yonghao is quite well-known offline in China for his former career as an instructor with New Oriental.
8、老罗将执教考研马列。
2007年12月，老罗接受北京某考研机构邀请，在明年夏天执教考研马列。
该考研机构本来拟邀请老罗教考研英语，但老罗不愿重复自己。他们又劝老罗教马列。
老罗开始说，别扯淡了，后来一想，马列的阵地我们不占领谁占领？于是决定去讲中国最好听的马列课。
老罗并且声称，要将学生讲得死去活来——死的要讲活过来，活的要讲死过去。
我对此只有两字评语：打入敌人内部，赢得少年芳心，哦也！
In December, 2007, Luo Yonghao accepted an invitation from one post-graduate institution in Beijing, to teach a post-graduate course next summer on Marxism-Leninism.
The post-secondary institution had originally invited Luo to teach English, but faced with Luo's refusal to tread old ground, they then urged him to teach Marxism-Leninism.
Luo's first response was, ‘cut the crap,’ but then came to think, ‘if we don't hold the lead in Marxism-Leninist thought, then who might occupy it?’ Then he decided to go teach China's best class in Marxism-Leninism.
Luo also stated, he plans to teach his students to death with it—those he doesn't talk back into living.
I have only two comments on this: infiltrating the enemy camp to win the hearts and minds of the young—oh yeah!