Flustered: Amanda Chapel

So most of you probably know of the Strumpette. She’s arguably the celebrity among PR bloggers.

Well, as someone who’s been kicking around the blogsphere (albeit in different manifestations) since before blogs were marketing/business tools, I’ve tended to have a love/hate relationship with “industry” bloggers. Even though I populate my RSS reader with their feeds, and tell everyone of my clients to start one, “corporate” bloggers tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. I guess that I’m a bit of a self-loather that way.

My feelings about the Strumpette weren’t much different. Between envy and an inferiority complex, I quietly harbored feelings that she was a sycophantic hack out only to look after Number One. Well, I was wrong.

Recently, I left a comment on a post of hers — it doesn’t matter which one. The point is that I took my frustrations with the bad apples of an entire industry out on Ms. Chapel and her topic. That’s a lot of frustration for only a pair of scapegoats. Simply put, it wasn’t fair.

Comments are held for moderation on Strumpette, and in under half an hour she’d e-mailed me, asking if I was sure I wanted that comment posted. The message was short, to the point, but eloquently worded so as to get her point across without making me feel defensive. Two things were clear: (1) this lady knows her s**t, and (2) she actually gives a s**t.

No, seriously, she really gives a s**t. She took the time to contact a complete stranger, remind them of the gravity of their actions with the utmost diplomacy, and offer them a second chance. I mean, wow. There’s something blogger don’t do everyday. I mean, your run of the mill blogger, corporate or not, is just too ready to pounce on whatever unsuspecting clod wanders within reach of their hyperbolic prose, and remind that poor, unaware soul of why they’re not as “good” as the blogger is.

Ms. Chapel, on the other hand, displayed nothing short of exemplar decorum. I’m absolutely smitten, really. I mean, she really blew me away, and if I was Italian and thought I stood half a chance, I’d devise some protracted and clever scheme to woo her through a confluence of my edgy vlog posts and witty prose. But I’m not, and I don’t, so I guess I’ll just post this homage, and hope that she isn’t completely creeped out.