New genre of blogging: fisking

There is a well-established classification of bloggers into “thinkers” and “linkers" categories. The first group posts mostly their own ideas and analysis, with some links through here and there, which serve either as a source of inspiration, or illustrations, or else. The "linkers" don't provide much of original content, but present lots of links, which may by itself be of great interest, with perhaps short comments.

Today I came across a word "fisking". I had to search for its meaning, and as turned out it designates a special genre of blogging.


fisking: n.

[blogosphere; very common] A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and deserving) early target of such treatment.