Will the real kid blogger, please stand up?

Hi Yuga,

I’m glad you heared about this.

I know being unique would always draw controversy, like what you said above about lonelygirl15 and the walmart bloggers.

If you have time, we could meet this afternoon (After school :) ) just to clarify things.

Tell me what you think.

Thanks
Carl Ocab

Don’t forget the Kaycee Nicole story back in 2001.

sama kami ni ederic.. mga usi lang :P

‘kala ko sa TV lang nauuso yung showbiz. pati sa web din pala.

@ba – baka may laptop with school wifi or 3G phone :~)

@jepoy Wala akong ganun nung 14 years old ako. :( Waaaah. *rants*

@Jepoy

I think you’re raising suspicions unnecessarily.

When I was in high school (and this was like, 7 or 8 years ago!), we already had a open computer science lab where students can surf the net whenever. Our library too, has internet-ready computers.

While I concede that this is atypical for the average school back then, I would imagine that it’s not uncommon for schools now to have this.

This issue is causing quite a buzz in the Pinoy blogosphere nowadays. I’m really eager to know what Carl would say in his defense.

Noong around 13 years old ako–sabi ko nga sa Twitter–nagtitinda lang ako ng talbos ng kamote para magkapera. Nagsisimula pa lang ang Internet sa Pilipinas noon, hehe.

Tuloy ba ang kitaan n’yo, Abe?

Abe, for me it is clear. YOU are Carl Ocab!
Not that I want to compare you to a 14 year old boy but he knows almost as much as you…
If it is not you, you might need to consider retirement ;-)

What happens next? Eh di… Abangan… :-)

Ria Jose tweets an apt observation.

He might be a kid but remember that the UP (Diliman) Valedictorian for the previous school year was only 16 years old. I am not saying that he is what he claims to be. I am just pointing out that it is possible.

Remember the teenager CEOs from India?

with regards to carl ocab having his dad as ghost writer, it isn’t impossible either

Conn is right. You should not underestimate the kid. She raised some pretty good points. Does it mean that because we couldn’t have done it when we were teenagers nobody in that age would’ve been able to do it? That’s somehow… pathetic, to say the least.

But the dissenters raised some pretty valid points.

And, I’d like to attest to Conn’s #4:
4) “If the kid can express himself using the written word, then the kid should have also been able to express himself verbally.”

I’m a living testament. I’m the most blabbermouth person there is when it comes to writing, but I just as easily fold up when speaking verbally, ESPECIALLY IN FRONT OF PEOPLE I’M MEETING FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Give the kid the benefit of the doubt. The truth shall come out sooner or later, if there’s such a truth that needs to come out.

Just my two cents. ;)

Guys,

Finally read the other comments. A 13-year-old could think up of monetizing blogs, even more than that. A 13-year-old could be running a very popular adult TGP site and be making hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is not the point. analyze the English. If he’s writing Wordsworthian poetry, I’d be inclined to believe he is as old as he says he say. If he’s writing in prose with the lyrical quality of Edgar Allan Poe’s I’d still be inclined to believe or at least be open to him being 13.

But dudes and dudettes, this kid’s English is technical, studied, educated. This writer is trained. He’s no virtuoso. HE IS A TRAINED WRITER. Trained, trained, trained, trained, trained, trained, trained, etc., etc., Look, I can write like a 13-year-old. It’s easy but a 13-year-old writing like my no-talent English professor?

I might need a bit of enlightenment on this particular issue but I don’t really get it on what’s the real push on knowing whether the kid can really that well or not. Had he been able to put anyone here into manifest disadvantage, danger and loss? Given that his blog offers a pool of blogging tips and online earning?

For me, if I think that this kid can write and make sense that deep, then i would be happy to emulate his writing skills and perhaps would love to know some of his strategies. Giving the benefit of the doubt, he could have gotten technical advices and editing from someone more knowledgeable and versatile than he is.

When my daughter was in fourth year high school last year (she is now freshman college), her school updated its computer facilities, so much so that their computer lab was equipped with 45 units, hence a 1:1 computer per student ratio. All units are internet connected.

So it’s not impossible that Carl could post comment here during class hours.

Let’s give the boy the benefit of the doubt. Malay natin, talagang geek siya since early childhood. May mga child prodigy naman talaga, di ba? We marvel at those Promil kids having exceptional talents in music, arts and sciences. Why not in technology? Maybe the father is a geek, and has trained his son very early on. Although I also have reservations that he could possibly do all of the entries on his own. First of all, blogging is very time consuming. Paano na kaya siya nag-aaral? O naglalaro?

But let us not condemn/judge father and son. Let’s give them the chance to straighten things out. If indeed it is a father-son tandem, then all they have to do is admit. After all, we Pinoys can easily forgive and forget. :)

“Oh yeah, nothing has changed since she was blogging at age 10 except her blogs these days are longer.”

Cat, she’s very Adult now.

My question is, why does everyone care to care too much?

I have chatted w/ Carl a few times w/ him asking me some help to setup one of his sites. I felt impressed of how he was easily able to follow my instructions. Cmon, give the kid a break. For me whatever’s going on around about him and what he’s doing sounds possible.

I just randomly came across this page; even though it’s been a long time since you posted about the issue, I’d like to add something.
When I was 13 years old I wrote an essay for my American History class, and received a D for it. Why? Because my teacher passed judgment on me the way you are passing judgment on this boy. She read my work and assumed that it didn’t “sound” like a 13 year-old’s work, and so it must have been plagiarized. That incident really hurt me.

Some people are just natural writers. They have a good command of the written word. And it’s also possible that these same people can’t express themselves verbally as well or as eloquently as they can on paper. I know, because that’s exactly how I am.
I haven’t even read this kid’s blog and yet from the excerpts everyone has provided, I’m not convinced of any of your suspicions! Children are incredibly smart, perceptive and capable of so many things, beyond what you imagine. Once they are interested in something, they pour so much effort into it. I’m sure Carl is an excellent writer because he writes very often…and I’m sure he knows a lot about “grown-up” issues through regular reading and contact with other intelligent people.

There’s so much I can say to defend this kid, but hopefully the entire thing has already blown over by now. :)

insecure lng kayo… 13 years old o hindi, sya ang nagsusulat o hindi, bsta nakakatulong mga posts nya and informative, d na kailangan png gawing issue yan

btw i think its also possible for any kid (not carlo) to make a nice post via wp-robot and a couple of article rewriters out there. or, they have this idea and they ask an older person to write it for them – see, they are after the “key” words. (search engine optimized)