From James Joyner, linking to Aaron Brazell:
While political blogs are blogging in terms of media coverage of the phenomenon, they’re actually a relatively small part of the story. It’s not just that, as we all know, personal diary blogs far outnumber others in sheer volume but that political blogs make up a relatively small segment of the blogs people actually read and link to.
I know, for myself, that I've been writing here about politics almost every weekday now for three-and-a-half years. The two-week break I took in late May is the longest break (and the only significant break) I've taken from blogging since January 2005. After that break, I've had a hard time getting my blogging "mojo" back, so to speak. There are a number of reasons:
- A new house and lots of offline projects
- A real job which keeps getting more hectic
- Campaigns to work on the side
- An eight-month-old son who is an absolute joy
As I used to write, "Real Life" has intervened, but that's just a part of the story for me. I wonder how much of it is just that people are tired of reading and writing about politics, especially at the national level? The issues are the same, the arguments are the same, the actors are pretty much the same, and there is precious little discussion and persuasion and a tiring abundance of shouting over opposing viewpoints. The primary, as much as I enjoyed the theater, lasted forever. There's a small part of me that's just tired of writing and reading and discussing (to the extent that discussion is possible) national politics, and we're in the early-summer doldrums for local campaigns, where there is lots of activity but little worth discussing.
As an example: I've got a major upgrade of IP.com that is 90 percent complete, but I keep putting off the last step: developing a theme or themes for the upgraded site. Normally, I would have tackled the task with zest, but now I'm having difficulty finding the motivation.
And this will shock some of you, but I really miss anonymous commenters. They were too often abusive, and detracted from constructive discussion, but they were often interesting and educating. I'd love to figure out a way to enable them again.
Anyway, this post has really evolved into a long-winded excuse for why I've not been blogging as much for the past few weeks, and that's not really how I intended it. If there's anything here worth discussing, then, uh, discuss! Otherwise, feel free to ignore my tired ramblings...
Hang in there; you've done an outstanding job and I completely understand. This is a lot like work!!! Few viewers realize the time-commitment and work involved. If this were the ONLY thing you had to do, you could keep up. Life does intervene, and other parts of your life are much more important; but you have provided the open threads and your other Moderators will/should pick up the slack. I'm glad you have your blog; but let life and common sense, take you where you need to go.
"And this will shock some of you, but I really miss anonymous commenters. They were too often abusive, and detracted from constructive discussion, but they were often interesting and educating. I'd love to figure out a way to enable them again." It would shock me if you had not always given them the benefit of the doubt. I think the reason nearly every blog is in a slump is war by attrition: trolls with nothing better to do have created such a toxic atmosphere that everyone else with a house and a real job has decided posting is no longer worth the time and trouble. Of course, I can go only by what my friends and neighbors tell me. To be honest, I forget this is your blog so much as Xian and Arvid's. Who at least are not anonymous.
Don't give up! We need your blog
I can't speak for Arvid, but I'm pretty sure both of us have a house and a real job. But otherwise, I agree with you.
The thing is my job involves the topics of posting most of the time, so it's a pretty seamless transition.
Also, I don't really sleep or eat, so that gives me some extra time :)
I suggest that we spend more time posting on values consolidation and less on analysis. Differing perspectives tend to strengthen the former and lead to endless quagmires in the latter. It feels great to walk away from the former discussion and frustrating from the latter.
Just my take, though--take it for what it is.
You have my symapathy, your investment in time and stress is obvious. For the record: to me 'anonymous' is cowardice. Also; could you give me a definition of, "troll."
Thanks, everyone.
For Ralph (and others):
Gordy,,,,,,,,do you mean like,,,,,,,"Doe's chewing gum really lose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight" ???
Thank you very much for putting whatever controls in place to block the inane postings. Those deteriorated the quality of all the other postings. Not having done a content analysis, but just an observation, the quality of the discussions has improved and encouraged disagreements rather than the put downs hidden behind anonymous. I am in agreement with Ralph that aliases ought to be the next to go. Yes, I know one can just make up a name and there is no virtual way of checking about the name. Gordy explained to me that he views this blog as people sitting around the wood burning stove and drinking coffee at the local gathering hole. Under those circumstances, we would be face to face and even if not well acquainted there would be a modicum of conversational decorum that would govern the anonymous posting content and we would know who is saying what or if not having been there, the local gossip would spred the word. :-)
Pattsi Petrie
pattsi... an old middle aged widow friend of mine, Mrs. Silence Dogood, commented on this very issue:
It may appear that she's in agreement at first glance. But I can assure you that her sarcasm is biting, and once you get to know her, you'll appreciate the time honored practice of American writing by pseudonym.
--
Glock21 Op/Ed
To Glock 21 Op/Ed--if your reference point of the "time honored practice of American writing by pseudonym" is writings by Mark Twain and the Poor Richard's Almanac, then I applaud your challenge because by doing so you have raised the bar of good writing even higher than I tried to do so. :-)
Pattsi Petrie
This is a good local blog, and I appreciate your efforts. Many of the posters here are more conservative than I am, but it's good to hear different points of view.
This is a good local blog, and I appreciate your efforts. All of the posters here are to the left of me, but eventually they will come around to my point of view.
I don't think the traditional paradigm works in this case. We need a new axis: left, right, and Ron Paul.
Cosign.
No doubt one could imagine other dimensions.
No doubt one could imagine other dimensions.
No doubt you could.