Since we’re on the internet and all, I should probably specify — I mean the Midlands of South Carolina, not England.
Anyway, I’ve been helping out the Urban Land Institute, which is sponsoring the upcoming Midlands Reality Check, a one-day exercise to talk about our community’s future. I’ve written about this before.
Today, I told the committee that I would provide a list of bloggers who ought to receive releases about the upcoming events.
And then, I realized I wasn’t entirely sure who was actually, actively blogging in this area. As Dorothy would say, bloggers come and go so quickly here.
I know that our own Bryan Caskey is staying pretty active with his Permanent Press. And we know Will Folks is going strong.
But when I check my blogroll, which I could swear I just updated a few months ago, I find that many of my links go to virtual ghost towns. Here’s what I find on a spin through my links:
- ColumbiaCents — Tavis Micklash hasn’t posted since Jan. 20.
- The Politics of Jamie Sanderson is just gone, period.
- Wesley Donehue abandoned his Man Project on Valentine’s Day.
- Mike’s America is still going, but that’s based in Hilton Head, not the Midlands.
- Nathan Ballentine, one of the early adopters in the Legislature, hasn’t posted since Aug. 7.
- Logan Smith’s Palmetto Public Record doesn’t seem to exist any more.
- Deacon Tim’s Sacraments Wholesale has been silent since April … of 2012.
- Earl Capps announced he was shutting down his Blogland in August.
- The Shop Tart, I’m happy to say, is still among us.
Talk about your devastation.
So what am I missing? What’s going on out there?
Obviously, I need to update my blogroll, bigtime. But I’m going to wait and see what I learn from y’all, in terms of sites I might be missing, before I fix it.
The lines are open…
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This is the era of short attention span. Blogs are just the current MySpace for people who can’t get a job in the mainstream media (which is also tanking as a career). I won’t be surprised to see Facebook fall on it’s face within a couple years. I know more people who have cancelled or abandoned their Facebook account in the past couple years than have created accounts.
Well, that settles it, then.
It’s not common to all the defunct blogs you listed above, but many existed not because their creators enjoyed writing so much as because they had other motives, usually political. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but if you’re only writing to promote one party or another, rather than writing, as you do, about what you find interesting, irritating, newsworthy, etc., the well probably runs dry after a time.
Brad, you’ve been blogging for, what, at least eight years, and I’m sure there’s still plenty of things you take note of regularly as potential subjects for posts on this this site, even if you don’t always have the time to get around to writing about them. The world is full of interesting things to write about for the person who blogs simply because they enjoy writing.
Yes! Absolutely.
My “well,” thank God, has never yet run dry — knock on wood, just to cover all bases. My main limitation is finding the time. I must have had five or six posts I was burning to write yesterday, but no time…
I’m going to put up a couple now, though…
By the way, I hope y’all don’t find my habit of ending posts and comments with ellipses irritating. It’s just an expression of the fact that I could say more, but need to run. It’s my way of saying as Mark Sanford did with one of his verbal ticks, to be continued…
So far, no one has come forward — either here, or on Facebook or Twitter — to tell me about any new news- or commentary-oriented blogs.
April Blake told me about her blog, and Rick Wrigley about his, and Mary Pat Baldauf reminded me about hers.
None are really public-affairs oriented. But I’ll put them on my blogroll anyway…
It takes a lot of work and time to blog on public affairs, and do it intelligently. Brad, you have decades of background in the issues surrounding Columbia and South Carolina, and you have the interest in writing about them. Few others have that combination. That’s why no matter what the naysayers believe, I think there will always be a place for (well-run) newspapers. No one else has the resources, time or interest to cover news with the same depth as papers. Nearly all the bloggers that do write about public affairs would largely be left to gaze at their navels were it not for the information they glean from the media, and largely the print media, first.
What about The Nerve? They do some excellent work exposing unethical government behavior.
http://thenerve.org/
They have a link to your blog on their list.
Hmmm. I wasn’t really thinking of that as a blog, but maybe you’re right.
Daniel, we regulars appreciate Brad too, even if we don’t tell him.
Enough mush. Now back to attack mode.
Brad, please remove my September 22 remarks. It was meant to be personal for you and not public display. Who elected “bud” to declare how one should express himself???
Done. Sorry about that, Daniel.
And I think Bud was engaging in self-mocking banter there, rather than talking about you or anyone else.
PERSONAL FOR BRAD; Brad, please remove MY comment above dated September 22nd. It was only meant for you, not the public.
Daniel — I thought I did. I’ll go back and check…
2nd request: PERSONAL FOR BRAD; Brad, please remove MY comment above dated September 22nd. It was only meant for you, not the public.