blogging – Page 12

People to thank: my readers!

Since some bloggers around here put a lot of stock in Alexa rating numbers, I want to thank each and every one of you reading here for jumping my Alexa rank from the 2.6 million range to a six-digit rank in the space of about 3 weeks! As the campaign season has heated up readership has surged. Considering I’m being ranked against ALL sites (not just blogs, but commercial entities, search engines, and the like) that’s pretty good for what would be considered a regional political website for the most part.

This success has also placed me as the top dog (almost) among local bloggers – and if you don’t count the one which makes its living from copying and pasting various “news” items and look at ones which do mostly original writing and analysis then I’m right there. (I’m sure the person in question will have fun with this statement, but it is what it is.)

In the next few days, you will see the first advertisers on the site so things are definitely looking up here at monoblogue. I encourage you to patronize the businesses and look into those candidates who believe this is a good place to spend their advertising dollars. Moreover, there’s other possibilities in the works for this humble website to become better known, too – more details when the time comes.

But it all begins with you, the reader. It’s you who comes back and makes this the success that it is – all I do is try to provide insightful and accurate “news and views from Maryland’s Eastern Shore.” That’s what I’ve done for almost five years and perhaps good things may come to those who wait and work at their craft. In the meantime, I’m sure I’ll be looking for another political news story to write about and share.

Has BlogNetNews met its demise?

If you weren’t aware of this already, I’ve been doing a little bit of pruning around the site.

Back when I did the redesign earlier this year, I kept the two little Blognetnews ranking badges and the search engine icon but placed them down at the bottom of one of my columns. Since I checked the rankings weekly, I noticed my site was ranked last Sunday…but a couple days later the ranking badges had disappeared. (The search engine icon is still there.)

Without going into a detailed explanation of HTML code, those badges remain up as long as the BlogNetNews site is extant. Obviously I was curious to why they disappeared, so I checked a couple times this week. In both instances, what I found was a DNS lookup error -” The address www.blognetnews.com cannot be found” – thus, it appears that the blog aggregator has run its course, or, to give the benefit of a doubt, they’ve had a serious server problem booting them offline. Obviously no one is acting with great speed to fix it – maybe I’m the first to notice?

Perhaps this is an indication that the blogosphere has reached a level of maturity that, while not sounding its death knell, portends a further shakeout. The more hip among us have graduated to Twitter, home of the microscopic attention span and a place where this very sentence is far too long to be remotely Tweetable. (By the way, BNN’s last tweet on their Twitter site was over a month ago.) Meanwhile, the oldline established news sources have simply relocated from the newsprint and broadcast media to the internet.

And while BlogNetNews had a period of growth a few years back, the Maryland edition rarely had more than a few dozen active blogs featured – barely a representative sample of the scope of state blogs. My own little bloglist has nearly as many as they did at the peak and I don’t try all that hard to find new ones.

We in the local blogosphere have had our issues with their so-called rankings, crowing when they were high and complaining when they were too low. But apparently the webgoing public has spoken and BlogNetNews’ ranking among web surfers plunged to the point of being irrelevant, so now BlogNetNews is gone.

Looks like I have a little more pruning to do and extra HTML code to eliminate.

P2k

It was almost exactly two years ago that I wrote my 1,000th post, and in it I predicted I would write my 2,000th in May 2010. Hey, I was only off by 17 days and that’s pretty good considering the twists and turns my life has taken since that day in June of 2008. Indeed, this is post number 2,000 for monoblogue.

To many, that may not seem such a big deal since other local sites may post over 1,000 times a month as they copy-and-paste their way onto the internet. But most of monoblogue is hand-crafted by me at my laptop or PC, depending on the post – generally I do my Shorebird of the Week posts on my PC since the pictures I use are on that computer. For this and many other posts I prefer the laptop.

It takes a lot to create the content for a website and stick with it for 4 1/2 years as I have. But since I did that 1,000th post I’ve added other sites which demand content, gotten the opportunity to become a syndicated columnist, and worked on a book (more specifically, the draft is done and I only need to figure out how to get it polished and published.) Plus I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a lot of interesting people and became a regular guest on a area radio show (including tonight.)

As proof that it takes a lot to continue doing a website day after day, week upon week, and year to year, I went to the internet “Wayback Machine” to look at screen shots of my site over the last several years just to see which sites I’ve linked to. Usually I drop site links if there’s an extended period of inactivity, and here are just a sampling of those I’ve outlasted. Some I miss more than others. and they are roughly in chronological order.

Transchoptankia Gazette/Duvafiles

Justice for All?

Fertilizer for our Bay

Crabbin’

Westside Wisdom

What I See And Hear

Integrity Matters Only Sometimes

Robinson on the Radio/Blogs

A Woman’s Point of View

The History of Delmarva

ShoreIndie

Talbot Today

Go Shorebirds!

GayBury

Camden Neighborhood Blog

Shore and More

Stamping Out Stupidity

Mainstream Shore

The Byrd’s Nest

Crisfield Crab Review

Veggieland

Off The Cuff

Pro-Maryland Gazette

Totmom

Liberty Is Not Free!

The Wicbury Crapper

When I did the research last week (knowing the milestone would come up) I thought I’d be adding Right Coast Girl and Views of a Salisbury Grinch to the list as well, but both have returned. The same goes for Two Sentz as of about a month ago. And if some of the above are still active, well, I apologize for not knowing they were off hiatus. Point is, there are millions of dead blogs out there yet I continue to bring you “news and views from Maryland’s Eastern Shore.”

Unlike last time, though, I really don’t want to predict when blog post number 3,000 would occur. If the pace continued it would be in two years but I’ve sped up and slowed down my writing pace a few times in the last two years enough to know it’s a fool’s errand to make a guess. Quite honestly it’s more a question of available time rather than enjoyment because I still like to sit and write these posts.

Finally, since most observers would consider me an important part of the local blogosphere (and I’m fairly familiar with the players) I think I will give you an assessment of the whole Joe Albero v. Julie Brewington brouhaha – the “stalker” comment.

Of the pair, I’ve known Joe the longest because we’ve both been blogging for several years. Obviously he’s best known for having a camera wherever he goes and attempting to be a “news” source (although more and more his “news” is simply regurgitating whatever press releases and e-mails he gets verbatim without a lot of fact checking.) Regardless, he probably has hundreds of pictures of anyone who is someone in this area (including me) and if you’re on his bad side he’ll find the one which puts you in the most unflattering light – ask Barrie Tilghman.

To that end, it’s become a private joke between Kim and I as to where Joe might pop up to take a picture of us – if he can get a picture of us eating and enjoying some ribs at Pork in the Park you have to wonder where else he’ll find us. If you’re on his bad side – and on balance I’d say I probably am now and definitely have been – it seems to me that begrudged person will become somewhat of an obsession with him and Joe will come pretty close to the borderline between news gathering and stalking. (After all, is “caption this photo” really news or a simple attempt at character assassination?)

Before last year I didn’t know Julie Brewington – she was truly a face in the crowd to me. Stepping into the limelight as she chose to does have its pitfalls and yes, she has become somewhat of a public figure.

Saying that she is a public figure, however, doesn’t mean that we should disrespect her when we disagree. Perhaps her biggest mistake was agreeing to be Joe’s contributor for a time – many have come to regret that decision and I’m glad I turned down the chance when it was offered to me way back when (about the same time G.A. Harrison got on board.) I value my independence and what I’ve built on my own – it may not be much but I’m proud of it just the same.

Our local blog world will likely always have some sort of turmoil and drama because turmoil and drama brings attention to it. But I’d definitely prefer that it bring respectability as well and the actions of one player in particular prevent that from happening.

Dropping Delaware

It was a tough decision, but today I decided for space reasons to drop the links to Delaware political races.

Not counting party offices, in Wicomico County we are affected by four statewide races (governor, comptroller, attorney general, and U.S. Senator), two State Senate races, four races for Delegate, and contests for seven County Council seats, County Executive, Sheriff, State’s Attorney, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Courts, and three Orphan’s Court posts. It’s over 20 races for which to post candidates and links so something had to give.

Perhaps a blogger across the line like Chris Slavens or Elbert Collins can take up my slack and try to keep my Delaware readers informed. (Lord knows Salisbury blogger Joe Albero – who actually lives in Delaware – won’t do so.) Similarly, there should be a blogger or two in each county who aggregates the links for their home county and tries to keep readers informed about the political races. It could even be a job for the local hometown newspaper given the power of the internet and their presence there.

I don’t know how many local politicians read my site (my guess is most GOP officeholders do – Democrats, not so much) but if you have an event for my upcoming Political Calendar I’d appreciate a shout out – e-mail me or leave a message on my Facebook page. The better my calendar is the more readers, and the more readers there are the more people know about the event. And I won’t bury it among press releases, old jokes, and stories which are disproved by Snopes.com. Hey, I’ll even take advertising from the right people.

So again, I apologize for disappointing my First State readers for needing to be more Maryland-centric but this is the year to change Maryland’s policies. Your chance comes in two years.

Bad news for bloggers

I thought this was an interesting poll done by Rasmussen.

A poll taken by the group late last month revealed that 78% of adults surveyed see reporting by local newspapers as being at least somewhat reliable, as opposed to 66% which say the same about blogs.

Given the controversy which arises from at least one local copy-and-paste blog which does its best to copy-and-paste as much as – if not more than – the local newspaper, the results don’t surprise me.

The advantage newspapers still have over most internet providers, particularly solo and small group operations like blogs generally are, is that they have the resources to pay people to gather information. When I go to County Council meetings and certain political events as part of my first-person reporting I’ll often find mainstream news organizations like the Daily Times or local TV stations covering the event as well. Their model of selling advertising interspersed with vital information is still working, and they use some of those proceeds to pay those who gather information.

While I’m aware that some bloggers are paid in a similar manner, it seems the majority of them make their money by selling ads directly instead of having a marketing department separate from news operations. I doubt Greg Latshaw or Steve Hammond is begging for advertisers as part of the reporting.

Certainly there are people and groups who pay people to put out their own spin on the issues as well, and that information is added to the mix. For some bloggers, simply regurgitating these talking points is a good way to provide content at little time, effort, or cost to them. Obviously I often use releases as starting points for my posts but I rarely take them at face value.

Perhaps it’s those who unquestioningly take people at their word without doing the required fact checking that puts bloggers at a disadvantage in the poll. Certainly I’d like to help drive that 66% figure up along with my readership.

At its root, though, is the fact that all journalists and editors come to their jobs with some sort of bias. Needless to say, I look at things from a conservative to libertarian point of view and it affects the way I write at times. Having been a student of history I know that certain groups of people have no compunction in making things up if it suits their needs. But I strive for accuracy in the end, and even political opponents concede I usually get it right in my reporting.

Maybe if bloggers would do more to earn the respect of their journalistic peers and the general public by sticking to the facts and leaving aside rumors, innuendo, and personal attacks, they may just bring that number up to the level of support enjoyed by the traditional media.

Once upon a time in my youth I briefly worked in a retail setting, and one thing I was taught is that giving bad service to one customer will eventually drive another dozen away through the negative word-of-mouth. In this day and age of instant communication via Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking outlets getting the wrong person mad could backfire a thousandfold.

As a collection of media mavens it’s time we grow up and take more care in what we do. Very few of us make a living at this, but in order to do so we have to clean up our act and become worthy of support.

Ollinger enters Wicomico County Executive race

This afternoon I found out that the someone on the Republican side has stepped up to challenge Rick Pollitt for the task of being our County Executive.

There is a little more on my Examiner page, but the reason I came back here to expand on this story was some of the background I uncovered simply by looking through my own archives.

In many cases, Joe Ollinger was the surrogate for Ron Alessi, who ran and lost the 2006 campaign for County Executive. For example, he spoke on Alessi’s behalf during the Pittsville forum and October 2006 Wicomico County Republican Club meeting. (You can tell it’s an old post by who comments.)

It’s my hope that Ollinger learned some lessons from Alessi’s failed campaign. Truth be told, it’s probably fortunate that the 2006 primary election didn’t occur much later because Alessi’s closest opponent, B.J. Corbin, got into the contest late but had serious momentum when September came. But the worst mistake made by Alessi is something that Ollinger doesn’t seem to have an issue with – Alessi trashed the local blogs in a memorable tirade. (That piece is also worth reading for my description of the state of the Maryland GOP expressed in the last three paragraphs. Mind you, I hadn’t been elected yet.)

Over the last four years – for the most part – the local blogosphere has evolved and grown, with just a few of us old-timers being joined by a host of young whippersnappers. Joe Ollinger and all the other GOP candidates should embrace the opportunity to have a friendly media outlet because the Daily Times is rarely on their side, WBOC spends a lot of time covering Delaware events, and WMDT political coverage is spotty at best.

Just some advice from an old hand at this.

Can the Grinch steal a Salisbury City Council seat?

Well, this post (since taken down) oughta stir up some interest and get the local blogosphere going. Jonathan Taylor is best known as the host of a website which points out the faults and foibles of another local political gadfly, Joe Albero. (In Taylor’s defense he has toned down the Albero criticism somewhat in recent months – still, they don’t like each other.)

Needless to say any discussion of local Salisbury politics will sit on the back burner until the 2010 election cycle is completed in November, but Taylor would enter the District 2 field at a time when three of five City Council seats are up. With one incumbent battling cancer, the presumption would be that at least one seat of the three at stake next year would be freed up.

The personality conflicts are inevitable because Salisbury politics seems to be full of them. The last three years have been a story of 3-2 votes, with Debbie Campbell (re-elected in 2009) and Terry Cohen (up in 2011) almost always voting as the minority. One would presume the acrimony between Taylor, Cohen, and Campbell (as an extension of Jon’s dislike of C+C ally Albero) would make City Council meetings quite interesting – but would anything get done?

Of course, there’s still the filing and actual campaign to go through, but Taylor could add a little pizzazz to an offyear municipal election and provide a reality check for the power of blogs to influence the political process.

A great night for a ballgame!

I’m not in much of a political mood today because of the dose of summerlike weather we’re having and the fact we have a Shorebirds exhibition game tonight! Yes, I know the proper political thing to do would be to attend the County Council night meeting (one of our few quarterly opportunities) but after the last weekend I’m in the mood for something else. I’m going to be at Rick Pollitt’s budget meeting Thursday and see the wouldbe Governor Friday so I’ll be back on the political train then.

In speaking to Shorebirds GM Chris Bitters about tonight’s game he expressed the feeling that a crowd of 500 would be satisfactory and 1,000 would make him ecstatic. (That number is fairly typical for a midweek early-season game.) But with this nice weather I wouldn’t be surprised if we have more of an “average” crowd of 3,000 people. Chris is treating this like a regular game where most of the concessions will be operational, making it a nice “dry run” for the season with 10 days to fix up any problems they find.

So that what I came out here to write about. But then I found out what passes for news on some other local blog, a post noting that I have a series of ads for same-sex marriage books in the Amazon ad on my site. Since I don’t control that content or the content of the MSNBC ad it is what it is.

Anyway… Joe, feel free to go through my site to purchase those books if you wish to know more on the subject from these experts – my expertise is in marrying those of my opposite gender since that’s what I look at. Of course I’m glad you’re reading here to find out what’s going on around there parts politically since your so-called “news” coverage of these events has been lacking.

Just keep alienating the thoughtful bloggers and readers in town like you did with Julie – let’s see if your last ally among the local blogging community finally gets fed up with that garbage.

A heavy heart (requiem for M.N.)

Through the grapevine I’ve found out one of the good guys in Maryland blogging passed away today.

While he blogged out of Anne Arundel County, I met Mike Netherland at the Tawes event in Crisfield two years ago, after I found out he was a fan of my site. In this we were a mutual admiration society; Mike wasn’t the most prolific blogger at his own site but he was an outspoken commenter in other venues and in all respects was a great spokesman for the conservative cause.

Most times death is unexpected, and judging by his last post Mike was looking forward to a lot more blogging. It reminds us again that we need to approach life by living it – little did Mike know that his version of “middle age” was several years ago.

In the space Mike had for his “about me” profile, he wrote in part:

Approaching middle age with not-so-quiet desperation, I find solace in my writing. I love trying to get people to think for themselves, thus I have a small but hardy band of friends who seem to tolerate me.

Hopefully he’s in a place where he can find out that he had more friends than he thought and we did a lot more than tolerate him. Perhaps he didn’t have the most well-read site but he held his little corner of Maryland’s blogosphere well and we’re all poorer for his loss.

Rest in peace, Mike.

So…how do you like the new look?

Here is the new look. I had to reduce the names of the pages to make this look good. I may yet have to tweak the order around to put my General Assembly voting records into a hierarchy and allow myself to add a few more pages as needs arise.

Some other changes I’ll have to make is reducing the size of pictures and videos so as not to crowd the first column on the right-hand side in future posts. That’s all right, just have to remember this once I do new posts (no need to go back and reinvent the wheel.)

Now, though, I have to figure out just how to get some of the other elements into this setup like my Site Meter and other elements. But I have nowhere to go now so this afternoon I may be able to work this out.