The Politburo Diktat has an interesting post up about bloggers, blogmasters and blog-states. Obsidian Wings is, of course, a blogger site with at least some delusions of being a blogmaster site someday: at least, I think that it’d be vaguely cool to be one and my cobloggers probably wouldn’t object too much.
But it was the blog-states part that was interesting, partially because I can think of one site (dKos) that is in the process of becoming one even as we speak and partially because I think that the Commissar and I would probably agree that blog-state status might not be the optimal thing to choose as our goal. You’ve no doubt noticed that I voluntarily don’t post on dKos anymore, and that really these days somebody with my opinions couldn’t post on dKos for long, even if they wanted to. Which is perfectly fine – they have no obligation to give me or anybody else a forum – but it does show how a growing site can isolate itself over time.
See, I don’t think Kos’ evolution has been so bad. It’s a democratic political site, so it focuses on democratic politics. When you’re discussing politics, as opposed to policy, people on the other side don’t add as much. I wish I could read a similar site to Kos on the Republican side, but I’d have zero desire to post on it. (Does one exist? If so I’ve never heard of it–I think it’s a combination of no primary fight and the “I belong to no organized party, I’m a Democrat” factor.)
Now, a site I do worry about is the Dean blog. If he becomes the nominee, how on earth do you keep those comment boards open? Already you see plenty of trolls, and it’s impossible to have a real discussion on a thread that size, and right wing bloggers have started picking out the dumbest few posts of 500 to attack the campaign. But they’re determined to keep it open, and it would be very sad to see the instant feedback that the campaign actually reads close down. Maybe I overestimate the risk; maybe no one cares outside the blogosphere.
Perhaps you’re right about dKos. It has become less of a site to air differences and more of a place to advance the Democratic cause. More power to them (and I mean that literally). I don’t post there often anymore (it’s gotten so big), either, but its still an essential visit for those of us interested in returning Democrats to power.
Dean’s blog could use Scoop, too, and with perhaps greater reason and effect than dKos. It doesn’t change the fact that, if you have thousands of commenters, you’re going to get some legendary idiots, but nothing other than a complete rewrite of human nature will do that.