There was an executive decision years ago when this blog started that there is little need to waste time editing comments from others. To be fair, your writer also does not waste time commenting on the inane ramblings of other blogs. You only need read the occasional blog to see what others are saying. While you cringe at the failings in grammar and spell checking, you have to forgive the failings. Blogging does not seem to attract many good editors.
But it pays to encourage thoughtful e-mails. Some are quite interesting. Some deal with the obscure. Luckily, only a few give you the comeuppance you deserve. (We might never mention toilet wipes again!)
And yes, it is well understood that bitumen is very boring. That is not the writer’s fault. We desperately need to care about the environment. And we certainly try to give the subject a bit of panache. This is despite the public relations people from the tar sands and pipeline companies who never seem to write anything that can be confused with truth.
And no, we are not angry. In fact, there is no question but that the best read commentaries in Babel-on-the-Bay are the ones about the Hair. You would be amazed at the peaks of readership that greet our more whimsical stories about Mr. Harper’s hairpiece. If this was a commercial blog, supported by advertising, there would be nothing but stories featuring the Hair and the hairdresser.
Political commentaries are really an ancient art. No doubt the hieroglyphics in King Tut’s tomb included commentaries on how the boy king misruled for those brief years. They might have been more subtle than the commentaries of today but we do not have the high priests standing over us to check what we say. (The Conservatives are hoping to correct that oversight.)
One of the questions about Google Analytics that puzzles us is that it gives us no yardsticks with which to measure a blogs’ progress. With a constant growth in readership and a fairly consistent 35 per cent or more of repeat visits, is that good or bad? And knowing that all blogs are hardly created equal, does it even matter?
But, it has to be admitted, some ennui has set in. More and more stories are being brushed aside at a time of a wealth of content. There is little to say about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and maybe next year there will be better possibilities for the city.
Queen’s Park is a wasteland. If you really want to know why people are being turned off politics, the political situation in Ontario is a good explanation.
What are your thoughts?
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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