I've been at this for a long time, first as a journalist going back 45 years, and as the publisher of this web site, which turned 15 years of age on October 1.
Sometimes I wonder if its too long.
I get up at 4 a.m. each day to work on the current edition of Capitol Hill Blue and a hyperlocal news site/blog called Blue Ridge Muse. By 8 a.m., when most people are starting work, I've already put in a half-day.
And for what? Neither site makes money. I dig into my own pocket each month to cover the expenses and my resources are not unlimited.
I've always said that Capitol Hill Blue is a labor of love. Unrequited love at best. Sometimes, more like a Shakespearean tragedy. I don't know if I own this site or it owns me.
Yet I keep doing and I will keep doing, even with the headaches and the pain-in-the-butts who create daily challenges. I'll keep doing even with those who find constant fault.
Because I love it.
God knows why.
But I do.
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Didn't Huffington Post, Politico and Daily Kos start out as news plus blog sites? I wish I knew how to help develop CHB into a money maker. The others use radio and Video when they interview news makers. I would imagine their ads might cover their costs; but I do not know for certain.
You have a following here Chief, and you have managed to tame the anger and hatred so let us help. There are sites where I would never give my address or phone number for fear of having a maniac show up. At this moment, we all are tied up emotionally with this ridiculous war in Afghanistan and a health reform program that will destroy what is left of our finances.
I've tried to lighten up the debate but my stuff is not being read. That was not a good idea. Please don't make any decisions for a couple of weeks and let us think about how we can help.
Hi Doug,
"I don't know if I own this site or it owns me." ...extract from commentary
More than likely CHB owns you. Why, because it's become an addiction and like any such addiction it can take over your life while lessening its quality.
If it's your hobby and you enjoy doing it then you should have no complaints, but if CHB is beginning to steal time from you that you could be doing something else that you feel is more important, then you should consider making some summary changes.
It's my hope you dump the blog concept on CHB. To me its an unnecessary add-on and over time has lowered the quality of the site along with its evident drain on your psychic resources.
I read "Blue Ride Muse" quite regularly and on occasion will make a comment to the site. Generally I refrain from doing so because I'm not a member of your community. Personally I feel your BRM endeavor serves people far better than CHB because it serves a purpose similar to that of a town newspaper and possibly does a far better job than even if you have one in exposing local intrigues and chicanery. I think BRM satisfies your newpaperman instincts so that's where you should be directing your main energies. CHB at this point, if simplified; ie., sans blogs, should be able to run on autopilot with little oversight and screening on your part or that of an assistant.
To me you should get some compensation for your efforts and possibly consider taking in more advertising on CHB and even do so with your BRM endeavor. In lean times as we have now, providing web based classified ads and business advertising at a "reasonable pricepoint" might turn out to be not only worthwhile, but compensate you for your time spent.
I want to compliment you on the quality and content of "Blue Ridge Muse". It's a worthwhile community based effort. Your BRM model could best be described as a function of the expression "Think Globally, act Locally" in that your editorial efforts can have a positive effect on your community as no doubt they have over time and will continue to do so into the future. : )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Globally,_Act_L...
Carl Nemo **==
Interesting that you should say that about the blogs Carl. My email, most from long-time readers of this site, is running 20-1 in favor of eliminating the reader blogs.
Reader blogs is/was a most generous effort. I seldom read them but that's just me. I'm certainly not articulate enough to try to write one. If it will make life easier, and if it will extend the lifetime of CHB, I'd drop the blogs.
Kent Shaw
Why would the old timers want the blogs eliminated? I am fascinated by the opinions of the oldsters and newbies. I read everything and am able to keep and discard what I need. I realize how unpopular I have been in the past but I would rather stop writing and replying here than have to stop reading the words of others. I am old and way out of date with these new people who will never understand a down sized government. Big Daddy will never be my home plate.
Sandy:
Not everyone finds the reader blogs fascinating, cogent or even literate. In some cases, I have to agree. We try to set a standard here for balanced, non-partisan news coverage and some, myself included, wonder if the blogs don't undermine that standard. When blogs get picked up and quoted elsewhere, it's not always in the context that what is repeated is noted as a blog by a reader and not something written by a staff member of Capitol Hill Blue.
Recently, an alert reader advised me of a web site where one of our reader boggers was passing himself off as "a member of the staff of Capitol Hill Blue." That person is now a former reader blogger.
Others simply repost what they put on other blogs. I've caught more than one copying other people's material from other web sites.
This kind of activity is noticed by longtime readers who were drawn to our site by our news coverage not by blog postings that are off the wall, linked to questionable sources on other web sites or used to simply post talking points of one political party or the other.
At the present time, only one out of every 10 blog postings remain on the site because I have to remove rest for copying material from other web sites, cross posting between CHB and other sites or other problems. That doesn't include the spam and self-serving ads.
Some of our bloggers offer good, thoughtful observations and if I decide to ax the reader blogs I might ask some of them to join our stable of columnists but I cannot continue to occupy several hours out of every day dealing with the 90+ percent of garbage that is posted.
Capitol Hill Blue is not a blog -- never has been, never will be. It appears that the inclusion of reader blogs have given too many the impression that it is and has given others a platform for partisan propaganda.
That's not impression I want people to have of this web site.
Okay Chief, you're the boss. I will be more careful to double check my own stuff. I happen to like the passing of information here between many of the reader bloggers. I feel comfortable here as the names I'm called on other forums would be illegal here. It is very strange to me that my agenda was so powerful in the 80s and completely wrong in this decade. It might just be my old brain unable to cope with change.