Three years and counting

February 27, 2006

Someone reminded me over the weekend that late last week was, surprisingly enough, the third anniversary of the start of The Carpetbagger Report. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good time to take a moment to reflect on the site, how it’s doing, and where it’s going. (I usually don’t like, don’t read, and don’t write any kind of navel-gazing blog posts, so consider this a rare exception. I’ll try and avoid another one until next February.)

The past year has seen more changes — and more success — than the first two years combined. Traffic has increased considerably, and I’ve added blogads and a comments section. My work here has led to opportunities guest-blogging at Washington Monthly, joining the stable of writers at the Huffington Post, writing a piece for AlterNet, and becoming a contributor to the Daou Report. All the while, we’ve formed a nice little online community here. It’s impossible to overstate how exciting this progress has been for me personally — the past 12 months have felt like a “breakthrough” year for the site.

At this point, however, I’d like to take The Carpetbagger Report to the next level. What might that entail? I was hoping readers might help me come up with some ideas.

Several months ago, I noticed that Taegan Goddard at Political Wire launched a campaign to “dramatically increase the site’s readership.” He encouraged readers to tell their friends about his site, asked blogs to add Political Wire to blogrolls, etc. It sounded like a pretty reasonable approach, which, not incidentally, worked. And now that I have three years — and nearly 7,000 posts — under my belt, I’m wondering how I might “dramatically increase” this site’s readership, as well.

I’ve reached an interesting point. On the one hand, the site is doing quite well. When the nominations for the Koufax Awards’ “Most Deserving of Wider Recognition” came out, I wasn’t on the list — because the fine folks running the awards said the honor is for lesser known blogs and mine is too big. On the other hand, there are about 20 to 25 progressive political blogs that are generally considered the elite, A-list sites. I’m not quite there yet, either.

So, as The Carpetbagger Report begins its fourth year, I’d like to work on improving the site’s reach and visibility. The goal is to identify what I can do to improve the site and determine how to generate more — more readers, more exposure, more of an impact.

Publicity and self-promotion aren’t really my strong suits. I’m good at getting up early, reading a lot, and writing about 12 posts a day. I’m surprisingly bad at finding new readers, boosting my traffic, and getting on more blogrolls. If Carpetbagger readers have any ideas or suggestions, I’m anxious to hear them.

And speaking of readers, I’d also like to take a moment to thank all of you for being here. Whether you’ve been reading for three years or three days, I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you. I appreciate your interest, support, and encouragement, and I’m grateful that so many of you are willing to peruse my daily tirades.

And now, back to the news….

Just keep on doing what you’re doing. That’s the greatest promotional tool you could use. Quality outs.

  • Your blog is A-list in my bookmarks, CB. As for gaining more exposure, have you thought about cross-posting your entries to other ‘community blogs’? I’m thinking sites like Kos, Booman and other sites with ‘diaries’. Near as I can tell, these sites welcome this. I’m sure the traction you gain will depend on the site’s political demographics. But if your objective is a wider exposure, I don’t see what you have to lose.

  • You’re a great writer and you have good opinions; another reasons I like this site is because (I guess as an ex-politics guy) you’re a lot more objective-oriented and a lot less piss-and-moan oriented than other blogs often can be. You definitely should have more readers.

    As for suggestions, I’ll have to think about that for a bit.

  • I’d like to see little change or “improvement” here.

    I like the layout — it’s clean and easy to read. And the entries are long enough to be interesting, but short enough to read while moving from blog to blog. There are other sites where there are in-depth essays — I come here for the quick punches through the day.

    Don’t mess with a good thing.

  • I have to agree with everyone above: I like your site, the quality is excellent, and I like how clean and easy to read it is. I read other blogs, but yours is the one that keeps me most up-to-date.

    I think you deserve a higher profile– I pimp you to everyone I know– but I’d hate to lose the basic structure I like so much!

  • Thanks to you my readers don’t complain when I slack off, mainly because I just throw up some extra TCR links. That keeps ’em happy, but sadly my desperately in need of wider attention blog isn’t likely to send you enough traffic to make it onto the A list where you belong.

  • Also must-read material over here in Germany. With the time difference, I get to sit down for a nice post-work beer to peruse your morning updates! I am addicted enough that I even check in on Sundays, and sigh repeatedly when there is just the one Sunday discussion going on…

    Congratulations!

  • Ditto the above comments. I would only add to the “don’t fix what ain’t broke” line by adding that the comments, and commenters, are a big part of the draw. I hate reading a great post on politics only to find that there are 250 comments, mostly one-line moaning without much to add. By contrast, the posts on TCBR are just a launching point, with links and references in the comments section often leading to other interesting information. Also, aside form some recent troll activity, there are frequently thoughtful comments from conservatives. It feels like a hidden jewel of sorts. So, for my two cents on this, I’d hate increased readership to amount to one-sided reverb chatter; there are Repub. sites for that garbage.

    As to changes I’d like to see, perhaps something to make the site more effective at prompting change, either change in people’s understanding (which is already happening, albeit on a small scale compared to other sites), or change from Dem leaders and politicos (much more exciting). For I while I was relentlessly commenting on writing to our local papers, mainly because that was the only thing I could think of to turn our thoughtful dialogue into action and/or results. Another idea might be writing/interacting with the WH press corps, suggesting questions for them, etc. I feel like I would read this site as a politician to gain thoughtful insights on the process, and I wish more people would do just that in the Dem camp. Any other ideas?

  • Just wanted to wish you a happy anniversary and add my thanks for what you write on a daily basis. TCR hits just the right note as far as I’m concerned. During the last election I bookmarked over 70 progressive blogs but now I read only 5 or 6 on a regular basis. You’re definitely on my A-list right up there with Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, AmericaBlog, Political Animal (Washington Monthly), and Crooks and Liars (mostly for the video clips.)
    Keep up the good work!

  • I agree with near all the points made so far. It is kind of like a
    hidden jewel with a lot of thoughtful and well laid out points. I
    do think that if you go too global that it might hurt the site.
    Might I suggest two things,

    One a philosophical part of the blog, not where we discuss the ramifications of policies or event but what direction should our “leaders” be taking. Maybe limit this to one topic per week. I don’t think there is much of that about, maybe I am wrong.

    Two I do like the idea of setting up a correspondence with a WH reporter, if it would be possible to push for a question a week that would make people who are passionate want to come to the site and try make a question surface to the top of the bubbling mess we call Washington.

  • Seven days a week I look forward to reading your contributions to the progressive discourse and have been doing so for well over a year now. Although I don’t participate on Sundays, I still check in to see what the topic of the day is and cogitate on that topic for a while. As far as A-list goes, you sit on my Safari bookmarks bar along with TPM, Kos, Digby (Hullabaloo), Juan Cole, Kevin Drum (political Animal), Firedoglake (for a woman’s perspective), and Atrios. Oh, and thanks to Morbo for making my Saturday’s interesting for so long.

  • What they said.

    I don’t really have any advice on increasing readership. All I can tell you is that I started coming to this site after Josh and Kevin recommended it. In turn I have mentioned the site to all of by blog reading friends. If you think of anything that your regulars can do to help out just let us know.

    I’d also would like to second eadie’s point about the comment section and the commentators. One of the big draws here is that you attract some very insightful people and the comment section isn’t a swamp that has to be waded through.

    One final point, you are insightful and pretty damn funny.

    No, no, no, … I have one more thing to say. I don’t know how you do it day in and day out. That amazes me.
    PS. I’d like to see a more challenging question. “What color is an orange?” took some time to answer the the first time I had to, but now I know the answer. Come on push us. How about “What color is a Kumquat?”

  • Yours and Kevin’s sites are the only ones I hit on a weekdaily basis, and mostly that is becuse you both have a focus on policy, and not news, rumor, or smug laughing about the faults of the “other side.” Both of you put your own thoughtful opinions into it, and welcome comments, as if we are all equal in this policy discussion.

    Also, your layout is blissfully eye-candy-free, and that really helps my poor eyes, which look at a screen all frakkin’ day long.

    Thank you for everything.

  • Can Mrs. Carpetbagger do a site design where we can all collectively get together, and watch you blow out the candles and then share the birthday cake?

    Seriously, I can’t think of anything that I would like to see different. Your writing style is fair-minded, the analysis is good, the site interface is uncluttered and easy to read, you cover a lot of material (a prodigious amount IMO) on a daily basis, and some of the people that comment here are very insightful.

  • As far I could tell, TheWashingtonNote took off hugely when it became John Bolton Central at the right time. (Obviously it didn’t hurt that Steve Clemons knows tons of people in Washington.) Similarly, TPM seemed to profit by being Social Security Central, and Ezra Klein as Single Payer Central.

    To play this game correctly, then, wait for a story that will break with lots of detail over a long time (Dubai ports for 45 days, maybe) and make your site the go-to site for that topic.

    Personally, selfishly, I’d rather you didn’t do this — such sites become kinda boring when they delve too deep into minutiae. But you asked, and this is my honest guess.

  • My selfish feeling: Don’t get too successful, let the trolls swoop in and the site loses its close-knit, I’m really onto something great here that no one else knows about it, feel. OK, screw it. Get huge.

    And start selling t-shirts. Actually, I think you should sell Fighting Dem t-shirts as well.

  • I agree with all that was said earlier…and unfortunately have no suggestions to increase readership. I find this the most informative and interesting blog I read. I wish you a Happy Birthday….and Many many Happy returns!

    Just keep on doing what you are doing and doing so well!

  • CB, agree with all or most of the above: you have a clean, uncluttered design, you keep your eyes on the prize (i.e., the day’s best stories, not minutia), mixed in with wit and just a bit of opinion, and your efforts have attracted a community of thoughtful people instead of the usual skillion one-line rants.

    I tell everyone I can about your site and I hope they’re tuning in. A-list-, schmae-list.

    My only suggestion to improve your site would be to go beyond domestic politics more and deal more with international issues. The mosque bombing in Samarra last week was really the week’s biggest story — it looked as if Iraq was hurtling headfirst into the civil war we have long feared — but most lefty blogs, Juan Cole (of course) being the big exception, stuck to discussing things like the UAE deal. Your posts on Darfur have been quite eye-opening, though I haven’t seen as many of them lately.

    Otherwise, all I have to say is, keep up the good work!

  • Carbetbagger Report is the first site I visit everyday (after I obsessively check to see how many readers mine got overnight.) So from my perspective it is A-list, though I’m only one humble reader.

    You cover a variety of topics, which is great. Most “A-list” blogs cover too many or not enough. Your blog is just right.

    Some “A-list” sites seem to be dominated by a personality, and the commenters become sort of a cult group. The commenters start bickering with each other. That’s a big turn-off for me.

    Oh, an idea! Why not ask your readers for other blogs they regularly read, and select from that list places the Carpetbagger Report would fit into. For example, Talking Point Memo tends to focus on one thing at a time, has a small blog roll, and your blog would augment a TPM reader’s menu without duplicating Josh’s topics.

    Since readers of the other places you write for know your real name, make sure if your name is Googled, Carpetbagger Report comes up.

    I come here for information, insight and background on important stories. When new readers land on your blog they should have an idea what they’ve landed on. The “reality-based” thing has become a cliche and you don’t tirade (thank goodness) so you might want your subtitle to reflect the nature and purpose of your blog better.

    Also, congratulations on what you’ve achieved so far.

  • Great blog, CB – sharp, accurate, informative, intelligent. Keep up the good work.

    I’d say improving the standing of this site is our work – the CBR groupies, if you will. WE have to make a conscious effort to cite CB’s posts in comments etc on other sites. Maybe after a while the proper groundswell will occur, as curious folks visit and decide to stay.

    I agree that there’s a tradeoff between the cosiness & troll-less-ness of the comments section, and the degree of influence a blog has. Frankly, given the choice – I’d go for influence.

    Some of the points here are simply ignored in the rest of the blogosphere, left, right, and center, and they URGENTLY need to be more widely known, not least by Democrats campaigning this fall. I’d trade a few trolls for victory in November, wouldn’t you?

  • Eadie talks about the commenters, and I’d say that’s the second most important draw for me. Top draw is, of course, the choice of topics and the quality of the writing. Next is the quality of the commenters: there’s nothing more off-putting than strings of moans or smartass rejoinders. The design has a lot to do with it. Clean and easy to read describes this site well. Carpetbagger gets a 10 in all of these.

    Without naming names, I think it’s important to recognize that several of the biggest blogs are no longer big draws to thoughtful people. They’re reaching out to crowds, and crowds just aren’t as interesting as individuals nor as likely to get as close to the truth.

  • I guess I see this as quality vs quantity. One of the reasons I come here everyday is for the quality – of the poster and the comments. There are some blogs where I never read the comments because there are simply too many and many of the comments are just snark.

    CB, the quality of your posts and the quality of the comments are what keeps me coming back. This blog has more of an intimate atmosphere than others, perhaps because there aren’t hundreds of comments. It is probably human nature to want change, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

  • I think the sentiment is very clear: This is an
    excellent site and the comments are pretty
    insightful, too. The old adage, don’t fix what
    ain’t broke, applies here. Why not give it another
    year, see how your readership grows, before
    thinking about radical changes? And see how
    your success outside of this site continues
    to advance?

    One thing I’ve always been curious about is
    how your readership comes down on certain
    issues. I don’t know how you’d work that in,
    and I don’t want to spoil what’s here by
    recommending changes.

    This site works. It’s very easy to access, read,
    digest, comment upon. Very clean, simple
    design.

  • Yet another (albeit late) chorus of “Congratulations and this is an excellent blog” from this commenter.

    Frankly speaking, this blog is A-Tier when it comes to posts and comments. I realize that broader readership is in your interests, but have to agree with commenters above that I don’t look forward to the increased presence of trolls that wider recongnition will certainly bring with it. As long as the writing remains excellent and the frequency of posts remain high, I’ll suffer the trolls. ;->

    As for increased readership, in addition to your cross posting and guest blogging on other sites, you may want to reference other blog postings more, both “A” list and lesser known blogs. New readers will then get some exposure to you. After that, like me (I came from Political Animal, FWIW) they’ll stay as this is such an outstanding blog.

    best of luck!

  • Congrats on the anniversary. This is the first place I come for my political news every single day. Thanks for all your great work.
    . . . jim strain in san diego.

  • As with the rest of the posters, I agree that the writing here, and the topics covered, is great as it is. This blog is the fourth one I read every morning, seven days a week, after AMERICAblog, Think Progress, and Raw Story.

    We all aspire to change things, but I do like the simplicity of the site, and the lack of annoying ads on either side of the posted material.

    Happy anniversary, and thank you for an enjoyable blog.

  • I read only five blogs, all political. Of the five, I most consistently read Juan Cole (for his deep and specialized insight on the Mideast) and The Carpetbagger Report. I enjoy the blog for the same reasons cited by others. I particularly like the Comments section because most commentators have something valid to say, and say it well. Comments also complement the orginal post.

    I never waste time on blogs that indulge in excessive partisanship. It’s just singing to the choir, and many of the poinits are just too much of a stretch. I’m progressive, but not extreme. I appreciate objectivity and realism.

    Lastly, it’s a problem to grow AND retain the “family” feel of a blog or anything else. But I think you can do it.

    Congratulations on three yeafrs of success!

    Alibubba

    PS: rege gave me an idea: is there a credible way to add “kumquat” to red and blue states?

  • Ooops. I wrote “Congratulations on three ‘yeafrs’ of success.” Normally I would admit to a typo, but it was actually Dick Cheney’s implanted defibrillator talking through mine — just before another bird hunt. Cheers!

  • Happy anniversay and thanks for hosting such a great party every day.
    I learn so much here from everyone here.
    There is an underlying current of original thought, informed commentary, and respectful tolerance that makes the carpetbagger unique.
    Bigger isn’t always better.. Influential minds will be drawn to quality.

  • You’re on my top 3, with Drum & TAPPED. I noticed that the number of comments you receive goes up and stays up whenever you guestblog at washingtonmonthly, so keep doing that.

    Can you afford to advertise a little on Kos? I would totally chuck you $10 in the service of that cause, and I bet that most of us on here would too.

    Tom Tomorrow prods his readers to “click through” on his ads from time to time– try that too. A short little “hey guys, I have to eat” reminder would not be unwelcome.

  • Ditto all that good stuff. You’ve climbed from the bottom of my tab list to topple my former top three in a matter of months.

    As far as suggestions, I don’t know how to address this but I’m always dismayed by the ever decreasing shelf life of most of the topics that come up on political web logs on a weekly basis. Remember when the Fitzgerald rumors were rampant on every blog? Heard anything lately?

    This short-attention-span tendency of blogs is understandable, but somehow there needs to be a blog of record keeping track of all this outrage. It could be a simple as a sidebar list or something more elaborate with periodic follow-ups.

    It’s like the stupid story of the boiled frog. We get inundated with Bush outrages at such a pace that we become numb. . .

  • Happy anniversary. Guest blogging and cross-posting and a little advertising are probably the right answers for promotion. I think hopping on one story and banging away at it is probably not a great idea, though, as it would stray from the current formula of being a full-on round-up. (And probably be a significant amount of additional work, too boot.)

    I never miss a day, starting out with you and Atrios to get the daily blogospheric weather report.

  • I agree with everyone that the way you’re doing it is the reason I visit every day.

    But let’s see…..

    On Wes Clark’s site, if you comment on something, there’s a page you can go to when you click on the commenter’s name which keeps all the comments the person has made together and allows for more community interaction on the part of the readers. There may be people who would be drawn toward your site if you try to take the role of the commenter further than other blogs do. There are probably other ways, too, to make being a commenter more entertaining.

    Sponsor some kind of forum involving an assortment of bloggers, journalists, or politicians on a topic.

    Contact politicians to do a guest blog segment. Senators, congressmen, candidates, state legislatures, mayors. Or even people who are hired to perform political functions or who work in the government. Assistant secretaries, lobbyists, jail guards, dogcatchers. If they talk in their area of expertise we could all learn something. I don’t think anyone else is doing that.

  • Happy anniversary and keep up the great work CB. My guess is that traffic will continue to grow, particularly as you do more guest blogging, independent writing and lectures/round tables. This really is a quality site.

    And you can stop me from making so many comments. That would help. I must apologize to G2000 for my getting pissy last week.

  • This site is always in the top three for me. Daily I read The Carpetbagger Report, Talking Points Memo, and Political Animal (@Washington Monthly).

    The one thing that really keeps me coming back is that I read things here that I don’t find anywhere else. There are already too many copycats out there that never cover anything original. Your site stands out because I always find original thoughts and reporting here.

  • As far as I’m concerned, it’s already an A-list blog. WRT promoting, there’s a bit of a dilemma. If you do some sort of clever schemes to add readership, it may dilute the real strength of what you offer, namely smart thinking and a sharp eye for significant events. The kind of thing that’ll bring in the readers that you want (rather than just a mass of the kind you don’t) is good writing and a good comment section.

    Some blogs (Daily Kos, or Eschaton) are meant as communties, with the comments sections as or more important than the main posts. Others, like Firedoglake, have a strong interaction between commenters and bloggers, though the bloggers are the more important of the two. Yours, OTOH is one in which the blogger has a strong voice and the commenters follow.

    If you want to increase the emphasis on comments, you could work to add to the commenting infrastructure, allowing structured replies to comments, comment ratings etc. I don’t know that this is really necessary at this point; if it were up to me I’d rather have you writing than mucking about with commenting glitches.

  • Congratulations for three great years, C.B., and especially for all the recent success. Self-promotion may not be your strength, but you have all the self-promotion you need just by coming out and writing each and every day. And I’m sure I speak for all of your fans when I say that we’ll do our best to spread the word.

  • Don’t change a thing! I read CBR first every day, followed by Tapped, Political Animal and TPM. The places like Kos and TPMCafe are not really as interesting (anymore) as they think they are, precisely – as someone else said – because they now attract a crowd and the overall level is where one expects with a crowd. I’ve been coming here now 18 months, and the best compliment I can give you is that when we set up That’s Another Fine Mess we decided the gold standard to aim at was Carpetbagger. As a very good screenwriter once said, “If you’re going to steal, steal from the best,” and that’s this site.

  • Happy Anniversary, and don’t change a thing. That about sums it up, along with every other post here. How amazing is that?? I read Carpetbagger, Crooks&Liars, RawStory and ThinkProgress, in that order. A little myDD and HuffingtonPost, maybe, but that’s it.

    My one mostly-serious suggestion on helping the legions of loyal Carpeteers help you get the word out: start your own line of TheCarpetbaggerReport hats.

    Standard baseball caps are one thing, sure, and maybe visors with flashing LCD lights along the brim. You could harness whole villages of Peruvian weavers to make that cool Andean style with the ear flaps and the dingle balls on top.

    And for the more adventurous you can also provide the Gold Standard of mobile advertising: The Official Carpetbagger Report Propeller Beanie!!!

    You could embroider the name in neon colors visible for blocks, and everyone I know would get one, including me! I’d even pay for mine in advance so you wouldn’t be out of pocket to get them cranked up.

    This would be a first in the history of the blogosphere. Don’t let it pass you by!!! 🙂

  • Congratulations! I can’t believe it has been three years. I think that this is the most informative and important political blog out there today. In the past three years, your brilliant writing and unwaivering dedication has produced a strong following and proven to me that quality matters. As for increasing visibility — how about CB t-shirts, bumper stickers, or coffee mugs. Maybe some cross-promotion, happy meal CB action figures (including one for Mrs. CB) – or a movie tie-in – hero reading CB online. Or you could always change the site name – how about “dregesofhumanityreport.com” – well maybe that’s not a great name for a politicial blog – but what a great band name.

  • First of all congratulations.

    I’ve been coming here at least 2.5 – 3 years. The reason I return is due to your analysis, connecting the dots, intelligent observations, and it’s witty. It’s quality that matters, and that You have.

    Your blog is unique in that it highlights a perspective without the usual knee jerk, snarky remarks.

    Congratulations John. You’re doing a “heck of a job” 😉

  • Congratulations! This is my favorite political blog, hands down. I like the suggestions in comment #43, particularly the happy meal action figures. I picture the CB happy meal as just having two large fries and a coke, not sure why. It must be a combination of your straightforward and salty, yet effervescent, commentary.

  • Wow, this seems like shameless flattery, but I really do think this is a well-balanced blog in terms of popularity, in-depth discussion, well thought out topic and initial posts, etc. I really read only CB and Political Wire at this point.

    And like many above, while admiring the ambition to get your voice heard more broadly (a well-deserved result that would only raise the general level of discourse) there is a selfish side of me that likes the fact that I increasingly feel I “know” some of the other frequent participants, and that fears that if threads start getting 100 posts long, good stuff will go unnoticed because people wont wade through it all.

    So maybe your voice can be heard more broadly through the various different outlets and side projects and CB Report can stay a nice sized community, not a sprawling metropolis (although Metropoi do tend to vote more Blue. . .)

    Happy birthday/anniversary and many happy returns!

  • I hit this sight for its heavy number of posts with quick hitting insight. For more substance, I look to Obsidian Wings. Honestly, while there isn’t anything I would expect you to add, if I had a wish list it would be a conservative counterpoint to your writing. I get sick of seeing so much partisanship because I actually value a heavy mix of competing ideas. I think your posts are excellent non-partisan observations, but they are clearly liberal in mindset. I would love to see similar contributions from a conservative mindset, and I feel that would encourage a better balance of comments as well. For all the comments can be interesting, there is also just a lot of “me too” out there, without much competition for ideas. I certainly don’t think this site has descended into meme-regurgitation, but I worry that a lack of counterpoints might allow it to do so in the future.

    So that was my attempt at criticism. More of what you do, basically.

  • I have to say that this has replaced Talkingpoints memo as my favorite blog. I can always get well written, thoughtful, and insightful coverage of what is important to me. I am very impressed with this site. I am also very impressed with the comments, which are usually quite well written. I love the larger print and the ease by which I can make a comment. I know that this site will grow because it is too good not to. I have told as many as care to listen that this is a great site to get the straight story. At least one person has become a faithful reader. Although it sometimes seems a little slow, word of mouth is the best way to advertise. Bravo for your first three years, and thank-you for your excellent work. I have no criticism, and I can’t imagine what you could do to make this blog better.

  • Thank you for your consistently great blog. Congratulations on the three years and nearly 7000 posts. A tremendous accomplishment in maintaining focus and personal discipline. There have been numerous times I have been truely awed by the fact that you have been able to stick with a chosen style of presentation and not broken down into emotional or petty personal comments. god knows, there have been plenty of opportunities given the political skid we are in.

    As far as suggestions, please keep the format you have. I would, however, like to see an occasional writing on policy topics that are not currently in vogue such as education, environment, food and agriculture, housing, and so on. I realize these are not necessarily your areas of expertise, but an occasional guest writer, maybe once or twice a month would help to broaden this shrinking brain.

    Thanks again!!

  • I strongly agree with the sentiments in #20 and #29, and then I lost track of the numbering for what I wanted to repeat.

    “You cover a variety of topics, which is great. Most “A-list” blogs cover too many or not enough. Your blog is just right.”

    “Some “A-list” sites seem to be dominated by a personality, and the commenters become sort of a cult group. The commenters start bickering with each other. That’s a big turn-off for me.”

    “I never waste time on blogs that indulge in excessive partisanship. It’s just singing to the choir, and many of the poinits are just too much of a stretch. I’m progressive, but not extreme. I appreciate objectivity and realism.”

    And thanks for providing a wonderful community that has made me feel like a valued contributor. I love the interaction I get with others here, and my contributions give me a nice ego boost. I’d be afraid that as a commenter on a larger site my voice would be lost in the noise of the sea. Thank you for that.

    Others have mentioned the desire to see a more functional commenting system. I agree with that. Unless you think it’s overkill, may I recommend somehow implementing a forum board system?

    With the current comments system it is very difficult to keep track of responses to my comments or even discussions I commented in where I may be able to respond with some clarification or something. And I can’t search the comments sections if I want to review something said by a commenter months ago. And I may want to reignite some issue I pontificated on a week or two ago, but no one would know I posted a new comment. Lastly, we sometimes have great discussions that are off-topic tangents within a comments section, so perhaps there could be a comments section off the main page that allows users to create their own topics for discussion?

    I’ll grant that I’m probably expecting a lot, but I am used to holding discussions on forums, like IPB, or phpBB, where you can easily keep track of discussions you’ve participated in, where everyone notices when someone replies to old topics, etc. Just an idea. And, I’ll also admit, I haven’t found a good implementation of those features with a blog package yet.

    Thanks and keep up the good work!

  • Congratulations & Happy Birthday, CB!

    I enjoy your insightful writing: it’s sharp, reasonable, and to the point. You seem to attract readers of a similar mindset, if the comments section is respresentative. Which reflects well on you.

    I recommend your blog when I can. Others that I read are firedoglake, Americablog, Think Progress, Washington Note, Bob Geiger, Raw Story, The Left Coaster, Murray Waas, Digby, BlondeSense, Crooks & Liars, and Brad Blog. Each has something of value to contribute.

    Thank you for all you do, and keep up the good work!

  • I love this site–it’s one of my few daily must-reads. Congratulations!

    I manage my company’s website and spend a lot of time on search engine optomization to boost our ranking on sites like Google. I’m not sure how many people you draw from search engines, but if wouldn’t hurt to try pulling more search traffic by optomizing your site for specific keywords (like “political news”). Check out http://www.search-engine-news.com for some helpful tips.

    • Comments are closed.