An aggregate headache.
From one e-mail note in my mailbox:
Dear Conservative Blogger,
I just wanted to let you know about a new blog that a few of your comrades have decided to set up.
It’s called the SD Shovel, and its purpose is to be a showcase/aggregator of South Dakota’s right-of-center blogs. It came about as a result of a group session this weekend in Sioux Falls where a number of bloggers met and discussed the issues facing us collectively. One common issue we all face is a lack of cohesion among conservative blogs.
To remedy this, we decided to set up the Shovel. We hope to get everyone on board and posting items they think are relevent to the SD Conservative Blogosphere. More specifically, if you’re getting this e-mail, we want you!
And from another…
I have put together a prototype of the aggregate blog we talked about yesterday. It is very rough and doesn’t provide RSS feeds. It is just to get the discussion going. Check out: http://sdbloggers.weebly.com/
I’m sensing a trend here. As Cory Heidelberger had pointed out on his blog, it seems as if everyone is choosing up sides. And not to be a problem child, but I’m looking at it all and wondering why. I mean, at the end of the day, if I rush on out and sign up, I’m not sure what it does for me.
If I sign up for one club, will I be blackballed when I make some obnoxious comment about democrats, or bring up a pro-life point of view?
If I sign up for the other, will I be castigated as not being a team player the next time I call out Sibby as a result of the SDCAC acting as a B.S. monetary conduit for some out of state interest that they won’t reveal?
I’m probably just not a team player.
Sure, it could be the future of blogging, where they all coalesce a few websites. But As I mentioned quite some time ago after I’d been very kindly asked to join SDP, I think I’m better off by not:
…. all I can see is that if I join, I’ll be fortunate to be another contributor, but I’ll eventually slack off my own blog. Forgive the Star Trek reference, but I’ll effectively become assimilated into the collective.
In the case of political blogging, I think you get more light from several candles spread across the darkness, than one bright one.
In terms of South Dakota newspapers, I think I’m happier being a Mitchell Republic, or a Rapid City Weekly. As opposed to just another Argus related publication.
So, thanks for the invitation. But at this point, I just don’t know if it’s for me.
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Comments
Who needs another aggregator? Doesn’t the sidebar aggregator you have ’showcase’ right-of-center blogs…and everyone else, too? I don’t understand the point.
Grud’s go a real point. Why on earth would bloggers, who were born as an alternative to the MSM, want to take a page from the MSM playbook and start acting like corporate media? Isn’t the blogosphere meant to be an alternative to Clear Channel, Gannet, Fox et. al?
Consolidation breeds mediocrity, it stifles independent viewpoints and is a threat to free speech. Is this the beginning of politically correct conservatism? Will anybody who disagrees with Rush (as plagiarized by Sibby) be censored?
Conservatives must be the champions of a marketplace of ideas, since the liberals abandoned the concept decades ago. Bad idea Pat, they’re all playing catch up to you.
Can’t say I’ve ever been called a headache by a fellow conservative. Kinda cold, man, but I’ll roll with it.
To answer your question, “Why?” Sorry to burst your bubble, but not everyone who has heard of SD Wingnuts has heard of the War College has heard of Dakota Voice has heard of Sibby Online. It’s just a way to get the word out, which is all of our goals, isn’t it?
Anyway, PP, we’re all on the same team, and there will always be a spot for you on the roster, whether you like all your teammates or not. FYI, Sibby swallowed his pride and said he was fine with inviting you. Perhaps you should reconsider before trashing the invitation entirely.
you are, however, another kelo-related aggregate publication. is kelo that much different than the argus?
i get your point about not wanting to choose up sides, but give your boys some credit. from what i can tell as a non-blogger, is that their intentions are nothing but altruistic, at least not deserving of a public swipe.
Clubs, Schnubs. Who cares. Just so you know PP, I suggested that all SD blogs be on one aggregate, whether they are political or hobby, or what not. Share the love.
Gid –
The headache reference was that I’ve gotten several of these types of invitations lately, asking me to join up with this group or that group.
I certainly wasn’t trying to belittle the invitation by any means, but I’m not sure what I gain as well as multiple other things that go into it.
Are posts entered individually or automatically? Is there editorial control over content? If so, who has the editorial control – is it one person, or is it voted on among the participants? If someone commits an act of libel using the system, are all members participating potentially at risk for being held responsible?
And so on, and so on..
I’m not trying to throw cold water on it, and if it works for you, great, and I wish you all the success in the world. But I don’t take such moves lightly, and I carefully contemplate what it means for me in terms of what I stand to lose in terms of independence, the amount of time it would take me to participate, as well as comparing it to what I stand to gain in exposure.
Might I change my mind at some point? Possibly. But for the moment, I’ll wait and see what it might offer.
-pp
Pat, you do know you’re not running for office anymore right? You can take a stance and stick with it. If you don’t want to join, don’t join, if you want to join, join. Your talk about will I or won’t I is sad, we don’t care if you join or not.
Pat:
This isn’t an either or proposition. You can hang with the Righty bloggers and be part of a broader SD blogging community. The Lake Herman Accordites are just looking for more ways to draw readers to our blogs and engage them with us and the readers in their own communities.
No one in our bunch is going to tell you what to write. We want a diversity of voices–left, right, middle, tomatos, dogs, cartoons, etc.
Todd Epp
Co-Organizer and Kayaking Instructor
Lake Herman Accords
http://www.southdakotawatch.net
The SD Shovel is a perfect name for the type of stuff they are putting out there. _ _ it’s only going to get deeper as the election nears.
Eventually, the will of Landru will prevail and you will be absorbed.