Well, I’ve done my second Missing Link over at Club Troppo, which has been an enjoyable (but time consuming) exercise. Do take the time to head over there and check out my efforts. I’m very glad I’m involved, but I’m also glad my turn in the editor’s chair won’t come around again for over a month. I can see why Ken just had to find some willing helpers. I’m not sure who’s taking over for next week - Ken is in the process of producing a roster - but Jason will be doing Missing Link at some point in the future, and I’m sure he’ll notice the great posts I miss!
I’d also recommend subscribing if you’re not someone who regularly visits Club Troppo, which you can do when you visit my post.
5 Comments
How do people find the time to create Missing Link? It’s a huge voluntary effort.
On a similar note, thoughtful blogging can take a huge amount of energy and effort. No doubt many people would like to contribute thoughtful posts to the blogworld but don’t have the time.
Ken couldn’t keep doing it solo, that’s for sure. I’ve had a lot more experience as an editor, so I’m quick, but even then, I wrote off three hours on Wednesday and about 90 minutes today. Had I done a Monday edition as well, I’d have been looking at six hours total for the week. I’m happy to do that every six weeks or so (the current plan), but wouldn’t do what Ken was doing for quids.
Mark has made the point at LP a couple of times that blogging is about to reach a tipping point, both in terms of reach and financing. I’m not sure what that means in practice, but I’m curious to find out.
Maybe many more of the best bloggers will be offered regular income for their work and/or publishers will trawl the blogsphere for bloggers to employ or articles to publish. Nice for the bloggers, but it might take away the anarchic voluntary nature of blogging.
I have a reasonably busy life but not one without any free time, and I don’t find I have much spare time for blogging. I work 9 days a fortnight, try to go to gym once a day, absord as many interesting newspapers and articles as possible (maybe that’s my downfall!), try to keep in touch with the mathematics profession and am involved in other activities, and it’s difficult to have the energy, will and time to read interesting blog and write thoughtfully on topics of personal interest.
BTW I agree with your comment about Glen’s language over at the LP “Thread of Doom”. It is very difficult to understand! I believe that writing should be about communcation.
My free time levels vary, Sacha. I won’t be around much for the next fortnight due to work stuff - I’ll be lucky to get one post up on Catallaxy in that time - but I’ll also have more time later on where I can blog (and do other writing).
I suspect your suggestions about monetizing blogging will be a part of what happens. It’s already started with the two Tims (Blair and Dunlop), and for others of us on a smaller scale.
On a related note, did you guys see that the CEO of NYTimes said he wasn’t sure if the NYT would be in tree form in 5 years time. He thinks the future is with the web. Pretty amazing comment coming from the head of NYTimes.