A big sigh of relief on getting back into something more comfortable
This is good. This is very good: the name OSM (Open Source Media) turns out to have had a brief but unhappy life, and is being tossed into the dustbin of history, exactly where it belongs, IMHO. Welcome back old friend, Pajamas Media!
I wish I could say “I told you so.” (Actually, I could say “I told you so”–along with most other bloggers–but my earlier criticism of the name change was never expressed in print.)
Pajamas Media was a great name, and it’s still a great name. Whether the entire concept is equally great, and will ultimately fly, remains to be seen. But I’m certainly willing to wait and see.
I’ve seen the flak from others within the blogosphere and without: criticisms of the name (agreed on that score), the business model (don’t know enough about it), the writing on the site (I’m giving that one time).
Call me shallow, call me social, call me a touch-feely-therapist type, but my main motivation so far in joining PJ Media has been to meet other bloggers, and that’s been realized, in spades. How else and where else would there ever have been the opportunity to get so many bloggers in one room together?–after, all, herding cats is a notoriously difficult enterprise.
As far as the money goes, I’m more than satisfied. I could have started some blogads here, but really hadn’t done the research yet to do so. So I’m more than happy to let PJ do it for me and pay me a tiny bit of money in the bargain. I have the right of refusal; I can quit at any point I wish and be right back where I started, having lost nothing, including my autonomy.
As far as all the anger towards OSM/Pajamas from Ann Althouse and Dennis the Peasant and others goes, they have their own concerns. Included in the mix are their own stories of having been dissed by the powers that be at PJ. Who’s right and who’s wrong is one of those things I won’t comment on unless I’ve heard the full tale from both sides–and I wish I had, actually, because my therapist self somehow thinks maybe I could have mediated, at least at the beginning.
That’s probably the height of hubris on my part; perhaps the differences and anger were just too great even from the start (and if anyone hasn’t a clue what I’m talking about and is interested, just go to each person’s blog–listed on my blogroll–and start scrolling down. You’ll find a bunch of posts on the subject soon enough).
It’s sad when people who were formerly friends (or at least, formerly civil!) end up dishing out so much vitriol at each other. I know, or at some previous point have had correspondence with, everyone involved (some very slightly and tangentially, and some rather better), so I’ll draw the veil of silence now on the subject, put my apple over my face, and go slinking off.
I hope I don’t sound cold or disinterested when I say this, but I don’t think my blog –or the blogs of any of us, including its founders–will live or die by the success of PJ Media. We all define success differently; right now, I consider this blog to have been successful, if not beyond my wildest dreams, then certainly beyond what I considered any realistic expectations. Great readers, and plenty of them–what more could a person want?
I certainly didn’t go into blogging for the money–that would have been like going into poetry for the money. I may be economically illiterate, but I’m not financially balmy. I can only speak for myself, but I know why I blog, and I don’t think that reason will ever change. I knew from the start what my niche would be–what the story was that I felt internally driven to tell.
What is it I needed to say, and why am I so compelled to tell my tale? Well, it just so happens that I once wrote a post on that very topic. So if you want the best answer I can give, see here for more.
OSM=Out of Stream Media.
“I doubt I would spend much time here if all you did was paste some blurb on some event from another source and your respondents replied with cute one-liners.”
-Goesh
Hmmm…my typing skills being limited to a (quite rapid) single digit, my posts could generally be classified as one liners; not necessarily cute ones, but one liners nevertheless.
That being said, here goes:
Thanks for explaining the meaning of “OSM”, I really didn’t know what it stood for previously.
A “unique sense of humor?” I’ll have to remember that one next time I troll someone’s blog. “You’re all little Eichmanns, and closet necrophiliacs too, and it’s not my fault you don’t understand my unique sense of humor.”
Bodily fluids? Oh, please. Does it not occur to you that naming a new venture something that sounds like “Open Sores” when said aloud may not be a good thing, and to have that pointed out is a consructive criticism?
People don’t think about these things when assigning names, and they should. Ann did not compare OSM to pus. The whole bodily fluids thing was just a humorous riff that started from the “Open Sores” thing — which did not originate with Althouse.
I believe in freedom of speech on my blog, but I also believe in being responsible. And ,to be honest, I hope Congress doesn’t try to regulate the blogosphere !
Wonderful post. Here’s my take:
Why should the blogosphere be more civil than any other neighborhood? It’s a dog-eat-dog, Darwinian world out there. Sandbox dynamics rule.
“Perhaps the differences and anger were just too great even from the start”
Anonymous: She has a unique sense of humor. Is it her fault some people don’t get it?
…so I’ll draw the veil of silence now on the subject, put my apple over my face, and go slinking off.
come back here. No need to slink. is there?
Good to see you back in your comfy freshly-laundered PJ’s.
RE: The “anger”.
Funny thing is that – for the most part – even those doing the criticising don’t really spend that much time on it. I know that my name has shown up as a critic, for example, but there’s so much more I don’t bother to comment on or post about that the criticism I’ve given is akin to the visible part of an iceberg. What looks like ‘anger’ from anothers’ vantagepoint might be just throwaway comments from the supposedly ‘angry’ critic.
All I remember Althouse doing is comparing OSM to pus, semen, and other unpleasant bodily fluids. Not exactly constructive criticism, that.
…so I’ll draw the veil of silence now on the subject, put my apple over my face, and go slinking off.
Just two of the many reasons I come back here daily are: the quality of your writing and the level-headed approach you take. Both are demonstrated by the quote above.
THANK YOU, Neo-neocon.
I’m a regular reader and sporadic commenter at Althouse and a regular reader here, finally moved to make my first comment. Ann has expressed some annoyance at Roger Simon’s rude treatment of her, but she hasn’t expressed any hostility towards PJ/OSM. She has posted some pointed, well-founded criticisms of PJ, the chief one being that it’s lacking in compelling content.
Dennis the Peasant is a different story, of course! He’s righteously pissed off. That was a fun read, in a “juicy gossip” kind of way.
What made it fun for me is that all of this stuff is completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I’m only commenting now because I’m surprised to hear you repeating the charge that Ann was “hostile” to OSM when all she did was point out how weak a product it is, after all fanfare and hoo-ha on its launch.
Paying money to “suits” to be told they could use a name/title already in use was not too swift. I like this forum for your original thought and lack of dependence on pasting. Paid parrots are a dime a dozen. Your respondents are thoughtful, very challenging people. I doubt I would spend much time here if all you did was paste some blurb on some event from another source and your respondents replied with cute one-liners.