Blogging. The Next Generation

I began this blog seven years ago, though a version of it existed before then. The years between 2000 and 2010 have seen some very short lived blogs, some very controversial blogs and some very self-referential blogs. Almost all of them, including mine, have been limited by the amount of time and resources we can expend on them and the amount of traffic we generate. There are some exceptions, but even some of the big hitters have packed it in. It is not that high volume traffic is good on its own. It is not. Anybody can generate hits. What the blogger lacked, and this was always going to be a disabling factor, is resources. Blogger fatigue is not unknown. It is simply impossible to create a blog that combines accuracy, interest, content, immediacy and reader loyalty on any scale that would compete with the MSM. And there is the rub. Some of us want to compete with the MSM. It is one of the reasons I do it. Let me get this straight, it is not an ego trip, it is a very deep-rooted desire to promote a new agenda in media. It is also not an alternative, but a brand new type of mass communication that is beholden to no one.

More importantly, one of its intrinsic components is interaction between the reader and the writer. This is not merely a "comment is free/have your say" interaction (which by the way is heavily censored and moderated) but the kind of engagement you get in the theatre; the readers are part of the building, the fourth wall as the luvvies put it. In essence, the readers become part of the actual discourse. It is something I have hoped for on this blog but sadly, very few readers understood this. Some of you have criticised me for not responding to every comment. My hope was, and this never happened, was that you would talk amongst yourselves while I got on with the actual work of researching, writing and checking and thinking. I do not blame anybody. But a handful of loyal readers do not a movement make. To those who "got it", I thank you, for it gave me hope.

Let us be frank, the Fourth Estate has let us down. By anybody's standards, the Main Stream Media have failed to be a "fourth estate" and are now merely a loose confederacy of organs who broadly conform to the status quo. They are far too close to the ruling elites for comfort. Not only that, their professional standards are woeful. What is needed is a new approach, one that rekindles the aims and purpose of what the media used to be, but with something more. I understand the media, I trained in it and worked in it at the highest levels. It has become an embarrasment and a travesty of the truth. Blogging is a de facto admission that the MSM has failed.

Blogging was in its infancy and needed to find its way. Over and above the reasons given, many have moved on, and it is my intention to also move on.

Yes, Wrinkled Weasel is going to end.

However, what I do and have been doing is not going to end. None of what I have said is taken back. I am not going to work for the MSM and I am not going to turn this into a platform for promoting Weasel plc or my own branded Mugs and T shirts. And I am not doing a strop or going out in a huff,

The writer of this blog has been offered, and accepted an equal partnership with an online magazine, or if you like, an online pub, that is already part of the second generation of what we used to call a blog.

I shall still do all the WW posts (but not as WW). You will still get the kind of material that has made this a blog that people like, which is why, quite out of the blue, I was approached to join someone who can reach out to a lot more people than I ever did. Not only that, I shall be able to commit a lot more time and energy and, importantly, I shall have the resources to take on the MSM at their own game and bloody well throttle them.

Sooner or later, what I am doing will become common knowledge among the bloggerati, but for now, keep it under your hat.

Thank you and may your blog go with you.

21 comments:

Smoking Hot said...

Rats ... and there l was hoping one day to own a WW coffee mug!

Well WW, I wish you every success. When you are up and running, please give us the directions to where your new 'abode' is.

One hopes that will be very soon.

Jim Baxter said...

Yes indeed. What Smoking said. This sounds like a good move. The WW style and content deserves a wider audience.

The wvs have been getting trickier and trickier anyway and my eyesight isn't up to them any more.

Woodsy42 said...

Does this mean that poor couple in your sidebar get to have a rest? All that dancing, they must be knackered by now!
But I hope you will tell us where to find you.
Good luck.

Rebel Saint said...

So you're doing a Dale? Sad news. Hope the loss of complete independence doesn't squeeze you into a mould. I'm sure the decision to lay down 7yrs of work won't have been taken lightly. As much as anything I used to love coming across your moniker and insightful comments on other blogs. Will that continue?

And what of all the other things you've written in the past couple of weeks ... the appeal for some donations to take things onto a new platform, the readers survey etc. What was that all abobut? Is there more to this than meets the eye, may I ask?

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Thank you. The blog will stay up forever, but comments will be turned off soon.

Span Ows said...

I'll get my comment in quick then! However can you clarify something:

"I shall still do all the WW posts (but not as WW)

Doe sthis mean that apart from the new post (ooops I mean job!) will you be posting HERE on WWW - but with no comments - or at the new place? Apolgies if I'm being really thick!

Conan the Librarian™ said...

Goodbye and thanks for all the quizzes. Will they be part of this new format?

Brian said...

Jim,
What say we have a demonstration of people power and take over the Wrinkled Weasel blogsite? We'll take out all the lightbulbs and replace them with nightlights then I'll nail a background up and creosote it. Then we'll invite everyone in the right margin round.
WW,
Good for you, old chap. Fair thee well.

Richard said...

Wot Jim said.

Whatever you move on to, I hope it brings you what you want (and I am sure it will), but I will miss the old Weasel.

Good luck, bud.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

I obviously have not made it clear.

I am not changing anything. The bloke who does Wrinkled Weasel is simply going somewhere else, somewhere with a bigger readership.

It will not be under Wrinkled Weasel, but you will soon figure out what is going on.

Rebel, I am not "doing a Dale" how very dare you! I was plodding through some ways to up the game here, but someone beat a path to my door and I accepted it.

This person wanted and will get WW, though by another name.

Jim Baxter said...

Brian,

Like a good old 70s work-in you mean? But without the work. Oh. Just like a 70s work-in then.

Or a lock-in. Better. Drink our way through WW's booze stash, repaint the whole place heliotrope, set up some blackjack tables, 24/7 strippers instead of the dancing pool-ball heads...

Count me in. The lunatics are taking over the asylum.

strapworld said...

WW.

I will miss you. In a sea of mediocracy your blog has been thought provoking, melancholy, brilliant and absolutely spot on.

You have my best wishes for the future and I do wish the venture all success.

You have my email, so please let me have details so I can subscribe etc.


Thanks for doing such a brilliant job.

Strap

Foxy Brown said...

I only discovered your blog at the start of this year, after clicking on the link on Subrosa's site, I was intrigued by your name. May I say that reading this blog has been an absolute pleasure and joy.

The Weasel is dead! Long live the Weasel!

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Strap I have lost your email. Please send it again.

Foxy, do get in touch and I will point you in the right direction, and that goes for anybody who is interested.

WV ambighe

RMcGeddon said...

Good luck WW. Will watch out for you sitting on the sofa with Portillo and Brillo pad ;)

King Athelstan said...

All the best with that then, do let us know where to look.

Ed P said...

Good luck with the new venture. It's been a pleasure reading your posts.
All power to your wrinkle!

Foxy Brown said...

Foxy, do get in touch

Will do, or rather have done.

Hamish said...

Sorry to hear you are moving on.
What I regret about the way blogging has gone is that the original bloggers felt it had to become a full time job.

What the blogging revolution enabled is that anyone who wanted to share their views could sign-up to a free blog-provider and sound off on anything whatsoever.
They could do that while keeping the day job.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Hamish, an important point. Yes, it was a revolution, but in order to lift it above the level of cutting and pasting and ranting we need more resources.

My day job will now be blogging; unadulterated WW but somewhere else.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Contact email magicged(goawayspam)@hotmail.com

Comments are now closed.
If you missed the party and want to know what the fuss was all about, check the archives via the side bar or subject search.

The blog will remain alive as long as blogger allows.

WW