If you know blogs and blogging and just want to read a good summary of the PJM comings and goings, California Conservative has one here.
If you need the background from a blogger's perspective - here's why some are angry.
Others, like me for instance, simply weren't interested from the start and are mostly commenting as observers of something which likely can't help but shift the blog playing field, particularly among conservative blogs. And no one is really sure how that might happen, or to what degree.
Then there's a group, apparently, of certain bloggers who will be supplying content for PJM - and another group which will be listed as PJM blogs, but mostly just carrying ads through a network headed by PJM. You'd have to ask an insider about that.
Ultimately, I think that is one of the things troubling many bloggers, even some would be insiders - bloggers thrive on information. PJM hasn't made much available. Consequently, I think that's led to some strong reactions when what there was to see didn't look very good.
Now, finally, why PJM is mostly irrelevant to me has to do with content. A great irony in that is, especially early on, I was doing more actual reporting on the Natalee Holloway case than the vast majority of blogs have ever done on anything. Few if any bloggers have spent the time and money I did talking to people, asking questions. And, yes, it pisses me off that most bloggers don't respect it.
As Malkin displayed so coldly way back one day - Natalee Holloway - Who Cares was the headline, or something like that - the blogs involved in all this don't want anything to do with the stories I enjoy following. Consequently, the elitist attitude of a PJM turned me off.
Until recently, large audience blogging has been mostly for people who follow politics and associated stories. I still love doing them occasionally - but they get boring, especially between elections. Again, another irony, was going from 200 to 20k readers a day when I started writing about things other than just politics. But that is dismissed by many bloggers as just being from search engines. Well, DUH! How exactly DO people find what they want to read?? Hellooooo?
I honestly believe that in five years, if not less, the political blogs are going to be as marginal as the Op Ed page - yeah it's a part of the paper, but not what the vast majority of people like to read. How many typists, including me BTW, who either love or hate Bush do you actually need to read? So, I didn't join PJM, as it was always clear that if I did make it through whatever the cut was, I'd really just be locked into an ad deal I had no details about. Anyway - enough of that. Read the Cal. Con. if you want the nuts and bolts of it. And don't forget this either: - here's why some are angry.
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