For all of our faithful readers (which are basically just all of us who were already "on staff" so far), I think it is important to peel back the curtains and reveal what's been going on. If only for posterity's sake, so that we might come back to this post months from now and remember when we started to define ourselves. Or so we can trace the origins of the internal disagreements that ripped the blog asunder.
It seems that we've moved back to that special time of year when all of us have been thinking about how we really ought to run a blog together, only it seems that with our group of friends now spread evenly across the country (if evenly is the proper description for a handful of cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest), both Misters Noah J. and Quoctrung Bui have decided to get the ball rolling! How Scandalous!
Mr. Bui posted the entry directly below my own, which you can read for yourself. He proposes a new type of blog: A Friendship Blog. Bui sums up the entire notion rather eloquently: A blog that "is only here to blog about things that friends care about." A noble notion to be sure. And not far off from the original intention of the blog. Each of us, while friends, have wildly different areas of expertise that compliment each other. We disagree about simple assertions, and that fuels our discussions, and ultimately our friendships. Since we're not having those discussions in person, it's good to have those discussions online. A good mission statement for the blog as we move forward, to be sure.
Meanwhile, ACROSS THE INTERNET, a certain Mr. J conspired to regather the forces of Scrabblegories himself. And so he sent out the following Facebook message to the group (this is mostly the bit I figure should get recorded publicly for posterity):
Earlier today I was sitting on a bench outside of the factory where I work, munching thoughtfully on a Little Debbie brand Honey Bun® and listening to a Liszt etude when suddenly I was struck by a realization. It hit me like a physical blow, and all at once I knew what had to be done.
My friends, I knew that Settlers of Scrabblegories had to be restarted. And also that I should twitter about it, because I have a problem with that service that no miracle of modern medicine can solve. But that isn’t really important right now. Tim, pay attention: I can see you daydreaming back there.
What is important is that we, us chosen few, come together and collaborate. Together we can rule the blogosphere, as father and son. If that sort of relationship makes you uncomfortable I suppose we can reevaluate it.
As such, I have decided to contact you. And you and you. And also you. Nine of us, each with a unique voice and perspective. Economists and teachers, photographers and translators, students and interns and DJs. And Tim. Diverse voices and perspectives from various and varied fields, rare and talented people whom I believe can make a blog the likes of which has never been seen.
Of course, we’ve tried this before. It collapsed like an overhandled wad of dough in the oven. Despite our talents, we failed. So, I think we need to ask more of ourselves. To make this work, I propose the following:
A contributor has three duties
A) 1 (one) BIG blog post a week. That means three or more paragraphs on a subject of their choosing.
B) 1 (one) micro post a day. This can be a video, a link, a few lines. But each of us need post one a day.
C) Read the blog. Keep up with your fellow contributors contributions, to avoid repetition and to develop a conversation, if one so chooses.
That’s it! I don’t think that’s too bad. With all of us, that’s a lot of daily content. There’re bugs with the above system, but they can be ironed out later as they become more obvious.
Finally, I understand all of you are busy people. In fact, I’m certain not all of you made it this far through the message. I’m looking at you, Tim. I put the above duties as an attempt to make being a contributor more manageable, but if you’re not convinced/aren’t interested, I won’t be upset. I understand. I understand this much:
I’d like to have this thing running by Monday but PFFFFFT YEAH RIGHT come on that’s crazy so let’s shoot for Monday of the week after next. Shoot a reply back, with your current email address, and I can put together a mailing list and we can discus content and other issues if there are other issues. And I know we all probably have another six people who'd be just perfect for this thing but let's get it running first.
Finally, it’s pretty clear at this point that I mean to put on one of those fancy Editor hats with the visor. That means I’ll probably bug and bother you guys and everyone will get a little irritated with me, but I want to see this thing happen, if for no other reason than to work together with my friends to build something magical. I think we can build something magical here guys. Something that can shit rainbows and cry unicorn blood.
I believe we can do it.
Finally, I’d like to address Tim directly and- Tim! …Tim? Aw shucks guys I think he fell asleep. Must be all tuckered out.
Yours,
Noah J.
p.s. sorry Tim I love you so much
p.p.s. sorry Bui I just saw your post on the actual thing- consider your thunder STOLEN
Thunder stolen, indeed! So consider this also a very special announcement of the very first Editor of "Settlers of Scrabblegories", the very same Mr. Noah J. hisself!
Now time will tell how this progresses, and I certainly hope it all works out for the best. The two bits that I'd like to add to the discussion are as follows: the success of this Blog, as suggested by Bui, should be measured by keeping each other interested. However, that doesn't mean we should treat this like a communal Facebook wall. If we can pick up non-friend readers, that would be phenomenal, and we should hold ourselves to the kind of professionalism suggested by Noah.
That means the small daily posts, and the weekly or more than weekly major posts. That means actually looking over what you wrote for a minute before posting it, so grammar isn't a glaring absence in your post... That means listening to Noah when he says you should talk about something. Don't lose your own voice, and feel free to be silly, but this is for all of us, and for everybody. Make your point. I mean, hell, all of us think we know everything, so why not actually try to prove it!
So stay tuned, True Believers! If this works, you will stumble across this post someday in the archives, and not just laying here on the front page. Consider that a challenge, fellow Scrabblegorians... Let's bury this post under a pile of interesting, cool things, and thoughts and the such!
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