You will probably notice an improvement in load time on this site because I am now removing all of my remaining Pajamas Media ad banners.
I have yet to receive my final check from them.
Whether this means that they are short of cash, careless in their accounting, or a victim of the stellar performance of our Postal Service, I have no idea.
And I don't care. For all it matters, they can spend the remaining balance on condoms with which to screw themselves.
What was promoted as an attempt to empower bloggers became an exercise in further empowering only the already-powerful bloggers and adding noise to an already-saturated echo-chamber.
Back when it started, my attempt to provide a platform for the Pajamas Bloggers (the forums) was met with scorn, ridicule, or disdain by the PJM elite, and when it was time to select a "blogger relations" blogger, they decided to stile communications further by adding an incompetent part-timer as their gatekeeper.
The sense of community was zero. Heck, less than zero because smaller fringe bloggers such as myself were left out of the mutual-admiration circle among the upper-tier bloggers, seen only as "life support for ad banners" feeding the core site or the "popular" blogs.
Forget Pajamas Media or OSM or Jellyfish as names. It's really High School Media or Clique Media.
Steve, Moxie, and Dennis - you were right. You were right.
However, I'd still like to thank Roger, Charles, Glenn, LaShawn, and all the others providing the heels that ground my enthusiasm for blogging into dust. Without your suppression, I would not have sought out other outlets for expression and creativity, such as podcasting and gardening and building within Second Life.
Yeah, I've encountered cliques and such within those platforms, too. But unlike the blogging social stratification that Pajamas Media has sought to reinforce for profit's sake, podcasting and SL are still relatively young and there's still a chance for enthusiastic, energetic and creative types to be judged on their skills and achievements and not on past accolades and "who you know."
Comments (13)
Ahhh...much cleaner.
I have no one to blame for my lack of enthusiasm for letting things on my website slide. I just got lazy. I did pull weeds last week, that's a good thing. And I read four books last week, criminal fiction, that's my fave. I've got a stack of stuff that I buy and just haven't gotten around to reading, like the New Mexico Trilogy, John Nichols. I'm re-reading the Milagro Beanfield War right now.
I know it was a disappointment to you, Lair, but I'm glad you're rid of them. Maybe now you can do those cool "A Day in the Life of Dubya" pictorals again. Those always made me smile.
Now, about those broken images at the top of the page....
Posted by lisaviolet | April 1, 2007 11:58 AM
Posted on April 1, 2007 11:58
Who needs PJM? The IFOC network is so much better.
Posted by David | April 1, 2007 1:09 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 13:09
Fast? I nearly shat.
Posted by colin | April 1, 2007 1:09 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 13:09
I won't be missing the ads...
Now if my eyes will just adjust to the new color scheme...
Posted by Justin | April 1, 2007 1:13 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 13:13
Is this an April Fool's joke?
Posted by Chickie | April 1, 2007 3:29 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 15:29
Don't forget catblogging as one of your primary outlets for creativity. And don't tell me that's not creative, either!!
I like the fast loading, too. Yayyy!
Posted by Marilynn | April 1, 2007 3:58 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 15:58
Yeah, PJM strikes me as a rather untrustworthy enterprise. Now bring back your darn BlogAds! I want to advertise with you already. (Well, actually, I want my wife to advertise with you.) And abuse your privileges over at Meryl's site and set her up with some, too, while you're at it. :)
Posted by A Steve | April 1, 2007 6:30 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 18:30
I tried listening to PajamasMedia's podcast today. First I was confronted by several people going by pseudonyms... which might seem hypocritical from a girl going by 'Venomous Kate', except that I don't hide my last name (witness my WhoIS) and I'm not making Podcasts claiming to be 'mental health experts and news gurus.' What I got, for my time listening -- which was only 2 minutes -- was some shrill stupidity. Don't. Need. That.
Anyway, Lair, stop bashing yourself for joining a Utopian ideal. Both sides of the political divide have them. We on the 'right' tend to dress ours in fancier, more money-making terms.
Posted by Venomous Kate | April 1, 2007 7:42 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 19:42
Ay, caramba.
I don't want to get into your beef with PJM's blogger relations person, since I like both of you. But I can understand your irritation. PJM had no product, and then they hired a PR guy who didn't know how to do PR, to under-publicize what they didn't have.
I suspect that PJM might have been a completely different experience if Simon, Johnson, and Reynolds had had their pay linked to PJM's profits. They cut Jeff Goldstein's pay because they thought he underperformed. Doesn't that mean the big dogs should be giving PJM at least a partial refund? Yeah, that'll happen real soon.
For what it's worth, judging from my recent experiences, if you want to get promoted, you have to do it yourself. Get those ridiculous Digg, Stumbleupon, and Del.icio.us doodads on your site, and if you do stuff you want people to know about, put together an email list. If you do anything you REALLY want people to know about, start calling the producers at radio stations.
I'm way too self-absorbed to link people without being prompted, so let me know when you need a link and I'll put it up. A good fraction of my 12 readers will show up in no time.
Posted by Steve H. | April 1, 2007 8:02 PM
Posted on April 1, 2007 20:02
PJM looked like a great idea when it came out, though like you said it didn't do much to promote the lesser trafficked sites in their network. I can't think of any bloggers who hit the "big time" because of affiliation with PJM.
It's their loss though, considering they could have charged more for advertising by increasing the pageloads of their non-core blogs.
Seems that the easiest methods to crack into the upper echelon of blog traffic are be a minor celebrity, post papparazzi photos of accidental celeb nudity or go back in time to the year 2000 and start blogging.
Posted by Chris | April 2, 2007 10:23 AM
Posted on April 2, 2007 10:23
I'm already here, Steve.
Elizabeth
Imperial Keeper
Posted by Elizabeth, Imperial Keeper | April 3, 2007 3:21 PM
Posted on April 3, 2007 15:21
Steve-
I know this is going to sound absurd, but I really dislike sending out links to stuff in a wide distribution like that John Hawkins creep.
If people aren't reading and being inspired to link, no sense in nudging them into it.
The rare times I promote something, like a new IFOC subdomain, I tend to stick to close friends and the local circle of IM folks.
-ls
Posted by Laurence Simon | April 3, 2007 3:27 PM
Posted on April 3, 2007 15:27
I never ask bloggers for links, either. Sometimes I wish I had the grasping, weevil-like nature of a Kevin Aylward, to make self-promotion more pleasant.
The mailing list, though...those people are ASKING for it.
Posted by Steve H. | April 3, 2007 8:58 PM
Posted on April 3, 2007 20:58