Daniel Munz, who I've always found really excellent and thought-provoking, has got himself a new blog. Go say hi. And while you're there, tell him to make the banner atop the site smaller, it'd be nice to see a post or two when I first land on the page.
On a related note, I've been thinking a lot about link hierarchies and new blog promotion. In comments, Brian Jennings made the point that it makes more sense for a few writer to put his energy into posting diaries at DailyKos, rather than stick his flag in some unknown backland in cyberspace. Kos's place boasts a huge audience who will look at your work and, if they like what you do, ensure more folks read it. At the top levels of diary promotion, more eyeballs will land on it than will see any other blogger that day, save Kos himself. That's a much more rational and direct reward system, particularly in the lefty blogosphere where our interest in promoting our brethren fluctuates between "nil" and "eh". Unfortunately, and I wish it were different, I can't see that as a good thing, no matter how I try. Though Kos is benevolent and far-sighted and walks on water and speaks to birds, confining so much new energy to his site can't be good. It'll only choke off the vibrancy of the progressive blogosphere in the long run. Now, I don't blame Markos for any of that, this has been a pretty surprising occurrence that grew out of some great moves (like the switch to Scoop), but it's a problem nonetheless. Wonder what the folks at Next Hurrah think about all this?
My only conclusion -- and what a weak one it is! -- is that I need to spend more time promoting young bloggers. I'm not the biggest hitter around, but I generally tip 6K by day's end, and that's worth throwing around. My best idea for doing so is to expand my use of gtuests. I prefer not to blog on weekend's -- it gives me time to recharge, time to think, time to read books...and I've been really happy with the guest bloggers who've taken over during the time. So I'm thinking of making that a regular thing, wherein each weekend I'll turn the site over to one, maybe more, young bloggers. That way you guys get a great writer, great writers get more exposure, and I get to "have a life". What say you, readers? I mean, Shakespeare's Sister really kicked the ass, didn't she?
