People I actually know and interact with in real life, sometimes referred to as "friends" and "family," who also happen to read my ThunderJournal, occasionally ask me why my site has become so much more focused on the silly nonsense rather than the somewhat deeper stuff I used to write about in the early years.
And I have to be honest: I just got bored with it. I'm at my happiest when I'm writing about topical stuff, news of the weird, mocking Nick Coleman, and generally sharing anecdotes from my life when something I deem interesting occurs.
And, really, after about four years of mixing it up in my comment threads as well as others, yammering about everything ranging from politics to, well, politics, I just stepped back one day and thought "what's the fucking point?" I found myself establishing and defending positions that, at the end of the day, were basically ridiculous exercises in futility, although some great insults were written back in those halcyon days that I'll always cherish, Jesus Fuck Dog.
Besides that, come about the 2006 timeframe, the Internet opened up even more, with the emergence and dominance of MySpace and FaceBook and MyFace and SpaceBook, not to mention YouTube and the bazillian forums that can be found all over the Web. In other words, the "conversation" went viral. Many newspapers have finally clued into the need for comment threads on their news articles and opinion pieces (the Strib being a notable exception, because they remain largely clueless about all things Internet--Buzz.mn being their exception), so the debate can begin at the source, rather than bringing the articles over here for a virgin fisking. *growl*
There are, literally, millions and millions of newcomers to the Internet conversation coming to the medium almost on a daily basis, and the thought of leaping into that pool of newbs and outlining, for the millionth time, my thoughts and positions and covering all that same old, tired ground, just makes my mind grind to a halt. New people to the Web discussion are often immediately tiresome (think YouTube comments), about five years behind the conversation, passionate without focus, overly excited about having a place to say something, and frankly just not worth the effort.
So, my ThunderJournal, which started as a little corner of Web where I could hopefully sharpen my writing skills by penning a lighthearted journal, morphed into a semi-serious conversation, and is now back where I want it to be: mostly silly nonsense.
Besides, with house projects, an eventual wedding to think about, jiu-jitsu training, and other actual things of personal importance going on, arguing on the Internet just seems kind of silly right now.
I still fully intend to keep this ThunderJournal going; just don't expect anything too serious.
Poop. Fart. Wiener poopy.
Posted by Ryan at February 15, 2008 02:27 PM | TrackBackYou scared me, I thought you were gonna say that you were quitting blogging. Don't do me like that again, hear me?
Jesus shit the bed too. That was one of my faves lol.
And I am liking the videos, I could have used some of that stuff when I was wrestling around in the back seat in my teenage years!
i agree. i still post links and some commentary on serious topics, but why write about things that have already been written and discussed ad nauseum, especially when most of my readers have said they like personal/anecdotal posts more than any topical soapboxing i've ever written?
i myself don't read political blogs, i read personal ones. if i want politics or news, i go to news sites.
Stumble It!
