Blogger and Daily Telegraph opinion editor, Timmeh Blair, has struck a deal with his employer for the right to do officially what most bloggers do on the sly: blog on work time using work bandwidth. Blair this morning announced that he will be moving his extremely popular blogging activities from timblair.net to the Tele’s website.
This raises all sorts of questions about the pros and cons of such a transition from independent blogger with no real parameters for posts and comments to commercial media blogger bound by pesky rules about things like defamation and commercial interests. We’re planning on fully discussing these issues in tomorrow’s GrodsThink. (End shameless plug.)
But the moment I read Tim’s transfer news this morning I knew that the most interesting thing to watch would be the reaction of his winged monkey commenters who are acutely aware that their days of unmoderated freedom are over. Hilariously, they are bitching on the one hand about the moderation system at the new site which will surely prune 75% of their comments…
So we have to go back to a moderation system Tim?
– Ash_
held for moderator approval
Leave it to a dead tree publication with a website to kill the spontaneity of the threads, which are half the fun…
– Bruce Rheinstein
…but bitching on the other hand about losing the moderation provided by the infamous Andrea Harris, Administrator at the old site.
I miss Andrea already. Can’t you take her with you? Doesn’t seem right somehow.
– Mambo Bananapatch
So who will boot the morons and moonbats if not Andrea?
– Steve Skubinna
For the first time ever Blair’s winged monkeys are going to have to deal with — gasp! — alternative viewpoints without the safety net provided by Andrea’s overzealous use of the delete button. No wonder some are declaring Timmeh’s blogging days over.
Oh well - this is the end of an era and the end of free ranging comments and expression. If anyone wants an idea of what Tim’s new site will be like, just have a look at comments section on Andrew Bolt’s blog
No more free ranging fucking comments!
In fact I remember posting a couple of times to Australian newspaper blogs (not sure if it was the Australian or Bolt) but they did not appear. Either my pseudonym or comments (and they were clean) were unacceptable.
So it definitely will be no more fucking comments. And I dare say there will be no room for detective paco’s adventures. Sigh
Farewell Tim Blair’s Blog
– Wand
I feel like my favourite pub has closed.
Need to find a new one. Been looking at an interesting establishment down the road a bit.
Do you serve Aussie reds at your place Andrea?
– Pogria
But spare a thought for poor Andrea Harris, Administrator who now wields exactly zero power and exerts exactly zero influence over Blair and his ragtag bunch of defaming muppets, not to mention over the lefty minions of evil who dare oppose Timmeh’s thoughts. No wonder she’s left with no option but to beg people to visit her blog despite its complete lack of any content worth reading.
Hey guys, I have a website of my own. I even post to it from time to time. However, my posts aren’t all that interesting these days.
– Andrea Harris, Administrator
You don’t say.
My tiny kitchen has more cupboard space — and a pantry! — than the previous kitchen. So I’ve sacrificed some floor space; so what, it makes it that much easier to fill the cat’s water bowl.
The hot water stays hot for ages. In the previous place I was lucky if I’d get fifteen minutes of actual hot water in the shower with the super water-saver shower head I installed myself. Here I use the gusher that came with the apartment and I can stay in the shower as long as I want.
But thinking again about Blair’s decision to move blogs, it’s difficult to see how it could possibly be a good decision given that it will not significantly boost his stats and will likely cost a decent chunk of his current readership.