Maggie's Farm

"So is Maggie's a successful blog?"

Well, it's a half a day later and there are zero comments, so I guess that answers the question. :)

No, seriously, just kidding. I would derive nothing from the fact that no one's commented on the thread. People usually just comment when an issue's been raised that they strongly agree or disagree with, not an idle question such as the above.

But it's not an idle question, is it?

I'd say it's a very important question, and deserving of some feedback. As someone who's been "blogging" (given its relatively loose definition) since October 2, 1991, and has been webmastering since the Web was one month old, please allow for a few thoughts.

First, let's get two quick things cleared up so we're all on the same page.

From the article:

"Judging the success of a blog by its page views is sort of like rating a movie by its-"

No, it IS like the other rating systems; page views ARE the way Web advertising dollars are figured. There's a big push on right now to get a better system in place because of the wildly different ways "hits" and "page views" are tabulated.

And this:

"So is Maggie's a successful blog?"

I would use the word "valuable" or "important". Maybe "page views" equals "success" from an advertising point of view, but not from a humanistic. And since there are no advertisements on the site, we have to presume money's not an issue here.

I'm reminded of the old adage, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life." If 2,000 people read one of Michelle's articles, go into the comments section and tell her she's either a god amongst goddesses or she's a warmonging death cultist, really, what's been accomplished on the reader's behalf?

Maybe a little factoid or two picked up, but, otherwise?

Nothing.

Let me make the point by telling a little story:

Back in the pre-Web days, I ran a great big BBS located smack-dab in the heart of Silicon Valley. It was, needless to say, immensely popular.

This was back when everyone was buying their first computer, so much of the site was devoted to beginners, getting them over the learning curve hump. I had also written a 60,000-word tutorial on the computer, written in fluent laypersonspeak, which was seriously appreciated and distributed BBS-to-BBS worldwide.

The BBS was free, of course. Someone once asked me in the message base why I put all the time and money into it, and here's how I responded:

"One day, in the distant future, someone's going to invent the cure for cancer. He'll be at the news conference, and one of the reporters is going to ask him how he got his start. He's going to say, "Well, I admit it was really tough learning about computers at first, and I almost gave up a number of times. But there was this one guy out there who really helped me through the tough times, and I finally mastered this amazing machine which has produced the results you see here today.'

"And I want to be that one guy."

That's how I see Maggie's Farm. It's not a matter of 'success'.

It's a matter of inspiration.
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In the following, I'm going to refer to this site as "conservative". I hope that's okay. You've got "centrists" up in the banner, so I don't want to overstep my bounds. The thing is, I can't honestly just use the term "blogsite", as I have absolutely no idea what goes on in the Lefty side of the blogosphere.

Also, when I say "only conservative site", I obviously mean just the ones I attend on a daily basis. That would include you guys, Theo's (for the hot totties, natch), Michelle's, HotAir, PowerLine, RedState, Tigerhawk, Captain's Quarters, the new Ace of Spades' Multi-Co-Blogorium, Hugh Hewitt's (until Dean left), Instapundit, and my personal fave, Neal Boortz. Then I occasionally drop by other sites, like Jules Crittenden, and, of course, there are all the links to follow on the above sites.

Did I mention I have lots of time on my hands?

So, while I obviously mean my own experiences when I use the word "only" in the following, I'd say it's a pretty fair cross section of the conservative side of the fence.

Consider, if you will:

- Maggie's Farm is the only conservative site that dares to be proud of God. It is actually somewhat rare to see a blogger refer to his faith, and certainly no one out there is posting a Biblical post as you do every Sunday. Yes, it probably drives away half of the secular readers you picked up over the previous week, but so what? They're just "page views". They're not who you're looking for.

- I know it sounds blatantly sexist to say, and I hate to even mention it, but here goes:

Guys like pictures of scantily-clad pretty girls.

And if you think that raw truth was shocking, listen to THIS:

People can see pictures of scantily-clad girls on blogsites... and STILL take the site seriously! Amazing!

It seems there are two very strict rules for a conservative blogsite:

1. No humor allowed
2. No pictures of scantily-clad pretty girls allowed

According to established dogma, the SECOND you break one of the rules, it's no longer a "serious" site and your readers won't take anything you have to say seriously.

From all of us, we assure you this isn't true, and thanks for breaking with dogma. We thank you, and our eyeballs thank you.

- And, please tell me, but where else in the conservative blogosphere are we going to find out about all of the OTHER fascinating things going on in life alongside (not apart from) politics?

Fark.com?

Spare me. There are tons of "oddball articles" sites on the Web (Fark, ObscureStore, Reuter's Odd, etc), but I didn't use the word "odd" -- I used the word "other".

One day, in the distant future, someone's going to invent the cure for diabetes. He'll be at the news conference, and one of the reporters is going to ask him how he got his start. He'll say, "Well, it's kind of crazy, but I was on some blogsite one day, and there was a real interesting article on beetles, so I started getting interested in them, and that's what eventually led me to the Amazon Basin and my discovery of this cure which will help millions of people throughout the world."

Is Maggie's Farm successful?

No. Only the A-listers are successful, which is why they're called A-listers.

Will Michelle Malkin inspire someone to invent the cure for diabetes?

No.

Will Maggie's Farm?

Possibly.

The difference is, you're giving people the chance.

Doc