Sanity Check
Aussie Dave | Nov 14, 2007 | 17 comments
It has already been over a week since I invited Elder to contribute to this site, and I am sure you will all agree he has posted some very well thought out and interesting posts.
Now it is important to me to get your feedback on whether or not you like this new multi-blogger format. From my perspective, it helps alleviate some of the pressure, and adds some new viewpoints to the site.
All constructive comments are welcome.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: Blog Announcements
What is the difference between linking to something on his site, and having him blog the same thing here?
Stan
I don’t have time to check different blogs and link to entries. But that doesn’t answer the question – do you prefer multi-blogger or single blogger format? In other words, do you prefer all Aussie Dave, all the time, or a bit more variety on this blog?
I think a bit of variety is not so bad especially since the ideas conveyed are not too different.
I must say I have enjoyed reading Elder of Zion although I haven’t had a chance to visit his blog…
Elder does a nice job.
Elder’s just fine over here.
Just to clarify: this isn’t about whether or not Elder is fine. I know he is. But rather whether or not you prefer Israellycool to have multiple contributors or not.
Thanks all for the kind words.
I had a brief discussion with Soccer Dad about not only co-blogging but also about the future of JBlogging altogether. As the blogosphere as a whole gets larger, if we want to make our voices heard we will need to adapt. HotAir is a good example of bloggers getting together to make a real professional news site; others have had varying degrees of success (like Infidel Bloggers Alliance and Maverick News Network.)
I would love to see an web newspaper that would consolidate feeds from various Jewish bloggers and become the major place they can find news – sort of a really good, public RSS reader. (A week or so ago I found some RSS widgets that allowed me to make a very crude mock-up of a ten-blog “Israel Blog News” consolidator. It would have to be orders of magnitude better than that, though.)
But – who has the time and talent to do this?
For those interested in my mockup JBlog news site:
http://israelblognews.googlepages.com
Precisely what I intended by my trailing words “over here”.
Elder,
I am not really into the notion of “J-blogging.” One of the results of my starting the JIBs and seeing the ensuing pettiness was a realization that the so-called J-blogosphere doesn’t mean much in itself. What do I mean? Well, a J-blogger can be pro-Israel, anti-Israel, pro-Judaism, anti-Judaism. Somehow grouping them all together because they are Jewish is a bit pointless in my humble opinion.
As for Israel blogging, I would prefer to think of it as “pro-Israel” blogging. After all, someone like Richard Silverstein blogs much about Israel, and would claim he is “Israel blogging.”
As for the idea itself, it is actually similar to what I aiming to do with Israellycool! Except not as an RSS reader. More like Hot Air, with original posts.
In any event, this has the makings of a great thread. Let’s hear from more of you on this!
I really like the multi-blogger format. It gives a variety of perspectives on a variety of issues and this way I don’t have to go to multiple blogs when I’m really busy and pressed for time.
I hear you. I wouldn’t want it to be a generalized collection of all Jewish blogs, as even going through the various aggregators out there takes up a lot of time.
My vision is a specific set of, say, ten pre-vetted pro-Israel blogs in one section of the site, with the first 5 or 10 lines printed for some of them and only the headlines for others, with hyperlinks to the original websites. Only articles tagged with specific keywords would be published in the Israel section; and perhaps other sections can be created in a similar way (slice-of-life Israel, Judaism, Torah) based on specific tags, so the author has control over which postings get published. The same keyword mechanism can be used to decide if a full article would be reproduced at the news site or if it will only be a hyperlink.
Either way, whether it is here or in my mythical site, the format would need to change radically from a blog format to a news format. As more people come on board there needs to be a mechanism to see only headlines and decide which to read, otherwise posts will just get pushed down the chain and get lost.
My 2 cents, for what it’s worth….
I have a similar vision. The only difference being that my vision is for this blog
I hadn’t thought about the mechanism until now, but the general idea was similar. More contributors, different layout.
But, hey, if there are more than one such sites, the better off we are. For instance, there is room for both Pajamas Media and Hot Air – both these sites get a lot of traffic.
[...] by the comments to this post, what I would like to know [...]
For my visiting tastes, I see this site as neither a JBlog, nor a Pro-Israel site. I visit a site that I see as a window from a different place. Whether the post is about Israel, the wider Mid-East, Europe, Australia, the U.S., or a silly “Separated At Birth,” it has an anti-capitulist (Eewww, made up word!), non-PC flavor.
A more recent post asked what (perhaps 5) Pro-Israel sites or contributing bloggers we would be interested in seeing here. I would have no inclination, one way or the other. I like the guest-blogger format and the links to other’s sites, but admire the irreverence that lends a plucky flavor. Sure, Wal-Mart gets a lot of traffic, but I don’t stop by Wal-Mart each day and probably for that reason.
I’m neither Jewish, nor particularly Zionist, but I like the idea of Israel. Were I to have my ‘druthers, Israel would include Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and all of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, we all have governments and pressures. Most Israeli leaders of late seem anxious to give away territory; Pro-Israel hardly includes supporting that nonsense. The past three U.S. Administrations and all of our State Department career people seem anxious to have Israel carved up, but being Pro-American doesn’t mean I support those positions. The U.S. needs to get its energy house in order, long before the U.S. can have a sensible policy with respect to Israel and the Mid-East.
In the meantime, it’s nice to stop by and peek through a window from a different place.
I like Elder. He is a good writer, and makes excellent points. My concern is that this will get out of hand and the blog will lose the unique flavor that you give it.
Stan
Thanks to everyone (so far) for the comments. I want to assure you that by taking on more contributors, I do not plan on this site losing its “flavor”. I still plan on being the head honcho and chief contributor. I just feel the site will be improved, especially considering my other obligations. It is good to know there are others to post when I cannot.