Wow, some actual praise for webloggers. While I really don't give a hoot that some paid blogger who writes for geeks and computer programmers thinks that I am antisocial, it is nice to hear something positive every once in a while. John Naughton of the Observer (UK) writes:

I would sooner pay attention to particular blogs than to anything published in Big Media - including the venerable New York Times. This is not necessarily because journalists are idiots; it's just that serious subjects are complicated and hacks have neither the training nor the time to reach a sophisticated understanding of them - which is why much journalistic coverage is inevitably superficial and often misleading, and why so many blogs are thoughtful and accurate by comparison.

He goes on to make a valid point that many issues are ignored by media outlets, to protect commercial interests. This is a point I've made time and time again.

Even though most reporters deny it, it IS all about the money. Otherwise they wouldn't have a job. Media outlets that freely admit that their primary function is to earn money for their owners score big points with me. Neal and Rush are the first to admit that they are nothing more than entertainers, whose sole purpose is to keep people glued to the station while they run ads. Fox News also admits this, as they routinely mention having to "pay the bills" whenever they cut to a commercial break.

Then there are the media outlets out there that suffer from delusions of grandeur. The ones that act as though they are making some great sacrifice in the name of pubic servitude. Shows like NBC's Dateline, who once deceitfully strapped explosives to a GMC pickup truck to demonstrate how easily it exploded in an auto accident. Earlier this year, Dateline chastised Fox for pandering to Michael Jackson's freakishness, despite the fact that NBC had offered Jackson a cool $5 Mill to obtain the same content. They try to pretend it's about news, when it's really about money. If it weren't about money, CNN wouldn't try to charge you $40 every time you click on a video on their site. If it weren't about money, the 11:00 news would give you the good stories in the first five minutes, instead of making you stay up late. If it weren't about money, they'd be PBS, who runs just enough ads to pay the bills that the taxpayers don't cover. (Even with PBS, it's about getting more money from viewers, or more access to public funds, so that they can pay for their pet projects, or 'artistic' shows that don't have enough entertainment value to hold an audience.)

So how does this apply to blogging? Well, there are some bloggers out there that do it for the money. There are others out there that simply want to take advantage of their traffic, and earn a few extra bucks. Others still, claim that they just want to recoup their production costs. I don't really have a problem with anyone doing that. It is their business, and this is America, so I say go for it.

Personally though, I refuse to run ads, accept gifts, or try to earn any money from the web site. Basically, I run this web site, for my own personal interests. I like it when people visit, and I like it when traffic goes up. I get a certain amount of enjoyment and self satisfaction out of it, but that is not my reason for existing. I do not want my mission to be about increasing traffic, or earning money. I feel that once I start down that road, it gives me an obligation to my readers, or to my advertisers to keep people coming back. I feel that I'll have to be entertaining, or at least attempt to hold an audience. I feel that I'll have to make some guarantee about quality, and pander to readers' interests. It would basically mean that I would have to post more photos of Anna Kournikova, and less photos of my pistols. It would mean that I would have to open up my blogroll to hundreds and hundreds of web sites, to feast off of the reciprocating linkage. It would mean that I'd have to try to unlock the hidden secrets to the MT trackback system that confounds so many of us.

Perhaps one day, I'll change, and actually care about revenue generated from this site. Perhaps one day my hosting fees will get so prohibitively expensive, I'll have to do something to cover the cost. Then again, perhaps one day, I'll just walk away.