The blawgosphere is much like any other place, assuming the place has only a digital existence. Over time, shiny new faces appear and old, wrinkled faces fade away.  At one minute to midnight last night, Skelly took his leave.  His blog, Arbitrary & Capricious, was well established and respected when I first stepped foot in the blawgosphere.  And now he’s decided to go on what he’s calling “hiatus”.

Skelly was funny, fascinating and always brought something new and interesting to the fore.   I remember once mentioning that I didn’t know how he kept finding such strange stories about Public Defender life, a realm that I saw only from the outside.  Skelly was on my original blogroll and has been there ever since.  Along with a handful of blogs, his is one that I’ve read every daily, every post. 

I salute Skelly and thank him for the effort, the great work and perspective he’s provided me personally.  Arbitrary & Capricious enriched the blawgosphere for me, and I will miss it and Skelly.  He’s left the door open to return, and I hope he finds that his juices keep flowing and call him back to blawging. 

Others have also been fading a bit lately as well. My very dear friend Gideon at A Public Defender, has been largely dormant, his time consumed by bigger fish in the trenches.  Norm of course goes in and out of the blawgosphere with the wind. It isn’t easy doing this.  It wears on you over time.

This seems a good place to devolve into a rambling discussion of blawgs, and why they aren’t going to be as meaningful and successful as Arbitrary & Capricious, or A Public Defender.  Kevin O’Keefe, one of the foremost promoters of the blawgosphere, recently predicted that there will ultimately a hundred thousand blawgs.  He may well be right, but not in the sense that they will fill the shoes of the blogs that brought people to the blawgosphere, that people read regularly, that people cared about.  They will have pretentious names and make arrogant claims of worthiness.  And no one will read them.  And they will stop posting one day and no one will care.  No one will even notice.  They will leave no footprints.

Over the past year, a number of things people call blogs have appeared, some of which are produced lawyers I know.  They have heard the siren call of the blawgosphere and wanted to get their piece of the pie.  I haven’t mentioned them, because I don’t want to constantly speak ill of new blogs.  But they aren’t worthy of a mention.  They offer nothing. 

We don’t need a hundred thousand blawgs repeating yesterday’s news in a paragraph.  The claim that if you start a blog, people will read it is a lie.  No one has the time to read a hundred thousand blawgs.  No one needs to read the same rehashed news stories a hundred thousand times.  The same is true of blogs describing court decisions, It’s been done to death.  I’ve read your blogs and saw nothing there.  Some of you are great lawyers, but your blawgs suck.  There’s no necessary correlation between the two.  You will soon tire of posting, since there’s no reason to blawg when no one reads it.  And your blawg will fade into oblivion.

In the end, there will never be more than 50 blawgs that matter.  There may be thousands around, but only 50 that get read. Maybe. And I’m not including those blawgs that facially exist to promote your business.  They will invariably fail.  This is the biggest lie of the blawgosphere, that you can use blawgs to puff yourself and gain clients.  I’m offended by those whose blawg is a flagrant advertisement.  You are the trash of the blawgosphere, and do the most harm to its vitality.  Not only will I not help to promote you, but I will out you and denigrate you whenever possible. 

Don’t tell me you can’t think of anything worth blawging about.  I leave a half dozen posts on the table almost daily.  There is so much out there to write about, to think about, to add value to.  If you can’t think of something to write about, then blawging just isn’t for you.

And then there’s your voice.  I write like a criminal defense lawyer.  My views are clear and strong; no one reads my posts and wonders what I really think.  You may think I’m dead wrong, or a blithering idiot, but you won’t think I’m wishy-washy or pointless.  This upsets people.  Some accuse me of being controversial to attract readers.  Some say I’m too intense or over the top. Some call me a barroom bully.  I couldn’t care less.  I don’t write to attract anyone or please anyone.  If I’m not your cup of tea, then don’t read me. No one makes you and you’re not doing me any favors.  But don’t ask me to tone it down and stay within your comfort zone.

I’ve got little tolerance for people who have never had an original thought, or are scared to death of expressing an opinion for fear that it will offend someone, or want to be loved and admired to fill the gap in their psyches left by mommy’s neglect.  Grow up. Grow a pair.  Talk to people over a beer, and they know everything, have an answer for everything, have an opinion on everything.  Ask them to put it in writing and they quiver like a bowl of jello. 

But if you post something that I think is foolish or wrong, don’t whine to me that I’m mean to call you on it.  And bear one thing in mind: Some of you just aren’t that bright, even though others might not be aware of it until you’ve written a post expressing your deepest thoughts.  Once you’ve done that, you’ve proven to the rest of us that you’re a dolt.  If you don’t want us to know, don’t write. If you think you’re brilliant nonetheless, then take the heat that comes along with expressing your thoughts.  But just don’t whine about it. 

And for God’s sake, don’t send me an email telling me that I’m too mean to you.  If I thought I was too mean, I wouldn’t have written whatever I wrote.  If I wrote it, I think I’m being just the right amount of mean.  If you don’t like it, write something mean about me in return.  You won’t be the first.  But you won’t do it, because you’re gutless and thoughtless.  This is why you bring nothing to the blawgosphere. It would negatively impact your carefully crafted internet persona.  We couldn’t have that now.

Kevin uses the term “thought leader” all the time.  I hate the phrase, and it makes me bristle whenever I hear it.  But the alternatives, thought follower, or worse still, thoughtless, characterize most of the blawgosphere, and particularly the self-promoters.  If you’ve got nothing to add to the discussion, or are afraid that expressing your thoughts will scare away business, then do yourself a favor and go away.  You’re wasting your time and no one will read your blawg. 

The blawgosphere needs people like Skelly.  And Gideon.  And Norm.  These are the people who breath life into the blawgosphere, and breed thought and interest and curiosity.  They make others think.  If you can’t fill their shoes, then be a reader if you want, but don’t blawg.  And if you can’t stand the heat, then stay out of the blawgosphere.  You’re not Skelly.