Australia’s big purple poliblog will no longer be publishing new posts. The archives will remain, and that goodbye post is filling up with nostalgic comments.
Back in 2005-2007, LP was my first stop shop for ozblog reading because amidst the passion for ideas and action there was an endearing sense of the ridiculous which was a shared aspect of the commentariat, even (or most especially?) during extended stoushes. Over the years that sense of fun it had back then has faded, as many of the more eloquent snarkers decamped for Twitter with their witty observations rather than confining them to a single comments thread on a single blog. A number of core bloggers from the early years also found that career and/or family demands, or other changes, left them without the inclination to post there any more, perhaps partly as blogging moved from the cultural fringes to a more central social awareness alongside the convenient rise of less time-consuming social media. This shift also produced greater numbers of tendentiously stoushbaiting driveby arsehats rather than the amusingly perspicacious gadflies to which we had been more accustomed, and blogging generally, but on a blog which was a political target particularly, became rather more of a chore.
I’m very grateful to Mark Bahnisch for inviting me to join the LP-collective back in 2006,which meant that I met with many interesting and charming people around the ozblogosphere (sometimes in person, which was even better). The many and various other members of the “Lefty Rodeo” hivemind have been fine collaborators over the years. It’s been a grand ride, mostly. I will miss it, mostly.
Although not a moderator there myself, it did seem that the banhammer had to come out more in recent months and then the whinging about moderation started in earnest. LP was a great blog to cut my political teeth on and I will always remember the early days fondly as they corresponded with a particular time in my life when I was finding my way as a new Mum in Alice Spring which was unlike anywhere I had ever been before.
I will miss LP but I hope that it spawns a host of new sites to visit as old bloggers find the call of the keyboard too hard to resist.
*Alice Springs*
Most of the time lately it’s usually been only me and Brian doing the moderating, with most of the rest of the collective busy doing other things. Back when we could rely on at least a handful and often more members of the collective regularly logging in and keeping an eye on comments threads made life much easier – I suspect that as a result both Brian and I sometime got a bit testier than would otherwise have been the case.
I will miss LP, it was my introduction to the blogosphere. I think I started reading there around 2007, maybe 2008 (although I believe I discovered LP before Rudd won the election). Reading and occasionally commenting there inspired me to start my own blog, and the day it was linked to by LP was the day I thought that I was well and truly a blogger! (Albeit in my own modest way). Via LP I discovered Hoyden, Bluemilk, Cast Iron Balcony, Pavlov’s Cat and In A Strange Land and gradually realised there was a whole wide feminist blogosphere out there too!
I’m sad to see it go, although I can understand why it is being closed, and like Mindy I look forward to seeing the new projects of the LP gang.
larvatus prodeo is also the way i found HaT. like this blog, i really appreciated the moderation over at LP and realise that must take a lot of work that’s probably rarely appreciated – but it makes a huge difference to how inclusive an online community feels. so thanks for all your hard work, tigtog!
Noooooo!
I think there’s a lot in that, TT, but thinking of commenting in particular. The niche translates relatively badly to scale.
Tig, thanks for all your work at LP over the years. I know you did a lot even when I was part of the Collective.
Even though been a while since I was part of LP I’m sad to see it go. But glad I was part of the heady days of blogging in the early to mid 2000s. It was a great time back then I still remember well the discussions at Troppo that predated LP. But LP’s influence lives on given how many of the members over the years still blog on here and there.
Thanks all, it was a fine time for a long time. I’m enjoying how many ghosts of stoushbaiters past are dropping by the farewell thread on LP for one last swipe.
Echoing Shaun – thankyou Tigtog, for all of that work and for fishing me out of the spam bucket on numerous occasions.
I spent a lot of time with my nose pressed against the glass at LP early on, seeing you and Pav, Mindy and Helen, Zoe, Amanda, Laura and Anna, Christie and Kate mixing it with the others with such wit was wonderful, aside from the quality of the posts. Farewell to a wonderful venue.
Can’t say I would have envied your job in moderating LP in the last couple of years, I think you did well to maintain your patience (and sanity).
tigtog is right, it was mostly she and I doing the moderating in the end and fishing su and some others out of spam. I used to leave the hard ones for her!
The point I’d like to make is that committing to a post also meant (or should have!) committing to managing the comments thread. I do know that when Mark was sounding out additional bloggers at one stage this was an inhibiting issue. Keeping a biggish left-oriented blog like LP congenial wasn’t easy.
I would like to pay a tribute to tigtog for keeping the wheels on and the motor running. Her contribution was huge.
And yes, I’m going to miss it. Felt quite sad this morning
Thanks to you too, Brian, for all the work you’ve put into informing with regards to climate change over the last few years especially.
That’s a good point about handling the moderation being an inhibiting factor for recruiting new team members. I see some other large group blogs also having huge problems over who is doing the moderating on whose threads and who is standing back apprehensively regarding moderation, and it does become a real problem with the ongoing management of the blog.
I’m ambivalent. In some ways this week has felt like a huge load lifted from my shoulders, but it’s also a large chunk of my online interaction that’s no longer going to happen there, so I will miss it too.
I always appreciated it when you not only fished me from the spaminator but commented in reply, Brian, it made me feel part of a conversation despite Akismet having temporarily consigned me to the outer darkness!
su, partly it was commiseration, and partly letting people know that a comment from you had appeared upthread.