I'm sitting here watching my CNN.com map of America slowly turn red--this looks like the election of 1800. Maybe we should rename the parties the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. If the Dems can't win against Bush the Younger, they are as dead as the Federalists in 1800! The winds of change they are a-blowin'. [Update: Okay, later in the evening blue scored in the West and the Midwest, but given Republican gains in the House and Senate in addition to Bush's win in the Electoral College and the popular vote, this is still being called a "realigning election."]
I DID MY OWN BLOGGERNACLE EXIT POLL, and have dropped two blogs from my Top Twelve for infrequent blogging, plus one more for lack of engagement with the blogging community. I am filling these open spots with: A Bird's Eye View, run by the Fowles brothers, who have been steady bloggers for many months now; Baron of Deseret, who has likewise been a steady blogger and who will no doubt resume that practice when he returns from his vacation trip to Asia; and the new blog United Brethren* (the * means one of the brethren is a sister), which shows a lot of potential and, for a bonus, managed to snag one of the Fowles duo as a "named blogger." I welcome these fine blogs to my Top Twelve!
Who got dropped? Man, you play hardball!
Posted by: Steve Evans | Nov 03, 2004 at 08:26 AM
Don't worry, Steve, BCC is still on my Top Twelve. Heck, it would be on my Top Eleven!
Posted by: Dave | Nov 03, 2004 at 08:35 AM
Wow! This is great and very unexpected. For me this is a big deal since I think you run one of the best LDS-themed blogs in the Bloggernacle, together with T&S, or course. I like the tone here and the level of "Inquiry."
Thanks.
Posted by: john fowles | Nov 03, 2004 at 11:19 AM
Phew!
I had a moments panic where I thought I wouldn't make the cut because of my lack of posting. I'd like to update more often but 2-3 posts a week has become difficult enough as it is.
It really does seem that with the exception of you and Clark and Justin, the best blogs have multiple authors. [And frankly I don't know how Clark does the amount of posting he does]. The Baron is a great blog, but he doesn't update as often as you three.
What I like about IntelleXhibitionist and Sons of Mosiah is that although they have multiple bloggers, the blogs themselves have a very consistent style, topic focus, etc. As much as I enjoy T&S and BCC, it's cool to be able to go and hang out on other blogs that have a reasonable amount of activity.
I've toyed with the idea of adding co-bloggers, but at the same time I kind of like the voice that A Motley Vision has and am afraid to dilute it -- and to be honest, it's difficult for me to be disciplined with maintaining the focus and voice that I have. It's tempting to go off into other areas (Mormon doctrine, politics, culture with no Mormon tie-in) as well as raise the rant/snarky level. But I resist.
Posted by: William Morris | Nov 03, 2004 at 01:09 PM
I have the advantage of reading 3000 - 4000 wpm and typing about 40 wpm. Plus I try to do at least an hour of personal study a day. The last few months though with the baby have kept me more homebound than normal, so I've done corresponding more posting. However as soon as I can get out more, posting will decrease accordingly.
Posted by: Clark Goble | Nov 03, 2004 at 05:40 PM
When you spoke of cutting blogs I wondered if I had been removed from your links. I'm not part of the Quorum of the Twelve Blogs but at least I'm still around. Phew! :)
Posted by: danithew | Nov 03, 2004 at 07:15 PM
Sorry, I didn't mean to provoke anxiety among the blogs. Here's the deal: my Typelists or blogrolls are limited to 20 displayed entries, so I have a Top Twelve (for the Mormon-themed blogs I visit regularly) and More Mormon Weblogs (for other Mormon-themed blogs). So falling off the Top Twelve just means dropping to the More Mormon Weblogs list. It's not like going to outer darkness. Since David at A Soft Answer maintains the definitive list of LDS blogs, my own list is kind of spotty. I go to his weblog every week or so to check up on new LDS blogs.
Interestingly, only five of the current Top Twelve are true solo blogs. The others are binaries (Bird's Eye, Mosiah), trios (Xhibitionist, Nine Moons), quads (United Brethren), or just unruly hordes (Bcc and T&S).
Posted by: Dave | Nov 03, 2004 at 10:08 PM
I too was upset when watching all the little states turn red. I think it was mainly due to his views on stem cell research. Maybe?
Posted by: Joe | Nov 04, 2004 at 06:29 AM
Joe, in any state with a close result, a candidate's views on any particular issue could be the difference. However, since stem cell support closely tracks abortion views and given that the abortion views of Kerry and Bush are well publicized, I don't think the stem cell issue really changed many votes. But in four years, stem cell might be a higher-profile issue.
Posted by: Dave | Nov 04, 2004 at 08:03 AM
Dave,
What an honour. To whom do I write the cheque?
Ronan - United Brethren
P.S. Do you like the way that in just a few words I was able to get some British spelling in there.
Posted by: Ronan Head | Nov 04, 2004 at 08:35 AM
You and your crew are off and running, Sir Ronan.
Posted by: Dave | Nov 04, 2004 at 09:46 AM