Under pressure? | 3.10.05
From page 4 of the great pamphlet that every blogger should read — “What Everyone Should Know About Blog Depression”:
PRESSURE !!!!
IF YOU FEEL OVERWHELMED WITH CRUSHING PRESSURE TO POST TO YOUR BLOG, A PRESSURE SO ACUTE AND STRONG THAT YOU CAN’T POST ANYTHING AT ALL. TRY TO REMEMBER, NO ONE CARES. YOU TOOK UP BLOGGING OF YOUR OWN ACCORD. YOU SILLY BASTARD.
I have none of that problem. Perhaps I’m not a silly bastard, although I wouldn’t bet on it.
I do, however, have some readers who care enough about this blog to write encouraging emails or comments. Two have even asked — indeed, one has threatened — me to post more often. Many thanks for your support, and perhaps even a little prodding.
But pressure? I don’t feel it. And if you think that’s a bad thing, just look at the last time I felt obliged (not anywhere near pressured, mind you) to post something for its own sake. Here’s the breaking news about a Thai word being featured on the cover of Ethnologue. Oh, and who can ever forget my exposé of the local pizza scene. Speaking of which, did you know that when you google “Pizza Hut Thailand”, the very top result as of this writing is the rival Pizza Company? Interesting, no? Certainly a blog material. Add to that a summary of the latest Thai chain email, excerpts of hack reporting and commentaries from the usual suspects, and some quasi-intriguing images, and you get 2bangkok.com.
No offense to Ron Morris and his gazillion readers (that’s for another day). But over the nine months of Sarasonteh’s existence, I have discovered, almost in spite of myself, its raison d’être. That is to provide facts about Thailand that no one else seems to know or care about. Facts, I repeat, not the daily buzz or half-baked opinions. Facts that I hope will open eyes and change minds. Facts that will affirm the right and challenge the wrong. This is sounding like sanctimonious rubbish from a Thai journalist (see Sanitsuda Ekachai) so just one more. Facts that take time to put together.
That is not to excuse my habitual tardiness, especially with regard to the article about Thai newspapers that is now more than a week late and counting. But if you stuck with me this far and all through those unannounced hiatuses, then you probably did so for a reason. This upcoming mega-post will not let you down. It won’t, however, be ready for another two to five days.
In the meantime, I have some suggestions that may improve your experience as a Sarasonteh reader:
- Sign up for a news aggregator like Bloglines or personalized Google and kiss goodbye to checking this or any blog for updates. For this, you’ll need either one of the “Feeds” URLs provided at the bottom of the left-handed column. Sarasonteh will get less hits (sniff!) but I’ll understand.
- Get a service like Bot A Blog to notify you by email when a new post comes online. I’ve never used it myself, but it should work okay.
- Tell me that you really want to read something between my intermittent, lengthy posts and won’t reject a quickie entry as a “miserable contribution”. I have dozens of cheap shots just waiting to be fired or forgotten, mostly about the media, the Democrats, and “academics” (and none, I promise, about pizzas). But then again, sometimes what starts out as a quickie may turn out to be no so quick at all, witness my Anna Leonowens post. (Speaking of which, nobody has yet responded to my invitation to edit the Wikipedia entry.)
If all those fail and you’ve had it with me, then I unfortunately have no cyber-chain to bind you to my blog. I can, however, beg you to at least wait to read my forthcoming post about Thai newspapers before going on your merry way. So will you please?
Thank you.
PS I love that Queen song.
16:00 ▪ announcement
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- post staffer 4.10.05
You sound depressed, Tom. No wonder you post so tardily, if you think so poorly of your own blog.
I would invite you to lunch, except I am wary of whom you might invite along as light entertainment…earnest young admirers of Anand Panyarachun, for example.
It’s bad enough that we are being urged to eat vegetarian at the moment. If we had to digest earnest conversation about peacemaking at the same time, I fear it would deal too big a blow to our system… your spirits would not lift, and we would have to wait another month for your next blog.
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- Tom Vamvanij 4.10.05
Post staffer:
Ha! No, not another month. Not unless I have to keep explaining myself to my more demanding readers :-)
Let’s talk about lunch through email.