Blogroll Amnesty Day

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A Very Special Blogroll Amnesty Day

Posted at 2:54 by D. Aristophanes

In light of Al ‘Jon Swift’ Weisel’s departure for the great blogroll in the sky, I’m thinking it’d be nice to honor him with a post dedicated to something he was so good about — drawing attention to smaller bloggers who deserve far more notice than they generally get.*

Use the comment thread to link bloggers you read who don’t get as much traffic as they ought to … perhaps because they serve a niche audience, don’t post with the frequency of the freaks who populate the ‘A-list’, toil away without the first-mover advantage enjoyed by the established set, or simply have that sort of genius that remains less than fully appreciated.

Speaking for myself, I must admit that as I’ve grown longer in tooth on these here Internets, I’ve become a creature of habits (most of them bad, the rest unmentionable) … and one of them is a laziness that has set in, where on 99 out of 100 days I click through the same 10 or so big blogs to catch the general gist of what’s going on, rather then explore the nooks and crannies of the ‘Tubes like I used to do.

That’s pretty fucking lame. Blows major goats, I’d venture to say. Anyway, go check out the The House of Substance, for starters. He’s funny as hell. Put your faves in comments.

*And just as importantly, giving others a pat on the back when they said a good thing or made a good funny. We don’t do that nearly enough ’round here. Granted, it’s part of the comedy ethos that you’re mostly always moving on to the next joke instead of stopping to acknowledge the successes of others … it’s sort of unhip to offer praise instead of another stab at teh funny. But the thing about being generous with praise and not just one-upmanship is that it makes the recipient of said praise feel really, really good … because somebody else got it, and liked it and would be happy to hear more.

164 Comments »

1.
Candy said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:11
First person to pop into my head is Doghouse Riley, of Bats Left Throws Right. An absolutely excellent writer and brilliant at teh funneh, although sometimes we slower codgers have to read a sentence a couple of times to git it.

2.
bliekker said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:12
I don’t know how many hits Roy Edroso gets, but he should get more. Doghouse Riley is really good too.

3.
bliekker said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:13
Oh shit in the time it took to post someone beat me with Dog House...

4.
ckc (not kc) said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:15
Riddled (with weirdness)

5.
Candy said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:15
He’s just that good!

6.
gil mann said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:16
There’s this one fellow I find quite insightful, what’s his name… Iglesias? something like that.
What, like I’m supposed to honor Swift’s passing with earnestness?

7.
bliekker said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:18
He’s just that good!
Yeah. BTW, I should have written it “..beat me to Doghouse.” Being in a hurry has its drawbacks…

8.
D. Aristophanes said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:21
Never earnestness. Me, I’m partial to this humble little website that can be found way off yonder hidden deep in the weeds amongst the giants of the cybernets.

9.
Big Bad Bald Bastard said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:25
I’d nominate Tetrapod Zoology- when he drops science, it’s not science fiction!

10.
Candy said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:25
D., that site owes it’s greatness to the little green guy that is its proprietor. The great something, isn’t it?

11.
Smut Clyde said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:26
I nominate tigrismus. If she doesn’t have a blog, she should.
There are also one or two trolls who really should start blogging and wait for people to go there and read their cogent political analyses rather than CORE-DUMPING HERE.

12.
Jeffraham Prestonian said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:27
I have to put in a plug for fellow Nashvillian, Southern Beale. She rawks.
.
13.
Lesley said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:27
I’ve always liked, if not always understood, Three Bulls. http://blog.3bulls.net/
Dwindling in Unbelief is great, too. http://www.dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/

14.
Jeffraham Prestonian said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:30
Oh, and for those who tire of trollitude, a fellow named dirk gently (well, not really) has come up with a new commenting system you blogdogs should check out, called FortyToo. It’s in beta, now, and I use it at my blog, now. He thinks first release will be ready in the next couple of weeks, but it is a troll-killer.
.
15.
Big Bad Bald Bastard said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:30
If she doesn’t have a blog, she should.
Ditto for jim, whose takedowns are wonderful.

16.
Lawnguylander said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:36
I second Riddled and House of Substance but anyone who reads comments here already knows how funny McGravypants, Smut Clyde and Another Kiwi are. ifteh’s blog also manages to be worth reading even though he rates for Tom and the Wolf. And many people here already know about Rumproast but in case you don’t Kevin K is a very funny and cool guy. His co-bloggers are also hilarious and some of them have their own separate blogs. Like Mrs. Polly, Betty Cracker and Hunger Tallest Palin. And the polymath with the the most amazing memory/google skills on the internet too, J—.

, .
17.
A concerned citizen said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:42
I’m a big fan of These Bastards: http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

18.
Jennifer said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:45
I’ve posted the link to the great little Detroit blog before, but it’s a real gem. Posting is only every couple of weeks but I check it on a regular basis.

19.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:51
B^4 has a blog. As does M. Bouffant. I’d nominate myself, but aside from this past week, I update less frequently than Fafnir.
On the less-overlap-with-here side of things, I’d like to suggest IOZ. Here’s very libertarian and very too cool to be believed. A regular world-weary demi-monde – but he is sharp and fast and funny as fuck. Plus occasionally he allows Foodie Fridays to triumphantly return.

20.
Scott said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:52
Athenae and everyone at First Draft. Best and most cathartic rants in the bizness.

21.
kamper said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:52
Is it Terribly Bad Form to nominate your own blog? Ah, fuck it.
Happy Valley News Hour.
This morning I made a joke about the Littlest Air Traffic Controller.

22.
Dragon-King Wangchuck said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:53
And Jennifer plus two.

23.
The Red Badger of Courage said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:53
I’d like to give a shoutout to Four Freedoms, a team blog that I contribute to now and again.

24.
Tehanu said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:54
I like Heywood G whom I discovered as a Sadlynaut commenter. He’s at http://hammeroftheblogs.blogspot.com. And Fred Clark, the Slacktivist, is just all-around great at http://slacktivist.typepad.com

25.
Tehanu said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:56
Heywood at hammeroftheblogs.blogspot.com and Fred Clark at slacktivist.typepad.com — both terrific. (If this is a duplicate comment, sorry — computer weird today).

26.
El Cid said,
March 4, 2010 at 3:57
Wait — is the suggestion that the blogs I read are exclusively big name items now?
Do I have to leave SadlyNo! because it’s now so mainstream I should be disgusted?
How small do you have to be to be a boutique blog now?

27.
skippy said,
March 4, 2010 at 4:04
damn classy of you, d. ari, to dedicate a blogroll amnesty day thread to jon’s memory.
i will miss him greatly, tho i never knew him in real life, i considered him a friend.
in the spirit of the thread, and of jon’s work: i always like to read physioprof, and my friend connecticut man of drinking liberally in new milford, who first alerted me to jon’s passing this sad day.

>snip<

...and on and on and on it goes.
(I'll probably be here for a while.)
~

[conniption]

vagabond scholar
(links at source - Be there or be square.)

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2014

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)


(A 2008 Jon Swift picture.)

Welcome to a tradition started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs. As Lance Mannion put it in 2010:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's 2007 and 2008 editions. Meanwhile, here are the revivals from 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site features a "best of" list in the left column.



Meanwhile, Blogroll Amnesty Day (cofounded by Jon Swift and skippy) is a celebration of small blogs coming up again the first weekend in February.

Thanks to all the participants, plus a special thanks to DougJ at Balloon Juice for posting an open submission thread every year. (It earns some special consideration in the roll call below this year.)

Apologies to anyone I missed who wanted to participate. You still can, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2014. (My goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.)

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

Shakesville
"This Is Not a Solution; This Is the Problem"
Melissa McEwan: "On the criminalization of need, the myth of bootstraps, and what it really looks like when nobody helps you."

His Vorpal Sword
"The End of the Trail"
Hart Williams: "After a successful ten year run (which included attacks ON IT by Ted Nugent, Sean Hannity and Brent Bozell on Faux Nooz), the author explains why the blog is ending and some highlights of that decade."

A Blog About School
"School budget cuts are only the beginning"
Chris Liebig: "It's about Iowa's apparent determination to exponentially increase its spending on standardized testing even though the school districts are already struggling with cuts to curriculum."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Inconvenient Facts"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "2-verse limerick about executive action and Republican hypocrisy."

Zencomix
I Wish I Had A Watermelon
Dave Dugan: "In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon, I made a comic about my experience as a 9 year old boy in the summer of 1974."

Kiko's House
"Pennsylvania State Police Botch Frein Manhunt"
Shaun D. Mullen: "The manhunt for cop killer Eric Frien could not have come at a worse time for the Poconos. Its economy crapped out long before the rest of the nation, and for a while it led all counties nationwide in home foreclosures per capita. This is because local bigs, not content to try to build the tourist industry and brand the Poconos as a special place with beautiful woodlands chockablock with trails, waterfalls, creek and rivers, as well as golf courses, ski slopes and family friendly resorts, climbed into bed with rapacious developers and usurious financial institutions after the 9/11 attacks to sell the Poconos as a safe haven from a world gone crazy."

World O' Crap
"Strong Enough For a Man, But Made For a Really Insecure Man"
Scott Clevenger: "After years of having to share the Bible with women, at last men have their own, super-secret Men's Bible. It teaches important Bronze Age lessons about male friendship and bonding with men usually found only in an episode of My Little Pony. Also, there's porn in it."

David E's FaBlog
"Zero Dark Salo"
David Ehrenstein tackles the Senate's torture report.

Strangely Blogged
"Men Who Hate Women"
Vixen Strangely: "In the wake of Elliot Rodgers' killing spree, I felt the need to write on the connection between misogyny and violence."

Poor Impulse Control
"Of the World, Looking Over the Edge"
Tata: "America’s mental health system is a failure. Being mentally ill may actually prevent you from being able to afford treatment that could save your life."

Ramona's Voices
"Derange Wars: The Cliven Bundy Story"
Ramona Grigg: "Crusty old rancher in Nevada has standoff with the Feds over range rights. Starring the Second Amendment, with walk-on parts by warring militias who don't know what any of it means but it sounds like a party so why not?"

The Way of Cats
"How to Subtitle Ourselves"
Pamela Merritt: "We can bridge the communication gap between cat language (they speak with their body) and human language (we use words, but can "subtitle" with our body). It's like a translation device!"

Pruning Shears
"New York Times visits Youngstown, discovers huge and nonexistent transformation"
Dan: "The Times reports on how fracking is remaking a region's economy, minus any relevant details."

Simply Left Behind
"The Wages of Capitalism"
Actor 212/Carl: "Because capitalism as practiced in America is in direct conflict with democracy, liberty, and morality, capitalism as practiced in America must go."

Anibundel: Pop Culturess
"Martin Struggles to Explain Game of Thrones' Race Problem"
Ani Bundel: "Martin tries to respond to his fans to explain why the race problems in Game of Thrones is baked into the text from his own novels, with limited success."

TBogg
"I was the NRA"
Tom (TBogg) Boggioni: "How the gun nuts and cosplaying “great white hunters” ruined hunting for me and turned the NRA into a murder-enabling lobbying group. Fuck those guys."

continued...