Crossing my fingers for Skip
I welcome Skip Alston to the blogging community. I'm optimistic that the county commissioner says that all elected officials should follow the blogging leads of Council member Sandy Carmany and Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen. That said I hope he grows from his first entry (as most of us have). He tells us he wants to hear from us and ends with, WELL THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT NOW, PLAY IT AS YOU WILL. (caps his.)
I'd suggest, Skip, that the ball is still in your court. At its most effective, this is a multiple-way conversation that is nourished by your posts and your interaction with commenters. Here's what I said to Council member Tom Phillips (and others) when he started his now-defunct blog. My hope is that, as public servants, they embrace the potential before them, and they use their blogs to further the principles of democracy, and develop the sites as places to give and get information and knowledge. What a wonderful way, for instance, to illuminate the council's thinking on a contentious issue or perhaps reveal some of the civic conversation that takes place behind closed doors.
We have been here before with public officials announcing blogs, but going nowhere. I'm hoping that Skip, who has never showed fear of speaking his mind, will blaze trails as Jeff and Sandy have.
And, no, it doesn't bother me that the N&R isn't listed in his Mediaroll.
Good update from TheShu in the comments, clarifying the status of the Bruce Davis blog.
Comments (4)
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"I'd suggest, Skip, that the ball is still in your court."
That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that. Thankfully, he's already made a second post, so maybe there's hope. Now someone just needs to talk him into turning off his caps lock key...
Oh, and am I missing something, or did you not actually link to his blog in your post? Is that just payback for him not linking to you? ;)
Posted on April 24, 2007 10:13 PM
Just me being dumb, Stew. It's added now. Thanks.
Posted on April 25, 2007 7:28 AM
Thank you John, for the link and the post. I do agree with you on most of your points. As a service provider, all we can do is provide the tools. It's up to the blog owner to run with it.
By the way, as for the Bruce Davis' blog, that was an unfortunate instance where he had indicated some interest in starting a blog so we built one for him in order to be prepared if, and/or when, he would want to start using it. However, word got around about it before the blog was ready, or, for that matter, before Bruce was ready to begin using it. I don't know all the details and my memory may be failing me to an extent, but I'm not so sure that he even knew it existed at the time. So I personally wouldn't lump Bruce Davis in the "failed blogger" category.
Just FYI. Thanks again.
Posted on April 25, 2007 9:13 AM
No problem John - I figured it was just an oversight.
Posted on April 25, 2007 2:42 PM