This blog has been running (here and elsewhere, on and sometimes off) since September 2004 and it is time to fold up. No, it’s not the usual canard of “I don’t have the time”. The time required to follow the news, absorb it and think it over and, finally, blog about it is not prohibitive. It’s a question that, after five years, it is time to move (or, at least, consider) things new.
Any regrets? Yes. First, the Maltese blogosphere is not much larger than it was five years ago and actually it’s smaller than what it was in the following year when we all thought things had really taken off. To add insult to injury, the Times calls its online columnists “bloggers” and the same name has been usurped for the commenters to the online articles on the same paper when there attitude (and their way of writing) is more akin to someone who scrawls graffiti on a wall. There’s as much commitment in blogging (the real thing) as there is spontaneity.
Second, because critical mass was never reached, there have been no consequences. And I do not only mean public life in general. There were no ripples to be felt not even in the dead tree media. The reason why I started to blog was precisely what I perceived to be the low quality of punditry (and writing) that’s available. I knew I could have only contributed a little push but it would have been a little push in what I thought would be the right direction.
It was not to be. Few noticed. Of the few who did, the concern was more with which party political flag I was waving. I wouldn’t have minded anyone who said I was wrong, if anything that might have led to an interesting exchange. Or that I was uninteresting: I might have tried to write better or be more topical. But what I got mostly was “PN apologist” or some other unimaginative wording to that effect from people who, despite their opinion of me, still hung around and left comments. The appropriate reaction to that is only wonder at why they do not seek punditry elsewhere. And in any case, “PN apologist” or not, it should be clear by now that my blogging does not win or lose the Nationalists elections.
It is therefore time to bow out and find other things to do. If you think you can write things worth writing in a manner that’s worth reading, by all means, take up blogging. As I said it requires some commitment but no more time than one can reasonably expect from people with reasonably busy lives. Maybe that critical mass will someday be achieved.
Meanwhile I thank my readers. With that I log out.