I am afraid Jerome, that you will probably be disappointed if you expect a dramatic growth. As LEP so correctly said, we are not in a crisis, there are mainstream left-wing media, the myth structures in Europe that allow for center-left policies are well in place and people do not feel like politics is so important now.
I agree that the main problem (I ahve no doubt) for ET growth is language. Noone of my friends would like ever to contribute here...it is just not catalan or not spanish. I think I could find three or four friends interested if it would be in spanish or catalan..but the truth is that on content probably I could convince for sure only one person if it were in spanish.
So, I understand that you feel sorry that we are not more and I sense your slight disappointment. Jerome I would not like you to get sad. I would perfectly understand if you feel like "this is not working".. probably you do not feel it now.. but given the narrative you use I could expect that it could happen to you.
MY humble, humble humble advice..Ok, OK oK no.. no advice...you did this site.. you have all the right to think whatever you want and wish for the future of this site. So I would say.. my humble opinion is... do not take badly if we do not expect this growth and expect (and sometimes wish, not sure about it) that a natural and small growth is better. Small things can also be beatiful...sometimes a pebble in the sand is nicer than a supernova...beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, they say.
I feel sorry if we are not able to bring more people as you expected. And I hope you do not get angry with us...
And I close it here... hoping that this wonderful year goes on for another year....I know I could say more things about it.. but it is time to close the post one-year old thoughtful stupid analysis that I do sometimes.
Forgive me in advance...
A pleasure I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude
We might be noticed even if small, if we continue to provide quality content - and have the manpower to get the media to notice us (by writing smart letters and papers on topics in the news, on the basis of our debates here). That's why I say we must grow some more.
Not a hundred fold, but having a few more people able to write letters or policy papers, run the wiki or create the thinktank website, etc would be good. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Each person has its own aspirations, expectations, wishes...and I hate to get in the middle of any of them.. so please do not consider that I apply any of my previous comments about you in this case.
I just wanted to be open in the case you expected or wanted a dramatic growth (I got that impression wrongly). And even in that case I was very reluctant to say it.
Keep the good work...
Thanks for pointing it out. And even more glad to know that I am not alone :)
Talk radio grew in the Clinton years. The Left Blogosphere is growing in the Bush years. Even samzidat needed the Soviet Union. Does this have to be the pattern or are there others? Can a European blogosphere develop in the absence of a prevailing feeling of political impotence? It's an interesting question.
Still...we can try.
Now to read the rest of the diary comments.
Can a European blogosphere develop in the absence of a prevailing feeling of political impotence? It's an interesting question.
Places with more to the left/right policies and discussion would probably had more audience, they will be a gathering place.
About the impact.. we are certainly quite mainstream in the narratives we use...so I guess an organic growth would be enough to have impact three four years down the road..it is highly probable that we do not need the exponential growth to obtain some relevance... or at least this is what Jerome expects. Again..some years down the road.
