[identity] when blogs become news centres

Most of us run blogs in our own idiosyncratic way. Some of us try to make them one man magazines, others invite people to contribute but in the end - they're still blogs, with one principal writer whom the reader is expecting to see more often than not.

Some which spring to mind are The Devil's Kitchen and Capitalists at Work, perhaps Bryan Appleyard.

Of these three, I'd say the only one which manages to be a group blog in its truest sense is CaW. The other two have many contributors, as do I but people tend to go there for the particular style of that blogger and that blog. Anything else is a bonus.

I've always thought that when a blogger tries to get something going at his blog, he's pushing it uphill and it usually ends up with him being the major contributor, even if one prepares a techie site and mailing list to go with it.

One site which does break the shackles and is an alternative to the MSM is the First Post, which presents as a newspaper and the only thing which makes it "bloggy" are the opinion pieces, of which there are many.

In no doubt about its identity is one of the originals - Samizdata - firmly in the blog camp, with many contributors who are subordinate to the management as far as editorial control goes. Samizdata keeps on keeping on - I'm not sure if it makes money.

One I haven't seen for years is Harry's Place, which used to be ruled with a rod of iron by its manager or so the folk lore went - who knows what happens today? Like Samizdata, that's as close as one is going to get to a public blog.

The Economic Voice is, in its layout, more newspaper than blog but it is presented as a forum for your views. A great idea but it has stiff competition from so many other pundits around the sphere. TEV would decry the word competition and opt for consensus, no doubt. However, I can think of Politeia and Gates of Vienna immediately as blogs gathering their own memberships as well.

EU Referendum is half and half, as far as I can see - a blog come news service on the EU issue and the most consistent voice on the issue.

Steve Green had an interesting thing going - one half of his site was a referendum on a daily basis but two things ended that, again as far as I can see - the sheer upkeep of such a blog and the wish of the readers to treat it as a Tory blog, so that is what it became.


Group blogging projects need a good deal of planning and selling and a generous slice of luck. The chance of one or two contributors dominating them is always high unless the proprietor is clearly in charge. In the case of nourishing obscurity, it doesn't attempt to be anything but a one person blog but does try to shake it up a bit with guest posts and a variety of subject matter.

Will the group blogs or group projects ultimately outlast the single blogger? One would think the chances are that they would although some bloggers seem to keep on keeping on. Group blogs though never rest, never cease to publish, never have hiatuses. If they're well run, they will always be a port of call for those on the net.