PrawfsBlawg recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, and Concurring Opinions its six-month anniversary. Because this blog was started as an experiment, I suppose it’s not too weird to point out that today marks the beginning of the second month of this blog.
So far, so good, I think. I enjoy writing for the solo blog, as I have more control over style and management. On the other hand, I feel a bit more pressure to put up new content every day compared to group-blogging at the Volokh Conspiracy. Approving comments is also a bit of a chore, although I think the comment threads have been terrific (thanks to your comments more than my editing). See for example, the comments to this post on the cert pool, or this post on practicing criminal law, or this post on judicial activism. Screening leads to delay and can take a while on my end, but it seems to draw out some really terrific content from readers.
I’d be interested in reader feedback of whether you find the new blog worthwhile. I’ll ask for the same at the VC, I think, to minimize the self-selection problem. My traffic has been about 10% of the VC’s; right now I’m in the same traffic range as lots of other active legal blogs, like Prawfs and CO and Balkinization. It’s hard to tell who the readers are, though (hi Mom!), or whether readers find this blog more meaningful than roughly similar posts that I could be posting at the VC.
Anyway, comments welcome, either for publication or just for me. And thanks for visiting.
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I would think that the provision of an RSS feed would tend to ameliorate the pressure of posting new content every day. The main reason to provide new content daily, it seems to me, is to keep people coming back for more, but if users tend to subscribe to the RSS feed, they are notified of new content.
All I have to say is that I have gotten numerous comments in here under various psuedonyms for their substantive content, but Orin HATED me over at Volokh.
[Ok Comments: Hmm, I'll have to keep a special eye out for you, PandaFood.
]
I’m not sure I see the value in the separate blog. If, as I suspect, most of your readers are also VC readers, they simply visit two rather than one website to see your posts. And I don’t see a real need to distance yourself from other VC bloggers; no one should tar you with everything they say simply by association. But that’s just my 2 cents.
As someone who’s had some of my comments vetoed, I’d say keep up the approval requirement for the reasons you’ve stated. Not only does the threat of veto provide an incentive to think a bit more before posting, but there’s also more incentive to post a decent substantive comment if you know it won’t be buried in the chaff as often happens at other blogs.
You told your mom about your blog?! Very daring of you . . .
As I wrote previously, I am enjoying your blog. As a practicing criminal lawyer I spend countless hours in courts at arraignment calendars watching the water evaporate from the water pitchers at counsel table, but with my laptop and your blog, I can read more provocative material than the copy of last month’s USA Today that somebody left in the courtroom. And because I am an adjunct professor at Georgia State University Law School, I can read your material before lunch and be an expert that night in class! Let’s just hope my students don’t catch on.
I find the focus here interesting, and the comments very high quality. (Sometimes those over at Volokh degenerate to the point where I can’t be bothered to find the gems.)
If you’re already running with the pack traffic-wise in only a month, you’re certainly doing something right!
I think Volokh has dropped off considerably in your absence and I prefer your blog. That said, I think your posts were of a more consistent quality when you didn’t feel the need to post as often.
This weblog is fantastic. Interesting and useful. I check it every day.
This blog is the best, and it is both informative and it shows the way a good lawyer thinks. Many people (i.e. the usual suspects) were quite angry at the fact that your intellectual was being obscured by partisan rants.
I really enjoy the content of your blog. Fishbane summed up how I feel about the comment threads here vs. at the VC. I’m not crazy about the color scheme, but that’s just nitpicking.
Who reads? Well, I guess I represent the “former classmates who keep meaning to take you up on your year-old lunch offer” demographic. And I like the separate blog, mostly for the reasons you cited (more politely) when you started: The legal thinking doesn’t necessarily mix well with some of the poltical screeds often found on VC, notwithstanding the law prof credentials of the other bloggers there.
[OK Comments: Thanks, Russ!]
I’d vote for sticking with it — there has been a fantastic atmosphere at this site, with some of the best comments threads I’ve seen anywhere in the legal blogosphere.
Love the clean presentation of your solo blog.
I like volokh too, but sometimes it can get too busy, with too many things to keep track of.
Keep it up.
One month old . . . you’ll need to start blogging with a cane soon. Congratulations from all at my really ancient blog!
Although there have been some great posts here over the last month, I think that OK’s posts were better, on average, over at VC. Perhaps this is partly because of the daily “pressure” that OK describes, and partly because of the reduced interaction between OK and his former co-bloggers.
I also have found VC to be less compelling in OK’s absence. I fear this is one change where everyone loses.
I do miss your posts at Volokh. I have limited time to cruise the blogosphere, and I don’t make it over here as often as I’d like. There’s much to be said for one-stop shopping. But I do like what you’ve done with the place (color scheme aside).
“Sometimes those over at Volokh degenerate to the point where I can’t be bothered to find the gems.”
Strike “sometimes” and I’ll agree. It’s gotten so that I can hardly stand to read comments at Volokh anymore. It’s frequently exhausting, frustrating, and unduly time-consuming. I read Volokh (and this blog, when I make it over) for intelligent analysis, not snark and mudslinging. Three cheers for moderated comments!
Happy one month anniversary Professor Kerr! I find OrinKerr.com posts and comment threads to be very illuminating. I look forward to reading more on your blog in the weeks and months to come.
I enjoy your posts wherever you post them. I didn’t mind reading them on the VC (that’s what “control f” is for) but selfishly, I’ve benefited from the pressure you feel to post every day.
I really like your new solo blog. Please continue. I actually spend more time here than at the Volokh conspiracy now since you have,IMO, a higher signal to noise ratio, and provide links to the other important parts of the legal blog-sphere.
I for one enjoy this blog much more than Volokh. I actually think that your posts have improved somewhat from the disassociation. Or maybe it’s just that the other volokh bloggers and commenters put me in more of a bad mood so I liked your posts less over there.
Pretty easy to approve all the gushing comments though, eh?
I’m a 1L and read your blog everyday. I hope it continues. Thanks
I like your blog for its focus on legal issues and legal analysis. The Volokh Conspiracy tends to focus more on political arguments relating to legal issues or simply on political issues. This is frustrating because most of the Volokh conspirators’ legal expertise is substantially greater than their political expertise.
I think your blog could be improved by adding other contributors that stick to the same approach that you have taken so far. But of course, that would ruin the name of the blog. Guess you can’t have it all.
I have two blogs bookmarked: yours and Howard’s. Nuff said.
As someone who is obsessed with Constitutional law despite having neither a legal background nor a legal education, I have thoroughly enjoyed the content of this site and plan on visiting it every day, as I have since it launched.
Thank you.
I find the VC off-putting at times, and definitely prefer finding/reading you here.