Buffalo Blogging

It occurred to me this morning that there are no bloggers in town anymore to argue policy and politics with. There’s no WNY-based Republican posting anything reasonable or thought-provoking about politics, and blogging in Buffalo is almost completely dominated by sports or personal content. Everything has now migrated to Twitter and Facebook, as far as I can tell. 

It’s a shame, that. We need more voices, not fewer. 

28 comments

  • I’ll give it a try, Alan.

    Romney is going to turn this campaign around tonight because … he, well …

    Never mind.

    And ‘WNY-based’ might be too narrow a search. Try finding a carbon-based ‘Republican posting anything reasonable or thought-provoking about politics.’

    /goes back to the sports department

  • As the guy who used to do that job “at another network,” let me offer this quick perpsective. 1) The R’s have become (way) harder to reasonably defend. 2) The entire free-wheeling blogger phenomenon is shrinking, as it becomes either commercialized or gobbled up by media (see your platform) – people want relaxed blog-style content from reputable sources, and 3) in The Great Sort, WNY is not immune from the trend of a community uniting into one voice. In our case, its a crumb-hoarding, semi-incompetent, provincial Blue voice, but its ours.

    So, there are bigger trends than R’s going crazy. But there are only so many guys named Frum, Brooks and . . . who can keep up the good (reasonable) fight. WNY is not the only place without one.

  • You could always just invent one. I think you’d make a fine anonymous Republican  blogger.

  • There used to be a local Republican who was fun to talk to and wasn’t a jerk about it…but he kept migrating his blog from one URL to another and I lost track of him. Is he still out there? Jeez, I can’t even remember his name….

  • Alan–I know that a common response to criticisms of Democrats is “So, you support Romney, then!” But have you thought about looking beyond the spectrum of Republican-Democrat for your debate? There is a body of opinion outside that continuum, including progressives actively critical of Obama and other Democrats and their Queen City corollaries. Can’t help too much specifically identifying bloggers, but have a look at the interview with Kevin Connor at Investigative Post (a couple of weeks ago, and linked at Artvoice), if you haven’t already, and the occasional blog postings at LittleSis and the Public Accountability Initiative.

  • I too have noticed a decline in blog comments. If people share their blog posts on their Facebook or Twitter accounts, that is where people tend to respond.

  • Did you ever think no one wants to argue with you because you turn into such a friggin’ baby every time someone writes something you don’t like?  Then your parade of ass clowns come dancing in to support whatever you post?  You no different than the Tea Baggers, just a myopic view in the other direction.
    So, now you lament there is no one to argue with? 
    Just FYI I am done here, after your personal attack on a dead guy, and your obvious bend toward our distinguished County Executive’s grocery store brother’s move to contract review position in the ECWA and I am sure Mark’s handpicked successor will look “deeply” into the ECWA as he does his audit, you can’t be taken all that seriously.

  • What bottom second or third tier law school did you graduate from on the ass end on that left you such a broken man from? Anyone can see the lack of confidence in your writing.

    • Hey, Jim – since we’re getting close and personal,

      1. How did your race for probate court go in 2006? I was unable to defeat my incumbent Republican opponent in the general election, as well. I know how it feels.

      2. While the law school from which I graduated isn’t in the top tier, I’m proud of my education and accomplishments and don’t seek validation from internet trolls on the matter. I’ll be the first to admit that I was a lousy student in High School, and that these bad habits followed me into college until about my sophomore year, at which time I woke up. So, I’ve made some bad choices in my life – all of which I have to live with. You can go ahead and insult me and my education. It makes you feel better because you’re projecting. Suffice it to say, however, that the University of Iowa may be in the top 100, but it’s not exactly Harvard or Columbia, and throwing stones about it is probably not something you should do.

      3. How’s Queens? I was born there.

      4. Your attorney registration doesn’t reveal a work address. I hope you’re not looking for work in this horrific market.

      Have a great day! I’m looking forward to your next “I’m leaving”!

      • Actually Iowa was top 20 (18) when I went there, and has slipped a little to top 25.

        You missed my LLM.  Better research next time.

        Oh, and I don’t know how Queens is, you should ask someone who lives there.

        • When I say “jump“, you ask me how high. 

          Worst. Troll. Ever. 

          • Like I said what a real professional to go after your readers. I am guessing you tried to find criminal or bakruptcy matters that might involve me but that isn’t gonna work for you.
            So all you got was that. I knew a lot guys like you down in DC all about charter assasination. They grew out of it, what is your excuse?

          • Says the guy who started in with the ad hominems, using anonymity as a sword. “Failed lawyer”, etc. You lose. Good day, sir.

          • You’re the pundit who writes everyday. Can’t take the criticism, you lose because you don’t even realize how easy it is to make you look so unprofessional. Hope this isn’t your only job.

          • Yes, when you hurl clumsy ad hominems and then bristle at it being thrown right back at you, your professionalism shines through. You hate me so much, yet you continue to comment. Each time you do, I win. I thought you were “done here”?

          • I save hate for only special people. I don’t hate you I think you are a person who completely over estimates their opinions value and a thin skinned cry baby who lacks the confidence to ignore critical views on those same opinions. By the way I don’t need to be professional as i am not the one with the daily blog. Do you think Ms gee replies to every little response she gets? Or tries to track down people who send her unflattering post?

            Small fry small pond.
            I await your reply.

  • My WAG: how will a new Buffalo-related blogger find an audience?   Even then, the audience is going to be quite small.  Buffalo isn’t Austin, where there’s a much larger portion of the population that are younger, in the creative class, more technologically adept, and so on.  The “scenes” that attract hordes of bloggers in other mid-sized cities — music, development/urbanism, food, fashion, and technology — are much smaller in Buffalo.  Can you imagine Buffalo having blogs dealing only with local public transportation, like Seattle Transit Blog?  What about blogs about local car-free living?  Retail development, like Storefront Blog in Syracuse?  A blog deconstructing the historical development patterns that resulted in the city we have today, like A Town Square in Rochester?

    Buffalo has sports fanatics by the hundreds of thousands, and no shortage of those who obsessively follow its old-school machine politics.  Thus, every other title in your local RSS feed aggregator will include the words “Collins” or  “Bills”.  While local message boards in other cities cover a wide range of topics in other cities, local politics overwhelm Speak Up WNY.

    I’ll put part of the blame on the homer’s favorite, Buffalo Rising.  Its dominance might quash the desires of others to start a blog on the topics it covers; development, food, culture, and general boosterism.  Other peer cities will have an assortment of blogs dealing with those individual subjects, usually far more comprehensively.

    Even if you find a niche unrelated to sports or machine politics, how are you going to get an audience?  For the Buffalonians that follow blogs, it’s BR, BP, and that’s it.

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