My Last Words On Both Matters

I'll write one more post on the recent kerfuffle and then I'm through with the subject. Actually both subjects.

I need to start with what seems to be the major misconception most Virginia bloggers have about the whole thing. I do not hate Waldo Jaquith. I do not even dislike him. I've met Waldo exactly twice, and both times he was a very charming, intelligent conversationalist. But I've said that before.

I've also said that I did not have a problem with him removing a blog from his aggregator, it's his and he can do with it what he will. However, I could and did point out his hypocrisy in doing so. Does that mean I'm completely above hypocrisy myself? Nope, and you're not either. What it does mean is that I will never let unsubstantiated charges from the left go unanswered. We've been there, done that in the Republican party for way too long.

I knew from the beginning that anything that found it's way onto the Virginia Political Blogs aggregator was not the doing of Waldo Jaquith. Just as all of you know that. Therefore I have never complained to Waldo about any content found there. The origin of that content is clearly displayed, and even contains a link to take you to the actual source. That is the reason I refused his "olive branch". He demanded that some of us put an obviously distasteful post on our blog with no reference from whence it came, and no explanation or apology allowed. You would be correct in calling that just one more incidence in a very long history of hypocrisy shown by Mr. Jaquith. However, for anyone to blame Waldo for over the top content on his aggregator is simply another example of hypocrisy, regardless of the political side from which the complaint comes.

Second subject. Now it seems we in the ODBA have a bit of egg on our faces. One of our members, a good writer with a sharp mind, was posting under a pseudonym that did not accurately reflect his true self. For whatever reason someone saw fit to "out" him.

Personally I believe that blogging anonymously, in and of itself, is not necessarily a problem. Shaun has a very different perspective on the subject. But the ODBA does not demand that each member march in lockstep with each other.

Some people simply must blog anonymously due to various circumstances. We in the ODBA have learned a valuable lesson. If a blogger must work under cover of anonymity, and he joins with others to collaborate whether it be on a single blog, a diary type blog such as RK, or a loose affiliation such as ours, he or she owes the rest of the team the simple courtesy of describing himself truthfully. We didn't demand that before, and now we are paying the cost for it. Thankfully the damage was much less severe than it might have been.

We will recover, though. I hope the young writer will lick his wounds, describe himself a little more truthfully on his blog, and go back to producing the work that first got him noticed here.