Friends, bloggers, freedom fighters all; I stand before you today to speak a hard truth that we've all kept silent about for far too long. Open Left has really gone down hill since it opened.
It used to be just about the best blog ever. When I joined Open Left it was absolute blogger utopia. The color scheme was so innovative, even I didn't get what the hell they were going for, so you know it was cutting edge. There were posts and other members, and above all COMMUNITY. When I joined at 12:37 EST it was a small core of dedicated members who really knew what they were talking about. Their posts were witty, and insightful, and you really felt you could trust one another.
Follow the sad fall after the fold...
But in the hour plus since the blog went live (AKA "mainstream") all that has changed. These new members just don't get it. They post inane "hey wow nice site" messages, like we really care what these newbies think. They don't understand our community, it's common values, ground rules, or goals. Most of all they ask the same stupid questions that were already asked at 12:39 EST AND 12:47. We've been over this again and again people! If you want to join and play with the grown ups at least learn what the hell we've already covered!
The cause for all of this is clear. Bowers and Stoller have sold out to the man. Sure they were all underground and cool before the site went live. But now they're all mainstream and corporatist. It's like I never really knew them in the first place. I thought we really had somthing here, but I guess it was inevitable that they'd sell out to Big Activism and their limitless slush funds.
It's sad really, all the minutes spent away from our families, building the site into what it is, now this flood of newbies and the betrayal at the top has just soured all of that. I really believed in these guys, but it's clear to me now that they're no better than Friendster or any of the other grand social experiments that have burned me in the past.
Pathetic sellouts.