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Top Ten Things You Should Know About Kinsella’s Web Site
- It may not be a blog at all: Some blog purists - wearing pyjamas and living in their mother’s basement, 24/7, as they do – don’t feel Warren’s web site is a blog, because it doesn’t have permalinks or permit comments. Whatever. At one time, blogs were ostensibly about doing whatever the author wanted to do, and saying what he or she wanted to say (within limits). About being unconventional. Why then, Warren queries, should he be conventional, and adhere to somebody else’s stupid Blog Commandments? Screw that. Blogs are supposed to be against the mainstream – not creating a new one.
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It doesn’t have those permalink things: Warren doesn’t have permalinks because (a) he is busy running a busy business (b) he is busy being father to four busy young children (c) he is busy doing a million other things and (d) he therefore couldn’t be bothered. He doesn’t have time. Besides, he believes in age-old marketing principles: why, having brought people onto his website, would he then send them somewhere else?
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It doesn’t have a comments section: Warren doesn’t have a comments section – like Paul Wells, like Adam Radwanski and plenty of smarter other folks don’t – not because he doesn’t value intelligent feedback, pro or con. He does, he does. Warren doesn’t have comments because he is too busy (see above) to start policing the inevitable orgy of hatred and libel. Life is too short, etc. Besides, as an alleged lawyer, Warren’s reading of the law is that he would be sued, along with the defaming commenter, for permitting [CENSORED] to be called a [CENSORED]. If you want to comment, Warren welcomes your emails, at wkinsella@hotmail.com. If he likes what you send, and if it won’t result in both of you getting sued, he’ll ask your permission to post ‘em. But comments sections are out. Warren gets sued often enough for his own words. He doesn’t need to get sued for your words.
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It gets whacked every year: This ain’t the New York Times, people. Unlike some delusional bloggers, who we will not name (well, okay, for a fiver we will), Warren does not consider that his web site scribblings merit preservation for future generations. Hell, a goodly number of his “musings” are written on the crapper (and, while we are on the subject, did you know that Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital when suffering from haemorrhoids? Explains quite a lot, doesn’t it?). Early in every year, Warren and his guys delete the previous year’s musings. Want a Warren Archives? Start one yourself. Warren won’t.
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It loses money: What kind of money does the vast and expanding www.warrenkinsella.com make? How about this: Zero. Zippo. Zilch. Those Google ads may be great for Google, but Warren hasn't found them to be so great for Warren. So he pays for any of the costs associated with the web site out of his own pocket. It loses money, in other words. Think of it as the Toronto Star, but on a much smaller scale, and with a potentially much larger readership.
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It makes mistakes: Like the guy who writes it, the web site makes mistakes all the time. Like the guy who writes it, the web site believes in speedy and frank acknowledgement of errors. If you spot one - or something that you think is unfair or wrong - write Warren at wkinsella@hotmail.com. Chances are that he'll agree with you and make the necessary changes.
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It gets lots of hits: Sure, the www.warrenkinsella.com web site gets plenty of mouse clicks. Sure, during the 2006 Canadian federal election campaign, for example, it got about 250,000 a day. Warren's pithy response? Big deal. The web site gets visitors because it's free, because it is a bit wacky, and, um, because it is free. People like free stuff. Bloggers who think they are supplanting the mainstream media should give their tinfoil hats a shake - they get traffic because they are free, mainly. Not because they write Pulitzer-Prize-winning stuff.
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It believes in certain things: Warren is mightily suspicious of ideology, believing that ideologies (and some religions) are generally at fault for all manner of pogroms and prejudice. He believes, therefore, that sanity is most often found in those persons whose belief systems are contradictory and confusing; sociopaths, by logical extension, have a black-and-white answer for everything. Get ready for a web site, therefore, that is church-going Catholic but Zionist; pro-choice but (in limited instances) pro-capital punishment; pro-gay marriage, but opposed to mushy love scenes, gay or straight; in love with youthful punk rock, but aging fast; pro-beer but suspicious of martinis; fiercely proud of Dalton McGuinty whilst admiring of Stephen Harper; contemptuous of people who attack others under the cloak of anonymity, but willing (sometimes too willing) to throw a punch; against coffee, for espresso; Irish, but fonder of Indian music; in love with the National Post cheekiness, style and writing, while simultaneously in favour of taxes, affirmative action and Kyoto; awfully judgmental, but a sucker for a sincere apology; opposed to TV, but respectful of its power to change lives; gun-owning, but passionately pro-gun registry; somewhat enthusiastic about the new media, like blogs, but convinced that too many blogs are so suffused with bile and venom that they will eventually drown in their own hatred and hubris; and so on. You want one point of view, all the time? Go to the Blogging Tories, or Liblogs, or whatever. Don't come here.
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It despises cowards and hypocrites: Like Warren (most days), the web site believes that (a) if you have a criticism to make, put your name on it, because it's cowardly to slime others anonymously, and (b) try and be consistent - and, when your view changes, admit it and say why. That's why the web site bears Warren's name, and why he takes responsibility for its content; that's why he loathes the anonymous cowards found everywhere in the blogosphere. Especially that one in Ottawa, with about twenty false names, and the creepy Rachel Marsden fixation.
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It is here until it isn't: Warren has been a diarist since he was 11 years old. He is alleged to have a 1,000-word record of every single day since then. He writes, badly, because he is compelled to write. But one day - someday soon, or maybe not - he will get tired of this wee web site, and pull the plug. He does it because he enjoys it; when he stops enjoying it, and notwithstanding impressive page-view statistics, he will pull the plug. So it goes.
There you are: ten things you should know about www.warrenkinsella.com. Enjoy your stay, and don't steal the silverware. God bless us all.
All contents copyright 2006 warrenkinsella.com.
No reproduction whatsoever, in any form, without permission.
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