Some of the most over-hyped stats in the cyber-ether deal with blogs. So, of course, I’m going to write about ours.
I do this not to pat ourselves on the back. Wamre and I are just cranky ex-newspapermen who have been led into this post-modern media age by necessity and the more au courant members of the staff. I mention it because this thing has worked — earlier this week, we passed the 11,000 visitor mark in Lake Highlands, which boggled my mind. And it has worked because our readers have embraced it. There is no higher compliment for people who do what we do.
The latest example came last week, when Rick made his verified alarm post. This is a highly controversial, complicated and contentious subject that makes the Trinity toll road read like Dr. Seuss. Yet we have had intelligent comments and a civil, on-going discussion on the Lake Highlands and Lakewood blogs (30,000 visits, by the way). There has been no name-calling and none of the snide, pissy, I’m better than you junk that happens elsewhere. Perhaps our elected officials, who are discussing changing the verified alarm policy, will read these posts and comments and learn a few things.
As mentioned, we’re going to add some features this fall to make the blog easier to use and more fun to read. We have one up now — that box in the upper right hand corner that says "Subscribe" is a way to subscribe to the blog — and we’re working on the others. Among those to be added will be a reader post, so that you can do more than just comment. The goal is to have all ready sometime in October, and I’ll keep you posted on developments.
