Atrios asks some good questions about the FEC’s proposed regulations on bloggers :
Why is somebody who prints up and mails out weekly vanity newsletter entitled to the media exemption but not me?Why is Michael Savage entitled to the media exemption but not me?
Why is Salon.com entitled to the media exemption but not me?
In order to avoid any potential pitfalls, let me use this opportunity to announce that this post will be the last one on The Talent Show blog. Starting either late today or tomorrow, I will relaunch (without any fanfare whatsoever) my new web magazine, The Talent Show. I will still be the primary writer around here, but the traditional blog posts will be replaced with articles of varying lengths and topics. I will also be replacing the comments with article specific message boards. The look of the site, the writing style, the subject matter, the content, and the technological back-end will be identical to what I’m using now, but the change (as least as far as the FEC is concerned) will be drastic. Starting tomorrow, my days as a blogger are ending and my days as a writer begin.
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Well done. You’ve effectively described the sticky problems in trying to divide ‘new’ forms of content delivery from ‘old’ ones. But why stop at comparisons with print media or Salon? If it so chose, The Talent Show could ‘prove’ that it is not only a magazine and newspaper, but also a radio station and TV show. (Whatever confers the best advantage.)
I have already converted as one of the sheep following the pack. I am now a writer with an online web magazine. Soon the OWM or OLM will be shortend to WAG for Web Mag. So soon we will be waggers instead of bloggers. And since that is bound to happen I wish to be the first, the very first, to coin the term wagoverse.
The ‘blogosphere become the ‘zineosphere. It sure sounds better than it looks.
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The FEC called.
You had them fooled until they looked at your “article-specific message boards” and didn’t find smileys.
Man… you were so close!
I’m sorry, but I’m just not going to redesign, or retitle my blog for the FEC. I’d rather be fined or jailed.
You can jump through hoops if you want. I think refusing to do so and forcing the FEC to show itself for exactly what it is – a vehicle for censorship and government control of individuals – will have a more positive effect on the rest of the blogosphere.
I’m not going to cooperate with the anti-freedom machine.
As the two Guinness guys say: “Brilliant!”
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Or you could do what I did with dumpsantorum.com – just install WordPress on Canadian servers. FEC has no jurisdicition up there. I’m seeking “digital asylum” in the great white north.
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Good. I’ve always thought blog was kind of a gross word.
… Oh wow – Dynamic preview! Nice!
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