Still, Open Salon is an important idea, a laudable attempt to bring into the fold those people who were once just readers on the far side of the magazine or the computer screen. Salon’s writers and editors will become a bit more like readers, and their readers will become a bit more like them. They’ll share a space, or try to, anyhow.
“How many experiments are tried?” asked Scott Rosenberg. “How many fail? Ultimately, you want some success to point to, but if you don’t have some failures, it probably means you’re not trying enough different things.” It’s unclear whether Salon will get rich from this—and it’s unclear whether bloggers will, either. However the finances work out for Salon, though, the enjoyment from reading and writing remain. For most of Open Salon’s newly minted bloggers, that seems like plenty.
It's already going to hell in a handbasket, where fine writers are getting lost in the increasing volume of posts; members of the initial beta group have organized into self-insulating, mutually congratulatory cliques; more and more it's trendy or sensational fluff and misery stories that make it onto the front page, and those who raise a voice of dissent about this state of affairs are often scathingly attacked, even when they have attempted to raise their concerns in the most genteel and constructive language.
Tippem is just a big fat ZERO - an innovative flop. Those who are beginning to predominate are not always the best writers - not by a long shot - but they are the best at schmoozing and engaging in what has come to be known as "blogwhoring" at Salon - emailing masses of people to promote their posts. Many of them also show signs of blogging addiction, clearly positing at a level that is not commensurate with leading a normal,structured life.
The venture shows signs of "self-destructing," but not in the sense of "going away." Talented writers, initially lured by the hope of having their work recognized in a forum of intelligent equals are egressing, most quietly and without fanfare, and there are countless accounts which have been opened and then left to languish. Those who are seeking to monopolize through the various techniques outlined above will most likely stay on, and the editors will be happy, because they will continue to receive predictable, if less than stellar, material for the front page - which is their only concern.
The ones who may be future heavyweights, though - they are leaving, and they will continue to leave. Because they know that real writers push the outside of the envelope rather than settling for formulaic front cover pap, and most of all they know that real writers get paid real money for real work, rather than propping up an online publication like Salon,whose revenues, interestingly enough, have been falling...
Posted by James on Fri 30 Jan 2009 at 01:48 AM