Friday, March 09, 2007

Should this blog be less entertaining?

I have had some complains of late because I don't publish every comment anymore. The most common reason I take a pass on a comment is because it provides nothing new to the discussion. An example is someone commented here recently wondering how Brad could afford to be mayor, I wrote back that I thought that Brad might have $1M in the bank. The same person wrote back the exact same question, exactly the same way again within an hour. There was no new content or ideas. I declined to publish. The same person sent in another comment, why didn't you publish my last comment. The answer is, because it was boring.

Nothing personal, just write better content. Write something new or something interesting. Write something that looks at a problem a new way. Provide content that is interesting. It isn't very hard.

Clearly I write this blog to educate both the readers and myself, but if it isn't fun and there isn't real content, the blog is worthless. I have cheerfully switched sides of an issue a couple of times, because it was fun. I likely will again.

This is entertainment, it isn't real life.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saying Brad has a cool million in the bank and him actually having it are two different things. Care to explain how you come up with this preposterous number?

PeterG said...

It takes time and effort to write up complicated stuff. I will do it in the next few days. Generally, if you see me write something like that, you will see a complete entry soon.

Have you read the Millionaire Next Door yet?

Thanks for asking, I realize that it is of interest.

Anonymous said...

Generally, if you see me write something like that, you will see a complete entry soon.

Thanks for the laugh, as well as the implicit admission that you censor the blog. Transparency is important.

PeterG said...

I think you don't understand what "implicit" means. I'm saying that I reject comments if they don't provide information that I feel is interesting.

See if it was "implicit," oh never mind.

Anonymous said...

Millionaire Next Door: people can accumulate a decent fortune by starting their own business, being frugal with money, and being smart with investments.

Carbondale Times: Brad Cole can afford to live on a part-time mayors salary because he got a small fortune by suing the state of Illinois.

PeterG said...

Only in Southern Illinois does $150k make a small fortune.

It isn't chicken feed, but since it looks like the courts were going to put him back in his $90k per year state job, I'm not sure it is a win.

I think he has lots more then $150k stashed away and you should too.

Anonymous said...

My quick back of the envelope calculation says that if he was able to save $300,000 over the course of ten years and get a 10% return, that would put him at about a half million. Of course, if he was making $90 K during that whole time, he could have saved $600,000 while still living a decent lifestyle. I'm assuming that he started out making a whole lot less than that. If he didn't start out making less, my already-low opinion of IL government just got a lot lower.