Five years of Moon of Alabama - Time to close it down
From the MoA About page:
Some time ago, the commenting at Billmon's Whiskey Bar became a bit excessive. Billmon therefore closed the comments at his place on June 29, 2004. The community of commentators was left behind to search for a new place.
Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community.
Bernhard started and still runs the site. ...
Now Bernhard stops the site. The decision to do so was taken six weeks ago and has nothing to do with recent developments in the world or any comment on this blog.
The main reason is financially. If there were a big, generous sponsor I could keep on doing this. Believe it or not, even while this is a small place, keeping it clean and posting on a wide range of issues makes it a full time job. Until recently I could sustain running it because I had reserves and a real job that allowed a lot of flexibility and a nice pay. Both are gone.
I now need to, again, 'get a life'. There are other issues too. Running such a blog is rather isolating. Being so much on the news and developing a bullshit detector as good blogging requires, creates too much distance from real, small issue social life around oneself. Psychologically it is quite a drag down. Read every line of The Daily Palestinian post from bottom to top and you will understand what I am thinking about.
In the total five years MoA got some 4,305,000 pageviews from about 2.1 million visits. Some 133,000 comments were posted and some 4,260 posts were published. Those numbers may sound big, but even with advertisement and small donations it would not be economically viable to run with this format and reach.
As this page view graph shows there were ups and downs but still a nice long-term up trend. A few more years on ... but who knows?
bigger
Thanks to all who came here, read and commented. A special thanks to those who have been around since the very first days. Dan of Steele, Juannie, r'giap, annie ond others come to mind.
In a few days, I will close the comments to this and other threads. I'll arrange something for b real to keep his Africa Comments alive and free of spam. I'll stop reading news.
I may, (may!) produce a CD with the archives of this blog plus the full Billmon archives. Check back in two or three weeks on how, maybe, you can get it.
To all of you, thanks!
And goodbye.
Posted by b on June 30, 2009 at 7:26 UTC | Permalink
« previous pagewe'll have to think of something, this is completely unacceptable.
maybe some warm milk will help.
Posted by: annie | Jul 2 2009 0:28 utc | 203
I thought I'd made it to the bargaining state of grief
faster jawbone. to the trenches! bargain! we cannot abandon ship!
i never was very good at finding my way around speakeasy as much as a comforting place it was. it was too complicated for me, the format that is.
no no no i will not accept this! i'm not going down without a fight!
b, you are so beyond wonderful and everything. you have taken lots of blows here these last few weeks, some horrible stuff was said about you and maybe you think we all take you for granted but we don'T!
i don't. what are we going to do, this is unfair and completely un...un..un....REASONABLE.
what about a vacation. put up the paypal and let b real run the africa thread for a while and see how much money rolls in and then once in awhile if you are in the mood (only) and the moment strikes you then you could just happen to slip a little post in once in awhile. or maybe the daily links (which are great).
i will try to be nicer and i know everyone else will. most people are very nice anyway i just think emotions were running rather high lately and it seems so unfair to close the bar at such a time after all this drama going on.
can't you just take a month off. what about advertising? what about subscriptions? what about something, anything..but not close down.
begging is never beneath me because my love has no pride compared to loosing all you have brought into my life... and our community...all because of you.
RETHINK!
Posted by: annie | Jul 2 2009 0:53 utc | 205
b
Thanks for managing this great and informative site for 5 years. I got most of my news/analysis from here and will miss having a trustworthy/insightful view and discussion of world events.
If you are in Northern California, please do look me up. It would be a pleasure to buy you dinner as a small thank-you.
As other readers have suggested, I am more than willing to subscribe to MOA if you are so inclined.
Wishing you all the best and hope you get some rest.
Based on the 150+ comments here, its evident that you have many well-wishers. Hope all this good karma helps you resolve your financial situation soon.
PS: I will email my contact info to you and do look forward to meeting you.
Posted by: SimplyLurking | Jul 2 2009 1:04 utc | 206
What Rick said.
Stormy here, rattling the windows already.
Posted by: beq | Jul 2 2009 1:10 utc | 207
We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day,
And now you'd throw us all aside
And put us on our way.
Oh what dear daughter 'neath the sun
Would treat a father so,
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, "No"?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so alone
And life is brief.
We pointed out the way to go
And scratched your name in sand,
Though you just thought it was nothing more
Than a place for you to stand.
Now, I want you to know that while we watched,
You discover there was no one true.
Most ev'rybody really thought
It was a childish thing to do.
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.
It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe.
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse.
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.
bob dylan
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 2 2009 1:34 utc | 208
jawbone,
I was registered at le speakeasy since Whiskey Bar closed it’s doors and was still able to log in though I haven’t for a long time. I suspect if you got registered but can’t log in it’s because okie isn’t or hasn’t just been hanging around to keep up on posts, registration etc.. Expect something by morning. I sent a message. Two patrons from here have already posted. If you get logged in you may not, as annie insinuated, find it real simple to get acquainted with the forum. But it works when you get an intuitive grasp of it. Good flexibility for different interest groups.
beq,
Thanks for ...on the rise. Not only an old and appropriate song but I’d never seen even pictures of Creedence before and it was a hell of a treat. An old time favorite of mine of course.
Nite all, I hope more brainstorming happens but I know it’s early on.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 2 2009 1:52 utc | 210
Hey, that's more than just a real shame, this is something close to upsetting considering (as one poster put it) this really does feel like an oasis of info in a desert of bs. I've been lurking for about a year but i would have no problem putting up $200 towards keeping this site going.
I loved coming here to read people's posts on what was going on in the world. insightful stuff, odd interpretations or sometimes ideas i would heartily disagree with, it didn't matter because this blog contained intelligent, articulate thoughts that existed outside the limited atmosphere of tv, print and most online sources of news (actually i'm struggling to think of any online source that can match MoA for its general approach and group intelligence to dealing with news items).
All the best, b, whatever happens.
PS If anybody knows of a good blog that emulates what was going on here, would they mind providing a link?
Cheers
Posted by: delad | Jul 2 2009 1:56 utc | 211
B,
Count me in if subscriptions would help change your mind.
Posted by: Fighting Bob | Jul 2 2009 1:57 utc | 212
b - for what "it's" worth:
Seeking is the activity of making, believing, hoping that something which does not exist right here right now (except in imagination) is more important than what does. Therefore, the real and actual present is "sacrificed" to a conceptual non-existent "future" which is the attempt to "avoid".
Seeking is a strategy designed (but fails) to avoid "what is" _as_ the various attempts to move away from it, exploit it, suppress it, indulge in it, make it different, etc based on the illusion that there is an independently existing objective "me" separate from "what is".
It is the intention and effort to generate, maintain, and persevere as a "self" over time independent of and separate from Totality (whatever that is). This separative activity creates the belief/sensation of "me" over and against "otherness" which is experienced as fear, abandonment, limitation, seeking to be re-united, to become enlightened, to return "home", to find God, Allah, Buddha, True Nature, etc.
Of course it's impossible to "avoid", "move away", "be separate", or "be different" from *what is* since there is just, merely, simply, and only "what is" AS IS.
Once this case of mistaken identification takes place, living then becomes all about "survival" based on the fear of coming to an end, attempting to continuously persist as a "thing" among "things" from moment to moment. This is vividly and sadly happening all around the world. However, as Buckminster Fuller (and many others) have said, life is a process, a verb...there are no "nouns" (objects, things) anywhere to be found.
Simply awareness (which is invisible to itself) and its modifications which are/is "not two". In other words, who or what one really, really, really is is no*thing*...the "aware-space" for appearances to occur to, within, and as modifications of itself...similar to "waves" on and as the play of the "ocean".
--
Fewer words: “We drank from this clean spring at MoA, now we will never grow old.”
Posted by: Paris Troika | Jul 2 2009 1:59 utc | 213
I can't register either.
Any way to open it up? I would also like to post a few main frontpage items.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 2 2009 2:25 utc | 214
Yeah sloth, and I still have a few discussion I would like to have with you old homie. i.e. cap. & emp. Maybe you could get a front page and a real discussion like you did on over over... consumption? or ...production? Egad, I wish I had access to archives.
Sorry, I couldn’t help but take a peak and have to respond before I really hit the sack. It’s been a long day.
Posted by: Juannie | Jul 2 2009 3:01 utc | 215
Le speak easy is a great idea. A peer production thing, until b gets his US-empire hatin' wheels back on.
Posted by: slothrop | Jul 2 2009 3:04 utc | 216
went over and checked it out--looks promising, so i set up an account. gotta adapt, i guess. and yeah, still in denial a little bit.
Posted by: Lizard | Jul 2 2009 3:34 utc | 217
Improvise ... Adapt ... OVERCOME !
Uh, sorry, couldn't resist ;))
Posted by: Outraged | Jul 2 2009 4:12 utc | 218
if for nothing other than nostalgia, here is a link to the series of threads at the whiskey annex hashing out a direction for the community after billmon closed the comments section at his joint. lot of ideas & discussions took place. maybe useful to help stimulate some now.
Posted by: b real | Jul 2 2009 5:09 utc | 219
What a community to lose at this time ... sigh
Juannie @210 I still have admin privileges at Le Speakeasy and poked around but can't see any block to new folks posting. Okie may have set something since the site was getting swamped with spam registrations, etc for quite a while - those appear to have been cleaned up which means Okie has been busy since I ran out of steam doing so a long while back. It does look like anyone with original logins etc from back then is still fine so hopefully Okie would be happy to unlock the doors again.
one from the vaults @ the whiskey annex
@JérômeWhen I did set up the site dirtyglasses.typepad.com this noon, I did think of a permanent site - I am willing to keep it running and to expand it as long as feasable but not forever. I do not want it to be MY site, but the communities site. When I do not have the time/resources, I will ask for help or to take over.
Having done some bigger software projects I experienced that it is helpful to start fast and small and then expand as needed. After a while, when everything is settled and the feature list discussion completed, one will need to do a version 2 to clean up the mess, but at least there is something working from day one on.
So this morning it just felt right and it could be done quickly. I´ll try to find and fix a decent domain name and to prepare some better stylesheets through the next days.
For now, I´ll just let it run. If folks accept it - fine, if not - I did learn some stuff today, so it was worthwhile.
Posted by: Bernhard | Jun 30, 2004 2:19:19 PM
Posted by: b real | Jul 2 2009 5:26 utc | 221
I went through the registration process at le speak-easy; but it hasn't been validated and I can't log in.
Copeland - I just received an email asking me for admin approval for a new account and when I went to see if I could approve, it was already done. I can only guess that Okie handled that but he must be quite surprised so I'd give it a little time and then try again.
Posted by: Siun | Jul 2 2009 5:45 utc | 223
hey b, you're more than welcome to come and write on European Tribune as a guest once in a while, if you feel like it.
Thanks again for sharing the keys to MoA with me in the early days - I've never stopped writing since!
Posted by: Jerome a Paris | Jul 2 2009 7:10 utc | 224
For anyone attempting to register at Le Speakeasy I may have sorted out an inelegant but workable way to unlock ... the user list has been hard hit by spammers and it's very hard to see - given the creative names of many here - which names are real, etc. Until we hear from Okie, if you email me directly ( christina underscore siun at mac dot com ), I will try to get you access. No promises, but will try.
Posted by: Siun | Jul 2 2009 7:45 utc | 225
Now that we're get'n all nostalgic, let me post the most obvious swan song (sniff, sniff):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_d_VJbYAfc&feature=related>Oh Moon of Alabama, now we must say good bye
If people are serious about the 200, I'm good as well if it'll show me the way to the next whiskey bar.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 2 2009 8:11 utc | 226
bathed in tears at how much love there is for truth and compassion on this goodbye thread.
thanks b. for raising the bar and showing how it can be done.
have a good rest, i'm sure you'll pop up refreshed in the bye and bye.
as de said, it's not the same, but www.eurotrib.com will be happy to offer you room to flock, the synthesis potential is north of intriguing, and more world knowledge will broaden perspectives.
r'giap, thanks for being the best political poet on the web!
Posted by: melo | Jul 2 2009 10:41 utc | 227
bathed in tears at how much love there is for truth and compassion on this goodbye thread.
thanks b. for raising the bar and showing how it can be done.
have a good rest, i'm sure you'll pop up refreshed in the bye and bye.
as de said, it's not the same, but www.eurotrib.com will be happy to offer you room to flock, the synthesis potential is north of intriguing, and more world knowledge will broaden perspectives.
r'giap, thanks for being the best political poet on the web!
Posted by: melo | Jul 2 2009 10:41 utc | 228
Long time daily lurker here... have only posted a couple of times (recently). This place is second to none and ditto to all of the commentary above.
Thank you Bernhard ...and all who post here regularly....for this paradise of humanity.
Passes tissues around.
Posted by: LeslieM | Jul 2 2009 11:00 utc | 230
no problem coming up with 200 usd to keep it going. count me in b if you ever think of getting back on track. what a void you and the wb/moa community have left :(
Posted by: charmicarmicat | Jul 2 2009 11:33 utc | 231
I hope this place stays open long enough for me to find the free hour over the next couple of days to marshall a considered response -- certainly one is called for.
If not, then I offer my heartfelt thanks to b, for all that he has given us, and for all that he has given personally to me.
As many have noted, b's analytical abilites were unparalleled.
Moreover, it takes a special person to draw a unique commmunity around him: Bernhard was that special person and this has certainly been a most unique community.
It was here that I learned to write, and here that I learned to gather and formulate my thoughts, and to think coherently -- not in the knee-jerk reactionary way that education and media foster -- but in a holistic, systemic way where all things are connected to each other, and each is connected to the web of life and the biosphere that ultimately sustains us.
As my thinking deepened, and my personal problems mounted, I found myself unable to participate in this forum in a way which felt meaningful and productive to me -- but that was my problem, not MOA's, and certainly I have continued to lurk and drink deep from this font of news, links, and analysis.
Bernhard's sharp analysis of world events -- particularly in Georgia and Iran -- have made a mockery of better known, more established, Marxist blogs, particularly Lenin's Tomb and Unrepentent Marxist, who haved proved unable to see their way out of the thicket of theory and grasp how real events effect real people.
And that, after all, is the nub of things: How do real events effect real people? And what, ultimately, is to be done? Without that grounding, analysis quickly sours upon the tongue.
Marx's unique contribution was to integrate political and philosophical thought, and this blog has followed in that honored path. This is not a small thing.
If anyone has access to a library, and can get their hands upon Romain Rolland's "The Life of Ramakrishna," please find the quote from the faceplate and post it here. I don't want to mangle the quote from memory, but there is no better homage I can think of than that which Rolland said about Ramakrishna himself.
Posted by: Malooga | Jul 2 2009 11:47 utc | 232
Sorry, Malooga, but I was with b all the way until he towed the regime's line on Iran (see my comments just posted on Links in response to Debs-is_Dead). I have to disagree 100 % with your statement: "Bernhard's sharp analysis of world events -- particularly in Georgia and Iran -- have made a mockery of better known, more established, Marxist blogs.". I'm afraid he got Iran 100 % wrong, but that's just one major goof among literally hundreds of brilliant threads, so I forgive him as we are all human.
Posted by: Parviz | Jul 2 2009 12:10 utc | 233
Parviz, even if, as you self-righteously assume, you are 100% right, you could at least have the good grace to let the statement slide at this point.
Posted by: mo | Jul 2 2009 13:01 utc | 234
Great to see your name in the comments list Malooga, I miss your profound reflections on world events, trends and matters. Good to see you are still around and, in case B really closes the bar for good, I hope you’ll weigh in from time to time in any replacement forum MoA’s community might be able to establish.
Best wishes
Posted by: Juan Moment | Jul 2 2009 13:16 utc | 235
I am 100% with mo & Rudolf on this one.
Also, thanx to Siun for re-establishing Le Speakeasy as the Lost & Found site for heartbroken Mooners looking for a place to deal with the trauma ;-)
Posted by: Juan Moment | Jul 2 2009 13:58 utc | 237
good to hear from you malooga. i wondered if you were lurking.
perfect anna missed.
i'm totally down w/the 200. problem is sustaining the contributions over the long haul. b, please put up the paypal. i want to make a payment whether you keep the bar open or not.
maybe i'll mosey over to speakeasy and poke around.
Posted by: annie | Jul 2 2009 14:46 utc | 240
damn, last delete got posted. Oops, last post got deleted/swallowed by the ether. Wanted to say how much i've enjoyed lurking here for the last year (circa) and will miss this place *incredibly*. As so many others have said, an oasis of info in a desert of so much bs MainStream/CorporateMedia. I am actually close to upset, I mean where the *bleep* am i supposed to read such incisive, different or just downright looney interpretations of what's going on around us?
Please, if you guys decide to migrate en masse somewhere, will you let me know??
ceannbui@gmail.com
And i'd have no problem putting some money towards keeping this endeavour going if that's what it takes.
All the best b and regulars, i've really enjoyed lurking and reading.
go n`eiri an bothar libh go leir n`fheadair sli a bhfuil sibh ag dul
(may the road rise to meet you all regardless of what direction you're going)
Posted by: delad | Jul 2 2009 14:51 utc | 241
Thanks for keeping this going for 5 years post-B.C. (Billmon Comments).
I really enjoyed the adjunct to the old Whiskey Bar.
Sláinte,
cl
Posted by: Caoimhin Laochdha | Jul 2 2009 15:11 utc | 242
The comments to this entry are closed.
What always impressed me about this site was how smart the contributors were as well as how there generally was lack of trolls. This site is a daily read for me but I hate to say I never contributed.
If and it sound like there are people that want to continue the site might I recommend either wordpress.com or blogger.com. Both are content management systems and are hosted so there are no real technical skills needed and the only thing that would need to be done would be content creation and moderation. Just a thought for you to ponder.
Jon
Posted by: GuateJon | Jul 2 2009 0:09 utc | 201