Friday, January 2, 2009

I Want To Make One Simple Point (or Pay Me Money And I'll Blog About Whatever You Want)

Part 27 of the VdA/PL epic will be up sometime this afternoon (as soon as I get a chance to go through the information that David Ball sent me and that just happens to be very relevant to the post; thanks, as always, David). But I want to make a quick point.

Yesterday I had a couple of comments in the New Year's Day post that were, shall we say, less than positive. The two anonymous commentators (who were most likely one commentator and his sock puppet) took exception to my putting up music videos instead of posting on 19th century St. Louis baseball. They also took a couple of shots at me and my character in the process. I responded in a less than charitable manner. What can I say? I'm a flawed human being.

In the last week or so, I had another commentator state that they'd like to see me stay on topic and made a very good point that since there were few places on the internet where they could find the kind of information that I post here, they would rather not have me writing about things that distracted from that. Since this person was someone that I respect and who has been more than generous with his time in helping me navigate the waters of 19th century baseball, I certainly took his comments seriously. I didn't necessarily agree with him but I think his criticism was fair. I'm certainly open to criticism but it helps if you're somebody I respect or, at the very least, someone who doesn't hide behind a curtain of anonymity.

But the point I want to make and that people need to keep in mind is this: This Game of Games is my blog. I have 100% total editorial control and I will post what I want to post. And by God if I want to post some music on a holiday as a change of pace I will. I don't have to answer to anybody.

I don't have any co-bloggers helping out. All the content on this site comes from me. I've put up around 700 posts over the last year and a half. Certainly some were crap but I think in general I've done some good work that's worth reading. I'm proud of what I've achieved with this site.

But I have a full time job, people. I work for a living. I have three baseball related book projects I'm working on for other people and I have two projects of my own that I'd like to see finished before I die of old age. I have a personal life. There's plenty of things to keep me busy besides this blog. And this site doesn't bring in a dime. So until somebody starts putting coin in my pocket, I have no time for complaints. If you want to argue baseball or have a problem with my interpretation of a certain event that's great and I'm more than willing to talk to you about that. If you just want to gripe that I'm off topic or not posting about your favorite player then you can find another corner of the internet because this one's mine.

Wrapping this up, I want to say that it's been a pleasure and an honor to talk to people who've visited the site over the last year and a half. I've enjoyed it immensely and look forward to talking to all of you some more. But I just wanted to get this off my chest. I feel much better now.

And to prove what an obstinate cuss I really am, here's some more music:


Sonic Youth-Teenage Riot



Note: Now that I think about it, this whole "putting coin in my pocket" thing is a really good idea. If someone wants to start paying me or can hook me up with a sponsor, I'm certainly willing to relinquish some editorial control. The more money you give me, the more editorial control you can have. Heck, if you have enough money we can scrap this whole baseball thing and I'll blog about whatever you want me to blog about. If you're putting beer in my frig then you can call the shots.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you.

I have to admit i was less then thrilled with your political comments, but i realized that was your right to do that (and as you realized it would have been mine to respond to them had i chosen to).

The truth is this blog fills a love of baseball and history, and because of that i can put up with things that i might not find favorable. This is your blog - you put your effort in (when i am sure you would rather be doing something else on occasion) and i just wanted to let you know its appreciated.

And if i find soemthing i don't appreciate i will gladly let you know and sign my name to it.

That's just the type of cranky guy i am. :)

Jeffrey Kittel said...

I really do appreciate everybody that stops by, Mike, and I certainly appreciate everybody that takes the time to leave a comment. And I really don't want to make too big a deal out of this (although it's probably too late for that).

The political stuff just kind of slips out from time to time and the election certainly didn't help. I am going to make a concerted effort to stay away from that in the future.

With the holidays out of the way, I think I should be able to stay on topic for awhile.

Anonymous said...

For whatever it is worth, I later realized that my comment would have been more appropriate as a private email. Sorry about that.

Jeffrey Kittel said...

No need to apologize Richard. You had a concern that you brought to my attention and I think it was fair and constructive. The stuff that got my Irish up was these anonymous posts that had some personal stuff in it. That I have no tolerance for. I may have made a mountain out of a molehill with it and it may have been best to just delete the comments and let the whole thing slide but that's not really my nature.