In case anyone is interested, I (and Masson’s Blog) will be the subject of the “featured conversation” at The Well’s world readable forum, Inkwell.vue.
As the host put it in the “Coming Soon” topic:
From March 22 to April 5, attorney and Midwest resident Doug Masson joins us to talk about his twin passions for blogging and politics, and how they’ve converged in his own highly regarded blog on the political process of Indiana.
The “highly regarded” part is certainly open to debate, but the kind words are certainly appreciated.
Anyway, I suppose some of that requires explanation if you are not familiar with The Well. (Their own description is here.) It’s sort of an online gated community. It started as a bulletin board system back in the mid-80s and that’s still essentially what it is — mostly threaded discussions. But, the longevity of the system coupled with the small monthly fee ($15/month, I believe) lead to more consistently good discussions than you’ll find elsewhere on the Internet. The fee keeps a lot of the junk out: spam and trolls. The longevity has led to a real feeling of community so you have a sense of what the other people are about. So, the majority of the system is not viewable by non-members. The exception are the “.vue” conferences, one of which is inkwell.vue. I think the idea is to provide a window into the Well for the public so that those who might be interested in such things might be enticed to join up.
Whatever the intent may be, I’m up to be the “featured conversation” — sort of an interview, but ongoing with all and sundry invited to come ask questions and engage in the back and forth. Looking at the past guests, I’m in excellent company:
and many, many others more accomplished and interesting than myself. But it’s good to share some space with them. When the discussion actually “goes live,” I’ll post a link.
I’ll also reiterate my plug for the Well. It’s a great place for those who are really interested in considered discussion. The west coast generally and San Francisco particularly are heavily represented on the site, so discussions on Indiana or the Midwest specifically are sort of sparse. But if you want to talk national politics, sports, computers, writing, parenting or pretty much anything else of general interest, the Well has a better “light to heat” ratio than most other places. It costs a little bit, so those sorts of discussions would have to be of more than passing value to you, but if they are, the money is well spent. O.k. end of plug. I’ll get back to Indiana politics sooner or later. Meanwhile, keep talking amongst yourselves.
Hey, congrats. I used to be a joint member of the Well and Salon Table Talk several years ago.