In-your-face witty, narcissistic defense blog looking for commenters. Experience not necessary. Reading proficiency helpful, but not required. Uncensored opinions preferred.
If you are obsessed with precision and love providing feedback, you may be the commenter of our dreams. Maybe you have noticed our dearth of comments as of late. We like comments. Our voyeuristic readers like comments, too. Or so they tell us, but won’t write one. Readership is strong, but our readers rarely comment.
That’s where you come in.
Who is that elusive commenter? We have been on the hunt for some time. We’ve tried varying style. (One day outrageous, the next more outrageous.) “Ask more questions!” they say. Silence. So, we’re goin’ public: comments encouraged. (No personal attacks; no come-on lines. Really.) As cyber boss consoled, “I know how you feel. But Mr. Commenter may not be Mr. Right [for the blog].”
Here’s a sampling of comment behavior that we’ve observed around the blogosphere:
U.S. Naval Institute. A juggernaut even without the blog. Pulls in those respondents. Can be a wonk crowd, but we like wonks. Wonks are welcome at Inside the HQ.
Tom Ricks. Not sure how Ol’ Tom does it, but it’s like readers want to be him or at least live vicariously through their cyber association. It’s more about Tom and less about his blog. And, you know, we’re really a lot like Tom: We know only so much, and we admit our shortcomings. Granted, we also hide, but we’re a lot like Tom. Live vicariously through Inside the HQ.
Small Wars Journal. These guys can be serious. Serious topics with serious commenters. Maybe we should be more serious. But that’s difficult if you are writing about lawmakers or the rainmakers in the defense industry. Can anyone read about CNO Adm. Gary Roughead’s diversity policy without falling overboard? Of course not. Serious all the time may not work for Inside the HQ.
War is Boring. Excellent blog by David Axe and a growing posse. Uneven comment history, though. Maybe the lack of comments reflects a perplexed readership. Maybe readers don’t get us, either. Maybe that’s a problem. (Regardless, we want to be David Axe.)
CDR Salamander. (Not to be confused with the edgy Georgetown (DC) boutique.) This guy has perfected the outrageous approach with the over-the top rant. Beaucoup comments. BZ, Reptilian Man. He can get political (something we cannot). His “I told you they would miss ‘W’” snagged 91 comments. As I look at his site the lede is “Convert to Islam … so you can get away with saying almost anything.” Yes, he’s talking about Fort Hood. (BZ – Obscure term that means “good job.” Admirals especially like it.)
If you look at USNI or Small Wars Journal, or even Tom Ricks, you will note the respondents sometimes get an insightful discussion going. That is the Holy Grail. That is respondent Nirvana. We like to think we do some thought-provoking entries. Make this blog your forum.