Comments on: It’s a Memo! It’s a Cafe! It’s a Memo and a Cafe!

By: Barb M.

Barb M. — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 17:59:12 +0000

Gah. I wasn’t asking “where are the women political bloggers”! I know where they are, and there are hundreds if not thousands of great ones. I was asking why so few of them are at TPM Cafe. Women are the mainstay of the Democratic Party, too bad all they are expected to do by people like Marshall is stay quiet and vote for whoever the men tell them to.

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:38:02 +0000

“There are a lot of women who blog about politics, and they tend to get annoyed when the ‘Where are the women?’”

Ah. I stand corrected. But that the question keeps coming up is indicative of something. Is the blogosphere ignoring them?

By: CKR

CKR — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 12:51:04 +0000

Check out WhirledView for political and other comment from three women. Henry, we wrote you to ask you to put WhirledView on your bloglist, but we haven't heard a word. Sigh.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 12:14:40 +0000

Kieran, out of curiosity, from which direction do you expect the bullets to come? Both?

From the women. There are a lot of women who blog about politics, and they tend to get annoyed when the ‘Where are the women?’ question surfaces, which it does quite regularly.

By: roublen vesseau

roublen vesseau — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 05:43:48 +0000

“Typically when one sends such a donation it is around 20 USD”

ouch. I’m a lemming.

“it’s less of a mystery about who gives to JMM than who gave to Andrew Sullivan, who would take an extended break after each fundraiser.”

This really cracked me up, for some reason.

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 05:21:22 +0000

“[ flees for cover ]”

Kieran, out of curiosity, from which direction do you expect the bullets to come? Both?

Barb, yeah I know. But TPM is only representative of a larger problem. My comment really, really wasn’t intended to promote that upcoming blog, but just as an anecdote demonstrating that there are others that share your concern and are actually trying to do something about it. Not that we’re the only ones, of course.

By: Barb M.

Barb M. — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:45:47 +0000

Keith,
I meant, where are the women at TPM Cafe? There are precious few. So your blog sounds refreshing! Good luck!

By: SomeCallMeTim

SomeCallMeTim — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:41:33 +0000

I like a number of the people they’ve chosen as bloggers, but, man, is it a thin slice of the Dem pie. Is Beinart officially on board yet?

By: LizardBreath

LizardBreath — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 00:21:31 +0000

I must be one of those people who’s not watching enough complex TV shows these days and otherwise exercising neurons because I basically can’t figure out what TPM Cafe is—who is blogging, who is discussing, who is pulling up a table, who is a regular versus who is a guest, and who wanted the half-caff Lactaid semi-foamed no-nut mocha latte.

Likewise. Maybe I’ll figure it out as I get used to it (I plan to try, because the contributors seem great), but as of now I find it maddening to navigate. I can’t figure out from the front page what, exhaustively, is contained in the site, and every page looks like every other. Particularly in the discussion section—this is probably obvious if I look at it right, but are there primary posts and posts responding to those, or are all posts on a level?

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 23:51:15 +0000

My feeling is that women are generally underrepresented in the non-personal blogosphere and this is particularly so with regard to the current events/political blogosphere.

[ flees for cover ]

By: Keith M Ellis

Keith M Ellis — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 23:43:11 +0000

“Where are the women?”

I’m one of the principals involved in organizing a new US political, left-wing, group blog. The other principal is a woman and we’ve agreed to have at least parity between men and women contributers. I’d prefer majority female, actually. My feeling is that women are generally underrepresented in the non-personal blogosphere and this is particularly so with regard to the current events/political blogosphere.

The aim is at least six people and I’m hoping they’ll be eloquent and erudite and original. Whether anyone notices is another question. But, just so you know, in answer to your question.

By: David Weman

David Weman — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 22:17:29 +0000

TPM Café is nice looking, but amazingly badly designed. It has nothing to do with the concept, just a hundred poor decisions that adds up.

By: David Weman

David Weman — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 22:13:36 +0000

“Still, how much does it take to put together and operate a website – a 100 bucks/month? 200? Why would you need a fundraiser?”

When you have a site so popular you need to have your own servers, it costs a shitload.

By: Barb M.

Barb M. — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 22:01:56 +0000

As has been noted:
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/archives/001408.html
Where are the women?

By: Douglass Carmichael

Douglass Carmichael — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 19:15:33 +0000

And there is some compariosn to Crooked timber, which is a little less complex, and more reasoned conversation, cause it seems taking time here is valued. How tpmcafe can settle in to meaningful discussion rather than a collage of blogs will be an interesting evoltuion. I hope it goes well, and we increase the number of models. That kos has “the power tom surprize” is a very helpful comment, as is that kos and tpmcafe are using the same underlying software, which actually makes them feel more similar despite the surace differences on the screen.