It’s a Memo! It’s a Cafe! It’s a Memo and a Cafe!

I thought it interesting that JMM convinced 1000 people to send him contributions to fund the development of TPMCafe with zero benefit to the senders! Brilliant. And he did it with a variation the classic “taking himself hostage” ploy, except that he took a /non-existent/ site hostage!

Typically when one sends such a donation it is around 20 USD, so he had $20,000 in the bag before even opening the doors.

Cranky

I’m very impressed with it, especially certain aspects of its technical design.

Give them a break, folks. It’s more than just a regular blog, so it’s going to be more complex. It’s certainly easier to understand than DailyKos, which is the same kind of community-building site made with the same software. And any site is going to need work in the first few weeks. You can leave your complaints here.

The big problem is that people aren’t used to using a site the way the Cafe is meant to be used. We go to different sites for different voices and topics, and part of the compulsion of blog-reading is just clicking to something new. But at the Cafe, you can read a dozen people, and you’re still at the same damn site. Sounds stupid, but I think it’s a real issue. (The Huffington Post has the same issue, but not so much, because they just throw everything on the front page so there is a tone to the whole site: cacophonous.)

…compulsion of blog-reading is just clicking to something new…

They could’ve had some superficially different design or at least different colors or something for different sections; that would help somewhat. Now it’s all branding and branding is Evil.

“TPMCafe uses blogging ‘techniques’ to combine an opinion magazine with a virtual community. That’s all.”

Yeah, but is that so bad?

I always thought that the best things that Slate did were the continual updates (which it took them a while to discover and move away from a “weekly” paradigm) and the almost-real-time dialogs. This didn’t, unfortunately, push other media into moving much towards this dynamic and interactive mode. But blogging seems to be doing so, and that’s a good thing.

I’m just reading Ygelsias. I dislike the fact that, in blogging there, he’s committed himself to a format that reflects Josh’s obsession with long, cramped, must-continually-scroll columns, but otherwise his content will probably be the same. I suppose I might jump around elsewhere on the site from time to time, but my initial impression is that their reach shall exceed their grasp.

The TPM Cafe is way more confusing and full of non-useful distractions than Daily Kos. Admittedly, I’m used to dKos, and TPM Cafe is so new that some improvements and smoothing are bound to come, but…

There are too many rules and boxes where there should be shading or colors to distinguish things. The columns need to be wider (or at least have a way for the reader to make them so). Readers need to be able to jump from one post to the next without going back to the main page. This last is a flaw I forgive in smaller sites whose producers are unpaid; it’s not something I want to put up with in a site with actual staff.

But the basic problem is something others have touched on already — it’s far from clear that the effect of eight to fifteen centrists all blogging together is eight to fifteen times as effective as separate blogs.

DKos has the power to surprise because the diarists are grassroots and all over the map (literally and politically/metaphorically); the lineup at TPM is so far too much like a blog version of endless C-SPAN panels. (With “Pull up a chair!” on the blue background screen….)

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.

“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.

“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.

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?

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

“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.

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.

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.