While away on vacation, a couple Dave Winer dramas flared up which I told myself: I’d pass on blogging (been there, done that), but in the wee hours this morning a post by Scott Karp reeled me into a more interesting angle (bastid!) to Dave’s supposed blog retirement plans: is it the blog or the blogger that keeps readers enthralled and subscribed?

It’s Karp’s belief that if Dave Winer stopped blogging as he plans his site Scripting News could go on with a different writer:

Most blog brands are developed through strong personality and distinctive voice, but once established, they take on a life of their own. If Dave abandoned Scripting News and started a new blog with a new name, would it be fundamentally different from Scripting News, even if it was still Dave? I think the answer is yes.

Firstly, I think a guy who has been writing — notice I didn’t say blogging — for as long as Dave cannot simply quit. If Dave thought quitting smoking was hard, wait until he tries to drop the writing scene. He might quit what is called ‘blogging’ but he’ll keep writing somewhere.

Sure, he might stop publishing at Scripting News, but I doubt seriously he’ll stop writing in all other places. I’ve noticed him write more and more at his wordpress.com hosted site which I found to be a good portend for this announcement. He’s a guy known for wanting to be in control and he’s posting more stuff on a third party hosted site? It’s a change for him, although it does make some sense because he is integrating with his OPML editor. Frankly, I think we’ve watched Dave lose some of his passion for writing and return to another, perhaps lesser passion of his: development.

I enjoy programming and development but that is merely one of my jobs. I love doing it, sure, but it’s not my true passion. Big difference. My passion is what I’m here doing right now at 4:06am. Since I was old enough to put pen to paper writing has been all I’ve ever wanted to do. This means that even if I stop publishing here at Hmm someday, which is not out of the realm of possibilities, I will still be writing somewhere.

Though I could be wrong, I think the same is true for Dave. He likes writing. It’s in his bloodstream. He can’t shake it. He’s locked.

Now for the idea of Scripting News being a publishing entity that can exist without its primary writer/creator? I’ve always disliked the name of the site. It has very little to do with the content. Dave isn’t talking about scripting/programming topics enough to justify the title. It’s more of a linkblog with Dave’s concise, but often compelling snips. He’s one of the best, maybe the best, at linkblogging, but he can also pull out the occasional, impressive essay. I read Scripting News for his views, just like I read Stephen King and Dean Koontz horror fiction because they wrote it. It’s style, choice, diction; all important ingredients of any good writer.

If Scripting News were bought by somebody that made it an actual scripting news site, it could actually take on a different life of its own and continue serving a valuable purpose. More valuable than what Dave has done with it? Perhaps, but it will be a different thing. Like AC DC was without Bon Scott. They still rocked with Brian Johnson but they weren’t the same band. My guess is whomever would buy Scripting News if it were for sale would be most attracted to the PR8 which Google would probably strip soon after the sale. That would be the kiss of death because Scripting News has thrived without a commercial presence. I’m thinking it wouldn’t be too successful financially the minute somebody starting slapping banners and contextual text ads on it and inserted some other writer(s).

In Karp’s comment section billg (who needs his own blog because he leaves interesting comments) writes:

If Dave’s not publishing there, I’m not there. I feel that way about many blogs I read. It’s the perspective and voice of the writer that attracts me and keeps me reading. The links to other information sources are an artifact of the technology. Their value to me depends on the context provided by the commentary.

I think billg is more right than Karp. Scripting News without Dave will be a ship without a soul. Can the content and writing be replaced? Absolutely. Can the unique voice be replaced? Nope. Hate to compare Winer to Ian Fleming — two major different genres and stories and because they aren’t in the same league — but can you tell me who has written the James Bond books since Fleming died? It’s not the same Bond without Fleming. Scripting News without Dave Winer would be missing the shaken, not stirred, martini.

The writing style and diction can be mimicked, but the filtering, which is what a lot of bloggers are doing, cannot be emulated so easily. Dare I say impossible? So what you’d have is Scripting News with a new brain and heart. There is only one Dave Winer and for that reason, there can only be one Dave Winer writing for Scripting News. Ever. Unless somebody can snag some of his DNA and put a clone on the case at the keyboard.

I’m with billg and others who will be out of there when/if Scripting News changes hands. That’s not saying I might not return to read a new/different voice and new/different style but if it’s some wannabe copy job on what Dave has been doing there for years, I’ll go with what the AOL voice says when you logout.

Goodbye.

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