It's official: this blog is now (a little over) twenty years old. And in true slacker fashion, I missed it - the blogversary of my first post here fell on Saturday, but I had weirdly thought it was sometime later this week. I guess its just a sign of being old! (The actual blog was started a few days before that, by a co-blogger who then wandered off and dumped it on me. Thanks, Mike!)
Twenty is ancient in internet terms, and things were very different back then. Blogging was new, and there was a host of small political blogs. Very few of them are still around - Public Address still exists as a platform, and DPF is still spreading his toxic bullshit, but most of the early sites have disappeared (there are a few survivors from later waves, like The Standard and Greater Auckland though). The conversation has moved to other places - mostly Twitter.
I've obviously slowed down a lot since the early days. I used to have a daily quota of five posts a day, and a focus on the politics of the day. But after twenty years, day-to-day politics is mostly noise I've seen before, worth a tweet but not a post. And as the years have gone by, I've developed a tighter focus on climate change and OIA issues - areas I actually know something about and can say something useful.
When I did my ten-year retrospective, I said I had no intention of stopping anytime soon. That's still true. I'll keep posting as long as I think I have something interesting to say. In the meantime, its probably a good idea to follow me on Mastodon or Twitter (as long as it lasts), for all the ephemera.
