So you think you own this site -- even just a little?

I'm frankly mystified in how one can believe that we as posters -- even those of us who paid for lifetime subscriptions -- to this site have any degree of ownership interest in it.  If you are saying that we have an obligation to be responsible enough so as to not cause this site to be thought of as little more than some online playground for the liberally bent, I suppose I could agree with you to that extent.  But I don't believe that is what you are saying.

One thing is clear, and should be held above all else, and that is that this site is owned lock, stock and barrel by Markos Moulitas, and no matter how long any of us have posted here, or how often, or how many others our pearls of wisdom have attracted or kept posting, this is his site, and we continue to post here at his suffrage.  

One writer compared Markos to the executive producer; that's too limiting.  Seems to me, he's more of the owner of the studio.  He could shut this film down at a moment's notice, and none of us would have anything left to play for but that which we could make of ourselves outside of this blog.  Some would start or continue with their own blogs, and some would find other places to post.  But as some have rather painfully discovered, there's not as much out there as there is in here ('least as far as eyeballs and interaction is concerned). So long as we are allowed to stay here, however, we may as well get used to the idea that we are pretty damn lucky that he does in fact suffer some of the most nauseating bullshit in all the Internets.  

Under a banner that bears his name (and not any of ours), he allows most any and every type of speculation, poor thinking, sloppy writing, ill-formed analysis, and warped idealism -- and that's just the political stuff.  In addition, we also give him high school drama; some of the most sensational egomania imaginable (and, being a lawyer, I've seen plenty); a cult of personality that threatens to engulf any substantive qualities that this site may to the untrained observer exist just below the epithelial layer; and enough shameless self-promotion to make P.T. Barnum look like the local Catholic School summer fair.  

So why does he put up with this?  Eyeballs, mouseclicks, and pageviews -- that which keep this site relevant and influential -- are my guesses.  It's certainly not for the intellectual exercise, as interaction between we who fill up this space with content and Markos is usually limited to a few rare three-sentence quips.  

So what do we get out of this?  A platform to air our views.  A sounding board.  A place to get instant gratification from those who would, either as a result of studied analysis -- yeah, right -- or force of reflex, click the old recommend button.  I mean, really; where else can a school teacher in Virginia get a couple tens of thousands of eyes to look over his personal reflections and I-me-my-laden epistles and treat them as deeply profound as anything out of Granta or the New York Review of Books?  Certainly not his own blog, where many such rambling more naturally belong.  Hell, there's even someone here who dates his tipjars, as if doing so will allow him to more accurately chart or graph the overall satisfaction people have with his latest offering.  

And that's what lead, in my opinion, to this whole sorry state of affairs.  One poster with a sizable following and who did once hold the fascination of a great many here got her nose out of joint because the owner of this site deigned to ignore her and then remove her lightly traveled blog from his blogroll.  That's his prerogative, is it not?  Hell, I'm frankly surprised, after all that was written by her over the years, that it took him this long to do so.  Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that Markos has not held his tongue when most any one of us would have jumped all over Maryscott and countless others years -- yes, years -- ago.  

And that brings me to where I'll close: this site is not meant to be what anyone of us wants or believes it to be.  It is, quite frankly, for the purposes Markos Moulitas wishes it; nothing more and nothing less.  We should, as I said, count ourselves fortunate that he has allowed us as free a hand as he has in posting what we do.  We say whatever we wish, almost unfettered.  And when he dares to change the rules, crack down on some of the more irresponsible bullshit that goes on here, or remove from something as inconsequential in the grand scheme of things as his blogroll, what do we do?  We whine, cry, and go into a pathetic display temper and outrage that ought to be considered embarrassing to adults.

It's a delicate balance that we all operate under.  Markos' laissez faire management style is, at times, a blessing and a curse for all of us -- including him.  Sometimes, it all gets so out of hand.

By this -- any of it -- I certainly do not mean to loft Markos up and venerate him.  I simply see this entire exercise as a mutually beneficial relationship that we enjoy, and, as such, we ought to try harder to understand each other's needs and responsibilities to keep it going.  For this to work for any of us, we should try much more diligently to understand that we do not own this site and that we have no claims on how it is managed.  That said, we should also note that we do provide much of the content here, and, as such, we would be well advised to do our best to post it as though our names -- our real names -- were that which appeared in orange box.