The Columnist Manifesto

At my age, I was about as sure as one can ever can be about such things that I would never again in my life have the feeling of a 13 year old exposed for having committed a foolish prank. But I just had an eye-opening flashback to seventh grade, when my friend and I were called down to the principal's office for using actual hard liquor as a prop in the western saloon scene in a seventh grade class play.

Check out N.Z. Bear's comment (on Marginal Utility, here and on the TTLB blog), explaining why he has suspended CM and MU from the ecosystem. Here is the gist of it:

Yes, it is possible to “game the system” when bloggers collude. ... The Ecosystem has existed in one form or another for well over two years. This stunt is nothing new: it has been done before, and it will be done again. In the end, there is no technical solution to guarantee cheating cannot occur: but what is guaranteed is that there are plenty of people watching the Ecosystem who will let me know if they see someone attempting to game the system. In the end, it is the community itself that assures a fair playing field, not my code.

I put a great deal of effort into the Ecosystem, and attempt to provide as accurate a guage of weblog’s popularity as is possible to the entire blogging community. If you bothered to read The Truth Laid Bear, you would know that there are no “Ecosystem(‘s) programmers” – there is just me. You’d also know that I’m getting married in just a few weeks, and not surprisingly, don’t really have time for this right now.

Bottom line: both Marginal Utility and The Columnist Manifesto are now banned from the Ecosystem. If you are willing to apologize for the inconvenience caused to both myself and those who value the Ecosystem as a resource, I’ll consider removing the suspension sometime down the line, probably after my wedding. Let me know your decision.

# posted by N.Z. Bear : Sun Mar 20, 10:59:27 AM

NZ is right of course. I am sorry. He provides this service to people who value it, my prank was a time-wasting irritation, and it was not even original. But what makes me feel most like a 13-year old is NZ's measured, mature response. Not "I will hunt you down in the blogosphere and kill you," but an eye-rolling sigh, an explanation and a request for an apology. What a mensch!

NZ, I apologize. Don't worry about restoring me to the ecosystem. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

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