Where GoodbyeJim Went And Why

Jonathan S. Mark, 4/5/07

Q: Why did you temporarily shut GoodbyeJim down?

A: I made this decision for a number of reasons: Moran got 66 percent last time, close to his career high, and doesn't run again for 18 months.

Q: So why the return in 11/07? Isn't that still 12 months from the election?

A: Yes, but in 11/07 the next election will be 11/08, and Moran will be running. We have elections every year in Virginia, because state elections are in odd years.

Q: You shouldn't be discouraged. Do you think that Moran would have gotten 80 percent if not for GoodbyeJim.com?

A: Perhaps. He ran behind Jim Webb in the 8th, indicating that some people who were willing to vote for a Dem for senator drew the line at Moran.

Q: What is aristede.com? It looks like the same content as GoodbyeJim.com.

A: It is a particular webpage about my fellow Newton (MA) native and Newton South High School '72 grad David Lelchook, who died in Israel due to a shell from Lebanon last year.

Q: What is jonathanmark.com? It appears to be a Zope Quick Start guide.

It is nothing right now, however its /2005Blog and /Blog virtual directories contain old GoodbyeJim content that I must migrate to my new webserver.

Q: Aren't you running the risk that you will lose your faithful readers?

A: I had lost many of them already. Most of my postings were from one IP address.

I made the decision that in its present state I myself would not read GoodbyeJim, and that there was no point in keeping it afloat until I was on a more reliable server, had a better software stack to run it on, and offered additional features.

Q: Will they come back in 6 months?

If my new website GoodbyeKen.com (still under construction) is a success then I will get a lot of buzz out of it. GoodbyeKen will include RSS aggregators with Reddit.com functionality, which means, local comments (on goodbyeken.com), local save (bookmarklets) and voting up or down. If I build up that kind of an audience then buzz will get GoodbyeJim people back.

I am not sure I will even want to go after Jim Moran in November 2007. I don't want to spend a lot of effort maintaining an audience that I may not be able to produce for in November.

So far only one person has written to me asking if I was okay. I don't imagine I am particularly missed right now.

Q: Maybe you should have a mailing list for people who want to receive notice when the site returns?

A self-service list? That might be a good idea. I will create one at some point.

Q: Maybe you should provide a bit more explanation for the closure? As it is, it looks like Moran has gotten you a 6 month stay at Gitmo as an early birthday present...

A: Moran claims that he wants to shut down Gitmo, so sending me there would be very hypocritical. However, that has never stopped him before. Providing an explanation for my absence is a good idea, though.