Q&A Interview: ~A! of LiberalsOnly.com and WatchingtheWatchers.org
I've been lucky lately. Last weekend I sat down to talk with ~A!, also known as Anthony Levensalor, creator of WatchingtheWatchers.org and LiberalsOnly.com.
I asked ~A! why he got into political blogging and what advice he has for anyone considering doing it for fun or profit.
~A! wanted to be sure I mentioned a couple of his favorite sites, so here I go, mentioning them now: "The Drudge Retort, drudge.com, run by Rogers Cadenhead. Incredible site. Also, presidentshithead.com, which is less political and more vitriolic ranting, but I love it."
1. Could you describe how you came to be involved with WatchingtheWatchers.org and Liberalsonly.com?
I started WatchingTheWatchers.org in 2004 in the run-up to the election. I originally had the blog under John Byrne's BlueLemur.com blogs, and The Raw Story (also John Byrne's baby) helped jumpstart it big-time. John and I worked together on a number of things, and we still keep in touch now and then.
LiberalsOnly.com was a fit of pique, really. I just got tired of trolls. It irritated me to no end to be trying to debate a topic and be sidetracked by people who wanted to cast off logic and reason in favor of ad hominem attacks and vitriol. Which, of course, we have a bit of over at Liberals Only, but nothing is perfect.
2. What surprises you most about working with politically charged sites like LiberalsOnly and WatchingtheWatchers?
That's a tough question. There isn't much that surprises me about it. It's always an uphill battle in a world with billions of sites and thousands going up daily, so I guess I'm surprised when a post or story I write gets major attention. It's actually all pretty pat, once you realize that it takes a thousand posts to get a lot of attention to a single one.
3. Seeing as you're a techie, can you imagine any technological breakthroughs that you think could potentially alter the political landscape?
Real-time communication changes the way news and information are proliferated. The term "viral video" comes to mind when I think about the technological advances of just the last couple of years. Hell, I can blog or write news stories from my cell phone now, how much farther do we need to go? Maybe a chip in the brain that blogs your posts and uploads your youtube video directly from the brain.
4. What are some of the new things you're working on now?
I'm back working on Watching The Watchers now, and I'm working on upgrading LiberalsOnly.com to new forum software that will make administration a lot easier, and give people a better interface. That, and running my software business pretty much keeps me busy constantly.
5. What advice do you have for people thinking about getting into political blogging or site administration?
Make sure you know what you're getting into. This stuff isn't easy, takes up a lot of your time, and carries very little reward other than personal satisfaction. If you decide to do something like this, make sure it's because you love it, not because you expect to become rich, famous, or important.
- April 30, 2007
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