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Assorted links
1. Megan Non-McArdle quits blogging, at least for the time being.
I've long felt that the routine of married life fits the routine of blogging very well; I really do wake up the same hour each morning, more or less. If I weren't married I would still blog but I would feel more conflicted about it and perhaps she does too. ("You're funnier on the blog" one loyal (and beautiful) MR reader once told me upon meeting.) Dating and blogging either means the blog is a secret (but for how long?) or the potential partner "dates the blog" before dating you. Do I really want to be explaining "Markets in Everything" on a first or second date? ("No, I don't want you as a prostitute. Most of the entries are sad, or satirical, but there is a secret code to indicate the ones I approve of. For further explanation, go to the middle chapter in Montaigne's second book of Essays.") Maybe the blog is more charming than I am and I would do better to send it on my dates but that's still an odd place to be. In any case my guess is that Megan Non-McArdle is doing the right thing by quitting. We all wish Megan Non- well in her quest for Mr. Non-McArdle, and in her quest for everything else, etc.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 6, 2008 at 07:00 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
Is this Tyler-abetted navel gazing? Who cares?
Posted by: Vince at May 6, 2008 7:31:44 PM
I always look forward to reading Megan Non-McArdle's blog, and will really miss it.
Posted by: Peter at May 6, 2008 7:49:19 PM
From her statement:
"My hope, as it has been since the very first days of this blog, is that you guys would turn to real friends"
I've lost hope at this point in ever making true friends online. The people online have images of themselves that are quite different from their Real Life personalities: Like you said, it might be easier to send your blog on to dates than going yourself.
Problem is, in most cases, the image is deliberately crafted, and people hold back when it comes to showing their true emotions and true selves online.
I was quite upset when I first realized that the people I considered friends were really just putting up fronts. But even if those relationships are never real...it's still a lot better than being alone, ain't it?
As for blogging: I blog because I'm a college student with too much time on my hands and too many thoughts in my head. Hence the name "Musings of an Econ Student"
Routine? Maybe that helps...but I blog because I have something to say
Posted by: Robert Olson at May 6, 2008 9:21:01 PM
Good. This http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/08/exceptionalism/ made me lose a great deal of respect for her. I wish her well but I couldn't stomach reading her after that.
Posted by: Adam Hyland at May 6, 2008 9:49:08 PM
Not only is the blog more charming than you, it's cuter than you, too! Take that!
Posted by: Matt at May 6, 2008 9:54:58 PM
Adam-
Read the title; different Megan.
Posted by: Bob at May 6, 2008 10:01:08 PM
Wow. Reading is fundamental. Thanks bob. After I posted (again, speech before thought) I kept reading tyler's post and wondering "Geez, why is this guy calling her Meghan Non-McArdle"? did she get married? Change her name to Megatron? Is it some inside joke? Naturally, I didn't stop to think that I might have the wrong Meghan. Thanks for the heads up.
<---- Sheepish.
Posted by: Adam Hyland at May 6, 2008 10:12:59 PM
Part of the reason I quit blogging myself is that I was tired of the imbalance of information. People would start conversation with me and know all about me, what I think, what I've been doing, and I'd know nothing about them; it made conversation difficult.
It was also shortly after I started dating my current partner, partially because a large part of what I was thinking about was my personal relationships, which I don't like writing about for public consumption; I have trouble imagining blogging much about an ongoing relationship and not having it cause tension.
But most of my romantic partners met me through it and I think that was a good thing. Most of what I think of as "myself" is what I think and write more than anything else, and I'd rather someone "date the blog" than take much longer to come to the same conclusions about me through interaction. (The downside: having to come up with new stories to tell to people who already read a whole archive worth of the best ones, and for that matter having to remember which stories were actually in the archive.)
And of course it was more funny, charming, and insightful than the in-person me -- if I had so much thinking time for each small chunk of interaction I'd be that way in person too! I am more surprised when I meet people who are exactly as well-presented as their written selves.
(And now I'm thinking of starting again -- more of the people I know have blogs themselves, and now I am the blogless one others have to find out about, and who's left out of the public conversation. I don't really like that either...)
Posted by: Kat at May 6, 2008 10:28:40 PM
Wow. Reading is fundamental. Thanks bob. After I posted (again, speech before thought) I kept reading tyler's post and wondering "Geez, why is this guy calling her Meghan Non-McArdle"? did she get married?
I made the same mistake, Adam. I thought Megan McArdle was quitting blogging because she wanted to get married and the blog was attracting the wrong kind of guy, and scaring off the right kind of guy. Sort of like a child sitcom star might be happy to start dating someone who had never heard of the show.
So does Megan Non-McArdle favor torture?
Posted by: Bob Murphy at May 7, 2008 12:12:56 AM
I think we're all funnier/smarter/more interesting/etc. on our blogs than we are in person, because we have more time to plan and edit our words.
Posted by: Jacqueline at May 7, 2008 1:24:30 AM
Tyler, did you forget to finish the list or is this just one of your subtle cues?
Posted by: Jeff H. at May 7, 2008 4:56:24 AM
Adam,
A) Wrong Megan, read more carefully.
B) Greenwald's a jackass.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at May 7, 2008 11:40:39 AM
Bernard: Thanks....I guess. Also, what does Greenwald's jackass status have to do with whether or not he or she was right? It seems to me that shouldn't have any bearing on things. Or perhaps you would like to present some defense of the other meghan's position on that subject. I won't, mostly because I think it is pretty indefensible, but if Greenwald is such a jackass, I'm sure that he was wrong about this, right?
Posted by: Adam Hyland at May 7, 2008 12:13:14 PM
Adam:
How many times do people have to write the correct spelling of "Megan" before you start using it? There's no "h", in case you hadn't noticed.
Posted by: bartman at May 7, 2008 12:51:48 PM
Meghan Meghan MeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghanMeghan.....
happy?
Man, edit for tone.
Posted by: Adam Hyland at May 7, 2008 1:06:08 PM
Confession: I am also funnier on MR than in real-life.
When Tyler first linked to Megan, I thought "Yeah, I'd date her" (if there wasn't already a Mrs. mobile, that is). After a few more links ... not so much. On the other hand, if Mrs. mobile had had a blog, then maybe we never would have started dating either. Good luck to you, Hon.
Posted by: mobile at May 7, 2008 1:06:43 PM
Blogs are effective for meeting women if done properly. I imagine that lots of women want to date the PostSecret guy.
I don't think the Cowen-ian objections apply to the PostSecret guy. After all, the blog doesn't say much about him, other than he can spot an opportunity.
Posted by: JH at May 7, 2008 7:12:53 PM
