My name is Andrew Exum, and for the past year and a half, I have had the great pleasure of editing this blog under the ridiculous pseudonym “Abu Muqawama.”
I started this blog as a joke – hence the tongue-in-cheek name – and have been shocked to discover that a year and a half on, we have a dedicated readership whose numbers have been growing exponentially. . . .Unrelated to reader harassment, this is my last post for the blog.
Not as a hint or anything. To be honest, I've never even read that particular blog until today and probably won't ever go back. BUT. I've often contemplated getting a co-blogger or two. Kinda makes one wonder why one blogs in the first place. Mainly I do so because I love archaeology and I feel compelled to throw myself out there. Partly this is due to my own innate exhibitionism in which I may freely indulge in the relative anonymity of the Interwebs. Besides, I've participated in various national/international online fora over the years so I am used to tossing my opinion out there for all to see and rip on me about (note: argue against a conspiracy theory at your peril). I feel comfortable expounding on whatever strikes my fancy as long as there is some vague and barely supportable thread connecting it to archaeology. (Or not. Though I can usually force one if need be)
Academiblogs can prosper in a multi-poster format, such as VOlokh's lawblog. OTOH, as posted about here on various occasions, archy bloggers aren't all that common. I'd like to bring in someone else with different areas of expertise, but most who would blog are already doing so elsewhere and those who aren't probably think it's a waste of time. Or something. I, of course, have argued long and often that blogging really ought to be a part of nearly every academic's life.
Although I look down the side of the page there and find that Andie is still a contributor. But, as I say, she already blogs elsewhere.
I can sympathize with Mr. Exum on the whole time issue. If you really want to make a nifty site with ads and affiliate links and multiple posters and comments and what-not, it takes a bit of time. Every now and then I've made a half-hearted attempt to go to a new service, make a new site, etc., but then I remember that I've got excavation profiles to trace and scan, unit descriptions to write, etc., and isn't that what doing archaeology is all about? And I don't even have a Ph.D. dissertation to write!