Friday, December 20, 2013

Housekeeping

Well, this is a big one.

I've accepted a position as political blogger for Bloomberg View. I'm consolidating all my stuff over there. Yup, after four plus years, I'll be your Plain Blogger no more.

Or at least, not over here. The plan is basically to do what I've been doing since I started: same topics, same regular items, same everything. I won't, at least at first, be doing columns there (or elsewhere). Just the blogging, all back under the same roof, as it was when I started here. It all kicks off a little after New Year's. I'm very excited about it; it's exactly what I've wanted, having all my stuff together again (and, yes, to get paid for it, too). I'm very impressed with the folks over at Bloomberg View; all I can tell you is that every time I asked any of them about whether they wanted more of this or less of that, they basically had the same answer: we like what you've done, so keep doing it. So that's what you can expect when I get over there.

What do I want to do now? I want to thank a whole lot of people. John Sides and Seth Masket, for linking to me and making me surface-respectable right away. Andrew Sullivan was very generous with his support from very early on. Ezra Klein has been terribly important in boosting the meeting of political scientists and journalists, both publicly with links and other support and behind the scenes. Both Andrew and Ezra trusted me with guest-blogging gigs well before I was anyone's obvious choice for that sort of thing. Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and Jonathan Cohn have been very generous, again from early on, with both links and with occasional advice when I asked. And certainly Greg Sargent has done more for me than I can ever hope to repay.

More: the people at The New Republic, Salon, and the Prospect who picked up my stuff. Paul Glastris, too, at Washington Monthly, and Fred Hiatt at the Post. Also the editors who I've worked with and taught me how to write columns...quite a few good ones, but especially Seyward Darby, Gabriel Arana, and Jaime Fuller.

I'm missing a lot, and I apologize to those I'm leaving out. If anyone is still reading: what I need to impress on people is that really without exception bloggers have been extremely open and generous towards me the whole time I've been doing this.They may bring the snark, but what's important is that they act as colleagues, not competitors.

And thanks so much to all of you for reading Plain Blog, and especially to the commenters who made this a really nice place to hang out. I hope you all follow me over to Bloomberg.

As far as this place...

I'm off on vacation beginning Sunday and going through New Year's. After that, I'll have a couple of days, and then start the new gig. I'm really not sure what, if any, posting I'll be doing in the interim. Not much, for sure, but I may do the occasional item...haven't even decided whether to put What Mattered and Sunday Questions up this weekend (we're driving to Phoenix on Sunday, so I'm not exactly going to be plugged in very much).

After that, I really don't know about the old blog. I'll certainly be leaving the site up for the old posts...as of now, I'm not aware of anything that I do here that they don't think fits over there. But we'll see. All I really know is that most of my stuff will be over at Bloomberg View. I'll see you there!

47 comments:

  1. Nothing that hasn't already been said but a very smart move by Bloomberg and congratulations on the new gig!

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  2. After reading your work over the past several years, you've become my favorite political blogger. You have a very well-informed and grounded point of view, which is a rarity among political commentators. I'm very happy that you've gotten exactly what you want with this move and I look forward to reading your work at the new site!

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  3. Congratulations to an extremely deserving and informative blogger!

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  4. Congratulations and best of luck with the new position!

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  5. A well deserved move. Bloomberg is lucky to have you.

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  6. Congrats, but I'm afraid your comment section will never be the same and that made your site the best by far.

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  7. wow, congratulations!

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  8. I'm so happy that Bloomberg sees and values the quality commentary you provide. I also hope the quality of the comments and access will be as good. Comments are a big part of why I read your blog, and you deserve credit for that too. You run a good forum and you write well and fairly, bringing up lots of topics of interest and importance.

    I have a little trepidation about the change, and I hope it only brings us all benefits. Congrats!

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  9. Congratulations from a longtime reader. It's really long overdue that a major outlet would want to have you in house. I'm hoping you can prevail on your new employers to offer an RSS feed of the new blog!

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  10. Congratulations! Great news!

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  11. One hopes that you will post a link here to your new digs there, once such a thing is available.

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    1. Oh, and Congrats and all that.

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    2. Oh, and I came to the comments to type the same thing ^-^

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  12. Jonathan. Hearty congratulations. Oh, and get Bloomberg View to fly you up to their office. It's in the same building as the Bloomberg Foundation, and it's 1) chic-chic, and 2) the cafeteria is outstanding (and all sorts of nanny state healthy). Reports from my wife, who had lunch there once with a Bloomberg View editor.

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  13. Extremely well-deserved! Congrats!

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  14. Congratulations! It's been a wonderful thing, watching the audience grow for your work. But you are the reason for that growth. Your insistence on a reasoned approach is invaluable in these times. Oh, and I like the baseball posts :-).

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  15. Much Congratulations JB! It will be sad to see this format go away, but I'm sure you will contribute lots of cool stuff at the View. It's refreshing to see mainstream political journalism acknowledge and incorporate political science more heavily, with the Monkey Cage and now you getting bigger audiences. Best of luck at Bloomberg.

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  16. Good on you!

    Trivial, perhaps, but I hope you continue your Friday baseball posts.

    Best regards!
    JzB

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  17. Congratulations! In the future someone will bring some political science to determine the effect of high profile political science blogs on the way journalists cover politics. My impression is that they've already had a positive effect, and that a higher profile for JB will help even more.

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  18. Mazel tov! Very well deserved, looking forward to reading and commenting at your new space JB.

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  19. Awesome news. Very well deserved.

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  20. Congratulations JB! I'm a little sad to see Plain Blog World end, but honestly I am really excited to see what Jonathan Bernstein Serious Professional Columnist World will look like.

    I only discovered Plain Blog in 2011 when I had a terrible temp job calling doctors offices in rural America to verify their addresses and thus had hours to kill on the internet, I think I found it via a Plumline link, but I've always thought it was one of the best little corners of the internet. Anyway, I'm really excited for JB and hope everyone comes over to the new site!

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  21. Congratulations! I too will miss this format, and the discussions that seem to better arise from a small group of interested readers. But you should have a broader audience - you're well informed and an unique viewpoint on the web.

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  22. Congratulations! Keep up the good work. You and Chait and Drum are my current three favorites. Bloomberg is going to get a much larger share of my eyeballs thanks to you. .

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  23. Congratulations, JB! Very exciting news and very well deserved.

    I too will miss the rich, manageable commenter community here and hope something like it will be sustainable at Bloomberg View. I also hope hyperventilating liberals reading Salon, the American Prospect, and the Plum Line will continue to come across your insights and sense of perspective, seeking you out at Bloomberg.

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  24. Congrats!!!

    I've noticed that some bloggers when they get a jump in visibility like this become less casual, and less interesting in how they write.

    Resist the urge for professionalism!

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    1. I second that. I hope we still see "This is a good thing!" and other exclamations. No, I meant ... !!!!!!!!

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  25. Couldn't be more deserved.

    I look forward to becoming one of those pathetic commenters whose posts all have a really obvious subtext - that they discovered the writer first, and their views are therefore more authentic.

    One question though - is that the end of Watergate? :(

    Adam

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  26. I will miss our little commenting community, I must say. Hopefully the chaff won't overwhelm the wheat over there.

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  27. Congratulations, best of luck and farewell. I've felt listened to as a commenter here, which is unlikely to happen at the larger place. So...live long and prosper.

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  28. Congratulations, Jonathan! I'm happy for you, and happy for everyone who's going to learn from you.

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  29. So....

    Thanks, everyone. Very much appreciate it.

    1. I would love to have a great comments section. I have no idea whether it's possible (I've barely glanced at what comments look like over there, and I don't know if that changes when they have a redesign coming soon). I'm willing to put in some time to it (as opposed to the Post or Salon, where I didn't try), but we'll have to see. Of course, if y'all show up from day one and try to establish a tone, that would help!

    2. Yes, I'll post a link here when I get started over there. I believe I'll wind up having an rss feed (I think I talked to them about it, but it's been a bit of a crazy week, as you can imagine).

    3. Friday Baseball will continue. Maybe even more regularly. They said they were happy to have it. I said I'd probably be less Giants-focused for the larger world, although they didn't demand that. They were also positive about movies posts, not that I've really done many of them lately. Really -- there was nothing that they wanted me to change.

    4. Although I'm sure I'll use it as a break to think about what, if any, changes to go for. If I keep the morning links post, I may finally give in and give it a better name (and switch from birthdays to something else? I don't know!). Maybe I'll come up with some new stuff...youneverknow.

    At any rate, thanks, all.

    And now I have to decide whether to do a Friday Baseball Post or to be on vacation. Hmmm....

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  30. What terrific news. Your contributions have been remarkable not only for their quality and originality, but also for the striking level of insight in real time, day-in and day-out. It is truly awe-inspiring.

    So congratulations on the move to Bloomberg - to you and them!

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  31. Congratulations, JB. A well deserved honour. Your blog has been my favorite source for sane political analysis. Will now have to migrate over there to read your views. All the best.

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  32. I wish you all the best. I understand the difficult transition that your making right now, and I can assure you that I, at least will support you all the way. I will continue to read your blogs over in Bloomberg, and I will continue to admire your writing. The blogosphere here has lost a wonderful source of political analysis, but the people at Bloomburg have gained a wonderful writer. I wish you all the success in your future endeavors.

    www.politicalpilfer.blogspot.com

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  33. Jonathan, congrats on the well-earned new gig. I look forward to checking it out!

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  34. Jonathon--Wonderful; it should mean a larger audience (and the compensation sure won't hurt). Glad to hear you'll be posting a link & that the baseball & movie posts will continue.

    Interestingly, two blogs I read regularly have essentially lost their commenters after moving from stand-alone blogs to Forbes (Karl Smith and Richard Green, a couple of economists). In a couple of other cases, the comment sections have exploded, but mostly with trolls. Let's hope commenters at Bloomberg are good. (We all will be...)

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  35. Just want quickly to add my congratulations and best wishes. The new opportunity at Bloomberg is certainly well-deserved. I also share that crestfallen sense that this feels a little like the last episode of Cheers.

    If I may semi-hijack one final Plain Blog post, I also want to thank everyone who engaged me back here - I very much enjoyed the conversations and learned a ton. GLTA!

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  36. Congratulations!

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  37. Don't have much to add here. I've been reading you since the days of RSB and will obviously follow you to your new digs. Will look for a link here.

    Congratulations!!!

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  38. Don't have much to add here. I've been reading you since the days of RSB and will obviously follow you to your new digs. Will look for a link here.

    Congratulations!!!

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  39. Do we have a link yet for your new location?

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