Ten years ago today, a short post appeared on a new Typepad blog announcing a new venture: a website devoted to “commentary on politics and policy,” mostly on Massachusetts topics. Improbably, we’re still here – and so are you.
Blue Mass Group was one of the first blogs in the country (possibly the first, though that’s hard to prove) to be devoted specifically to a single state’s politics. And it is, as far as I know, the one that’s been around the longest; a few others may have been started before BMG (though I don’t actually know of any), but they’ve long since vanished into the cyber-ether. We’re pretty proud of that, and you should be too.
A lot has happened in the ten years we’ve been blogging here. Here are a few numbers that tell a small part of the story. Please add your own numbers, thoughts, reflections, etc. in the comments. And thank you, as always, for being part of this community. It wouldn’t exist without you.
BMG
Posts published: 29,111
Comments published: 350,834
Registered users: 8,163
Unique visitors: almost 8 million
Page views: over 17 million
Software platforms utilized: 3
Children born to BMG editors: 4
Politics (NB: we are counting reelections as a separate election, i.e., Deval Patrick’s 2 terms count as 2 Democratic Governors elected)
Democratic Governors elected: 2
Republican Governors elected: 1
Democratic Presidents elected: 2
Republican Presidents elected: 0
Democratic US Senators elected: 5 (plus two short-term appointees, Paul Kirk and Mo Cowan)
Republican US Senators elected: 1
Congratulations, David, Bob, and Charley. Ten years is a geological age, in Internet Time. I’m glad to have been hanging around at BMG for a lot of that span.
Really a stunning achievement in the Internet era.
Is there cake?
Party?
That does not look like the Emerald City;
still, we wear our spectacles.
as anti-Munchkins run our country.
Dorothy hit the trail with her coalition:
our Treasurer with the mettle of manufacturing,
our Lion of single-payer coverage,
and our curious scarecrow.
Toto, she strolled through Callahan State Park.
Lacking serendipity,
television ad buys posed debacles.
We made do with our pantry.
Slavery has undone its abolition.
She lost an ear-ring.
Scarecrow ate none of her cabbage.
How do we grow?
Unpaired, I anyway board Noah’s Ark.
I started posting here before I could vote, when I was a 17 year old volunteer in the Deval Patrick campaign back in the summer of 2005. I have grown immensely in the past 9 years I have been a poster, and appreciate all the interactions I’ve had with this community. Considering that I have spent the bulk of those years living in Chicago, first as a student at U of C and now as a young adult, this site has been one of the essential ways I keep in touch with what is going on in my homestate and the progressive community here.
While I recently lost my voting privileges in Massachusetts, I will always be a Baystater at heart and truly can’t wait to return to Massachusetts. Ours is a state with so much potential, promise, and it is because of its people-including all of the people here. Thanks to the Editors for maintaining this community, and while we suffered some setbacks in the fall, I am entirely confident that BMG, ProgressiveMA, and many of the activists here will be the engines of the grassroots change needed to create a more just Commonwealth.
I began posting here sometime in 2005, having found the page via a Cape activist Len Stewart’s blog called Cape Cod Works. As I described it on the post for my First Blogoversary, “During this past year, Porcupine has become a Large Mammal in the Ecosystem of the Blogosphere, has been elected to The Wide Awakes, is part of two webrings and is a member of the Life, Liberty and Property Community which hosts the Carnival of Liberty. The most recent development is the one he is proudest of. It is gratifying, but not astonishing, to be recommended by like-minded souls and peers, but after some correspondence with Charley on the MTA, he is now also featured on the ultra-liberal Blue Mass Group on their ‘Differently Winged’ blogroll, and has set up a reciprocal ‘Differently Winged’ blogroll on his own site.” I had been caught by the description “Reality Based” and suggested that reality will include those who disagree with your conclusions, Charley agreed, and I’ve been here on and off ever since.
My relationship is largely virtual, although I did meet David Kravitz and Ryan Adams at a ‘listening tour’ type meeting when Patrick was first elected. I also attended some kind of gathering at Harvard for BMGers. but the only person I really remember from that is Cos.
You have become influential beyond your wildest dreams, and maintain perhaps the most informative and civil message site I have ever seen.
to show all points of view is a huge reason for the success of BMG. I don’t come here to hear the echo chamber of the left, but to read interesting material. My thanks also to Ernie, Somerville Tom, Ken Busch, Petr, Sabutai, JohnT and all the regular posters for the rich variety of viewpoints that you bring regularly to this site.
I started as “John from Abington,” not because I was looking for anonymity, but because my uneducated “take” was you had to have a “handle” to be cool in this new bloggy thing. As Gov Patrick frequently says about his blue “jacket,” “I figured it out.”
Looking back is cool, but I enjoy imagining what the NEXT ten years will bring for this important community…
For the record though, “The Chimes at Midnight” officially started up along similar lines on or about February 13th 2003…
😀
http://www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com
Nonetheless I always thought this particular format would go over big so I’m glad for all your success.
Elias N
Congrats to a great blog – here’s to the next ten years of reality based commentary!
The BMG community is a big part of what convinced a group of activists that a state wide progressive advocacy group could exist and be sustained. Much appreciation to the editors for your work.
Ben
I was wondering if you would be able to show the comments from the Soapblox days in the comment list.
That’s part of the transition that never was completed.
I was hoping it could still happen. I like going back and looking at my old comments from time to time.
They just aren’t available on your author page.
2006. It seems earlier. I found BMG when I was looking for more material to link to for my own, now defunct blog, Granby 01033. I remember asking Charley if he would publish one of my posts. He told me I could do it myself. I did it. My earlier posts are under the name “yellow-dog.”
My education posts garnered me the attention of the MTA and Paul Toner. He bought me dinner once.
I’ve met Sabutai, Charley, Matt Safranski, and I think, Demeter.
Big congrats to the BMG team. Happy to have recently joined the conversation and look forward to chiming in over the months to come.
— Joe
They’ll suck you in. You’ll start believing normal people think like these people. I don’t mean normal fly-over state people, I mena normal Dems in your district.
There’s some real nut jobs on this site.
BTW, you from Brighton? You know a kid named Kevin Buckley? He’s use to work the door at the Paradise? Ring a bell? Did a lot of blow back in the day? He then dried out and got his degree from UMass Boston in finance while driving a cab and working in a sub shop.
Right before he died Fitzie got him a job over at Northeastern?
You know him?
Well if you do and you see him tell him Ernie said to “suck it.”
The guy’s a wicked deuche.
Even more amazing is to realize that, during those ten years, only one person has been elected more than once to the Senate: That’s Ed Markey!
In fact, Ed is the winning-most politician during those ten years: He won the largest number of elections. Counting primaries, Ed won 12 elections in ten years. So, I guess Ed Markey’s fundraising approach really works!
Glad to have been here since the very beginning! How far we’ve all come!
Many of us know each other offline. We support each other not only politically, but also personally and can celebrate with each other and grieve with each other.
and congratulations David, Charlie and Bob. And thank you for all you do to encourage and promote ordinary folks to express themselves to strengthen and give meaning to our democracy.
I started writing in 2012 and sometimes I think it’s the only thing that has kept me reasonably sane in an increasingly insane world.
Happy birthday to one and all.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
Fred Rich LaRiccia
…is this one from Avi Green that generated a hilarious comment thread.
My God, we are all so witty. Or, at least, we were back then.
Definitely worth the re-read.
My first post was back in 2007 but I was reading without an account for who-knows how long before that.
Happy 10th, BMG!!
I had totally forgotten about that post, too. Thanks for the reminder (and the additional reminder that everything we say lives on the internet forever, including snarky comments which may or may not be as witty as we thought ten years ago…)!
Congrats to BMG and all the other awesome community members here.
Glorioskiy….
Um… …How many of them named “Ernie”? =-)
Here I am thinking the BMG editors were hermetically sealed in an ivory tower let out only occasionally to sing and to vote. Come to find out the adult supervision around here is made up of, well, actual adults…. Imagine my shock.
All seriousness aside: Congratulations x 4.
But congratulations all!
BMG has been a tremendous resource for sharing information about LGBT equality issues in MA. I can’t thank the editors enough for working to create a safe space for LGBT people and allies to advocate for progress. And of course debate tactics. Where else could we have debated the pros and cons of being a “process liberal”, for example? 😀
Happy anniversary, BMG!
By the egg and sperm guy shouldn’t count
It’s been an interesting ten years. I’ve gone from a full time software professional to semi-retirement and essentially a full time volunteer with the Democratic Party. It’s a great forum. I am a supporter of gathering in real life. I don’t see anything specific on a party, so I will take this opportunity to invite all of you to the holiday party at my home coming up. It always has a good contingent of BMGers although it is not exclusively a BMG party. Join us on December 14 from 2 to 6 pm at 17 Gary Circle in Westborough. I’ll be doing a post soon.