Another One Hangs it Up

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That is, of course, the fact that Tam has hung it up and nuked her blog (it’s the only way to be sure).  A View from the Porch started around the same time this blog did, and eight years is a long run. Tam has been a daily stop for just about as long as she came across my radar, and I will certainly miss the free ice cream. But I can’t say I blame her.

It is an unfortunate circumstance for the hobbyist that blogging is something that has largely been professionalized. There are not very many hobby bloggers left out there. When I look around at the gun blogosphere in particular, there aren’t many left standing, and I have a feeling those of us who are spend more time these days wondering whether this is really a good use of our time than we used to. There are several professional blogs in the gun blogosphere now, but the only two I really like is Bearing Arms & TFB, both of whose main contributors started as hobbyists. (Yes, yes, there;’s also Gun Nuts, but I’ve never put Caleb’s outfit squarely in the professional space. To me if you start as a hobbyist, you stay a hobbyist, unless you sell your blog for big money to a media company)

It is very difficult as a hobbyist to keep up with people who do this gig professionally. I think for the gun community, the commercialization of blogs is both a good sign and a bad one.  It good because it means that there’s enough eyeballs that people see money making potential, but the gun blogosphere community I started in has all but disappeared. I think we do lose something putting the gun issue in the hands of professionals rather than having it driven by grassroots folks who just have a passion for the issue, even if there’s no money in it.

51 thoughts on “Another One Hangs it Up”

  1. Whew. I thought I had seriously offended her somehow with a comment, and been banned via strange technological magic curses.

    I feel both better and worse.

  2. So, she’s done blogging and moved on to a paying writing gig or she’s given it up entirely. You’d think that she’d post something to let us know what’s going on…

    1. She’s a paid writer too, and I would imagine she’s continuing to do that. Probably pays a lot better than this medium :)

    2. She’s paid to write about guns and/or gear, and has been for awhile. Of late, a stalker-type has really been creeping on her via her blog, and it reached the point that it was interfering with her ability to do the writing that she gets paid to do…

      Frankly, it’s a fairly rational decision.

      I really wish it hadn’t come to this, but if it’s what she must do for her own financial/psychological health, then so be it.

        1. Didn’t know there was a contest. What’s the prize?

          You’re pretty generous with my time and my stress level.

        2. People who have not been truly stalked have a lot of opinions and advice.

          None of it useful at all.

  3. I am very much bummed out! One of my dailies including this blog, MAarooned, Borepatch, and Robb @ Sharp as Marble. Oh yeah, and Caleb.

    My list used to be longer, but it keeps shrinking.

  4. Couldn’t agree more. Time and family and other obligations just doesn’t seem to allow for the time.

  5. Another Tam fan here…majorly bummed but I understand. Not just from the time standpoint, but from the hassle of having to deal with spam, trolls, and internet crusaders of all stripes.

  6. Hobby blogging, as they say, is something you do for yourself; when it ceases to be enjoyable you stop.
    Tam has discussed some of the factors in this decision on Facebook; she never (to my recollection) mentioned them directly on VFTP but I think the decision’s been pending a while. I think it’s related to why she went to full comment approval.

    1. I wish she’d said something. A lot of us folks who don’t do facebook were really worried when she dropped off the internet with no warning at all, right after making a post like everything was normal.

      Christ, I was convinced she’d gotten in some kind of awful legal trouble, or just straight up V&.
      Thank god Roberta posted something, or I’d be halfway across the country with a plate carrier and a pack of assault lawyers by now.

      If you two ever decide to hang up your hats, you know we’ll give you our best wishes and move on, right? It’s just hard when it comes like a brick out of nowhere.

      1. I can’t make any promises, because my reasons for hanging it up would probably be different from hers. But I would generally announce a date ahead of time when blogging would cease. The blog would remain functional and online.

        I’ve already kind of decided I probably won’t take blogging with another job. In other words, if I have to switch jobs again, that’ll be it. I have a great amount of flexibility with the current job (at least when I don’t have a client), and without that, I can’t honestly do it.

  7. I feel a great disturbance in the internet…

    Well, this sh*t sucks.
    Like mikee, I was afraid I’d given offense. (It’s a slight relief, ’cause the LAST thing I need is to have someone as snarky and sharp as Tam offended w/ me.)

    It’s just gonna have to be a profanity-laced day, I guess.

  8. What a terrible loss to the internet. Tam was always pithy, yet polite, and I enjoyed reading her blog immensely

  9. Damn. Now I know why her RSS feed was in fail mode. You will be missed Tamera.

  10. Of course I understand stopping (says one who never even started!)

    But nuking the old blog? Why? All you have to do is disable new comments and it’s maintenance-free.

  11. Since I do not and never will Fakebook I’m out of the loop, but I found Tam almost immediately and have enjoyed her writing ever since – but I thought she had been blogging longer than me?

    One thing that happened after I hung Blogger and Anthroblogogy and switched to NotClauswitz on WordPress, was that after some dormant-time Anthroblogogy somehow got resurrected as a zombie SPAM-blog by someone else.
    I thought it was nuked and glowing, but it sprang back to life – and ever since I have believed that Google or Blogger is a POS platform…

  12. I… wha…

    After The Lawdog, Tam was my favorite blogger. I was hoping that the privacy setting on her blog was a glitch like Joe Huffman is suffering from.

    Now, I’m not sure where I’m going to get my daily dose of snark, wit, and good humor.

  13. Dang! I enjoyed the daily delivery of weapons-grade snark !

    But as was said a few lines above if it becomes a burden, I can understand.

  14. Bummer, and to think it was only a couple of week ago that the bookmark fell off my favorites list, I do not think I’ll ever miss her acidic responses to those who didn’t get her humor.

  15. Well crap, I was hoping it was just a weird blogger issue. I’m going to miss Tam. It was always my first stop in the morning. Made my day better. Keep in touch Tam, you are one of the best.

  16. What I loved about Tam’s blog was it wasn’t too focused. While I started reading for the guns, I really enjoyed her Indianapolis posts, talking about restaurants and things in the city.

  17. I was just there a couple of days ago & it was active. When did this happen?

    Merle

  18. O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
    Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
    For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
    For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

  19. Another one bites the dust.

    The internets are a little darker this afternoon.

  20. I went silent….

    Sadly “contentious divorce” + “gun blogging” isn’t always looked on in the best light by the courts.

  21. The internets are a little darker for me. View From the Porch had a great diversity of material, some really good firearms history and was always done with style and wit.

  22. I am saddened by this. VFTP was one of the most intelligent blogs of any type I have encountered. The majority of commenters were on that level as well.

    I doubt that anyone else is doing stream-of-consciousness snark as well as Tam did.

  23. I just want to thank Tam for taking her time to make some sense in an insane world.

    My only hope is she is happy in all future endeavors, and let’s us know if she ever needs us to return a little of her generosity.

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