So Long (For Now, I Hope)
August 29th, 2004 - 8:46 pm
As you might already know, Steven Den Beste has decided to give up blogging for an indefinite time. I think a lot of us saw this coming, when he first went on hiatus a couple weeks ago. Here’s the email I sent him then:
This is one of those Please Don’t Bother to Respond letters.
I’ve been reading and enjoying your stuff, free of charge like everyone else, for almost three years.
If and when you come off hiatus, I’ll be thrilled. If you don’t, then let me thank you, as feebly as I can in a simple email, for all that you’ve done. So — thank you.
That’s all.
I never understood why SDB even read mail from strangers. It would have been completely reasonable for him to ignore it, to not even have a public email address displayed. However, I will not email him this idea.
A great and important ‘early’ blog. I hope he comes back; I’ll miss him.
SDB, if you read these comments:
Thank you. You showed me what a life of being an engineer might lead to, in terms of thought and perception. I hope that I can someday reap some of those benefits.
And thanks for explaining how cell phones worked.
-Donut
Damn, that makes my “So long, and thanks for all the fish,” email to SDB seem rather paltry in comparison.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
SDB’s opus during the runup to the Iraq War was simply brilliant — particularly the dissection and analysis of the U.N.
His cold reason will be sorely missed.
I owe a lot to SDB. I won’t burden him with an email. But if he happens to wander by here—thanks.
Thanks for all the fish
Steven Den Beste has announced that he is taking what I hope is not a permanent hiatus from blogging: Since then, I’ve realized that I don’t want to write any longer. I’ve been thinking about it, and I realized that…
I too refrained from mailing a short thanks to Steven just because reader e-mail seems to be his special pique.
Any publishers out there? I betcha a book of his collected essays would get a huge buzz from the blogosphere.
Ive only been blogging for two weeks, and Ive already had a spate of “death threats”, so I can imagine what Den Beste mustve generated with his depth in the field.
It does wear on you. Its also hard to hold conversations with people who not only dont want to think for themselves, but are seriously annoyed that you are.
I hope he takes some time off, I hope someone gathers his works into an archive. I think many of the early generation bloggers have reached the same point that Den Beste has ( rachel lucas being another I can think of). It may be a great reason for co-blogging.