We're raising Protocol's jersey to the rafters this morning, as Steven I. Weiss makes the blog's retirement official.
I found Protocols in May, 2004, long after the blog had jumped the shark but it was still worth reading. After a few trips through the archives, and I understood why it mattered. And even at the very end of the run, the blog was still a kingmaker, capable of sending hundreds of hits in your direction. Say what you want about Luke Ford, the last man to sit in the command chair at Protocols. He was always glad to share Protocol's power, and he always used that power for good.
Some unanswerd questions:
1 - Why did Weiss pull the plug? If he was sick of it, other guest booggers could have kept the site alive until the end of time.
2 - Why did Weiss stick with Ford, after Ford's first few posts? I've been through the archives. People HATED him, and that might be the understatment of the day, if not the week. What did Weiss see in Ford that made him ignore the wishes of Protocol's fans?
3 - Did Weiss ever make any money from Protocols? Lord knows he tried. Did it work?
4 - What happened to Rivka Bukowsky, the child who sat in the command chair at the end of March 2004?
5 - Can anyone fill their shoes?
Tsetchem leshalom Protocols.
5 comments:
I could care less who fills their shoes. Why does it matter.
This is today's parlor game. You don't have to play.
to fill their shoes:
Jewishwhistleblower.blogspot.com
Jewishwhistleblower
Parlor games are dull, how about something more stimulating. No Mah Jong, here. ;)
#1) My belief is that he pulled the plug precisely because whether he intended it or not (and I believe he did), it DID jump the shark AND it was basically the mouthpiece of Luke Ford, who like it or not has a pretty tarnished reputation and a nasty interest in all things porn. All the Elders bailed. He couldn't get a guest blogger (besides Porn King) to write with any diligence. There simply was no point left. LF turned it into a parody of what it was - to keep what he envisioned as his reputation intact, Weiss had to bail. He couldn't resume Protocols because then he would have has to dump Ford...simply because he couldn't afford to be professionally linked to him. And in doing THAT he would have had to overtly or covertly admit LF was a mistake. And I don't think his ego could handle that.
#2 and #3) I think Steven was bitter because Protocols did NOT provide him with the a) notoriety b) lucrative writing position c) money that he thought it should and I think he put LF in as a giant nose-thumbing to everyone because he was so bitter over it.
#5) I think you do a better-than-average job of filling their shoes and besides, you're content is not so location-specific (a lot of what Steven wrote had to do with YU and NYC and I don't live there...so it didn't apply to me) which I think makes your blog more universal.
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