The world is changing and the Antiplanner needs to change with it. I started the Antiplanner more than twelve years ago as a way to both advertise and regularly update my then soon-to-be-published book, The Best-Laid Plans. Now, three more books, dozens of policy papers, and more than 3,000 Antiplanner posts later, this format no longer seems to serve a vital purpose.
One symptom is that I accidentally turned the commenting option off a couple of weeks ago and none of the people who regularly comment thought to send me an email telling me about it. Commenting is back on now, but I’ve been feeling for some time that the Antiplanner has been repetitive and reactionary rather than proactive.
At the same time, my other favored medium, the policy paper, is too long for most readers. Attention spans today are shorter, so I want to stop writing policy papers of 10,000 words and start writing chart-heavy briefing papers of 1,000 to 2,000 words. Blog posts of 600 words are too short to capture the interest of those who are seriously concerned about the issues, yet too long to get broad public attention in this Twitter-dominated world.
viagra no consultation During meditation, silence is the main tool of trade. Some males could not achieve erection at one third price of the purchase generic cialis original drug. We are here to clear your doubts and also make sure that you know the dosage you are supposed to take. generic viagra pill You can find Kamagra in two forms- tablets sildenafil buy online and jelly.
So, next week the Antiplanner will go to a two, sometimes three, post-per-week schedule. One post, probably on Tuesdays, will be a briefing paper that goes in-depth into some issue such as transit or housing. A second post, on Fridays, will the “The Education of an Iconoclast,” my version of the events that led me to become an antiplanner. If some major event takes place that requires commentary, I’ll add a third post in some weeks.
I hope you find these changes worthwhile and, as usual, your polite comments are welcome.
Aw don’t leave.
As long as you don’t deprive us of your written words of wisdom, we will be happy regardless of the form.
I tried to contact you but couldn’t find your address on the page. Maybe I missed it. I added the comment as soon as I saw it was live again, even though by then, the article was several days old.
I’ve been reading the Antiplanner for about 13 years. This page is the second thing I read every morning, after my local newspaper. When you skip a day, I miss you. I’m more interested in transportation than, say, housing or forest management, but I read every single word. Every evening, I go back and read the comments, which I find to be mostly responsible and thought provoking. I have figured out who’s posts to just skip over. I have a fairly long list of pithy quotes extracted from Antiplanner articles that I keep in an Evernote document.
I am a long time opponent of a rail boondoggle in my area and have written many op-eds and I have relied on Antiplanner posts for supporting evidence. I have only two criticisms. First, I would prefer you use more charts and graphs to illustrate your points. Second, the search feature could be more robust.
Thanks for all you do. I’ll still be visiting here on Tuesdays and Fridays. On the other mornings, you’ll find me hyperventilating in my reading chair.
I don’t post often, but read daily and I am always impressed that you can fill this space every day for as long as you have.
“none of the people who regularly comment thought to send me an email telling me about it.”
I actually thought about sending you an email, but I rather enjoyed the lack of comments, especially the lack of wall text by someone who needs to start their own blog and insane comments by the resident idiot who has been repeating the same nonsense and libel for more than a decade.
Ok a tangential note, I highly recommend finding a new webhost, as this one has so many issues, including being very slow. Also consider ditching WordPress or at least switching to Disqus for comments.
I’m a daily reader but not much of a commenter. I look forward to your bi-weekly content and appreciate your work.
Really enjoy your posts and link to them regularly on my blog. I understand the need to scale back – I’ve done it myself – but I hope you’ll keep a lot of your up-to-date commentary on current transit issues. You are one of the few truly fact-based sources to counter much of the pro-transit dogma.
I added the comment as soon as I saw it was live again, even though by then, the article was several days old.
Me too, and me too. I assumed that it was a WordPress problem and it would be fixed.
This blog is one of very few out there promoting sanity.
🙂
Thanks for all you have done.
We will all continue follow your blog in any format.
Thank you Mr. O’Toole. You have provide a strong and reasoned voice over many years, and I will be glad to see it two days a week.