So I don’t have to keep answering this repeatedly in the comments, yes, I will no longer be with the PJ Media network starting 1 April. They are apparently moving on/the business model didn’t work/whatever. Life goes on.
I understand there is an inordinate amount of bad feelings and some hostility being chucked around, and I want no part in it. Roger Simon and the others at PJ always kept their word to me. From where I sit, PJ Media was an ad portal that provided advertising content for this site, and that was about it. I never understood claims at the beginning of this several years ago that somehow I was “losing my independence” or the rest of the nonsense for signing up with them. As I have stated repeatedly, maybe others had different experiences, but the company was great to me. They always kept their word, their staff was top-notch and great to work with (and I really hope they find jobs quickly/keep their jobs), and Roger Simon was a great person to do business with the past couple years. I signed a contract through the end of March, PJ Media and I are both honoring it, and they are moving on to something different. This sort of thing happens hundreds of thousands of times every day all over the world, and is really rather unremarkable.
And that really is all there is to it. I thought that when PJ started, there would be more original reporting from people on issues in their region, but that never seemed to materialize. Regardless, I have no complaints and wish them well.
As to any changes to this website, well, just like when we moved to PJ, there really won’t be any. I might go back to blogads (digging up the old account info will be fun), might throw up some other ads from teh google or amazon, or maybe I will just use the sidebars for pet pics and to display the Super Bowl trophy we the Steelers are going to win tomorrow.
Long story short- I’ll still be an idiot on 1 April and this site will still be here.
cleek
honoring a contract?
sellout.
blogging’s not about contracts and ad revenue! it’s about sticking it to The Man!
take that, The Man! you’ve been stuck! bam!
smiley
Fixed.
DougJ
I mean this in all seriousness: I feel a little bad for Jeff Goldstein and some others PJ bloggers like him who will be truly out of work now.
canuckistani
Can you still show pictures of Michelle Malkin in the sidebar?
syl
Which team are you, Tim, and DougJ replacing? And you seem pretty confident, considering you’ll have to play 3 on 11.
Incertus
@DougJ: I’m certainly not going to gloat over people losing their income stream, especially in this economy, but isn’t this an example of the power of the market?
Libby
The only good thing about PJ Media was this blog. But it’s probably your fault their fabulous business model failed.
The beginning of the end clearly started the day you registered as a evil Democrat and destroyed their ideological purity. It’s been down hill ever since.
Even Joe the Dumber Plumber couldn’t save them. :)
gbear
Can you find a place on your front page for this graphic when you make the changover?
TheHatOnMyCat
There must be other ad aggregators out there that we can hook up with? In the print and broadcast worlds, there are brokers who find deals and packages and roll them up to your door. Ad agencies eager to find new opportunities. Doesn’t this exist in the tube world?
Or are we looking at a general decline in business due to the Bushconomy?
RoonieRoo
John, because of you, I’ve always thought well of PJ media in spite of what others said. To me, your lovely rants and posts are proof that they do not interfere or provide anything but their service regardless of your leaning.
TR
What are the odds Jeff Goldstein tries to rescue Jammies Media by threatening to slap someone in the face with his cock? It’s his usual response to everything.
Jay B.
I feel a little bad for Jeff Goldstein and some others PJ bloggers like him who will be truly out of work now.
First, didn’t he retire? Or is he back now? But then, on top of that, I think taking the money delivered by PJM is one thing, but relying on it is quite another. I can’t see how anyone, especially a free marketeer committed to free markets and their inherent infallibility, would see the business model puked up by Roger Simon and think: You know, I think I’m going all in on this hand.
In other words, when I wrote a novel, knowing the idiotic economics of publishing, I didn’t think: "I can’t wait to tell the Man to screw." Which was obvious, and in the end shrewd, since the few reviews of said novel were basically reiterations of the time-tested "Don’t quit your day job, kid."
I don’t think that’s ever particularly cruel advice.
TheHatOnMyCat
Tweaked.
gbear
SGEW
Although I appreciate Mr. Cole’s defense of PJ media, I have to admit that I’m quite tickled with their economic woes.
JoeSamuel the [ex-]Plumber[‘s Assistant] schadenfreude aside, I’m getting tired of people giving me the stink eye over my shoulder when I load up this site and advertisements for Michelle Malkin or"The Twelve Protocols of Islam""The Third Jihad" pops up on my laptop.. . .
Then again, maybe it helps polish up my iconoclastic reputation. For what that’s worth.
DougJ
I still feel bad for him, though.
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Joe the Plumber goes to Israel? Hello?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Umm, excuse me, I hate to ask, but, if you went into a bookstore looking for books of historical value (reality, truth, events as they happened, not lies) and you find all they have is fiction, do you decide to ally with them and advertise for them and tell about how great they were to you simply because they had good staff? They didn’t serve up the kind of information that served the needs of your readers.
They were pushing propaganda and calling it truth.
Tell me you’re joking, please.
cmorenc
John, Tim & Doug:
You could respond by achieving revenue efficiencies the same way so many big American corporations have successfully done: move part of this blogging operation offshore.
– IN FACT, I’ve heard that Chinese entrepreneurs (surpisingly, with *wink* *wink* sort of state approval) have already set up a bargain-rate political blogging server operation for the American market, based in the south China town of Flingdung, in Fukyoo province.
Crusty Dem
I don’t know what the rightards are bitching about: If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from Tom Friedman, it’s that there’s a thousand Indians in Pakistan that are twice as smart as any of us ready to take our jobs tomorrow, and it’s a great thing!! The world is flat, and hot, and small, except for Tom’s 11,400 sqft house. Sometimes, when you’re a corporation, you just have to tell your employees to "Suck. On. This.". Poor Jeff G, I’m sure it does suck when the invisible cock of the market slaps you square in the face…
TheHatOnMyCat
Let’s cut to the chase: John is heading to Washington to ask for a $15b bridge loan.
And he is NOT taking the BJ Corporate Jet (aka The Spirit of Hot Air).
He is making the trip on a unicycle and wearing a Please Donate sandwich board.
SGEW
[This is only a test.]
Test!
Test!!
Test!!!
Test!1eleven!!1one!
[edit: gotch. !! = acceptable, >!! NG. I thought our exclamation points might have been liberated while I wasn’t watching]
DougJ
Don’t worry, this blog is too big to fail.
wilfred
Finally, a fresh metaphor. Good one, that.
I’ll miss all the Grand Jihad announcements, Simon used all of the PJ bloggers to further his anti-Arab, anti-Muslim screech-prop.
JenJen
Open up a cookie jar… we’ll kick you a nickle, John.
I don’t know what I’d do without my Balloon Juice! If you run into any kind of financial difficulty keeping it going down the line, I’m sure even the financially-strapped readers of your blog will do what they can to keep you going.
Graeme
It doesn’t surprise me that the Boomers behind PJM want to be on TV. TV is for old people.
Good riddance.
kid bitzer
impressively gracious response, john.
disappointedGOPer
Dennis the Peasant will be insufferable!
(F5F5F5…)
kid bitzer
i did just notice that the banner across the top says:
"pajamas media: sending the mainstream media down the river."
that phrase never made any sense except as a variation on "selling down the river" (dressed up to be more polite and less explicitly antebellum, with the paddle-wheeler to make sure you still think about the slave-trade).
now that it’s their own people they are selling down the river, it becomes even funnier.
MattF
I’ve always been amused by the ads in the sidebar here– Joe the Plumber clearly has the opportunity for a second career as a scalp model.
Joshua Norton
The bad hoo-doo of Joke the Plumber strikes again. Any chance they just gave him a one-way ticket?
Walker
So the real question is whether John will now get swept up by some other outlet like Big Media Matt, Greenwald, or Steve Benen did. Or is this blog too informal for that?
kommrade reproductive vigor
As someone who has to commute 1.5 hours one way to sit in a cramped cubicle, conduct at least three interviews per article, explain elementary shit to my boss who is a really nice guy but just isn’t familiar with some of my topics, listen politely while sundry needle-dicked assholes chew my ear off because
one of my sources didn’t list every single fucking solution to a particular scenario, reassure my boss that I don’t need to print a correction and really, the world won’t end, conduct research for readers who’re too damn stupid to figure out the internons, write marketing copy and keep a website up to date via fucking DreamWeaver which I hate almost as much as Vista, all while worrying that I’ll get shit-canned anyway because the economy is fucked and the numbers on my pubs are falling:
Fuck. Them.
With a flaming hot socket wrench.
steve
John,
From a blog group that wasn’t as widely seen as touted, to a web tee vee venue for people who really need to be in radio, that not many are going to see. I’m sure clips can be freeped for a poll of sorts, but Josh and TPM will continue to have it all over Roger.
and he knows it too.
Peter J
Still not getting your OrangeSatanSorosJihadCash(tm)?
I’m starting to think that that just was one big lie.
Steeplejack
@DougJ:
Fixed.
Surreal American
@disappointedGOPer:
Not too long ago, DtP allegedly swore off writing about all things Rog-related.
John,
I realize you’ve had largely good experiences with PJ Media, but I can’t say I’ll miss the Glen Reynolds/Michelle Malkin PJTV ads. Especially welcome for me will be the disappearance of Joe the not-Plumber’s mug from these pages.
MMM
I would read at least two PJ posts a day. Some were interesting arguments, some were nonsense. Disagreed with over 75% of the articles, but I enjoy reading different points of view, even those that appear absurd. And that is why I like Balloon Juice….
Adrienne
OT: I’m starting my own blog.
Actually, starting may not be correct. I’m picking it up after barely starting the first time. I’d be thrilled if you guys checked it out from time to time.
Reverend Dennis
@Steeplejack:
You owe me a damned keyboard!
TheHatOnMyCat
@Adrienne:
Is there food?
Krista
I still say that John’s logo would be vastly improved if Tunch was riding in that little basket.
Mind you, the hot-air balloon would then have to be quite a bit bigger.
TheHatOnMyCat
Where’s Binzinerator when you need him?
Steeplejack
@Reverend Dennis:
I always lay down a dropcloth before reading this blog.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
over or under?
TheHatOnMyCat
LOL.
Surabaya Stew
I’m glad to hear about PJ Media sticking with you even as you transformed from a thoughtful right-wing blowhard into a thoughtful political moderate. It almost makes me think well of them, until I remember seeing the ad with Joe the Plumbers’ ugly head that used to hang around on your left sidebar. For that sin, they are unforgivable!
Tony J
John Cole
What has my sweet, loving cat done to you mean people?
Are we all just self-conscious about our weight and need someone helpless to pick on to make ourselves feel better?
Tony J
Okay, I give up. Can I have the idiot-proof Guide to Strike-throughs and Other Assorted Tags please?
Frikking internet traditions.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Adrienne: I will add it to my list. That makes three.
Krista
We tease because we love. If any of us thought for a moment that Tunch’s feelings were hurt because of this, we’d stop.
But yeah, we’re also a pretty mean bunch. If it makes you feel better, we can make fun of my pregnancy weight for awhile. I’m currently in that joyful phase where strangers are wondering "Is she pregnant or is she just fat?"
Laura W
I think a great way to use the sidebars would be to show pets who are addicted to BJ. Like my Sadie, right here.
John could post this great shot of Tunch hiding
behindtwo monitors.Just Some Fuckhead
@Krista: Or both, right??
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Tony, before the area you want to strike through type a "lesser than" sign the word strike and a "greater than" sign, then the phrase you want to strike, followed by a "lesser than" sign, then /strike and then a "greater than" sign.
If parenthesis were the lesser than and greater than signs, it would look like this:
(strike) phrase to strike (/strike)
:)
demimondian
@John Cole: Not exactly, John. Your cat is funny, that’s all.
Besides the image of a balloon big enough to lift Tunch makes the engineer in me turn hands stands at such a difficult problem.
Laura W
@John Cole:
Do I really have to go first on this one?
Yes.
SATSQ
Tony J
That comma doesn’t need to be there, John.
"Pick on"? "Helpless"? He’s the cat version of the Kingpin.
You’re just jealous of the attention he gets. Because we all know that Tunch edits the funny and incisive bits into your posts while you’re busy trying and failing to crack onto Dark-Elf Dominatrixes in WoW. 8-)
Tony J
Thank you, TSFoN.
Copied and saved.
kommrade reproductive vigor
As the owner of a big fat cat, it isn’t your big fat cat’s fatness that causes so much snark, it’s your insistence that your big fat cat isn’t in fact a big fucking fat cat.
Helpless? Are you HIGH? Pictures of that beast make me want to don body armor.
p.s. Michael Moore is fat!
JenJen
Well, I have a fat dog. He’s so fat, my vet has shamed me into taking him for a weigh-in twice a month just to be sure I’m keeping him on the diet food. The vet even makes it all personal: "You look like you’re in shape. What’s the problem with the little guy, then?"
Asshole.
You should see the look that little dog gives me every time we walk up those steps to the Vet’s door. You don’t know guilt until you’ve looked a Vet and a pissed-off dog in the eye.
Joshua Norton
Maybe John and Kevin Drum can form a support group. When Kevin posts his cat pix there is always a group of lurking scolds who berate him every Friday for letting Ink Blot and Domino get so, um, big boned.
I’ve had cats that ranged from the "long and lean" variety to a the "bathmat with legs". They’re going to be what they’re going to be. When you try to do something foolish, like put them on a diet, they get pissed and perhaps eat all your house plants. Or decide a very good view can be found by climbing to top of your $3,000 custom made, silk moire drapes. Or walking back and forth in front of you performing the Meow Show and occasionally running off in the direction of their food dish expecting you to follow them.
Kittehs is as kittehs does.
p.a.
Off topic, but hopefully worth discussion. Conversation at work last evening; will the recession result in a mini baby boom over the next few quarters? Out of work, broke, bored, nothing else to do…oops. Or, a decline? as I believe usually happens in down times with economic uncertainty.
Junius ponds
Wait…I’ve read this site just about every other day for a couple years now, and never had any idea it was part of the Pajamas Media network. Is this post a joke?
TheFountainHead
I think this blog should exclusively impression cat food and beer ads.
Just Some Fuckhead
@TheFountainHead: And allergy and asthma products.
TheFountainHead
@Just Some Fuckhead: And Vista and Apple ads.
demimondian
@TheFountainHead: Linux ads, only. We all know that FSF makes the best ads out there.
Zuzu's Petals
@Libby:
I dunno. If they’re truly going all-TV-all-the-time, they may be ready to go "Joe" the "Plumber"-all-the-time too.
At least we won’t have to see the ads.
R-Jud
@Krista:
(pointing) Ha ha ha ha ha… oh, wait. Crap.
Um, how’s the nausea?
p.a.
Ahhh. Who can forget the neti pot threads? Good times…
Crusty Dem
Man, I still can’t get past the idea of that, even if it means never getting a cold again.
More recently, there was the SAD lights (did you end up w/one John? Any updates?).
Peter J
wow.
Anyone who disliked that Cole stayed with them, should actually be happy about it, Cole did help dry the well faster ;)
Capelza Gradenko
Well I went to donate at the little Amazon thingy that was always on the right side..it’s gone. Will gladly send money when requested.
Don’t post that much anymore…but still read all the time. Balloon Juice is my internet anchor.
As for plump pets. I have a somewhat chunky Chiweenie (yeah, I know..horrible name, it wasn’t my idea, but I guess that’s what he is..and he is cute as all get out.) who really does have a thyroid problem, that he takes pills for everyday. So when some smart ass makes fun of him when we are out walking I whip out the pill bottle. And lay the guilt on extra thick. No one messes with my chunky chiweenie!
Anyway, best of luck and "Hi" to everyone.
bago
"Off the dole." Should be fun to see randian heads exploding at being informed they were on the dole.
John Cole
@bago: I thought that was funny, too.
Sirkowski
Charge people to post their pets photographs.
YellowJournalism
Well, if John’s ever desperate enough for money, he can start charging per cat joke.
TheHatOnMyCat
Long time no see, welcome back.
gnomedad
Charge people to use the word "fuck". Also "skull" and "kittens".
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Well, now that you put it this way, I can live with that much better.
Thanks Peter J
:)
Chuck Butcher
I read a couple of the WTF??? posts you linked, John, and the part that I really like is the ‘capitalists took advantage of me.’ If the douchebaggery of PJTV is really going to improve their revenue stream (versus suck in some new sucker investment money) then it should be pretty clear that they weren’t offering content capable of supporting itself.
Now I am a fan of BJ and I’d miss it if the PJM fold up were killer, but I seriously doubt that BJ’s numbers have anything owed to PJM. I have no experience with online adverising since my numbers would only mean garbaging up the site for no revenue.
I’d like to note, in the adverising spirit, that some of my comments and the self-referential ones drive quite a bit of traffic my way for which I’m grateful since my only reward for writing the thing is readers. So thanks to John for tolerating my occassional blogwhoring and you for stopping by.
TheHatOnMyCat
Oh sure, wipe out MY fucking nest egg.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Okay, now I LOL’d. ;)
TheHatOnMyCat
Just returning the favor!
Comrade grumpy realist
Suggestions:
a) Donate basket put up, then bitch and whine every now and then when necessary.
b) portal to Amazon (hey, every now and then post a thread asking for suggestions for great books on a particular topic, then set up your own bookstore with them.)
c) Other ad organizations gotta be around there somewhere. Find out what we’re interested in and rotate ads.
d) Hold a Support Tunch Day or Support John’s Hola Fruita Day!
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Thanks! ‘Preciate it so much! ;)
MissLaura
Well, my cat is fat but I like him anyway. And I’ll take credit for his fatness since in his previous homes he stayed thinner by dint of being too jumpy and nervous to settle in and eat.
He’s on a diet now and luckily is too dumb to have figured out that if he wakes me up in the morning I might feed him to get him to go away.
Steeplejack
@John Cole:
Hey, as a fellow custodian of full-figured felines, I come from love. Have forwarded a picture of Boomhauer, who could be Tunch’s long-lost brother–23 pounds of manly cat-love.
kwAwk
I don’t much feel sorry for the people being put out of work by the close of PJMedia, they had a dream, they followed it and it doesn’t seem to have worked out for some of them. It is what it is. I always find admiration for people who chase their dreams.
I think the lesson is that we need to learn from this is reader awareness. If we want certain blogs to stay around then we as readers can make that happen by being sure to click the ad links from time to time.
If you buy from Amazon, when you do buy make sure that you go to your favorite blog which has Amazon advertising and enter the site from there. They’ll notice if it happens a lot.
headpan
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
headpan
Awww, well poopies. Poor lil PJ. Bit in the ass by the almighty markets. That is teh sad. Boo fucking hoo. Where are my cat-o-nine tails, I must self-flagellate to show my solidarity with their grief since I have been getting fucked in the job market for 4 years now. Your philosophy of government that you have been spewing has fucked us all
It’s Ramen noodle time, bitchez. Deal with what you’ve wrought and suffer, maybe you will finally learn something about the real world.
(With the exception of Michelle Malkin, of course, who will always get hate-spewing air time for as long as Fox News has a pulse.)
headpan
komrade RV:
worth repeating – except some might actually enjoy the experience if double wetsuits are thrown into the mix
I’m sorry, I know everybody on this thread is gone, but I gotta get my assholery out for the day and it’s probably best everyone has moved on
John S.
Poor Jeff Goldstein.
Perhaps he can find work as a freelance cock- slapper or maybe as a rent-an-idiot for villages that cannot afford a full-time one. Suffice to say, I would never wish ill of the lad, but this is simply an observation that you reap what you sow.
disappointedGOPer
Delivers!
WooT!
John Cole
@disappointedGOPer: Poor Dennis the Peasant. Still confused.
There is a difference between “slurping” Roger Simon and calling Dennis an asshole. I am innocent of the first charge, guilty of the second.
My beef back then was twofold- I had no idea why Althouse and Moxie were actively rooting for it to fail (Dennis had pretty valid reasons to want it to fail), and I thought it was total BS that I was somehow “losing my independence” or would be forced to write what PJ media wanted me to write about. I think we know how that worked out.
headpan
Dennis the Peasant: what the fuck was that about?? I have been right about everything (the war, the economy, Bush/Cheney – stuff that really matters, etc — /S) since 2003 so I got 2 years on ya! And people thot I was completely full of shit, also. And I have received absolutely NO creds for being right all along from anyone, any time, anywhere. And I never will. Btw, one reason I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about is your link doesn’t work. You might want to fix that, hon.
headpan
Yes, I’m projecting again, sorry.
Eli Rabett
FWIW, PJM was set up as a hi-tech Regnery Press, a way to funnel $ to wingnut propagandists with bulk purchases. Present company excepted of course.
The interesting thing is did the recent Madoff unpleasantness turn off the spigot and (Dear Lord Please) halt the printing presses?
Hyperion
@John Cole: and then followup by Simon
i mean, who knew that on the dole was an insult?
what an asshat.
John Cole
@Hyperion: I knew that would cause an uproar.
From my standpoint, I would do it all over again. Someone came to me and said “We want to pay you to run our ads.” I looked at what they were offering, and it was more than I made on blogads and constant (meaning no periods without blogads), I didn’t have to deal with the day to day sales or technical aspects, and could maintain my site the way I wanted, with the only requirement that I not advertise with anyone else and place the ads in certain locations.
Only an idiot would turn that down, and as far as I am concerned, I wasn’t on the dole. I was just living up to my end of the contract that was offered me. That is also why I am not bitter or upset that they are ending our relationship after the contract ends. It didn’t work out. I will move back to other revenue streams for… something I would do for free anyway.
I had no control over the business end, never said that it would be a smashing success, and always said if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Guess what- Dennis and others were right- it didn’t work. My main point of contention during these arguments was the misinformation that was being tossed about and the desire on the part of some for it to fail, which I never understood. If the model worked, it would be good for every blogger. The other thing that drove me nuts were the accusations that I had “sold out” and would “lose my independence.” That, to me, was an offensive accusation.
I did think that more would be done with it, and I did think there was the possibility it could be successful and it could become a legitimate force, but I just turned out to be wrong about that. No more wrong than I am about any other thing any given day, so, no big deal.
Comrade Jake
@John Cole:
Speaking for me only, there was some sort of comic justice to see you getting paid by the same set of folks you were mocking on a regular basis. At least after you came to your senses, that is.