As the just-completed YearlyKos convention demonstrated—with the presence of 1,500 liberal bloggers and nearly all the major Democratic candidates—the influence of the blogosphere, for better or worse, has reached a new peak. I've been covering the medium for Slate for two years, and of all the questions that have come from friends, family, and e-mail strangers, the most interesting is, "What should I name my blog?" Whether you plan to write about food, your miserable day job, or a viable exit strategy for Iraq, the answer is always a negation: It's more a matter of what not to name your blog. When CNN calls to ask for your expert opinion on farm subsidies, do you really want to be known as the Intrepid Ploughman?I explained the origin of the name of this blog and the reason I use a blogonym as opposed to my real name in the first post back in November 2003, and I really haven't thought much about it since. The chances of CNN calling me up and asking for my expert opinion are nil, and I would hope that people who read my stuff will look beyond the names associated with them. I've been amused at the reactions the name has caused in some places: uggabugga said, "Finally, a blog with a name more absurd than Uggabugga!" and the Columbia Journalism Review sighed once, "yes, we're quoting something called Bark Bark, Woof Woof." But all in all, most bloggers and readers have taken it -- and my writing -- for what it's worth. I also think that anyone who can't get past the name is the one with the problem, not me.
It also hasn't kept me from being invited to contribute to other blogs such as Shakesville/Shakespeare's Sister, The Reaction, and Pax Americana. So I guess I'm doing something right if they think I'm worth adding into the mix, and they don't mind adding my slightly absurd name to their masthead. All of them draw a far larger crowd of readers than this modest effort, so I'm honored to join them.
What it comes down to, I suppose, is that the name of the blog doesn't matter as much as the content...or lack of it. My biggest fear when I started was that I would run out of things to say. Anyone who knows me knows that that is a highly improbable occurrence, and I must admit that I have yet to sit down at the computer and have absolutely nothing to post. (Whether or not you, the reader, find it worth reading is another matter.) There have also been times when I've passed over stories that have fired up the blogosphere (i.e. the Scott Thomas Beauchamp story) because either it didn't interest me or I didn't feel that I had significant knowledge to comment on it. I know it sounds shocking that a blogger will admit to not knowing something, but I have no qualms about admitting my ignorance about some things. That's why I steer clear of things like military matters, marriage counseling, and child rearing. It's something I picked up in grad school; know when you know you don't know something.
If someone were to ask me what to name their blog, I'd tell them to keep it simple, make it catchy, and something that can fit on a coffee mug or license plate frame. Make it something you wouldn't mind having your mom tell her friends about. And if you spend more time thinking about the name than you do about what you're going to say, chances are you won't be blogging very long.
