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May 04, 2008

2500 & The Hot Button Redux

Just noticed that we've hit 2500 entries on this blog.

Actually, it's 2800 with the original Hot Blog, which was on a TypePad page.

And on your side of it, you recently cracked 80,000 comments.

The first entry was "Do I Need A Blog?" on September 5, 2004.

The first Hot Button column was on August 22, 1997. There were no blogs back then. The word did not exist. And in the print world, only Army Archerd did a daily column in this industry. Heck, there weren't even any real archives at that time. Roughcut.com was an on-line one-sheet. That was the norm.

Seven years later, I was late to the blog party, though it was still, we know now, just beginning to find its legs.

I believe deeply that there is a distinction between a column and a blog entry. The former starts with a mindset of exploring a single issue in some depth and demands extended focus. The latter can have depth, but as has become clear, the tendency is for blogs to become more a form of electronic water cooler and less a place for contemplation.

But now, after limping through this eleventh year of the column, it's time to evolve. The simple reality of technology alone demands it. How I - and other journalists - can do our work changes profoundly the work we do.

Welcome to The Hot Button Blog.

We will keep thousands of Hot Button columns intact, as columns, on the Hot Button website. But we are in the process of converting the entire collection of columns into a blog format.

The are two big advantages of the new delivery system. First, it will allow proper searches of the decade of columns for the first time. Google does okay, but this should be a vast improvement. Any word, any name, any film... everything I have written will come pouring out.

Second, The Hot Button will now become the home of all of my new long-form writing (that's not specifically for MCN). The cut-off should be about 750 words and given my Hot Blog experience, I would expect at least one piece a day. So if you want to read deeper, more-elaborate pieces, The Hot Button will once again be a daily destination. I keep wanting to find a proper word to coin for it... "Blogumn" is about the best I have come up with so far. (Maybe we should have a contest!)

And for more of the blog-style stuff, from links, to quick comments on the stories of the day, to video... all on The Hot Blog.

I am excited about the next step in how I interact with you all. We appreciate your patience as we fill the archives of the blog. If you want to know what I was saying about Spider-Man's May opening in 2002, it will be much easier soon. (I just posted that particular Hot Button, which also includes a first-look at The Bourne Identity.)

Posted by poland at May 4, 2008 06:17 PM

Comments

I've been around since the beginning and, although I very rarely comment, will continue to read The Hot Blog on a daily basis. I am especially looking forward to your coverage of Iron Man 2 & Thor in 2010 and The First Avenger: Captain America & The Avengers in 2012.

Posted by: JPK [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 5, 2008 07:08 AM

Teehee, that's awesome! Although, let's be honest, if you take away all the replies by that one dude who was, like, seventeen people at once, then the number surely sinks to something like 5000. Right? :P

Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 [TypeKey Profile Page] at May 5, 2008 07:53 AM

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