You’ll get an idea of why I am asking this question before too much longer, but I am curious to know how long you have been reading Booman Tribune. If you want to share more information, that’d be cool. Like, do you remember how you originally found this place?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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I heard of BT via Daily Kos. It was an attractive alternative to Daily Kos, especially after the infamous pie fight. The Froggy Bottom Cafe, foto flogs, Welcome Wagon Wednesday, etc. gave this place a real down-home feel. There was even a Friday Night Jazz Jam series for a while in the beginning.
I think I set up my initial account sometime in 2005. I dropped out for a bit in 2009 and returned under my current nom de plume. We’ve sometimes had our differences, but the sort of down-home vibe that existed here for those first years and your continued ability to cut to the chase on the state of US politics keep me coming back. This is one of the only blogs I check in on with any regularity.
My current nom de plume in 2010. Yeah, I’ve been here a long while in one form or another.
Wait people left after the pie fight?
This site probably doubled or tripled in size during the Pie Fight. I could check the numbers on that if people are curious.
Yes.
I’m curious.
AG
Markos posted his pie fight article on June 5th, 2005.
That morning I had 1015 users.
The next day I added 27 users.
By the end the 7th, we new at 1303.
By the end of the 8th, we were at 1399.
By the end of the month, we were 1719.
By the end of the next month were were at 1926.
So, I guess we didn’t quite double, but it sure seemed like it. It totally changed the site.
I left Kos because of the “sanctimonious women’s studies set” pie fight remark, despite being a high school drop out I recognize misogyny when my nose is rubbed in it.
I am confronted with misogyny in my daily life, I do not need to go looking for it on political blogs when there are plenty of smart people saying smart things without the male dominance dance.
I can’t even imagine the shitstorm if he said that today. Honestly Kos seems more and more a dinosaur these days
That period in DK history definitely alienated some folks. Markos’ referral of critics of that ad on his site as “sanctimonious women’s studies set” really did not help DK’s cause. The frogpond, by contrast looked considerably more inviting. The numbers Booman provides downthread are a good indicator that the frogpond got some DK refugees in the aftermath.
Hello BooMan, I’ve been lurking too long and occasionally commenting. I get pestered by the New York Times all the time after clicking on their articles that friends put up on Facebook. Click the article, and they announce “Two Free Articles This Month Left For You!” Like Soup Nazi, “No Free Content For You! Why not subscribe at a dollar a week? ” Long and short of it is I’d rather pass on dough to you. Could you provide that P.O. Box number with address again? I have a pilfered beer glass of twenty dollar bills left over from bar tabs in Seattle last winter, and I’ll take my chances and send them to you via mail. I don’t do PayPal. Sorry!
That’s sounds great and thanks for thinking of me.
I’m setting something new up so I’ll hold off on making any asks for the moment, but don’t forget about me 😉
I recall you mentioning a need to migrate the frog pond at some point. Hoping whatever it is will manage to keep the vibe of this joint.
I know that I’ve been reading here for more than 10 years, probably closer to 14 years and got steered here from Daily Kos, along about the time their blog design was similar to this one.
June 12, 2012 is the day you finally made an account. You probably lurked for a long time before that.
Thanks for providing that. I know I was here long before.
I came onboard in either 2007 or 2008 when I was volunteering on the Obama campaign. Can’t remember how I found the site, but it, along with Al Giordano’s site, were the two places I went to most for thoughtful well written political analysis and “Chicken Little” prevention.
Me too, I think. About then. With Al Giordano and Nate (what was he called then? Pablano?) You must know when we registered.
I have spent most of my adult life living and working outside the US (working on the environment and climate change in developing countries). This included all but the last few years so I discovered this site only three years ago. Pretty sure it was from a tweet I stumbled on by our illustrious host but I’m not sure. I’m also a Washington Monthly subscriber.
I’m not exactly sure when I started frequenting this site, but it had to be at least since I worked on Obama’s first campaign. Yours is the first site I check every day after the NYT and the WaPo sites, and I pass on, and recommend, many of your posts. In addition, I pick up the Washington Monthly from my local book store on a regular basis.
I’m guessing that I found this site when it was referenced elsewhere, but that has been lost in the mists of time.
Don’t know when you started reading but you opened an account on May 30, 2008.
Last time this came up you were able to pinpoint mine so I think you’d know more than me as to when. Probably from DKos. I dont think Marshall or Drum would have linked to you back then.
You opened an account on January 8, 2008.
I have been reading you since the mid-90s, I think. I found your site from the Mahablog.
I don’t kmow when it was but I remember when you told DKos about it. 2005? It was so long ago, seems like right before the pie fight. I still read here most days though I rarely sign in.
I log in so infrequently that I keep having to reset my password.
I think it was before the Pie fight for me. I would comment on Bill Maher’s old message boards a ton. However, I wanted more analysis, not just reaction. And, I wanted it to be from real people, not talking head NYT types who thought Liberalism was a bad word and Joe Lieberman and John McCain were the best politicians we could hope for.
Someone recommended Daily Kos during a comment. From there I checked out the recommended Blogs from Kos and settled on this one, Steve Gilliard and MyDD.
I chose my stage name because I’m not Jerome from Paris and I’m not Jerome Armstrong. I’m the other one…..
Looking back on those Bush years, it’s crazy how far we’ve come. We’ve got real live Socialists in Congress. And they are popular!! I’m starting to feel a thrill run up my leg…
We’ve been around we even get the `thrill run up my leg’ reference.
Geeze, that’s what, 12 years ago?
That’s forever in Internet years.
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Probably 5 years. I actually joined much more recently, but have ponied up on the PayPal requests for a while. I am guessing I came from DailyKos or Mahablog, but I have seen links other places too. Also I only read Booman, though I am vaguely aware there are other posts here. To me it’s just the Booman blog. I read it every day.
I got disgusted at Huffingtonpost and went looking around. Found Eschaton – saw and clicked the Booman Tribune link. And you’ve been stuck with me ever since. I’d be interested to know when that was.
Now if I could only remember how I found What Would Jack Do…
You signed up August 3, 2012.
I started reading BooMan Tribune up in 2007.
I honestly don’t know. I imagine I came here from one your “also available in green” links from the GOS and eventually just stayed here. I remember the Pie Fight as a peripheral event because I’d long stopped reading DKos on a more than biweekly/monthly basis by that time and barely noticed.
I have a user # in the 2700s so I’m a relative old-timer, I suppose, but I probably didn’t register an account until the minute I wanted to post a comment.
If you’re coming up with a subscription offering, I’ve noted before I’d sign up when the time comes although I have a tendency to drop out for several months at a time. The content is great and badly needed though, whether I personally have the time or mental focus to read it.
I joined the European Tribune on Wed Nov 28th. 2007 . Since then, I have written 500 diaries for them, many of which I cross-post here if I think they may be of some interest in the USA.
Very occasionally I’ve written specifically for the Booman Tribune, but for the most part I don’t consider myself qualified to comment on US affairs, except perhaps to give a perspective on how they look from a European or Irish stand-point. I liked Carter, Bill Clinton, and Obama from a personal perspective, but the domestic political realities and perspectives with which they had to cope bore little or no relationship to mine. The latter two actually contributed materially to political progress in Ireland, for which I am grateful.
Lately, I seem to have almost given up o the USA as a place from which positive influences for the rest of the world can emanate. Dylan, Young, Springsteen, MLK all seem like a long time ago. Facebook running political interference seems to be the best the USA can offer now. Trump will probably soon start a trade war with ‘Yurp, and I know which side I will be on.
Wishing you all the best for your new venture Martin, and to our mutual friends here. I suppose it couldn’t last forever.
I continue to appreciate your perspective. Just from my own personal perspective, visiting EU nations periodically and having friends and professional acquaintances in the EU is a poor substitute for actually living within the EU. I really need to do more than just periodically lurk on ET. Part of that is I haven’t really quite sorted out how I might fit in there. I am a bit more hopeful now about the US than I might have been a few months ago, but we’re far from out of the woods (and undoing the damage post-Individual 1 is going to be a tall order over the next decade).
I’m not sure when I joined.
Probably just after the July 4th massacre at dKos.
AG
I don’t remember the July 4th Massacre as such but I might with some gentle (memory) prodding. You were here already when I started reading the comments. That much I know.
First Obama election, but not 2007. Was sometime in 2008, probably from either an Al Giordano link directing me here (found him first), or from a link in the Facebook group “One Million Strong For Barack Obama”. Too bad Giordano has gone a bit crazy since the 2016 primary, but you kept your head 🙂
I don’t even read blogs anymore, Twitter does enough curating that’s made them somewhat obsolete, but I still read this one multiple times a day.
I probably came here from Kos but it could have been Balloon-Juice. My nym originated at Kos. I’ve been reading, but not commenting much, these blogs for a long time. Eschaton and Aravosis not so much anymore, Kos some, Juan Cole pretty regularly, B-J, Digby, and Booman every damn day. I miss Gilliard!
No idea when I first visited but it was likely near the time I signed up for an account. Booman’s analysis of the nuts and bolts of political sausage making is what attracted my interest. I’m guessing I found the site from the balloon juice blogroll. I’d never spent any time on dKos because I found the community to be a toxic stew of cranks and loons obsessed with narcissistic performative purity signalling rather than policy or politics.
Couldn’t really say. I try a lot of places, some of them stick and some don’t. This one stuck because it seems to have more insight onto the mechanics of Congress and government in general,
UID 623, so many years. Followed you over from the great orange satan. But it took me a few weeks to set up an account.
I rarely comment but I read the site every day. probably found it through Kos or Atrios way back in the dark ages but I didn’t make an account for some time. guessing I started reading in 2005 or 2006, but my account was created in February 2007. keep up the good work!
Freshman year of college, which would make it either late 2004 or early 2005. Been a while…hard to believe how much time has elapsed.
If memory serves I came over from The Left Coaster by looking at Steve’s blogroll. Might have been ’07.
Not sure, been viewing the site several times a day for a few years now. I was aware of the site many years before I registered, but rarely checked it back then.
Good question. I think it was linked to by Al’s The Field sometime in ’10 maybe. Or The Obama Diary. Those were the only blogs I was reading then.
It’s been awhile. Probably around the first Bush administration.
I’ve stayed with the stalwarts, LG&M, Ballon, Atrios, Hullabaloo, TPM. Shoot, I remember CrookandLiars before they switched from blog to `newsite’.
Oddly enough, this is the only site I post on. Some are too clannish (ballonjuice), some too hostile to being wrong (LG&M). There is something about the way the comments are listed here, that I find appealing, and more inclusive. Of course, all of that speaks to the overseer.
The front page diaries are on point, without the dramatic flourishes of other places. And it really is one of the few places you can go and get in-depth political analysis that are more than surface deep.
.
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And I got here via blog rolls, almost certainly from Hullabaloo or LG&M. I used to methodically click every one.
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Same for me. I’m pretty sure I first came here from Hullabaloo or Pandagon’s blogroll. 2004 at the latest.
I’ve been following you since 2005 when my brother convinced me I should be reading political blogs. He recommended Josh, Eschaton, Digby, Billmon, and Booman particularly.
I still check in here and there with the others (sans Billmon) but I go to you daily because your research, analysis, and prose on a variety of topics are just the best! Hands down, I share more of your posts than those of any other writer or publication.
As with others, I lurked a long time before I registered.
I believe I first found my way here in 2008. Booman’s deep, broad overview was/is unique, refreshing and informative. Commenters have always been thoughtful, serious and informed. If I’m reading your hints accurately, Booman, you’re planning to make changes rather than closing the site. I hope I’m right!
I don’t recall exactly when I started reading or how I came to the site. I have been reading and commenting for several years, and enjoy the commentary. I find it insightful and very informative.
I can’t remember. It feels like forever. Yours is the only blog I check regularly, i.e. daily. I have contributed sometimes with Paypal. I had a few other blogs, but I got disgusted with either their partisanship or low level of analysis at one point or another. I still read dkos, although both points apply there, but you always can find nuggets, because it is so big. Your blog is different, it has a high percentage of enlightening thoughts for me. I find it very refreshing that you try to understand the motives of Trump voters and the calculations of the ‘bad guys’, IMHO very important for anybody who wants to win back the former and go against the latter.
Come to think of it, I may also have come from Al Giordano sometime in 2008? Back then I read him regularly, but in the 2016 primary I found him just partisan, not useful.
You should give Al a fresh look. I think his war with the Bernie Bros (or ones posing at them) shook his equilibrium and it still shows, but he is still a terrific write with very good observations and analysis. It would be a shame if his (over)reaction to the ’16 campaign was due to Russian trolls, and I hope over time, he backs away from his apparent assumption that most of the Bernie Bros phenomenon was true and not fake trolls. Having a severe battle with cancer may also have made the stakes feel even more high and so anything that seemed threatening might have been amplified in his mind. But that’s just my armchair analysis. Anyway, I subscribe to his newsletter and appreciate his new organizeandwin.com site he’s trying to develop.
Thanks for the info. Will check him out again. He did a lot for my sanity back in 2008.
My story is a lot like Don Durito’s. I was a regular at DKOS back when it was the big new thing. I didn’t post much but I read the articles and tried to follow a lot of the threads. It wasn’t long before I followed one of BooMan’s links here and found a home. Back then I was Ignorant Bystander. Still am in a lot of ways.
Back then I read a lot of really good diaries by Jerome a Paris about the economics of wind power and renewable energy. I spent most of my career as a tech at an electric utility, so Jerome’s ideas hit close to home. When Jerome and BooMan started talking about a new site called European Tribune, I was one of the early joiners where I found another home. I don’t follow ET nearly as closely as I used to, but that’s my bad. I’m just not as active online as I used to be.
I have no idea. Maybe if you tell me I can place it. After Firedog, I’m pretty sure.
I’ve been reading since George W. Bush (feh, spit) was preznit. I learned about BMT soon after we met in real life at Philadelphia Drinking Liberally.
It remains my go-to for analysis, and set my head straight about politics when I was susceptible to the charlatans out there.
I found this site through Yastreblyansky or Balloon Juice. This probably would have been 2012 or 2013? I created my account on March 12th, 2018.
Judging from other comments: about 2005. That was pretty far before I registered. Always have Booman Tribune on lock and load. Uncommon insights and in-depth perspective have made Martin must-reading. I have sent support several times. Really miss Billmon.
Yes! Where’s Billmon?
It was somewhere between 2003 and 2005 I think. Maybe a bit before if this was around. I’ve looked on the site to see when you started and can’t find exact dates. But I know it was when I lived in one particular place and not another, so I can date it to back then. Back in the glory days I guess you’d say of the blogosphere.
You are the only blogger I regularly visit at this point, and it’s been that way for years, many years. I feel like your unwillingness to cater to nonsense possibly prevented you from monetizing this process a la Firedoglake. I’ve always been surprised that this blog has always been something that insofar as people know about it has been respected but which isn’t as known as maybe some others. You have a fairly unique ability to combine analysis and intuition, and you are probably the only blogger from those old days with a real prose style. In a good way.
If Steve Gilliard were still around, I’d probably be reading him, too, but he’s not. You’re it.
I vowed off participating in comment sections generally 5 or 6 years ago, because of the nonsense from all sides you certainly are aware of. And that’s not just here but everywhere. I just decided that online engagement is just not how I’m going to do political stuff. On balance the decision to disengage was a good one. I do think that it’s a good thing you’ve kept the site going because you are enough of a writer that you need some kind of consistent megaphone with which to be heard.
If this question is coming up because there are any financial issues maintaining the site, I’m not a rich man, but I do use your stuff enough that I’d want you let us know there’s a need. If you’re planning on moving on from this, which would be very understandable, I’d only ask that you keep writing in some form and let us know how best to read it. Your work at the Monthly I of course am aware of.
I do think you have at least one book in you, of some kind, and I’d pay cash money for it.
I’m grateful for your work, I really am. We quit drinking around the same time, me a touch before you but not much, and I felt some fraternal kinship with you on that, because I know the process. I was very proud of you, happy for you, and also I knew how hard that can be at times.
Let’s pour one out for Steve Gilliard.
Steve was a great, knowledgeable, generous person and a hell of a fighter. He showed everybody where the conservative movement was and where it was heading.
I have often thought about him, and missed him.
In regard to reading Booman, I’ve been here for 10 or 12 years.
He has his own wing in the blogging Hall of Fame, may he rest in peace.
Thanks for passing the bottle around here.
Hear hear. I miss Steve’s insight. He would have had a field day with Trump, that’s for sure.
Indeed.
At the time of Hurricane Katrina, Steve Gilliard’s coverage and commentary on that catastrophe was about the best I’d seen bar none. He would have undoubtedly ramped up the coverage of the outrageously wretched response to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria by Individual-1’s crumbling White House.
At least 10 years, you know when I registered.
I came over from EuroTrib.
Now you, Digby and Crooked Timber are how I start my day.
I followed one of those side bar links from Eachaton. It was a couple of years ago, I think.
In which I discover you can’t edit comments in this system.
‘Tis been a while, At least before Obama’s first campaign I would think – it was from a referral from either Drum, Black, or Marshall. I don’t and have never done Kos after he went Daily. I remember when your hire by WaMo was a REALLY BIG deal.
I discovered this blog early this decade, when BooMan and Steven D were the two authors of front page posts. I recall the blog being criticized by contributors and acolytes for other blogs and online magazines which I used to read more frequently. The TruthOut and Jacobin types declared the BooMan Tribune a centrist site. I think one of them linked to a story in order to help convince their audience of the validity of their critique.
I started reading other posts, and it seemed to me that the point of view here was not only more consistently set in the reality-based community, the growing evidence that Martin had actually done community organizing and election campaign work was meaningful to me. It helped make his analysis more practical and less disempowering than the “IF WE DON’T PASS MEDICARE FOR ALL YESTERDAY THE DEMOCRATS ARE JUST AS BAD” crowd.
At least ten years. I come here for reality based political analysis. You have few peers, Boo.
You,plus TPM,Kevin Drum,Balloon Juice are my dai!y hits.
Been quite a while, but not really sure (ten years?). I can say that you and Josh at TPM are my go-tos every day for a clear, dispassionate, and learned perspective. You scared me that time you said you were about ready to hang up your cleats given the toll it was taking on you. Anyway, you managed to survive that existential experience, and we are all the better for it. Keep it going, please.
IIRC I discovered the blogs September ’05. I might have started at HuffPo, but then found dkos, then started checking out all the others that dkos linked to. I was probably here by early ’06.
When? Years ago, I forget. It took me several years to establish a log-in, I think. The combo of smart politics and the Grateful Dead kept me coming back. How did I find it? Probably someone quoted you. I was never a Kos person, more a Sadly No. I dont know where I stumbled across Nancy LeT either, but it was well before she became a Washington Monthly regular, which is where I most often read you both now.
At least 5 years, maybe more. I think that Yastreblyansky linked to you and when I saw your site I registered. I don’t comment here all that often, but I visit multiple times a week to get your take on things. I genuinely value your insights and those of the folks who comment regularly here.
FWIW, I am a lawyer who has been admitted in NJ & PA since 1977. I have practiced immigration law since leaving corporate life in 2001. I had a prior career as an in-house corporate attorney for a defense contractor. I was a national defense-oriented Republican for many years (no surprise considering what I did for a living) but left the GOP forever after the 2000 election, the incompetence of Bush leading up to 9/11, and the insanity and lies the got us into the Iraq war. I’m a very progressive “leftist” and registered Democrat now. What thinking person isn’t?
It appalls me that things have only gotten worse since then under Trump, who I see as the greatest threat to American democracy that this country has ever faced. The divisions in American now make the Vietnam era seem quaint. If we don’t fight back with everything we have, we run the risk of turning into a fascist kleptocracy like Russia. That’s how high the stakes are under this lawless, criminal “President” and his GOP enablers in Congress.
Clicked on a sidebar link over at No More Mister. Lurked for a while before signing up in 2014 (I think).
I followed a link from DKos and thought, “That’s exactly what I wanted to know”. My time sense is awful, but I know it’s been many years.
I can’t remember for sure, but I think I came here after the pie fight at Daily Kos, so when was that? At first I was a bigger fan of Steven’s posts (how is he, btw?) but you grew on me, Martin.
After giving it more thought, I think I might have found BT through Atrios, originally, but not a regular until pie. Lurked for a while, like many others. Not much of a commenter; other people have more enlightened things to say, or think they do.
Hi, I guess I must have started reading in the early to mid W. years. I ran across the site listed on a list of progressive sites at either dKos, Eschaton, or Digby. I haven’t commented much since Trump won because I lost a lot of confidence in my ability to parse American politics. It’s like someone repealed the laws of physics; I have no ideas whats going to happen next.
Anyway, I have been coming here for years on a daily basis to gain insights I can’t find anywhere else, from both you and the other commenters. I really feel like this frog pond is more of an oasis. Thanks for keeping it going, and I hope you can continue it in some form or other.
I am going to guess it was in the 2005-2006 range. Think my ID # is in the low 4000’s. Not sure what that means as far as the year. Really don’t recall how I found you. I had been reading Kos and Digby for a while. Kos comments just didn’t seem to the kind of place I wanted to dip my toe. Spent some time lurking on AirAmerica blog when it was going.
I know the reason I stayed here once I landed, because it’s the same reason now. Unmatched insight, and commenters that are second to none. They have come and gone over the years, but the quality has remained. Some I greatly miss reading, like TarHeelDem. Not sure what happened to THD, but there were years of great stuff from him/her. I hope that whatever you have brewing keeps the high quality level of posting, and that everyone continues to appreciate and support the epic effort you have put in for so damn long. I salute you, Martin. You have kept me sane and informed like no one else I know.
Yes, I miss TarHeelDem too! When did he stop commenting? I hope it wasn’t due to something terrible.
And what every happened to Marie? I didn’t agree with most of her analysis, but I found her thoughts on the charisma/personality argument interesting and persuasive. Did she get booted from the site, or did she voluntarily leave?
Last comment was March 2018. THD has contributed so much over the years. When Martin was looking for possible guest contributors a few years back, THD was mentioned by a whole lot of people as their first recommendation. Like you, I hope nothing tragic has happened.
I’m not sure about Marie. The whole situation surrounding that got really ugly in a lot of different ways. It was sad to see. Marie was another one who had made a lot of positive contributions here over the years, and what happened was just really bad any way you cut it. The circumstances with Dems in 2016 campaign frayed and severed a lot of relationships. It really poisoned some things around here for a good while.
2016 was awful. Whatever differences I might have with Marie, her diaries on income inequality, teacher strikes and so on were quite valuable.
What became of Errol? I think I owe that guy an apology. Another person who was often quite insightful.
Errol is actually a woman. Met her some years ago.
I stand corrected. I think I owe her an apology.
And if she still lurks, she knows how to find me. I don’t exactly hide my contact info. I had the impression at one point that both of us had possible mutual interests and concerns regarding matters such as body image. The opportunity to have that dialog is still there.
Do you have any idea how THD and Marie were?
Meant to ask how old?
Have no idea of their respective ages.
I seem to remember THD posting something when he got arrested that showed him to be a senior citizen. BUT that is just from memory and I may be completely wrong on that.
That was some time ago so he might have passed on. That seems the most likely to me?
Yes, I also got the impression they were pretty senior. But the thing is, at the time they both disappeared they were both being attacked almost daily, and for the same reason, namely their views on Russia.
Others with similar views seem to stick around. It’s not like we’re the Borg. Regardless of their reasons for no longer commenting, I do hope they are okay.
So do I.
I got the impression that both THD and Marie3 were easily 60-something if not 70-something. That has more to do with some of the vignettes they’d occasionally share about their pasts. I could be wrong.
Yes, that was the feeling I had. Seemed from the experiences THD related, he could have easily been at least 10 years older than me, and I’ll turn 60 this year.
Billmon seems to have just withdrawn. I doubt THD or Marie would do so. I miss them.
I found Billmon very early in my discovery of blogs. I relished every new post. First person I found who made me say “Hell yeah!!!” every single time I read him.
Billmon’s Whiskey Bar blog was essential reading back in the day. When he got rid of comments on his blog, Moon of Alabama was a decent enough companion blog. Billmon is for all intents and purposes done with blogging. I was disappointed when he deactivated his Twitter account. I seriously doubt he’ll return to blogging, although perhaps he’ll return and I’ll have to eat some crow. Moon of Alabama long ago became an insane asylum.
Yeah copy that . I stopped reading it some time ago.
THD struck me as easily around the age of my mentors during my early activist days. They’d all be in the 70s now.
Best guess is it was 2007 when Barack Obama was first running and that I probably came from either Daily Kos or from barack obama’s blog as a candidate. But you should be able to tell from when I created my login here.
Too long to remember.
I’ve been reading here every day for years, mostly through RSS feeds. This might make me a problem for your ad model. Happy to adjust….
2005? I must have seen you on Kos before that though. Don’t read Kos anymore, just TPM and Boo.
Booman,
I created an account just now to comment on this thread. I cannot remember when I found this place, but I have been reading blogs since before the Brooks Brothers Rebellion, was a Kossack for years, but when the site updated and the great fracturing occurred, I tired of the sniping, fighting, and BS — so I bailed and have never been back.
I have been following this site for years. Some of the obvious troll commenters or the adversarial takes deserve to get slapped down, but I suppose everyone deserves their opinion. It’s just that I have scant little time for ill-considered (if considered they were at all) opinions. Yours is one that I value, and stop by daily or more to partake of.
Thank you for your efforts. They are most surely needed.
– NOoC
In a serious way, about a year. Not sure what pointed me here — maybe Brad DeLong?
Came here thru a link on Daily Kos….around 2005 or 2006 and lurked for a long time.
Not sure how I found the site (maybe via Rectification of Names?) but it was probably in 2014/5 so =/-4yrs ago.
Visit regularly. I sense that there’s some longer-term community _and perhaps some community functionality here but could never figure that out. I come for Martin’s excellent posts and the ensuing discussion. I pretty much say my piece and move on.
I should say that I sometimes get my Longman fix via WM, where I’m also a fan of Nancy.
I can’t remember how long I have been reading here. I know I lurked for a while before I signed up. It must have been quite a while because I am #201.
I mainly read and learn and rarely log in, which is why I’m always having to reset my password. Once in a blue moon, I am moved to log in so that I can rate a good comment or make a comment of my own. It seems like whatever I’m thinking about saying has already been said better and more succinctly by someone else.
I do appreciate the general civility here, though.
2004 or 2005. I had another UID number at that point. Made a new login during one or another hardware cockup, and never went back to the old one…
I first came around looking for sanity during the Bush years. I slacked off more during the Obama years, but now I’ve been back pretty regularly for the last couple years. I’m sure I found it by clicking links on blogrolls from other sites. You know, back in the days of MediaWhoresOnline (oh, those giddy days) and all that. Maybe got the link from atrios/eschaton?
BTW, thanks Booman!! I really appreciate all you’ve shared with us! I’ve probably tossed a quarter in the cup once or twice over the years, but (guilty, sheepish look) not nearly enough.
I think 2004-2005 but read before I joined. My User ID# is 2638. Could you look up my sign up date?
Thanks.
2005-11-18 21:58:34
Forgot to add I joined because my eldest son recommended half a dozen websites to me, and this was one of them.
I’ve been reading since Bush 43 invaded Iraq. Probably found Booman via bookmarks from Atrios or Digby. I still read everyday, one of the few blogs I still follow. Much respect for the Booman.
I think I got kicked off Daily Kos for some reason? But its been a long time maybe 2005?
Someone at another small blog called (of all things) “My rightwing dad” mentioned this blog. I checked it out. Can’t say I come every day, but I come frequently.
Probably started coming here like maybe 7 or 8 years ago? Something like that.
Thanks for hosting this site. Interesting posts.
I think I’ve been reading BT since the early 2000’s, not long after W snaked in.
Found BT from DK or maybe Huff post, maybe Hullabaloo.
I have forwarded a number of your observations to some of my R friends, and it has a tendency to make them withdraw a little. I’ve especially enjoyed forwarding one of your articles titled “I’ve gotta get this cruise gig”. Busts me up. And it’s so true.
Thank you Boo, for your wonderful insights and analyses.
Thanks for reminding me:
I hadn’t thought about those cruises for a while. As a lengthy social pursuit, nothing sounds more repellent.
The satire you employed in that diary was a nice style change, but I hope your close was part of the satire. I’m interested in financially supporting your journalistic pursuits, but I wouldn’t wish to help you get stuck with people on a ship where the loathsome and dishonest Jonah Goldberg would be among the most worthwhile people to converse with.
I was trying to find sanity after the invasion of Iraq. I remember that I got pointed here by some blog post by Al Giordano who was strongly recommending you, Booman. I don’t remember the year or how long I lurked until I signed up. There have been no more than two comments from me in all this time but I visit the site multiple times per day, catching up on conversations about things that matter. As others have mentioned, I also miss the presence of TarheelDem, and also rikyrah.
I don’t even remember when I started reading but it was certainly in the early W years, when I turned to all of these blogs for refuge from the shitstorm. It turned out to be a bonus to find that you are a fellow resident of Chester County and I can get some local analysis as well as your fine and insightful national coverage.
I started reading this blog back when Billmon and the Whiskey Bar were still a thing (oh how we miss them). I was never a big DKos fan, and I’m not sure how I originally found the Pond. I still keep up with Digby sometimes, and TPM of course has gone on to great heights, but I still read this site more or less daily because you tend to be right about stuff. If you turn the switch off here, I’ll be bummed, but as long as you keep posting at WaMo, then I’ll be fine. Thanks for all you’ve contributed over the years.
Circa 2004, via Susan Hu (before that all blew up). I’ve stuck with it because you source your material and offer a clear-eyed, pragmatic alternative to the often hyperbolic analysis of progressive bloggery.
I’ve been looking at left leaning blogs long enough and often enough that I probably first saw this blog not long after it was created. How long ago was that?
You made my top-sites about 18 months ago, meaning there are few days that I don’t stop in. And I often arrive 2 or even 3 times a day.
First post by a new commenter.
I think I discovered the site sometime between 2004 and 2008, and it gradually became one of my favorite blogs. I don’t remember how I first came to the site. Probably through a blogroll on DK, as I was clicking on blogrolls fairly regularly inthe early days, looking for sources of good analysis and insight. I became much less active in reading blogs during the Obama years, but now I check in here at least once a day. I find Booman’s insight into contemporary affairs to be succinct and usually right on target. I don’t remember when I first registeredasa user — I know I lurked for a long time, and must have opened more than one new account over the years, because my current user ID is a very high number, and only two comments are listed under it.
Started reading here around 2005 or perhaps earlier — might have come from Billmon, Smirking Chimp, or Firedoglake. Didn’t register until just after the 2016 election.
This blog is on a permanently open tab on my iPad, and I read every article on the front page every day and nearly all the comments. (Love the feature that shows which comments I haven’t yet read.) My other perma-tabs are No More Mister, Digby, Charlie Pierce, and TPM.
Worked in the Senate long ago (spanning the changeover from Carter to Reagan), and the analysis here is unparalleled. The comments are lively and informative too … I learn something new every day. Often many things. Grateful for all of it! Helps keep me semi-sane.
I picked you up at DKos and when I noticed your diaries there were also posted here, I gave up on DKos and made the frog pond my new home. I don’t comment a lot but I’m an every-day reader.
Seeing all these comments is very heartening. I have no idea yet what Booman has planned for the future of the frogpond, but I do hope he realizes that he has cultivated something of a family here. For many, I get the sense this is a sort of virtual home away from home. As long as we are not scattered into the blogging diaspora, I think I’ll be cool with whatever comes up next.
I’ve been here quite a while. It would have been hard for me to remember exactly how long but for the fact that some years ago I asked myself this very question — and I still have the data I found. The earliest comment I know of from me was Feb. 12, 2007, and I don’t think I would have been lurking for very long before then.
Here’s the proof.
As for how I originally got to the Frog Pond, I don’t remember. But I’m glad I did.
I pretty much migrated over from dKos a little after you did. I now have BT on heavy rotation with TPM, frequently WashMo, sometimes Digby, Emptywheel, a few others. I’ll wander over to the Red Side of the blogosphere occasionally to see what’s up (down).
The Pie Fight thing at dKos was kinda annoying, but basically meh for me. What was more annoying at dKos at the time was the escalating liberal outrage vibe drowning out the more informative diaries. The so-called “tip jar” contributed to that, IMO; competition for “viewer engagement” over substance. I was a long time lurker at BT until registering Sept. 2018.
My first post, at least under this name, was 10.1.12
I’m fairly certain I used a different name before but didn’t want to use it anymore, and made a new account using this name.
I’d be interesting to know if I had this account longer than 10.1.12 (my first post), and I’m trying to think of what my first username was.
I want to say I’ve been here since 2010-2011, but I can’t remember what my original user name was.
NB: I didn’t change my account because I was a troll or anything, I just think I didn’t like my username for some reason.
I was reading Al Giordano’s “The Field” during the 2008 Democratic primaries. There was a link to Booman Tribune and I have been here ever since.
Narco News was essential reading back in the day.
Haven’t posted here in a long time, but thought I’d say hello and best wishes via your question. I started coming here because you invited me–you were just getting started, and you left a comment on one of my many Daily Kos posts that didn’t get a lot of comments, and suggested I might get a better hearing here.
It’s great that you’ve kept the place open when everybody tells me that nobody blogs anymore. I do my own thing at Captain Future’s Dreaming Up Daily, which is less about politics these days. (It’s been so long since I’ve posted here I don’t remember how to embed a link!) I like the control, including the aesthetics, of blogs. But then, I barely use my flip phone.
Can’t even remember, my UID is in the 1300’s. I probably came here from Kos or C&L.
I was introduced to the liberal blogosphere around 2003. I don’t recall exactly when I became aware of Booman Tribune, but I expect I followed a link here from Atrios sometime around then.
I haven’t been a regular reader that whole time, but on and off. I became a more regular reader 3-4 years ago, when I became more concerned that Trump might actually become president.
Since then, Booman Tribune has been a more or less regular read for me, along with LGM, TPM, and Kevin Drum.
Like a few others, I created an account to answer this question.
I had been aware of this blog for a couple of years before I became a regular, lurking visitor. I had clicked on a few cross links posts, most likely from atrios/eschaton.
This blog became a regular daily stop during the Republican attempts to kill Obamacare. Of all of the political blogs at the time, only yours went into details of explaining the budgetary legislative process and the tactics being employed. No one else was covering this or taking the time to explain it.
You’re one of the top blogs that I read because you provide good strategic commentary. There are far too many blogs that are too shallow and headline grabby where it feels like it’s a part of the two-minutes hate, reposting echo-chamber.
Thank you for being more than just an outrage machine and having something original to say.
I came from Daily Kos. I have always been a lurker I don’t comment at all. I have been lurking since 2005.
Like a lot of others I came over after the pie fight but I remember having Booman23 bookmarked on dKos before that.
This place kept me (arguably) sane through the Bush years and is doing the same under Trump. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting some of you in person and you’re just as wonderful in real life as you are on the blog.
I managed to wear through my two BooTrib t-shirts but I’m still rocking the coffee cup at work.
I have been unaware that BooMan swag has been avaliable. If this is still the case, could you share what is available how I might obtain it, Martin. I’m one of those stubborn dinosaurs who prefers to avoid PayPal. I don’t want to do business through organizations founded by a particularly aggressive economic royalist who funds and speaks in support of the Trump campaign and Republican Party.
If there are coffee mugs involved, I am in the market for a new one. The one I’ve had for 2 decades is beginning to look, well, like it needs to be retired!
I first came here back in 1896, shortly after Al Gore invented the internet!
I started reading in 2007 during the runup to the 2008 Iowa caucus. You were recommended in the comments of another blog I was reading, and I hopped right over.
Double-checking my favorite’s log in Firefox reveals that I had saved the info for future use in late August 2005. I suspect that I had looked at the website only a few times immediately prior to that time before bookmarking it for future reference. I suspect I was directed to Booman by either DailyKos or the guys at Crooks & Liars or Eschaton, maybe even some of the other blogs who no longer exist.
UID 1605. I spect it was from Kos. More a lurker than a commenter here there and everywhere. Coulda been from Haha’s. I got my first computer, found her within the month, at Atlantic, followed her when they put their talking behind a paywall. Discover Josh Marshall about the same time, and Howard Dean shortly after, so most of my blog time’s been with Deaniacs.
My steadies are Maha, digby, BJ and here. I come here less as my eyes get worse, and I get more dependent of embiggening. This software does not wrap well. Many many places on the net have just gotten too big for my dialup (about which the fates have determined I have no choice but to use).
It’s been a great party, and thank you.
Oh, yikes. That would be MAHA’s.
I started commenting not long after beginning to read. My guess is 2012 but I could be wrong.
I have been reading (and occasionally commenting) for a long, long time. I cannot even remember how long. But my user ID is # 5380, if that helps??
I definitely found this place via DailyKos. But it wasn’t around the Pie Fight. I’m pretty sure it was via the cross-posting of your diaries there.
Over a decade, sporadically. You write things I don’t see elsewhere.
Since sometime in 2005.
The Bush years forever drove me from the GOP, a friend and longtime Democrat referred me here, and I’m forever grateful. If forced to choose just one political blog, this place would be the very easy choice.