LGF Emerges Victorious

You may be wondering why I’ve been oddly silent on the / MSNBC Weblog Central flap. The reason (for the last day at least) was I was actually doing a little in-the-background work drumming up support for Charles from previous “Best Of” webloggers who had been mentioned by Femia at Weblog Central.
I had in fact been scheduled to send our completed open letter to him this morning, but we’ve been (happily) overtaken by events: the offending “is this hate” question has been removed from LGF’s link at Weblog Central.
So, no open letter today. But here’s the text of the letter just to get my own thoughts on the matter down in the public record for posterity:
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Will –
Through your comments, you have made clear that you are interested in feedback from your readers and the weblogging community as a whole; a noble attitude. We are writing you now, therefore, to provide such feedback; each of us has either been highlighted as a “Best Of” weblog on your blog or has otherwise been prominently mentioned on Weblog Central.
Your nomination of Charles Johnson’s Little Green Footballs has, obviously, stirred much controversy. You clearly faced significant pressure to remove LGF from your list; pressure which you have resisted. For that, we commend you.
In your compromise solution, however, we feel that you have still bowed to those who oppose LGF’s political stance more than is appropriate. Your closing comment annotating LGF’s entry — “is this news or hate?” — lays an accusation at Charles’ feet simply by posing the question (“Does he beat his wife?”). And worse, it does so without providing any specific charge or facts to back it up. In this way, LGF is left with a vague and damaging allegation against it which neither Charles nor anyone else can refute or debate.
We urge you, therefore, to remove this note. Noting that LGF is controversial is both appropriate and accurate. But if you are going to label it as “hate” — even in the passive method of your current note — you *must* back that accusation up with facts. And to be frank, from your rather positive comments about LGF in your last entry (“LGF is actively maintained, well-presented, heavily trafficked, and a prime example of the ability of blogs to generate discussion and create community…”) it seems that you yourself do not believe the accusation to be true either.
We appreciate the difficult position you find yourself in, and thank you for your attention. And we hope that you will decide to take corrective action on this matter swiftly.
Signed,
N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear
Michele Catalano, A Small Victory
Solonor, Solonor’s Ink Well
Russel Wardlow, Mean Mr. Mustard
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We got a nice little group of previous ‘Best Of’ awardees together, but I’m only listing names here who’ve given me a second note of permission to do so given the new circumstances. (I’m rather anal retentive that way; I tend to take the view that as bloggers, our names are really the only currency we have, so one shouldn’t use them lightly, no?)
At any rate, Charles appears pretty vindicated at this point, so enough said. Congrats to Charles, and kudos to Will Femia for doing the right thing in the end.
-NZB