North Dakota's Most Popular Political Blog Has A New Home

I have some big news to announce today.

I have gone to work for the Forum Communications Company. This blog, which over the last dozen years has become an epicenter for politics in North Dakota, is now being hosted by FCC.

You’ve probably noticed over the last 24 hours or so that things have seemed a bit wonky. Some links are broken. Some comments have disappeared. Older posts haven’t been imported yet. I apologize for that. The challenges of moving a blog this old, with tens of thousands of posts and millions of comments in its database, are not small even for the most experienced of web developers.

We are working those issues out now. I am sorry for the inconvenience. The technical headaches are the result of years of my amateurish technical management of the site and not at all a reflection on the fine work done by the FCC folks.

What can I say. As a web developer, I’m a pretty good at writing blog posts.

I am very happy with the move, though. I think you will be too once the kinks get ironed out.

Some of you may have thought I’d already gone to work for FCC, what with my frequent appearances on WDAY radio and regular columns, but that was just the beginning of our working relationship. Some months I began a conversation with FCC President Bill Marcil about ways we could help one another.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]I think this is the beginning of something pretty great. I have poured myself into making this blog something remarkable. Something important. It would be a lie by omission if I didn’t tell you that I feel a big sense of accomplishment.[/mks_pullquote]

What we decided was that I could benefit from working for a larger company, taking some of the burdens of finding revenue and managing the technical aspects of a high-traffic website off my shoulders.

They, on the other hand, would benefit from having the most popular political website in the state on their roster.

I think this is the beginning of something pretty great. I have poured myself into making this blog something remarkable. Something important. It would be a lie by omission if I didn’t tell you that I feel a sense of accomplishment.

I work hard to bring you original insight and analysis and information. It’s one thing to believe you’re doing important work. It’s quite another to have your work recognized this way. The folks at FCC know what I do here. And they appreciate it, even when I have at time aimed the rhetorical cannons of this figurative pirate ship at them.

But enough with the victory lap.

As we move into this we are going to develop new ways to bring you content. Stay tuned for that.

In the mean time, I’m going to get back to work, but before I do let me offer a sincere thank you to the SAB community. Without you this blog would be inconsequential.

When I go to work each morning my goal is to challenge you readers. Sometimes by writing things which are controversial, though unlike some who work in the media I don’t set out to be controversial by design. Anyway, my point is that if I’m working at being challenging it means you readers are people who like to be challenged.

Which is a good thing, I think. Our democratic society works the best when we are willing to engage and challenge one another. I am happy that SAB has become a venue for that sort of thing.