At Home in Hespeler

For a number of months now, At Home in Hespeler has not appeared on the Blogging Tory feed, surviving on traffic from other sources. It has, indeed survived. I never requested the problem be fixed, because I have been long considering leaving the Blogging Tories.

In truth, I have been doing less and less blogging on politics over the past few years. And there have been occasions when I have intentionally done a politics post because I feel a little obligated. I have often felt this blog is a Blogging Tory blog first, mine second.

And so today I sent the following email to Stephen Taylor:

Hi Stephen

I’m sending this email to ask that my blog, At Home in Hespeler (http://www.briangardiner.ca/hespeler/), be resigned from the Blogging Tories blogroll.

I want to thank you for all you have done for the blogs in the Blogging Tory community, as the blogroll is a massive success. It has been a privilege to be a member of the community and I hope I have managed to contribute to it over the years.

Please be assured that while there are a number of reasons that I am doing this now, it has nothing to do with any wrongdoing on the part of the Blogging Tories, or yourself. The main reason is, as I find myself somewhat discouraged by the governing conservatives, I have been blogging less and less about politics. It seems now appropriate to move on.

Thank you again for all you have done. Without the traffic brought by the Blogging Tories, I don’t think At Home in Hespeler would have survived this long. It is now time, I believe, to have it stand up on it’s own.

Yours &tc.
Brian Gardiner

It is time to move on.

If you enjoy At Home in Hespeler, please be sure to bookmark me so you can follow along, or follow me on twitter where I post updates.

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In politics, I’ll choose the ethical stance over the practical one every time. Conservative blog  Moose and Squirrel has quit the Blogging Tories over the candidacy of Julian Fantino in Vaughan. Her issue, it should be noted, is not with the Blogging Tories, but with the Conservative Party itself:

...the Julian Fantino candidacy has become kind of a final straw issue for me. I just can’t continue to support the Conservatives through my blog, and it seems wrong somehow to take advantage of the traffic the BT site sends my way when I just can’t support the party…

I have been considering the same move lately, mostly because I do less politics than ever, but also because I am drifting farther and farther from the Conservative Party. Fantino is high on the list of why, and if I lived in Vaughan I would be voting Liberal tomorrow.

Good for Moose and Squirrel for taking the stand, and to help keep traffic moving her way, I’m placing her on my sidebar.

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The Blue Blogging Soapbox Blogging Tories Site of the Week for the week of February 1st, 2009 is:

Dr. J and Mr. K. Blog – Politics and Powder

Two gentlemen who should be on your daily read list.

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Back in March, my posts fell off the Blogging Tories aggregator. No reason given, no reply to e-mails I sent. Ne response, even, from this post:

Is there anybody out there who is on good terms with Stephen Taylor or Craig Smith, who run the Blogging Tories? My posts have not been showing up on their aggregator for three weeks now, and I can’t get a response as to why. I have e-mailed both guys three times, but never a reply, and no solving of the problem.

So it was with interest I read this weekend that Halls of Macademia had been “blackballed from the Blogging Tories aggregator…”, and by today had been re-instated.

I received an email from Stephen Taylor at Blogging Tories early this morning, letting me know that I have been reinstated.

An e-mail from Stephen Taylor? What makes him so F***ing special?!?

So this morning I sent a note to Stephen Taylor myself:

Hi Stephen.

I have been following the issue of access to the BT aggregator. My blog, At Home in Hespeler (http://www.hespeler.blogspot.com/) has been off the aggregator for months now. I have e-mailed previously about this, but received no reply, either from you or Craig Smith.

Is it possible to get reinstated on the aggregator, please. If not, please remove me from the blogroll, as I really don’t like being a partial member of the BT’s. Either way, if it’s not too much trouble, could you let me know what your response is.

I eagerly await response, but it may be time for At Home in Hespeler to move on to a new phase. I will keep you updated.

Update: Everything is now sorted out and back to normal. Thanks to Stephen Taylor for getting this sorted out.

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