Rad Geek People's Daily

It’s been a week and a half since Feminist Blogs was launched, and it’s exciting to watch the community grow. We had an awesome launch, thanks to a burst of announcements from our contributors (feministe (2004-11-15), Trish Wilson (2004-11-16), Pinko Feminist Hellcat (2004-11-16), Sappho’s Breathing (2004-11-16), Mouse Words (2004-11-16), etc. etc. etc.). Webalizer tells me that we’re averaging about 100-200 unique readers a day, and the trend is heading upwards. I’m still muddling through the pile of submissions that we’ve gotten in ten days; in addition to the original crew, Feminist Blogs now also syndicates:

• ActivistGradGirl
• Alas, A Blog
• Amazonfemme
• Brutal Women
• Dr. B.
• Dru Blood
• Elayne Riggs
• Feministe
• Feministing
• Fire Engine Blue
• Juvenilia
• Mouse Words
• Philobiblion
• Stone Court
• Volsunga
• What She Said!
• Wicked Muse
• Wicked Thoughts
• Worshipping at the Altar of Mediocrity…

Welcome all! Whew!

Besides the flurry of announcements of the launch, discussions have also started to percolate through the community: on the spread of HIV in Black women, for example (BlackFeminism.org 2004/10/27, Trish Wilson 2004/11/16) on the anti-choice strategy behind fetal protection laws (Mouse Words 2004/11/17, Pinko Feminist Hellcat 2004/11/18, GT 2004/11/18, …).

So I’d like to take a moment to step back and thank everyone who has made this project a reality. And also to open up a bit of a discussion about Feminist Blogs itself, now that we have had some time to let it settle in. I hope that some of us can weigh in on some or all of questions such as…

• Do you like the way that the project is going? Is the website useful to you? How about the newsfeeds?

• What do you think of the number of contributors that we have? The diversity of voices that you’re hearing? Is the volume of posts too high, too low, or just right?

• How is Feminist Blogs changing your blogging (if at all)?

• Do you like what you’re seeing? What could be done to make the website more useful and more of a pleasure to read?

• What does a community like this mean for us as feminist bloggers? Where do we go from here?

Thanks again to everyone who is making Feminist Blogs a success. Onward!

P.S.: thisgirl at the secret of this girl has gone ahead and made an AntiPixel-style badge for your viewing pleasure.

I know I’m adding it to the sidebar for Rad Geek Pople’s Daily!