August 30, 2005

Souled out

When it launched in 1995, the defunct online culture mag Suck debuted with a manifesto of sorts. "At Suck," it concluded, "we abide by the principle which dictates that somebody will always position himself or herself to systematically harvest anything of value in this world for the sake of money, power and/or ego-fulfillment. We aim to be that somebody."

In short: We're going to sell out. We can't wait to sell out.

The Web is a lot different than it was in 1995. There's Google and blogs and spam and pop-up banner ads and cookies and all these things there wasn't really much, if any, of 10 years ago. While most of the aspects of the Web have been mixed blessings, at best, there is now money to be made from the Internet for the average person, something almost unheard of back then.

I'll keep this short: I don't need to hope. I am that somebody.

That's right: I've already sold out. If you've been here before, you know that this was my personal blog, with its heart-centric design, its essays on ex-girlfriends and college and, occassionally, the horrors of Carmen Sandiego erotic fiction.

Now, reborn, exactly a year after I began this whole blog shindig, Philadelphia Will Do is live again, with ads and financial backing and exactly zero hearts in the logo.

I'll repeat: I've sold out. Philadelphia Weekly's paying the bills now.

This doesn't mean much to you, except the site's going to have a slightly different focus and a lot more writing on it. (Yes, sometimes it pays to think before you start putting your thoughts on the Web; the countless meetings I've sat in the past month have proved to be more than helpful.)

So why do I tell you all this? Transparency. I want Philadelphia Will Do to be a bullshit-free site, or at least a site that recognizes bullshit -- including when I'm bullshitting, too. Being entertaining and interesting is my first priority, sure, but I hope to do it in an honest and forthcoming way.

Nobody's going to be reading my words before they go online. I'm not going to have to clear anything with the top brass here at PW. Am I going to be writing 15 lovey-dovey essays a day about why City Paper is so great? No, of course not: that'd be boring. But, for example, if CP writes something really interesting that I want to comment on, am I going to write about it? Sure.

The great thing about the Internet (and, yes, blogging) is that sites aren't always in competition with each other. Linking back and forth, praising well-written thoughts and bashing stupid ones, helps everyone out.

That being said, I hope you can appreciate my selling out. I'm always open to criticism, praise, tips, etc. -- please e-mail me if you have one of those. And you'll be able to comment on most every post, too. Except this one, of course, since I don't want you idiots ruining the first thing I've written here.

Yep, you're right: that sure sounds like bullshit to me, too.

Posted by D-Mac on August 30, 2005 07:00 AM
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