I'm glad I read Hugh Hewitt's new book ("Blog"). I used to think that a big drawback to the internet was the lack of editors—that anyone who could type could post anything they wanted, true or not. However, today I am happy to say that never, ever has an assumption of mine been so wrong . . .
This (hobby) weblog of mine has been up for just a few weeks; in that time, more than nine thousand potential editors have stopped by. I've been fielding questions from several of them via email. So far, I seem to be passing muster with my editors, and I have a huge incentive for that to continue.
Thanks to Hugh's book, I now understand the dynamics:
• "None of us have time to understand everything, so we have to trust surrogates."
• "The key to keep in mind is that trust drives everything."
• "The public becomes the editor."
• "Trust must be earned and is easily lost."
Here is Hugh's book. Buy it, and learn how blog swarms have already cost Dan Rather and others their jobs.
