A Message from Mike (LME)

Good morning everyone!

If you're a follower of the blog, you've probably noticed I haven't updated it at all this week. I'm writing today to address that specifically.

Over the past year, The Elephant in the Room has evolved and grown beyond my wildest expectations. From an "insider" stand point, we started with three people, then we shrank to two, and now, aside from some help from an original admin, Pachyderm Pride, it has been pretty much just me... Mike (LME) running the show. It has been wonderful, and I'm glad to have taken on this role by myself. Don't worry, I'm not shutting things down; this isn't a break-up letter :-).

Sometimes, in life, other things do evolve, too. For me personally, I've accepted a new job at a start-up company, and my first day was Monday, January 28th. It's truly a great opportunity, and I feel very fortunate to have been accepted. It is vastly different from my previous job, however, and as you've probably noticed, it has an effect on the blog.

One of the biggest and best things I think this blog does is bring people together in an open manner. I'm HUGE on openness... from personal emails from "fans" (and non-fans alike), to getting to know the over 100,000 visitors, to daily debate engagements, the open blog format, in my opinion, has been a success. I'm also big on keeping The Elephant in the Room fresh and "with it" the best I can.

As I said, the new job is vastly different from the old one. At my previous employer, I was in the office 2 hours before anyone else, and I could research, write, and even post daily news headlines to stir debates. At the new job, as with any start-up, the hours are long, and I'm finding it difficult to make it to the blog each day. Additionally, in an open-office (ironically), Google-like atmosphere, I don't want to be working on the blog as I did at my last job. That was an uncommon luxury, and I don't plan on continuing it forward here.

So what does this mean for The Elephant in the Room? Well, I don't know yet. I've taken a one-week break (unintentionally) to assess how to go forward. The first thing I can readily affirm is that I won't be able to post Morning Headlines. I enjoyed posting these, and they were a great way to share with people some relevant news information as well as being the catalyst for civil and open debate. With the nature of the new job, I simply won't be able to keep these going. As far as "main" or "deeper" postings... I'm going to try my best to continue with these, but I'm not sure how many and at what frequency they will be posted. I tried to maintain at least two being posted live each week, but I don't know if that will continue. One of my pet peeves with other blogs is when they post so sporadically... like once every three weeks. I prided myself on not going down that road, but with these new conditions, I'm not sure how this will work out.

Where does this all lead? Well, first, employing the open blog format I love so much, I'm asking for feedback. As I said, I won't be posting Morning Headlines, and I do plan on writing main posts on a here-and-there (sadly) basis... but how do you think this should work? For example, I was thinking of starting a post every Sunday night that will be a week-long open board for people to post the week's news events as they come up. I might just keep the blog title and a set of instructions up and leave the comments section open to share and debate. Also, I was hoping to capture more Reader's Posts. Being a content-driven, open blog, this might help in fulfilling that segment.

But what else? What suggestions do you have? I'm truly sad that the blog will take a hit as I love politics and political debate, and I love facilitating and running a place where people can come to express themselves. I hope to keep it going with the largest capacity I can, but I'm just not sure it will be possible. I'm open to any and all suggestions, and if you don't want to post them in the comments section, please email me at loudmouthelephant@gmail.com.

Again, this isn't an "end" letter... just a major update. It has been a pleasure so far, and I hope to keep it going. I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say! Thanks again!

Mike (LME)

P.S. Go Ravens!