Today is the 20th anniversary of this blog [BUMPED UP: scroll down for new posts]
That’s mind-boggling to me.
I started very tentatively, at my son’s suggestion. When he said I should start a blog I immediately said, “No, no way.” But he went to Blogger.com, showed me a few blog templates and told me to choose one and a blog title, and set it up. I didn’t give any of it much thought at all at the time and really just did it to get him to stop nagging me. But he told me it would be there if I ever wanted to fool around with it.
A week or two later, I guess I was bored enough to go there and fool around with it. After a few posts entitled “Test,” I published my very first real post, which was this one, only of course it was on my old Blogger website and got transferred over here many years later when I moved.
I posted intermittently for a few months, with almost no visitors and no comments. Actually, it took me a while to even get a site counter up there – at first I didn’t know there was such a thing. So I’m not sure what my initial traffic was, but if I got ten visitors a day that would have been a surprisingly large number to me.
Then one day in late February of 2005 – for no reason I can explain – I decided to get serious. What would happen, I wondered, if I tried posting every day and writing to other bloggers asking them to promote me? I made a little pact with myself to do that for one month and watch my traffic and comments, and if nothing improved I’d just quit. I was uncertain I could actually grind out a post or two every day for a whole month, but I did manage to do that, and got a few links from other bloggers who were in a generous mood.
In a month or two I had hundreds of readers a day, which seemed like a big big deal at the time. I even got a few Instalanches with ten thousand or more. I originally had no photo on the blog, but I decided I needed one because all my readers assumed I was a man and I wanted to correct that notion. It was my son, again, who suggested – because of my shyness – that I mimic the Magritte painting with the apple. The first photo I put on the blog was so bad (I don’t seem to have it anymore) that I soon replaced it with this better one – which I replaced a few years ago because it had gotten so outdated:
By the time a few more months had passed, I had a respectable mid-level – although not huge – audience and an active comments section.
Back in those days there were a lot of individual bloggers and there was a lot of blogger camaraderie. Blogs were the hot new trend, and the excitement was building. Pajamas Media formed and we had huge blogger get-togethers where I met people I’d been corresponding with, and the din of a hundred bloggers all jabbering together was formidable. When we had meals, much of the food went untouched because there was so much animated talking that people couldn’t bear to stop long enough to eat.
Those days are long gone. But they lasted a few years and were very fun.
And how did I meet Gerard? He was one of the many bloggers I wrote to, explaining what my site was about and sending some links. He was kind enough to link to me on his blog, and there were two or three short exchanges of that nature. Then, for reasons that remain obscure, one day he sent me a very long email about what was actually going on in his life at the time. It was written with his usual flair and I was fascinated. So that’s how we met – in the virtual world, long before we met in what he called the world dimensional (that phrase is from a poem by Hart Crane).
Well, now it’s a habit for me to blog. I also value my readers highly. Do I do it for you? Do I do it for me? Yes and yes.
Let’s celebrate!
Thank you for your time and effort.
It appears to me that most of us reading and commenting are geezers. I wonder if there is a way to attract younger viewers. But younger viewers who can comment in a civil, reasoned manner.
I appreciate the work you put in. This is one of the few blogs I regularly consult. And thank you for keeping the tone non hysterical….
I started reading your Blog, Neo Neocon in October 2005, the first time i retired and enjoyed having the time to check up on several sites like this one and dear Kathy Shaidle 1964 – 2021 – at her 5 Feet of Fury blog and her fellow Canadian Kate at Small Dead Animals, The Roadkill Diaries as well as Gerard and his two fun sites.
Now going on 20 years later this is the first site I check every morning and I have enjoyed having a, from afar, best friend crush, since I am a happy married guy, on you Jean for many years. Thank you for your wit and wisdom and kindness that shines through your writing, it helps a lot in these interesting days. So, there’s that for sure. Here’s to your health and many more years of fine writing, and sharing with all of us.
Happy anniversary, neo! Hope there are many more to come!
I check in multiple times most every day. Thanks for your efforts and commentary. Congratulations on 20 years!
Congratulations! And thanks for what you do!
From the belly of the beast, I salute you, the best antidote to misogyny I know!
Thanks, very much, for all your efforts. I dropped in from Gerard’s blog 4 or 5 yrs ago & was hooked with the 1 visit! You’re on my daily read list with Ace, Instapundit, Don Surber and various news sites.
I think history will show you and your fellow bloggers kept the faith in our country alive until the coming restoration our Republic.
Well done & keep up the good fight!
RJ
Happy anniversary! I don’t comment much but I read you pretty much every day.
My blogging history tracks yours to some degree–my 20th anniversary was last January–though I never had the readership you do. I never promoted it, either, so I suppose I could have done better. Also my posts were less frequent, weekly for years, and after that rarely more than two a week. So I can appreciate the amount of work you do, getting out multiple posts most days.
Even though I had a full-time job at the time, the first dozen or so years were the best, especially in conversation in the comments. I grew to really value that. Unfortunately I had to switch platforms ca 2010, and was unable to transfer the comments.
I take it that you plan to continue? I’m wrestling with that for various reasons. Too many irons in the fire, mainly. I narrowed the focus last year, to books and music only, and now am not sure I want to continue even that much.
Ray+Van+Dune: I smiled at your “antidote to misogyny” comment. I get it. Every time I find myself fuming at the AWFLs–or, worse, making the mistake of trying to talk to one, and start having dark thoughts about whether extending voting rights to women was a bad idea, I remind myself of Neo and other women of good sense. Like my wife. I really feel sorry for conservative men married to progressive women.
I do get a certain bitter amusement out of remembering the insistence of ’70s feminists that the world would be a *so* much better place if women had more power. Hillary. Kamala. Pelosi. Letitia James (?)….
I started reading your blog in 2007
or maybe late 2006. I do not remember if I found yours thru ” Dr. Sanity” or vice versa. I probably stumbled on one of you thru something like the old LGF blog. But I am not sure.
I have learned a lot thru this blog and some of the comments.
Congratulations, Neo. Twenty years is quite an accomplishment.
Thanks for all your hard work. You are exceptionally good at what you do, and you’ve made all of our lives a little better.
Hooray! Happy blogiversary!
For me it was 21 years February 25th, but I largely fell out of blogging after famously marrying a fellow blogger. It was a kick I would never have expected having a degree of fame online. Weirdly, yours was not one of the ones I read back in the early days. The two blogger gatherings I attended were a New England Bloggers gathering at the home of Weekend Pundit in New Hampshire, and later a get together at a restaurant in NH, where I got to meet the elusive Jay Tea in person.
Congrats Neo! I discovered Instapundit just after 9/11 and that introduced me to this whole blogger world. I started my own blog in 2003 and had a brief stint of success and volume of visitors when Steven DenBeste (remember him?) put me on his “rising stars” list, but I couldn’t keep up with daily demands needed to sustain success and traffic, plus I was starting a new job in a demanding and hyper competitive industry so stopped blogging.
I know I discovered you in your early days via Instapundit links and you became a regular read.
Over time, my consumption of blogs faded quite a bit and my reading focused more on markets and research (the job thing) and less on politics. I’d check in on Instapundit periodically and I’ve never missed anything from Richard Fernandez, but that was about it. I’d very occasionally check in here and probably went for stretches of years without a visit.
Then October 7 happened and I’ve been back here daily ever since. Although I was a pretty active commenter on Dean’s World for a stretch, I never really was here. But I remember a lot of the regular names and have found it comforting to see a number of you still around.
Thank you for what you do every day and your conversion story was fascinating to read as it happened. Keep up the great work!
Best,
Paul
neo:
Congratulations, your stellar qualities shine through that apple.
congratulations neo
Congratulations, Neo. Twenty years is quite a milestone.
I found your blog through your recorded sessions with Shrinkwrapped and Siggy. My blog reading in those days was extensive. After Shrinkwrapped and Siggy quit, you and Gerard became my first two daily stops followed by Ace and Insty.
Now, with eyesight fading, my reading has dwindled down to only you. I am grateful for the depth and focus you bring to so many subjects. Your writing is clear, substantive, and informative.
I’m also thankful that you have attracted so many commenters who have knowledge and skills that add to yours, and provide an educational experience found nowhere else that I know of on the blogosphere.
Thanks to your son for encouraging you. What a blessing he has been to you, and to we, your readers.
Here’s to many more years.
Ditto on the ‘Happy anniversary!!!!
Some of us ‘Have It’ others don’t. I started one blog in 2002-2003 before Google bought Blogger – still have it around because don’t have the heart to delete it. Moved it to WordPress at some point.
Captain’s Quarters Ed is probably the only other blog that I visited much—that made it…and, Power Line certainly made it. Now neo of The New Neo…
I probably got here from Ann Althouse so long ago, I have no idea when. The Daily Dish was also a favorite back then. I still read Ann and Neo every day, but rarely comment on either. I do check the comments, though. Happily for me, y’all rarely miss a day. I think you’re the most sensible person on the internet.
Wow! Happy anniversary. I’ve been reading your blog almost from the beginning. I don’t remember the exact year, but it was early on. I don’t comment often, either, but I read it every day!
Congratulations, Neo, and thank you for your fine blog!
Happy Blog Birthday!
neo, heartfelt congratulations to you and big-time thanks for all you do for us.
(Been a neophile for maybe a decade and a half now, and I am better for it.)
M J R
Mazel Tov Neo!
Somehow I found your blog near the very beginning and have followed it daily.
I’ve been reading for a long time. I really like the quality of the posts, although if I’m short of time I skip the BeeGees or whatever they are.
The comments are the most learned and least repetitive, and with the fewest instances of name-calling of any site I’ve ever seen.
The earlier work, about changing the mind, was particularly valuable. I like to say I had always been a centrist until they moved the road when I wasn’t looking and then I turned out to be a conservative.
I’ve learned a heck of a lot about the lib/left and how they thin. Changes will tell you where they were and how they got here. Participating in various discussions, group or informal, is now much more understandable. They’re not stupid, they’re, for want of a better concept, tied up. I’m not sure I make much progress, since the reasons they’re tied up are not susceptible to reason, but I may do some good, and it is in large part from having learned from changers.
And the site is always interesting.
Heartfelt congratulations! Your blog has become one of my favorites, for your insightful, honest, often frank commentary on what is happening around the world and in this nation.
Congrats from a daily reader though only occasional commenter.
What a great story! Those twenty years, or at least the 9 or so that I’ve witnessed, are such a terrific body of work…, and love, I imagine. Long live neo!!
Thenewneo.com is almost of legal age to imbibe. Next year we will we toast her seniority. In the meantime, enjoy your decadal dividends.
Thanks, everyone!
I’m astounded at how many of you have been here for so long.
n.n.:
I guess the blog can’t drink yet, but it can vote and drive.
Thank you, Neo, your blog has been one of my reference-points for years, to understand what happens on the other side of the ocean.
It depends on the kind of person you are and try to be, and the consequent quality of what you write, in terms of honesty and intelligence.
Dio ti assista e accompagni.
Congratulations, neo! And I hope you enjoyed the nice present from Israel.
Great story!. A latecomer to your blog, but bookmarked after first visit and read daily, (except Sunday)
Congratulations! I read your blog every day (except Sunday) although I seldom comment. I found out about this blog when you won an award for “best conservative blogress.” Er, is there such a thing, or is that a false memory? A Google search for “best conservative blogress” didn’t find anything.
bof:
There used to be an award like that some years ago, given out by a blogger – I think he called himself “Gay Conservative” but it’s been so long I don’t quite recall.
Congratulations Neo. You are a blessing!!
“Gay Conservative”
I think he has passed. He was proof that Diversity (i.e. color judgment, class bigotry) is bad policy, and we are well served to follow MLK Jr’s lead and judge people by the content of their character.
I haven’t commented for a long time, Neo, but I still count on your site every day for your humane insights, your whimsy, your thoughtfulness, your instinct and, most of all, your integrity. For those of us who have had the privilege of your cyber salon it has indeed been an intellectually satisfying and immensely entertaining 20 years of shared insights, learning new things, and learning new things about old things. I offer congratulations with the very deepest respect.
Congratulations! I have been reading your blog for a long time, but can’t remember exactly how long. When I heard Dr Sanity mentioned in another comment, it brought back memories of her, and I think that might be how I found you. I wish she had not stopped blogging…
You can tell a lot about the quality of a blog from the comments, and yours are usually very good. I sometimes learn as much from the comments as from the original posts. I wish I had learned about Gerard sooner.
Keep up the good work! I rely on folks like you to learn the truth, which you certainly do not get from the big corporate media.
I was busy reffing youth soccer all day, so late coming to off my congrats. I found you via Dr. Sanity. I miss her, and also hearing your voice.
Like Gringo mentioned in the first comment, we seem to be all long in the tooth. It’d be nice to find some Millennials and Gen Z here, but I doubt that those generations have the patience to read, and then process such reading….sad.
I am so grateful for the countless, beautiful and thoughtful posts over the years. I hope I am a bit more nuance as a thinker as I have traced your thoughts over the years. You are a gem.
Congrats Neo! While so many other once popular blogs have vanished, you are still around giving insight without prejudice or ill will. I hope this gets posted, just this once since I never comment anymore – for ah- various reasons. Do you remember linking an article of mine put up on Classical Values? I think that was in 2011 and was on your now deleted and personal former site. It was about the genius young pianist, Daniil Trifonov, who had just won the Rubenstein award in Tel Aviv. He has lived up to my expectations but seems to now be having some issues which I hope he resolves.
Please stay safe my friend.
Wow! Twenty years! Hard to believe, but very happy to have been a regular reader since Instapundit recommended something and I came to your site. That must have been nearly 20 years ago, but I don’t remember.
In any case, congratulations. You are an excellent hostess, a welcome thinker amid a field of wannabe bloggers who are a waste of time, and your commenters are a polite and thoughtful people.
As somewhat of an aside, a new bunch of political and social writers has grown up in Substack in the past year or two, and I’ve signed up (and paid) for a few of them. I’m sad to say, I’ve been disappointed and prefer to keep coming back here for your varied and thoughtful posts. Oh, and upretentious! Thank you.
Keep it up!
This is a significant anniversary. This blog is a touchstone for me and has been since I first found it, sometime in its very early years. I wish I could remember just when or how. I tried to find my first comment, but searching “Whatsit” seems to find only those few times I was front-paged — moments of pride and delight every time, to be sure!
I used to comment a great deal, especially in the Obama years. I don’t do so as much now; I’ve felt too disheartened and helpless in the face of the constantly deepening bad news, and don’t want to just keep typing variations on gloom and doom. But this place is still an island of light. I’m still here reading every day, finding comfort and companionship in Neo’s rare combination of erudition and common sense, and in the collective intelligence of the commenters. I feel, and have felt from the start, that I’m among friends here. I’m grateful. Thanks, everyone, for being here. Thanks, Neo, for your courage, humor, wisdom and persistence. And please tell your son thank you from me, for giving you the push that made it all happen.
Congratulations. I have been reading nearly the whole time and appreciate you perspective on issues. I hope you keep going for years to come.
Congratulations! A happy 20th to you!
Congratulations on 20 years. I also hang out at Althouse but her blog is over run with aggressive lefties now so I spend more time here. I started my own blog with with this post in 2007 but gave up a year ago after age and an injury combined to lay me low. Never as prolific as you have been, anyway. The death of Cathy Seipp was the stimulus then.
Many happy returns, neo. It is an accomplishment to stick to anything for twenty years, but your blogging has always been at a consistently high level, and there’s not many left around from the early 2000s. If it would delight you to have another twenty years blogging, I wish it for you, and I hope you will keep it going as long as you get more enjoyment out than the work you have to put it.
Congratulations for your hard work and integrity in commenting. I think I’ve read almost every column you’ve ever written, going back to your original NeoCon website. The internet will be a poorer place when one day you finally stop writing.
A blessing on your head, mazel tof, mazel tof…
Thanks for your efforts, your thoughtfulness, your decency, and for providing a much-needed oasis of sanity in these very troubling times.
Neo, go look at Glenn Reynolds’ Substack today. There’s a nice photo of Glenn and Gerard from late 2019 or early 2020.
https://instapundit.substack.com/p/in-which-i-report-from-the-left-coast
Congratulations on the anniversary
No idea how long been coming here, long time. And one of the few daily stops so must be something I like.
I read your blog every day and the comments also. The comments are better than those at any other site that I visit. They are serious and thoughtful, not just people blowing off steam.
I read your blog every day and the comments also. The comments are better than those at any other site that I visit. They are serious and thoughtful, not just people blowing off steam.
Greetings and congratulations from Down Under Neo. Your blog provides an invaluable window into US goings-on in these turbulent times. I check in first thing every day. Much appreciated.
Congratulations! A great accomplishment. I’m a relative latecomer, having started reading regularly just a few years ago. (I was aware of the blog at least ten years ago, but too busy with work and child-rearing to read it regularly.) As I am still a working stiff I only have time to comment occasionally but otherwise lurk daily. I appreciate not just neo’s posts, but the high quality of the commentariat they inspire here. I am sort of a “changer,” having come from an ultraliberal family, but my change came when I was around 18 or 19, and my first presidential vote was for Reagan in 1980, so my profile is not the same as those who, like neo, changed well into adulthood.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been enjoying your blog, Neo, but it has been years and years! I remember the photo you showed above, for sure. Thanks for all the good reading!
Kate:
Thanks for the heads up! I was there at that fun occasion, with Gerard, but I didn’t take any photos.
Mrs Whatsit:
Actually, for commenters with unusual names like yours, I can do a search and come up with your first comment here. It was this one, on August 4, 2005.
neo:
I got here pretty early on a recommendation from Gerard. I was a Changer and wanted to hear more about Changing and I could hear you.
You’ve been a blessing!
Congratulations, Neo.
I retired in 2008 and probably found you around that time.
I tend to check in the last two hours of the evening, to catch today’s comments for yesterday’s posting, plus comments for today’s posting.
Exciting and exasperating to have you and the commenters discussing the election season every two years, but I learn a lot from them and from you.
Did you keep the original apple for the newer picture? It does look slightly larger to me. And a lighter green?
Thank you Neo, for everything that you do, and for the perseverance to keep doing it, expressing yourself with such strong principles. It’s a tremendous effort and the virtual world is much better, much richer, for it. Prosit ! !
Congrats on the anniversary… may you continue writing for a long time.
A number of Neo commenters have engaged in use of a verboten word, or at least a variation on a verboten word. Verboten by the liberal intelligentsia, such as Mother Jones editor Clair Jeffery, that is.
J.J.
Sharon+W
Barry Meislin
huxley
Mother Jones Editor Makes a Fool of Herself
Mother Jones Editor Clair Jeffery got all bent out of shape because a stewardess wished her a “blessed” night.
Mother Jones editor Clair Jeffery got quite a response. When some enterprising researchers found out that Mother Jones Editor Clair Jeffery herself has used the word “blessed” numerous times in her own tweets, the salsa further hit the fan.
If liberals ever wonder why wingnuts contempt for them, they may consider this example. One more time I feel justified in my decades-old description of liberals: smug, sneering, condescending, self-righteous. 🙂
Well done! I think I came here through an Instalanche I can’t recall how many years ago. I know you hadn’t changed to thenewneo yet. I don’t comment as much as I used to (with my work schedule it’s far into the day when I come here), but I still enjoy reading what you have to say.
Congratulations on your long lasting blog.
😀
Happy Anniversary!
I heartily echo many of the comments of admiration and appreciation already posted. I don’t remember when or how I found your blog, but it has been a consistent must-read since then. and is where I do most of my commenting, primarily because of the quality of the rest of the Salon.
The level of analysis here is very high — maybe because we are all geezers, we’ve accumulated personal stores of information, experience, and even some wisdom that are yet-lacking in the younger generation.
Nonetheless, it would be good to know if anyone under the age of 60 reads your blog, and has the energy and inclination to actually DO some of the things the rest of us can only propose.
There is too much on the internet to read everything (although many of us try valiantly!), but I give high priority to stories linked by Neo and the commenters, and it is amazing what a range you all have, especially in the less-prominent “suburbs” of the media city.
I also appreciate that Neo is not all-politics all-the-time.
The Open Thread is often a wonderland of dance, music, art, and theater, as well as kitties and puppies and other odd members of the animal kingdom.
And so much more!
But we haven’t had a Jell-o recipe in a long time.
Just sayin’ 😉
I picked this one in homage to Gerard.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/03/11/open-thread-3-11-21/
Faux jello, real lamps.
Hat tip: Gerard Vanderleun of American Digest.
Bonus comments:
Rufus T. Firefly on March 12, 2021 at 12:19 am said:
I’m watching a recording of our Commander in Chief’s speech. What an incredible mediocrity.
FOAF on March 12, 2021 at 3:24 am said:
If we only had a President with as much character and intellectual depth as PeeWee Herman.
AND
By coincidence, that’s what I had tonight for supper!
https://www.thenewneo.com/2022/04/11/remember-the-days-of-jello-posts/
Art Deco on April 11, 2022 at 8:30 pm said:
Jell-O is properly eaten plain. The flavor you should select is lime.
Following on the links from your debut blog post, the third one was this, and it seems as timely now as 20 years ago, just changing a few names.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2004/09/30/when-is-debate-not-debate/
“When it’s a Presidential debate.”
RTWT – Neo’s values haven’t changed! 😉
“One of the things I’m trying to do in this blog is to comment on things in light of my training as a therapist combined with my perspective as a newly-minted newsjunkie neocon. It’s an unusual combination, I think, and it’s what I have to offer that might be somewhat unique or distinctive. So, in this light, my observations on the debates are as follows:”
Your training, and your change in perspective, are indeed a large part of what makes your blog distinctive.
Plus, you allow yourself, and us, to have some fun from time to time.
Another early harbinger of excellence.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2004/10/08/stop-me-before-i-lie-again/
That one’s about John Kerry, but is equally applicable to some, if not all, of the current President and VP-President-wannabe.
Sad that Democrats haven’t changed in 20 years.
Maybe “liberalism” really is a mental disease!
It’s weird to read Neo’s posts without about 10 pages of comments tacked on.
Thank you for quoting me, AF, you are one of my favorite commenters here.
Ralph Kinney Bennett: “… most of all, your integrity”
Yes. I occasionally disagree with you, neo, (very occasionally lol) but you are the most honest blogger I have seen and your integrity is unimpeachable.
I’m under a self-imposed gag order until after the election, but I had to break my silence to congratulate you, neo!
I was here from early on but, like so many, can’t remember exactly when I started visiting. It was certainly before your name was outed – I remember that well. I probably got here via Insty when he was still solo.
You’re still one of only two blogs I visit daily, Althouse being the other – in both cases, it’s the community you’ve built that keeps me on the hook. Thank you for twenty years of faithful service!
I stumbled upon you twenty years ago and never left. You really are special.
Congratulations, Neo. And thank you.
Can’t remember how/when I found your blog, but it must have been near the start. Long time ago in any case. Probably via Instapundit or Meryl Yourish, who has moved on to other things.
I was mostly a lurker until November 2020. Posted a few things (IIRC, about Updike, Richard Yates, and other writers) before then under a different handle, but started commenting more regularly out of anger, despair, and mourning (your word) in the aftermath of the “election” and what it revealed about our country. So my experience was the reverse of Mrs. Whatsit’s.
Being able to visit a community of likeminded but thoughtful people daily has been a Godsend the past four years. I have even appreciated the occasional contributions of not-likeminded people (“Montage”, anyone?). Please keep it up as long as you can. We’ll do our bit.
I first started coming here years ago. Then for some reason I lost site of your blog. I think that was before I had listed “favorites” on my machine. I am truly grateful for the contribution you make to my day and my life.
Thank you.
With regard to “old geezers”.
I attended a Republican luncheon last week. One of the people to speak was a representative of the R Candidate for the senate. He was young and stood up to announce that the coming debate between the two candidates would be held on our local campus. He asked the audience for volunteers to come to the debate and hold signs for the candidate.To stand out in front of the university building and wave the signs around. You could see on his face when reality hit: as he was viewing the audience he changed his request from “will you volunteer” to “do you have any grandchildren who would come to hold signs?”
Congratulations on 20 years and thank you. I have been a daily reader since 2006.
Yours is a voice of calm and reason in these uncertain tim3s.
Congrats and thank you. Here’s hoping you get at least as much out of this as you put in, which is substantial.
Many commenters have stated, or tried to remember, when they first read Neo’s blog. I am in the “Try to Remember” category: somewhere between 2005-2007. By late 2007 I was definitely commenting @ Neo. In a late 2007 thread I got into an extended discussion with commenters “Bunkerbuster” and a female who claimed she had a son stationed in Iraq. Both were not trustworthy commenters, using tactics such as moving the goalposts or inaccurately quoting me. Neo banned both. One of them commented here several years later. I figured the best tactic was to ignore the comment.
I remember huxley’s comments from years ago, who then left commenting and then returned.
Where did I come to find out about Neo? Maybe the defunct Tigerhawk blog. Maybe Instapundit. Maybe Maggie’s Farm.
At least 17 years reading this blog, probably 18. That’s a long time.
that is an intriguing question, I may have frequented this place around 2006 first,
I can’t recall with certainly, semanticleo and his many disguises were the trolling of a professor of Anarchist studies at Pomona college, apparently on sabbatical, we discovered this through other’s research after he plagued another Blog I frequented which has gone dark, bunkerbuster, was another character who was mostly harmless, but another bout in the argument clinic,
” Essentially, Kerry is a habitual liar who is simply in the habit of lying and perhaps even has difficulty distinguishing between lies and truth.”
My DIL, before she married my son, was visiting a pal in Boston one night during the 2004 election campaign when they heard a commotion on the north side of Bunker Hill where Kerry and Teresa live. They threw on bathrobes and slippers and ran down the hill to see. It was the Kerry caravan returning for the night.
Here were two cute girls in bathrobes and slippers so, of course, the cops and Secret Service guys gathered around and started to tell stories. A lot of the stories from the local cops concerned the number of times they had had to respond to drunken fights between Teresa and John F. It was hilarious as both girls were conservative and both have gone on to successful careers plus families.
My oldest grand daughter graduates from U of Alabama next June and is as conservative as her mother.
Best wishes again. You are a worthy successor to the late Cathy Seipp.
Discovered Neo via wretchardthecat very early. Commented sporadically 2012-2016 under another name. Resumed 2020 under current nom de guerre. How much younger I was back then. How different the country was.
And then after all that time to find out about “the secret lives of bloggers” last year. What a terribly sad surprise that was.
Congratulations and Blessing as we hope for 20 more.
Know what a grind it can be. Back in 2005, we had a San Antonio, TX “blogfest” and folks from all sides got together for food & fun. (Sgt Mom, now at https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/author/sgt-mom was there!) By 2009, such an idea was fantasy. So sad to see.
Congratulations, 20 years is a significant milestone. I have enjoyed your post for nearly all those years. I may not comment on every post, but I read them.
PS – I first linked to your blog from Dr. Sanity
Neo: congrats from a longtime reader (kinda inactive as a commenter now, but who knows). Your blog is a thing of beauty. I look forward to reading the book you’ve created of Gerard’s writings.
Stay well and many happy returns.
I’m glad you did it!
Thenewneo.com is the apple of Neo’s eye. After her Posterity, of course. Congratulations, it’s a strapping large language model curated by an Anthropogenic Intelligence.
A story from Mike+K:
Which reminds me of Charlie Parker.Ken Burns: Country Music excerpt: Old Ghosts and Ancient Tones.
Why read Neo? The stories, the stories.
Neo:
Congratulations on 20 years, and here’s to hopefully 20 more.
I enjoy not just your posts, but the community you have built. I learn as much from many of the commenters here as I do from your own articles. The level of mutual respect, factual information, and logical reasoning you find in these comments is truly a gem- the rest of the internet, especially Facebook, is a cesspool by comparison.
Thank you, and congratulations again on such an accomplishment!
“I guess I was bored enough to go there and fool around with it.”
Well, I am, as so many others are, certainly glad and the better for it that you were “bored” that one day!
Thanks for all you write about Neo, and may you continue to share your insightful views with us! And do it for as long as you enjoy it – may it never become a burden!
Congratulation! I am celebrating with an extra glass of Sangria.
I started blogging in 2002, initially with my own blog called Photon Courier (the name was meant to reflect the kinds of names that early newspapers had, like Messenger or Telegraph, with Photon being a reference to the fiber optics lines over which Internet traffic is transmitted) and a few years later was invited to join Chicago Boyz, which is now my primary blogging platform.
David Foster:
And I thank you for introducing me to the writing of Victor Klemperer and Sebastian Haffner.
Congratulations!
I appreciate your objectivity, and how you peel back the layers, and make me think.
thank you.
I enjoyed reading Mrs Whatsit’s first comment — I have no idea what mine was, at this late date.
Moving to the left of that post was this one, another of the many analyses made by Neo over the years which still have a striking relevance today.
(I’ve added some blockquotes to set off the internal quotation at the end.)
https://www.thenewneo.com/2005/08/03/who-are-israelis-opposing-security/
If I’m not mistaken, this is the wall (or one of them) circumvented by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Seems to have kept Israel a bit more secure for nearly 20 years, but it did not thwart those who did not want peace.
“So long as they can hurt us, there will be those among them who will try.”
Neo, thanks for finding that first comment of mine, from August 2005. So I found your bog sometime in its first year. That makes me happy. I was interested by the optimism of my ancient comment, contrasting so sharply with my current feelings of pessimism and — your word, Neo — mourning. I’d like to recover that basic attitude of hope. This place helps, if only because it’s close to the only place in my life I find so much like-mindedness. Thanks again.
Congratulations, Neo. I’m a daily visitor now too because of all the positive reasons mentioned above. Somehow, I found you through Gerard during his last year here. Another reason could be the durable connection that fact provides. But the main reason is that you and your commenters provide one of the Web’s most interesting and heartfelt Blogs.Thank you for everything.
Neo, congrats!! I so appreciate your take on politics and most particularly on Israel. I see stuff here on that topic that I never see elsewhere. Many thanks, and long(er) may you blog!
I start my day off with visits to 3 blogs:Powerline, SpinStrangeness&Charm, and newneo. Thanks!
Congratulations, neo! And thank you for sticking with it.
There are many times when you and the commenters here have informed, amused and entertained me. I visit most every day. You and others here were doing great detective work during COVID, especially in the early days, when so few were looking at the situation objectively and rationally.
I loved reading that your son was the catalyst that got you started. What a great gift he gave you and what a beautiful memory you and he now share! Following the link to your first post and reading that was also very interesting.
Here’s to the next 20 years!
You’ve been in my bookmarks for more than fifteen years. I think I came to you via Power Line. I grow weary of those old men, but I know with you there will be something worth reading. It’s why I visit every day.
I think the fact that you’re a thoughtful, non-zealous convert enhances the way you see things. I appreciate it, anyway.
How or when I found you, I cannot remember. Thank you for such an intelligent blog (and comments section). Cheers!
Happy anniversary to my blogmom, from Captain SQL!!!!!!!