Yeah, it was really this post, which someone wrote after reading yours, that I objected to. It's so important in blogging to separate what you know from what you think you know and clearly label both. The most frequent mistake I think journalists make when looking at what I do is to assume that what motivates them (scoops, public service goals, etc) also motivates me.

I mean, the public service goals are nice, but I'm not saintly. It's not like I'm motivated enough by voter education to do the site for that reason alone, even though I think it is good. I'm really motivated by discovery and affiliation. I like discovering things, and I like linking to people. There's nothing wrong with competition, but I can get more of what I want by cooperating with people.

Which reminds me...is blog success like The Prisoner's Dilemma, a famous bit of game theory which posits that people almost always get more by cooperating rather than competing or defecting?

Okay, now that's interesting. See, I *did* get something out of ONA!