Blog them out of their Stone Age, Mark

Civil War historian Mark Grimsley has renamed his blog ("Blog them into the Stone Age"), redesigned it, and moved it to a new address. He's attracting attackers as well as defenders.

I am hoping that Mark's blog does not follow the path of other historians' blogs, spotlighting contemporary political comment, academic politics, anecdotes, personal revelations, observations about students and colleagues, etc.

The historic sensibility (and subject matter) at History News Network, for instance, is apallingly low. Its posters cannot seem to stop writing about national politics, general academic lifestyle issues, and off-topic personal interests. I say this with humility: at HNN I feel as though I am reading the blogs of teenagers who have finally been given their voice.

Of course blogs do give us all voice and there's an exuberance unleashed by sounding off. The problem is focus and interest.

So good luck, Mark Grimsley. And since you currently have HNN's attention, please show them how to blog history. They need a positive example.