Whatever Happened To New Mexico Central?

by John Weckerle

Well, we’re not sure.

It’s been well over a month since our last article, during which we’ve encountered some life changes that should prove to be both significant and positive – but which have taken away from the time we’ve had to put into New Mexico Central.  During this hiatus, we’ve been reflecting on the original purpose of the site and how it’s evolved.  The original intent was to provide a centralized venue in which local folks without access to web authoring capabilities could provide news and express reasonably-supported commentary on Estancia Valley and East Mountain issues.  People seemed very enthusiastic about the concept initially, but except for a very small number of notable exceptions, that enthusiasm did not extend to actually providing articles – especially after we decided that we were not interested in having NM-Central.com become a soapbox for neoconservative politics.  As venues such as Facebook surged, and blog hosting became readily available, the likelihood of receiving contributions appeared to diminish, and for some time now we have relied heavily on a) press releases, b) original articles written primarily by one person, and c) taking the local Tea Party chapters to task for consistently publishing  false information and a certain tendency toward intolerance.

Let’s take a look at some of this.  From a purely selfish standpoint, cutting and pasting press releases gets tedious – and since we don’t have time to post every single day and the releases tend to come out a relatively short time before the events in question, they’re often out of date by the time we get to them.  Writing original articles can be fun for us and informative for the reader, but doing it right and properly researching the topics in question represents a time-consuming effort that is difficult to perform frequently when one is employed full-time.  When the person doing the writing also spends a lot of time researching and writing at work, it’s that much tougher to crank the articles out on a regular basis. Perhaps most importantly, the original concept was not for one person to put out articles for others to read, and even the comments have been fewer than we expected.

Rapping the Tea Party’s knuckles (and those of their sources) occasionally has probably been worth doing and, at least to some, worth reading.  However, we have to think that it’s getting tedious to read because it’s getting tedious to write.  There is a limit to the number of times one needs to point out that this blog or that blithely publishes false or misleading information, or that it makes what appear to be prejudiced statements, before readers have enough information to come to their own conclusions on whether the progenitors of said content retain any credibility, moral standing or, for that matter, sanity.  We’re not saying that we’re going to leave them alone forever – these are, after all, our most commented-on articles – but to be blunt what we see when we check in on their web sites is essentially “more of the same” and there seems limited value in continuing to comment, frequently, on the same thing over and over.  It’s been well over a month since our last Tea Party article, and even though our reaction to the content on their sites is the same, we find ourselves disinclined to start tapping the keys just yet.

We’re going to continue the reflection, and with that in mind, we could use a little input from our readers.  What, in the past, have you most enjoyed?  On what types of topics would you be most inclined to comment?  Is there something you’d like to see more of, or something new you’d like to see added?  Let us know, and we’ll keep your thoughts in mind as we decide what path to take.

251 Responses “Whatever Happened To New Mexico Central?”

  1. Vicki Farrar says:

    I enjoy your articles and musings. I think the area of Estancia Valley and mountainous areas east of Albuquerque do need a forum for events and thoughts particular to the area. I like historical stuff, too. I belong to the East Mountain Historical Society and Friends of Sandia Mountains so there are of course particular organizations/websites that fill the needs. Yes, there are other blogs and social networking sites to compete with. I don’t belong to Facebook, but I do have a Blogger website. I do like your taking the wierdness and intolerance of the Right Wing politics of this area to task.

  2. I’ve been meaning to comment. The topic has been much on my mind too. Your ruminations and conclusions are not unlike my own, nor the need to rethink local blogging, especially for Mountainair Arts, the mothership

    Your recent January post answering these questions reminded me of that misplaced intention. I may still post there too but here first as it is the one that comes to mind when I reflect on my own local blogging efforts.

    An aside of the fwiw persuasion, I’m delighted to come across another local blogger to add to local blogroll. (Hello Vicki, drop by Poets & Writers Picnic or a Saturday writers group meeting at Alpine Alley)

    I do know what you mean by PSAs being tedious but they are appreciated and important. Besides, it’s a break (possibly for readers as well) to post items without editorializing. NM Central’s photography and gardening sections are probably my favorites. I blog about and share both on Facebook regularly. Unless you have (all too understandable) Facebook aversion, I’d recommend an NM Central page. I enjoy the restaurant reviews too and agree with Vicki about the tea bagger pieces. Lack of transparency in local institutions ~ information hoarding and willful opacity ~ is my blogging bête noire.

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