Saysuncle used to be a daily read for me. He began blogging shortly after he got married in 2002. He was a prolific poster, often posting a dozen or more times a day. Sadly, his wife passed away in March of 2020. The frequency of his blogging fell off shortly after, and he eventually stopped posting. A year after his wife died, his house burned to the ground and was a total loss. That’s a tough run of bad times, there. I hope things have improved for him.
Tam over at Books, Bikes, and Boomsticks was also a daily read. Then she went and got herself a job as a professional writer, and her blog quality fell sharply. AFAIK, she still posts, but I stopped reading her stuff a couple of years ago. I do miss her snark.
There are many others: The Ambulance Driver, Munchkin Wrangler, and a few others. I just can’t think of them all at this point.
This blog is now 16 years old, and I began blogging because of them. I walk in the footsteps of giants.
24 Comments
anonymous coward · September 23, 2023 at 5:36 am
Some of my missed blogs: Mike Vanderboegh, weaponsman.com, straight forward in a crooked world and ole Remus.
Toastrider · September 23, 2023 at 5:48 am
I still miss Kevin O’Brien, who blogged at Weaponsman.
TRX · September 23, 2023 at 9:32 am
I was going to mention him too. His brother kept paying the hosting fees for his blog and said he was going to leave it up as a memorial. weaponsman.com is still there, frozen in time at November of 2013. It looks like someone tried to piggyback some kind of promotional scheme on the main page, but the archives are still there. And come to think of it, I should point Webstripper at it to make a local copy for myself.
Also, apparently Weaselzippers has gone permanently 404.
Joe Blow · September 23, 2023 at 6:40 am
You are indeed a rare gem good Sir.
Woodpile report is sorely lacking these days.
Stay away from crowds.
Noway2 · September 23, 2023 at 6:41 am
“ This blog is now 16 years old”
This seems to demonstrate part of a problem. Finding blogs. I just discovered yours a couple of months ago and I’ve been reading blogs for years. Unless someone mentions them, they pop in something, they go unnoticed. I think I stumbled in here from reading a post at NCRenegade.
TRX · September 23, 2023 at 9:37 am
Oh, and Eric S. Raymond’s “Armed and Dangerous” blog, which went down back in 2020.
Joe Blow · September 23, 2023 at 9:50 am
So True!
Sometimes on Sunday mornings I pour an extra cup of coffee and take a lap around others “blogroll” (or similar). Have found a few gems, but I have had the same experience you describe: someone comments on blog X with a link to blog Y, which becomes my new favorite blog, wondering why I never found it earlier?
karl ushanka · September 23, 2023 at 8:57 am
Great idea for a post!
I too was a daily visitor to SayUncle. I remember when his wife died, but didn’t know about his house. Damn.
Ol Remus set the highest bar. As did Vanderboegh. I miss them everyday.
TJ · September 23, 2023 at 9:07 am
Woodpile certainly. Also Van der Leun’s American Digest. Your work is appreciated.
Nones · September 23, 2023 at 10:02 am
Probably one of the first blogs I read was Grouchy Old Cripple. Somewhere after was Knuckle Draggin’. Links to links to links. I’ve been reading here for a couple years. Divemedic, I hope you are here for 16 more. I check in daily.
Aesop · September 23, 2023 at 11:10 am
Ol’ Remus.
WeaponsMan.
VanDerLuen.
American Mercenary.
TheOtherRyan.
Blogs and bloggers come and go. Treasure the good ones for as long as the free ice cream lasts.
Nobody lives forever.
PaulB · September 23, 2023 at 12:54 pm
I got to meet a bunch of fellow bloggers towards the end of my time living in New England, years ago, before I emigrated south to Free America. Of all those guys I met in real life, only theferalirishman is still going. I’m limping along occasionally, but my daily views are about 5% of what they were 10 years ago. Peter at Bayou Renaissance Man and Kenny from Knuckledraggin are still turning out quality work too, though I’ve never met them in the real world.
C · September 23, 2023 at 9:44 pm
Mr. Free Market’s blog the was the first blog I ever read. I didn’t even know what a blog was at the time. Call Me Ahab was the second. I only found it (and learned what a blog was) watching the NRA Cam and Company show as a teen. Caleb’s blog roll lead me to Snowflakes In Hell, Sharp As A Marble, Lawdog, and SaysUncle.
I figured blogs were dead and all my favorites stopped posting. Then I found Aesop’s blog via Matthew Bracken. Aesop’s blog lead me to Big Country’s blog. BCE’s blog got me here.
lynn · September 23, 2023 at 1:34 pm
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/
One of the original blogs that started in Byte Magazine. Jerry covered everything in his blog, not just computer stuff.
lynn · September 23, 2023 at 1:38 pm
I now read Peter Grant at https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/ frequently. As a former soldier and South African immigrant to the USA (Texas !) in 2000 or so, his perspective on things is interesting.
Sage Grouch · September 23, 2023 at 3:37 pm
I miss Rachel Lucas. I got to know Bill Whittle’s work through her. I miss her irreverent humor and hearing about her life.
Big Ruckus D · September 23, 2023 at 4:23 pm
Oh man, there have been a lot quality blogs that have disappeared.
Ol’ Remus certainly gets a big nod from me. Another that I still miss terribly is Chateau Heartiste. Mostly for the era in which he went more to a political bent, though his earlier period of focusing primarily on “game” posts was great (and his deep analysis of modern women was hugely entertaining). Some absolutely legendary commenters there also, notably The Great Books For Men (GBFM), who did have a blog of his own at one point (also very much missed). The guy behind CH still posts short form stuff on Gab, and while those are good, it just isn’t the same as the epic posts he used to do. I get it though, he was becoming an Icarus type figure and flying to close to the sun, which is why his blog got shit canned by the host service (can’t remember now if it was blogger or WordPress).
One more that I feel is worth special mention is The Kakistocracy Blog, penned by a guy known only as “Porter”. An absolutely phenomenal writer, not only for his depth of knowledge, but for his writing style. He took his site down and disappeared during the Trump era blog holocaust that got Heartiste, among quite a few others. I don’t know how much reach he had at his peak, but dammit I miss that place.
I do appreciate DM putting in the effort here (despite a tough work schedule) and hope that he can keep at it for some time to come.
Unknownsailor · September 23, 2023 at 6:19 pm
I was reading blogs back when it all first started. Still read a few regularly, like Instapundit, but not nearly as many as I used to. I miss Steven Den Beste the most, I think, USS Clueless was a daily read. Some of the OG crew are still going, like Kevin Baker at Smallest Minority and Kim Du Toit at Splendid Isolation. Kevin is now on an aftermarket liver, and Kim lost his wife a while ago.
Getting old sucks.
Brutus · September 23, 2023 at 7:02 pm
Ol’ Remus.
Filthy’s Thunderbox.
Cambria Will Not Yield.
Grouchy Old Cripple.
Return of Kings.
Greg · September 23, 2023 at 9:23 pm
Den Beste at USS Clueless. And Acidman at Gut Rumbles.
Fido · September 23, 2023 at 9:31 pm
Yeah, alot to miss.. our demographics are about to fall off a cliff. I envision a day when everyone I know is dead. (by policy, I do not envision my death) All our old craftsmen, from back in the days when we actually produced things, are about to drop dead, just a tad before everyone else realizes how important their knowlege is about to become. To late. Dark ages incoming.
I really miss ole Remus, and Dakin… and my family… and my country… and the world that respected reason, logic, truth, merit… They’re dead Jim… they’re all dead.
Still… beats the alternative… 🙂
Robolaw · September 24, 2023 at 7:18 am
Weaponsman. Still have the website on my blog list. I looked forward to that blog everyday.
NA · September 24, 2023 at 3:13 pm
Some good blogs above. Also Sipsey Street Irregulars, Bison Prepper, The Lizard Farmer, and Cascade Free Zone are gone. Jim of Bison Prepper passed away last spring, and CFZ hasn’t been updated in over a year. I’m grateful that WRSA is being actively updated, at least.
I keep an updated list at my NTKYOOTC site. My sense is that a lot of the shorter discussions have moved to Gab (Matt Bracken’ got kicked off of Twitter for badthink a few months ago, and Filthie has set up shop on Gab). Lots of activity on Substack too. Telegram, Rumble, etc. Let me know if I should add anyone.
Ben · September 26, 2023 at 7:49 am
I miss VC.
Alan took all the old episodes down (not that I blame him).
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