Readers, I've Got Readers
With thanks to webmaster extraordinaire Dan Von Behren, I've finally figured out how to check the number of visitors to this site—and it's looking good. After starting slowly in February, RichardBradley.net is now getting about 10,000 hits a day, and readership has been going up every week. Since I started "Shots in the Dark" primarily to follow the saga of Larry Summers' presidency after the publication of
Harvard Rules, I'm delighted by this statistic. (Now, if you'd all just buy the book....)
I do hope that you'll bear with me as the blog veers from the completely serious to the wildly playful. I like to mix things up, to keep "Shots in the Dark" from getting predictable or stale. I'm fascinated by the goings-on at Harvard, of course. But I also like to roam elsewhere—to politics, to pop culture—even, from time to time, to the personal.
Whatever the subject, I try to write with some humor, insight, and craft. And equally, I try to stay away from
cynicism and negativity. There's enough of that in the online world as is. Frankly, there's enough of that in the world, period. No need to add to it.
A long time ago, I decided upon a principle of journalism that isn't always easy to follow, but has served me pretty well: Don't write anything about someone that you wouldn't say to the person's face. Having been written about myself, sometimes harshly—don't think you're getting a hyperlink here—I know what it's like to be attacked in print. Anyone who tells you it doesn't sting is lying. Once you've been through that experience, you try extra hard to be fair.
So I find that if I stick to that rule, even when my comments are critical, they do tend to be fair, and within the bounds of civil discourse. Which is not to say that I've always been perfect. But I try, and I'll keep trying.
Meantime, thank you for reading. There's lots more to come. And thanks too for all your e-mails and comments. Keep them coming! It's richard@richardbradley.net.
