The same is certainly true for blogs and Progressive Historians is no exception.
I started reading this blog a few years ago, and was immediately struck by the forthright intelligence of the editor, Jeremey Young, and of the various writers. Jeremey's energy was a sight to behold, and even when I disagreed with him I couldn't help but admire his ability to get into writing the ideas bouncing around his head. And to do it with a regularity that made me, and others, want to come back to see what new thing was on his mind. Even more importantly, I think, is that when he was wrong he was as strident in his self-correction as he was in making his error. His ability to self-correct is a rarity in the blogging world, and is something that I believe will make him a distinguished historian during the course of his career.
I followed the other writers as well, of course. I can't possibly recall each and every one here, but I will single out Winter Rabbit's tireless advocacy as an example of what makes blogging--and progressivism--great.
A couple of years ago I began to write here, and then in December 2008 I took over the blog when Jeremy's time became too taken up with his studies.
I was always a placeholder though. And my own time became fractured almost immediately after taking over Progressive Historians. I won't get into the gory details, but everyone in academia understands that departments and deans get first dibs on an academics' time, and they tend to make those "requests" quite suddenly. In the past few weeks it has become clear to me that the demands on my time had reached a level at which I could no longer be certain that I could post even weekly.
After speaking with Jeremy we both agreed that it is time to put the blog to bed. A the time of this writing we have had more than 379,000 visits to the site, and are averaging around 250 visitors per day (down from about 450/day at the beginning of the year). That's a pretty impressive accomplishment.
For several years Progressive Historians set a standard for history-blogging, and I know that many of the current writers are still writing elsewhere. As it should be. I hope that Jeremy, too, will return to the blogging world.
So, it's goodbye for now. Thanks to Jeremy for his tireless work. I wish him, and all the others who've written for this blog a fond farewell. If you see me at a meeting, stop me and say "Hi."