WE ARE THREE

Some self-regarding nonsense now. I started this blog three years ago today. Nobody read it for quite a long time and now a lot of people read it.

In the last year alone we have had visitors from 131 countries.

The original idea was to make the blog an extension of the magazine but something that could respond immediately to events from the snooker world and also to stir up some debate and pass on bits of news to snooker fans that they can’t read anywhere else.

It was never intended to be political but, at times, it has had to be, such is the nature of this weird and wonderful sport.

I have always tried to be fair to the players who are, after all, the guys out there on the frontline driving the interest in the game. This includes respecting their privacy rather than blurting out gossip. I know a number of them read it, hopefully without any cause for complaint.

Blogging has a bad name in some quarters. David Simon, the creator and head writer of The Wire, one of the best drama series ever to come out of the US (and they’ve had a few) recently criticised the whole industry because of his concerns, as a former journalist, that comment was replacing proper journalism.

His point was that too many bloggers were merely commenting on other people’s stories rather than writing their own.

Perhaps there is something in this, but blogging is a democratic medium. Anyone can do it. It allows for different viewpoints and healthy (and at times unhealthy) debate.

Unlike a newspaper, you are not at the behest of a proprietor. My views on here are my own. I don’t follow any set ‘party line.’

And whatever anyone thinks of blogs, they are here to stay.

As for comments, I have always welcomed them. Only rarely do any have to be deleted for reasons of gratuitous offence or possible libel.

I tend to agree with Guido Fawkes, the UK's leading blogger, who writes an insider's account of political affairs. He says of blog comments:

"The comments are not a general forum, the convention with blogs is that you discuss the subject in the post, perhaps going off occasionally in a tangent, perhaps referencing breaking news, but not posting off topic about your hobby horse again. Nor are they somewhere to repetively spam with links."

I plan to carry on in much the same way but am always open to suggestions, so if you have any feel free to leave them.

In the meantime, many thanks to all those who take time to read the Snooker Scene Blog.

For the record, this is post no.992.