An explanation and an apology

Folks,

I need to apologize to my regular readers (and there are clearly many more of you than I was aware of before this) for disappearing the entire website for a number of days, but it was a rather peculiar few days here at the pad. I feel owe you all something of an explanation.

Someone, I honestly have no idea who, contacted an utterly unrelated third party to complain about this website. This was a new thing for me. I am used to people contacting me directly through the site when they have a problem with something that I have said, and if I get something factually wrong, I sure as hell want to know about it. Going around both me and Blogger, apparently, that was new.

When I was contacted by this third party, who had questions for me, I was honest in my answers but was stunned that someone was no longer going after the ideas I present here, but me personally.

Now, it could be some untutored person or persons. Someone who simply did not realize that they could contact me, that I have always been accessible by anyone who ever sent me a personal email ever. I temporarily pulled my website behind a "subscription wall" so that if I had done someone wrong (and I don't think that I have) that nobody else would be able to access it. In a word, it was an act of good faith. However, as time passes and nobody contacts me to lodge a specific complaint (and I know they know how to), it becomes harder and harder to justify keeping the entire site down, and the whole situation begins to look like an attempt to intimidate me rather than register a legitimate grievance.

HJHOP, in its current incarnation at least, is not long for this world, people. I am going to be moving on to other projects very soon, and I think that things are going to change here by the end of the year. I am contemplating picking up a couple of correspondents and serving as a sort of managing editor for the website. (If you have any interest in getting on, let me know and we can talk.) Simply put, I can't continue at the pace I have been keeping here.

Of course, I appreciate the concern of all those who wrote to me, including those who were in something of a panic. That was very cute! :)

HJ