Happy fifth birthday, NPI Advocate!
Five years ago, as John Kerry was coasting victorious out of an unpredictable nominating season, we launched what has become one of our most important projects and a valuable communication tool: this blog, The NPI Advocate.
At the time of its founding, The Advocate was known as the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog, so named because we meant for it to be our primary means of publishing announcements about completed projects or endeavors in progress.
Although the Official Blog became popular, the name never caught on, because it was confusing and uninspiring. Readers didn't like it and neither did we. (In fact, during the blog's early years, the masthead didn't even display the full name. It simply read, Northwest Progressive Institute.)
Eventually, we decided to remedy this, and so, a year ago, during the blog's fourth blogoversary, we launched a naming contest to give the Official Blog a proper name. From among the final entries submitted by readers, we chose The Advocate to be the blog's new name, and unveiled it in July of 2008.
The name change was easily the most important thing that happened to this blog in its fifth year, but there were other memorable moments too. Here's a quick look back at some of the highlights from the last three hundred and sixty five days.
Liveblogging: The Advocate offered continuous coverage of Netroots Nation in Austin, the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, and the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington, D.C.
Notable Announcements: Readers of The Advocate were the first to learn that Ret. General Paul Eaton would be the featured speaker at our 2008 Spring Fundraising Gala, that we were kicking off The Downballot Project to cover campaigns receiving little attention from the traditional media, and that we were bringing back In Brief as our new microblog.
Guest Posts: Every now and then, we publish guest posts by distinguished special contributors. Our three favorite guest posts from the last twelve months were Michelle Gregoire's Election Day message about turning out friends and family to vote on November 2nd, Gael Tarleton's post on restoring trust at the Port of Seattle, and Steve Zemke's update on efforts to save a valuable grove of trees at Seattle's Ingraham High School.
Most Popular: Readers really liked my review of OpenOffice.org Writer, Ken's post on Republican attempts to obstruct Eric Holder's nomination, and my recap of developments in the Minnesota Senate recount from last December.
Today marks the end of a fun and exciting fifth year, and the beginning of the Advocate's sixth year. We're still going strong, and we hope you'll stick with us as we continue to chronicle our perspective on world, national, and local politics.
Comments:
Post a Comment