No Turning Back Now

The machine is in motion. I made our first payment to MTOAG to build the Pollis. They are a firm in Jaipur, India who is willing to build the exact same site with the exact same specifics for 80% less than American firms quoted us at (note to the 99%ers, I'm with you, but this is the biggest reason America is losing jobs. We're not exactly cheap labor). Our launch date is projected to be February 17th, so at least I know the exact date that I will begin to lose my mind. Conceptualizing and strategizing this idea has been taxing enough, and the difficult part has not even started yet.

We just came up with our first logo design. This is when it began to feel real.

I like it, but I wish it were sleeker. We want to convey a level of professionalism instead of care free instant messaging (like, oh I dunno...this below). We'll keep working, but it's a good starting point.

The reason we want our logo to feel professional is that we view the Pollis as the gateway to the blogosphere and the blogosphere is filled with professional journalists. Journalism has had a noble reputation for centuries. Journalists take pride in their role as those who inform for the greater good. This means that you can be a 16 year old sitting in Oakland blogging about the Haqqani's influence over Pakistan's military and still be a journalist. Or a 50 year old mechanic in Detroit letting the world know more intimately how the economy has affected the auto industry. To characterize our 24 hour news cycle as working "for the greater good" is laughable. Cable news sensationalizes stories to the point where the "why" takes a back seat to the "who" "what" "where" "how" and "did it involve a penis?" The blogosphere has been ridiculed as a group of losers who sit in the dark in their parents basement and rant about things that don't matter to the Very Serious People (tm Paul Krugman, he uses it to describe stubborn monetary policy-makers, but I feel like it's a good characterization for anyone who qualifies as a patronizing dick)

We want to use the Pollis to empower the blogosphere to take the reins in the journalism game. Cable news is stumbling all over itself and focusing on the Lindsey Lohans and Kim Kardashians of the world because those are the easy "stories." Throw in Fox News (the crazy racist uncle in traditional mafia, I mean media...) and the journalistic integrity of our current outlets is laughable. As a poker player I view the Pollis as a large bet on the blogosphere which as far as I'm concerned, might as well be rockets.