In general, MyDD has two choices:
1. Go with the flow-- That is, just go with whatever evolves with the new team of Front Page bloggers. In other words, go with your strengths, not only as they are known, but as they evolve. For example, who knew that FireDogLake would make such a splash with live-blogging the Libby trial? It happened because their Plame-House team was (a) extremely knowledgeable about the Libby case, (b) the flying fingers of Marcy Wheeler provided something very close to a verbatim transcript, and (c) it was a team effort. The formula here was team strengths + opportunity + desire.

2. The other choice is to survey the field and seek a new niche that is wanted and needed. MyDD's niche last year was in electioneering, and Chris and Matt lead that effort with distinction. But what new niche out there is waiting to be filled? Taking this approach might require recruiting some new front-page bloggers.

I have a suggestion regarding the latter. One of the things Chris used to fret about was the lack of diversity in the Progressive Blogosphere. This is one of the reasons I am so pleased to see the work underway by Shai Sachs on Blogosphere diversity here:

Blogosphere diversity open thread  
by Shai Sachs, Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 11:20:15 AM HST

Blogosphere diversity  
by Shai Sachs, Sun Jun 10, 2007 at 06:32:33 PM HST

Progressive blogosphere diversity, part 2  
by Shai Sachs, Sat Jun 16, 2007 at 02:34:22 AM HST

This is also especially important with the untimely death of Steve Gilliard.

I suggest that MyDD could really fill an enormous need by becoming the known place where diversity thrives. This might be accomplished by reviewing the resources Shai and the commentors have gathered for  minority bloggers who might be invited to write a front page guest blog here at MyDD-- not just a token Black, a token Hispanic, a token Indian, and a token Asian, but multiple examples of each over the course of the next few months. The MyDD team can note the reader response, to judge which guest bloggers "hit it off" with the MyDD readership, and then those drawing the best reader response might be invited to write weekly blogs here at MyDD. And there certainly is no reason for there to be only one Black blogger, or only one Hispanic blogger, etc. But there should be at least one of each, and at least one Native American Indian as well. It would certainly be a draw for me.

I realize there's some awkwardness over the issue of being tagged with being MyDD's "Black blogger" but this can be handled in the same way newspaper op-eds do. One way to do this is to enhance, if possible, MyDD's ability to post a picture of the blogger with front page ledes. I know that not many blogs do that, but hey. Look at Greenwald's page on Salon (http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/). The point being that if readers of MyDD are confronted every day with a diversity of faces, MyDD will become known as the place for diversity-- especially, of course, if the selection process turns up a new Gilliard or two!

There is strength in diversity. Not diversity that is essentially segregated, as with Black blogs over here, and Hispanic blogs over there, and Indian blogs over in a corner somewhere, but diversity right here-- big, and bold, and integrated and obvious. Let us model the America we want to live in! I live in Hawaii now, and it is indeed a rainbow of diversity.

Whether my suggestion is adopted or not, the two paths I lay out are the two main choices. The main difference is that the second choice is more intentional-- it requires actual conversation and planning among the new leadership of MyDD, while listening to the readership.

But one path will not work. And that is to try to perpetuate MyDD as a museum to what Matt and Chris did, the way they did it. Change is inevitable.

Bob in HI