Since Jonah has never responded to my subtle blog-whoring attempts, I have to lean towards NRO being more of a Big Media thing than a true Blog. But in all seriousness, the lack of an immediate comment section or a blogroll begins to indicate to me that the Corner is simply a less formal NRO article section. What is the point of delination between a true blog and an extension of Big Media? Its hard to say, but I would venture that the responsiveness of the author(s) to their readers is a fairly decisive criterion. Once traffic gets to a certain point and authors get sufficently remote, then its no longer a blog as I understand the concept.

This is a pretty good explanation of why some bloggers don't think of the Corner as a blog. But it suggests that the distinction in their heads and in their pride, not necessarily in the Corner itself. As Terry Pratchett says (approximately) in Carpe Jugulum, "There's no sense in looking at a dog and saying that ain't a dog because a dog don't look like that."

The Corner is a bunch of people posting short, daily thoughts on mostly focused issues (with the occasional foray into Worlds Unknown) that relies heavily on links for the rest of the story, features conversation and debate between members, and isolates each entry for individual linking. It's a blog. (A blog which I've read just about every post on, I might add...which makes it pretty much the only one like that for me.)

The Corner is absolutely a blog. Arguably, the top conservative-minded blog on the Internet. No, it's not as link-heavy to other blogs as it might otherwise be, but for me this is a plus, not a minus. Blogs linking endlessly to blogs linking endlessly to blogs becomes a rather inbred process of information exchange. The Corner typically manages to be fresh and informative, without clutter, and with some of the best conservative thinking on display anywhere on the Web. Which is why I check it many times per day.

I think you hit the nail on the head, especially point two. I don't think that the corner isn't a blog; I just don't think it's a very good blog. In my opinion a blog must have unity. That unity can either be in the form of one blogger or one topic. You either get one person's view of a whole bunch of topics which gives the blog a distinct personality (that of it's blogger), or you get a bunch of opinions, posts, etc, on a single topic of interest. To me, the Corner is just disjointed. There are too many posts, it's not organized very well, you can't sort by topic or poster. I generally only visit it when someone else has linked to it, and even then don't stay around for very long.

Let's face it. NRO gets the shaft because it lacks that non-corporate pluckiness, that frontier spirit. Bloggers see themselves on the Oregon Trail of the web. NRO, which I read often, is has a fancy “here comes Mister City Slicker” thing going. We’re George Bailey and they’re Mr. Potter. We’re the mom and pop store and they’re Wal-Mart. I may shop at Wal-Mart, but I wouldn’t vote for it as the best store in town.

The Corner is just what its name implies. It's a place for the paid NRO writers to congregate. Go to any red state small town and stop at the intersection of Main St. and 1st street. You'll see the Corner. It's the bar. Or, in most small towns, four bars, one on each corner. The Corner on NRO is not a blog. It's a social gathering for the elite of Conservatism. They're the party table in the middle that we eavesdrop on. In short, the only useful thing I've gained from the Corner are Jonah's timewasters. I prefer the excellence presented on the main page and in NRODT.

I think you've analyzed this pretty well. Care to try next for my favorite, "Is Canterbury Tales really an epic?"

The problem of genre boundaries is on ample display in these comments. People take pride in being "in" one form or another, and that's OK. It's part of what makes the forms survive and get perfected.

It's also what corrupts them, though. Take free verse, which as an anti-form had some interesting uses, but has since become the uber-egalitarian mushing of all poetic urges into mere ejaculation.

I agree with your suggestions about The Corner. If NRO wants to *contain* The Corner, then The Corner's not going to quite get its due among blogs. OTOH, what makes The Corner interesting is precisely that we're invited into that little after-hours bar for top-notch conservative thinkers; it's the chat between the finished articles that keeps us going.

It's a real decision to be made, and there are several different ways The Corner could head. I'd love to see The Corner "dress up" a bit and stand alone, with NRO and The Corner pointing to each other more, but I have to admit: I loved NRO first, and I'd be sorry if NRO suffered for The Corner's success.

Cheers,
PGE