A MILESTONE FROM BLAWG REVIEW . . . It's Blawg Review #20, ably-hosted yesterday by The Mommy Blawger, who did a spectacular job rounding up and organizing so many legal posts from the prior week.

Is the 20th edition of Blawg Review a milestone? Well, it seems like it to me, a guy who's always been slightly skeptical of blog carnivals when discussing them with the anonymous editor of Blawg Review, who, as I've mentioned before, does all the work. But now I'm admitting it to him publicly--it seems that he was right. A blog carnival for legal webloggers is a concept that seems to have staying power.  After all, we have weekly hosts lined up, all of them listed at the Blawg Review website, for the next seven months.

Way to go, and thanks to all who are participating.

Comments

[Editor 'n' Chef]

The credit really belongs to those who've hosted Blawg Review. I'll be happy to accept whatever compliments and criticisms come my way after I host this monster myself on the Blawg Review weblog, on October 24. Just to make it impossibly challenging, that special issue will combine Blawg Review with Carnival of the Capitalists, which reviews about fifty business blog posts of its own each week. The strategy will be to showcase the best of the law bloggers to regular readers of the best of the business blogosphere, and vice versa. Yeah, it's gonna be HUGE!

[Eh Nonymous]

Wow. Dude.

Has it reached the point where not only is there market, but conditions are ripe for entry?

I've been thinking that writing and posting posts can be hard work if I don't set aside time for it, but editing into shape and hosting others' contributions can be trivially easy. Maybe I should plan a mini-blawg carnival of some kind.

Carnival of the...hm.... which underserved population is clamoring for this kind of treatment?

For that matter, what are the relevant existing carnivals? I want to avoid General Interest (it's been taken, very ably, by Editor 'n' Chief. Chef? Chief?); I want to avoid Capitalism and Economics (taken); I want to avoid Skepticism (carnival of the skeptics); there's already a permanent group blog by professional and professorial Linguists at Language Log, much like Volokh only without the eye-gouging conservatism.

Hmmmm. What to tackle... class actions? Anti-over-lawyeredism? Oooh, there's an idea. Mike, whaddaya think of a blawg carnival, or to be more modest call it a blawg fair, involving Crime, Federalism, and the Under-lawyered? I could write to that DUI blog fella, and we could get some of the various Defenders to chime in. Ooh, I like it! Evan, what's your opinion?

[Evan]

Eh: Go for it. In the blogosphere, it's easy to take risks. But you might want to continue focusing your theme. "Crime, Federalism, and the Under-lawyered" is a bit murky--as is "blawg review," come to think of it.

[Editor 'n' Chef]

Carnival of the Anonymous, eh?

[Mike]

EN, hosting a blawg review takes a lot of time. Lately, bloggers have been receiving at least 30 posts to manage. Merely linking to them would be easy - tying them together is the challenge. Hell, I spent four hours on Blawg Review #8. I'm certain that's the most time I spent on any other post.

A carnival of the class actions would be cool, but I'd rather see a class action blog. Not one bitching about large verdicts, but one discussing recent cases and new developments.

Your idea on a crim blawg fair is a good one. The only problem is that most weeks there is a de facto carnival. See this post, e.g. But I'm always open to innovations.

[Mike]

"The credit really belongs to those who've hosted Blawg Review."

Chef, you're being too modest, though it's true that each person hosting a blawg review has obviously put a lot of work into it. Anyone with your cat herding skills should take an occasinal bow.

[Editor 'n' Chef]

BOW WOW! thanks.

[Eh Nonymous]

Mike: true, a thorough-going class action blawg would be a welcome addition, although the topic overlaps with - well, with a lot of other blawgs out there. I'm not ready to take on a single-issue blawg, although a mini-fair is easier - in fact, people do it all the time, as you point out.

My favorite carnivals - besides the COTBlawgers, aka Blawg Review - sometimes spring up (either in existence, or relevance or need) because of fast-breaking current events. Witness the Conglomerate efforts in the wake of the Disney opinion out of Delaware.

I suspect that the time and needfulness of a carnival are dictated not by the organizer alone, but by a sudden multiple awareness that people all want to discuss it, in a single place. Obviously, this is best done when guest-posts or guest-posters are easily brought together with the relevant audience.

I'll keep brewing up the idea, trying to find the nugget of gold among my many, many pebbles of - something a bit more foolish.

And, of course, when I feel up to doing a surpassingly good job, I'll sign up to host Blawg Review. But look at all I'll have to live up to... :)