In it for the long haul

Around this time of the year, I like to reminisce about how my friend Luigi and I started agro.biodiver.se 15 years ago now. I initially went to the boss at the place where I worked, which had a similar, though narrower, focus, and tried to interest him in the idea. The pitch was simple; put stuff out there and you will accrue goodwill and support from the community. He didn’t buy it. Couldn’t see the point. Why bother doing something for nothing?

So, having already been blogging personally for about three years at that point, I just went ahead and we did it.

And here we are (or rather, here Luigi is, mostly, though I do still help to keep the lights on) still going strong. Where's that boss? Comfortably resting on his laurels, I suppose, though I haven’t seen much of him lately. Where’s the place I worked? Not where it used to be is the best I can offer.

And, of course, this is not even a humble brag, it is a brag pure and simple, but while we were never one of the Top 50 Science Blogs, we’re still around, and many of them aren’t. And the farm that raised most of those top science blogs gave up the ghost about this time in 2017. Which is what makes this plaintive post so much more satisfying today than it was 154 years ago.