I've had fewer emails like this one than I expected, but it's worth airing the issue:
"For the most part, I agree with the emailer who was iffy on the redesign -- though I have to say it's great to finally read black type on a white background. Also, I second the previous emailer's concern about your site now being bought and paid for by Time magazine. This is the equivalent of those organic, once-independent family farm operations that, once success descends, sell out to big conglomerates out to hedge their bets on the latest big thing. Hope you keep your independence, Andrew, but this signals a bad, bad trend of MSM reaching into the blogosphere and making it its own."
I beg to differ. I can categorically tell you that the rules for my blogging are what they always have been. No one is pre-editing my posts; no one is looking over my shoulder. Time's editors have never pressured me to write anything I don't fully believe in print, and anyone who knows my past knows I'm not exactly renowned for currying favor with my bosses. I think what's happening here is the opposite of what the reader thinks. Think of it as the blogosphere reaching out to the MSM and helping erase what is, in any case, a somewhat strained distinction. But this much I'll ask you. If you think I'm going soft, let me know. As if I needed to tell you that.