Regular readers may have noticed that the standard, scales-of-justice image for our “Center of Attention” (CoA) feature was missing from today’s installment. And why was that? Because I thought it was growing a bit stale and was overdue for a change; which, in turn, led me to wonder if a larger overhaul of the feature might be in order.
CoA has never been a big comment-generator, but the comments have entirely flat-lined over the last couple weeks. Maybe Michael did a better job compiling the feature than I do. Maybe it’s too difficult to get a comment thread going on a round up of 5-plus posts on 5-plus topics. Maybe it’s something else all together. I honestly don’t know. But in case it’s a sign that the feature (as well as the image/icon) have (in fact) grown stale, I’d thought we try to freshen things up.
So, to the degree you care and want to have a say in this update, my recommendations follow. And to the degree you don’t care … well, fine. Read something else.
RECO’D CHANGES
The Title/Intent. “Centrist,” “moderate,” and “independent” are evasive, ill-defined, and (often) multi-defined terms … which caused a few arguments on past CoA installments over whether or not a certain blogger or post fit any one of those descriptions … which got me to thinking that maybe it would better serve all of us if the feature focused not on centrist/moderate/indpendent bloggers and posts, but on any post from any blogger that strives to put things in perspective, i.e., attempts to strike a sense of “balance” in the midst of a heated debate. If that’s the direction we ultimately go, I thought we could then re-title the feature simply “In Balance” or “Striking a Balance.”
The Image/Icon. Granted, the scales-of-justice image would still work with the above-recommended title/intent, but again, I’d like to freshen up the feature, all the way, from top-to-bottom. Accordingly, alternative icons/images are offered on the second page of this post, from the abstract to the ornate. If you have a favorite, let me know. (And if you think this is absolutely the dumbest thing you’ve ever been asked to do on a news/political blog, let me know that, too.)
The Number of Entries per Post. I recommend three, partly because I’ve always thought there was something magical about the number three and it’s a very … well … “balanced” integer. Plus, I don’t know if we’ll be able to find (every Tuesday and Thursday) more than three posts-a-day that truly attempt to strike a balance in a heated debate. I might be surprised, but I have my doubts.
Here’s the collection of replacement images/icons I’m considering for the updated feature. Again, I’d appreciated any comments readers have on a preferred image.