October 1, 2010 - 9:53 am
Here is the result of the drawing for the Warriors of Honor Giveaway. The number selected from the 13 posts is 8, which is Lee-Jackson and CSA Day Dinners, published on 09/17/2010. Unfortunately, there were no comments at all on this post, so the DVD will be donated to the church library of The Bible Baptist Church. It will get plenty of exposure there since we have a very large and well-organized home schooling group. Unlike many church libraries, ours could easily serve as a modest school library with a very wide variety of subjects. I have seen very few places that could match its collection of books on the War for Southern Independence. Our pastor is a voracious reader and regularly checks out used book stores.
Let me take this opportunity to again say what a great DVD Warriors of Honor is. It deserves a place in the home of every true Southerner. It deserves a place in every church library. It deserves a place in every public library and every school library. We know, of course, that it would never survive in the public or school libraries – it would quickly be destroyed or stolen by the cultural Marxists who now control much of this country. That really doesn’t matter to us though, and it shows just how great the need really is. This is a powerful tool to tell our story, and we need to do all we can to make full use of it. The banner ad on this site will remain there, and I will be taking every opportunity to promote Warriors of Honor. I hope you will too.
I will have to say here that I am rather disappointed in the poor response to this giveaway, and I am embarrassed that this DVD that was so graciously donated to us for this giveaway did not receive greater exposure here. Of the 13 posts during the month of September, only 4 had any comments at all. I also need to say that this disappointment and embarrassment is on me alone. I need to do more to increase the exposure of the Confederate Colonel project. No matter what we have available here, it won’t matter if people don’t know it is here and don’t read it. I understand that the number of us who still cherish and revere our Southern heritage and culture is very small. I understand that there are large and powerful cultural forces that work at destroying what little there is left of traditional Southern culture. My sincere thanks to those who remain true to our rich Southern heritage – you truly are a blessing to me.
I am wide open to suggestions and recommendations for ways to build on what we have. If you have any thoughts, please either add a comment to this post or use the Contact link if you think that would be more appropriate.
I don’t understand the lack of comments either even though I am as guilty as the next person of reading a post and not commenting. I just don’t want to comment for the sake of seeing my name appear. I try to digest all the information provided and then make a comment that is hopefully intelligent and meaningful. I’m glad the dvd will be put to good use and plan to order my copy today. Thank you for providing the opportunity for me to become familiar with it. I also tell all my friends and family about this blog in the hopes they will read and understand it.
I can’t speak for everybody who reads, but I know for me personally a lot of the issue as far as not commenting has to do with the blog posts themselves. It’s all quality work, they’re just not written in a way that’s conducive to discussion. It’s straight forward facts and commentary, and reads like short magazine articles.
That’s all well and good if that is your goal, but if the goal is to have a lot of discussion going then you need to change things up a bit. One option might be to choose topics that are more provocative, where people will choose one side or another. Another option is to make the posts much more open ended throughout to leave people a lot to say on the subject. If people have nothing left to say except “I agree”, they’re not likely to take the time to say anything. I only comment when I feel I can add something useful to the post.
Also, you must remember that a blog by nature is a less favorable medium for two way discussion. It’s a discussion board where only you can start new topics. A lot of your old site visitors probably drifted away when the format changed. New visitors will be attracted and stay solely based on the articles, which means they need to see something that’s new information, or thought provoking views on old information.
Rattlesnake, you have stated what I have pretty much assumed already. Not having a lot of comments isn’t a big deal at all, but I figured that having a give-away like that would be a good way to gauge how many people are looking at it. (The stats also include all the spambots, so they don’t mean much). I thought that with a give-away, people would go out of their way to find something to write about so as to get in on the drawing.
I am satisfied with the current format and am not looking at making any changes to it. The forum was nice, but the blog format is better suited to what we’re doing here. The only thing I would want to change is to get more writers so that we could get more articles posted. That will come, but never as quickly as I would like it to. One problem is that we are filling a very small niche, and finding other writers whose views match the Confederate Colonel project is not an easy task. There are plenty of Southern writers out there, but I won’t sacrifice the goals in order to increase the quantity of articles. I’m always open to suggestions.
I suspect that there are also some readers like myself. I don’t live in the south. I live in the Midwest. Ever more, I’m actually even American. I’m an Aussie married to a gal here in the Midwest.
But I love Jesus and I am so grateful for cultures that preserve the old values, the American sitz em leben, so to speak, before it co-opted by special interests, and the atheistic, radical left. There are not many voices that reflect that viewpoint out there, so I will read those that do – even if I am not specifically the target audience. I find a commonality in faith that is much deeper than culture.
But as a niche blog, I don’t feel that I have a right to a voice before others. Especially since all my posts would have to begin “Speaking as a foreigner, non-southerner, my view from the outside is…” Perhaps it’s just the modern culture’s need to preface every statement with “Some of my best friends are (women/black/latino/gay), but …” that makes me feel i need to do it, but how much can an Australian Yankee really contribute to a southern culture blog?
To paraphrase Descartes, I ‘G’day, mate!’, therefore I lurk.
Ahh, but Mr. Wallace, I think you are mistaken. There is MUCH you can contribute here! Sympathetic voices “from the outside looking in” can teach us a lot. Back when this was in a forum format, we had postings from “Cuban Confederate” and (via an email) from the descendant of Confederate exiles in South America. Those who love and follow Jesus generally have an innate understanding of why Southern culture is so important to us.
As an aside, allow me to point you to another web site that you might find helpful. I maintain the web site for our church at http://www.jamesknox.com . It is a Bible-believing independent Baptist church. Our pastor focuses on Bible study and has written a number of books on it.
By the way, at our annual Bible Conference last year, we had a man travel here from Australia to attend. That is clearly the record for distance traveled to attend.
Again, welcome sir! Please don’t feel like you need to post comments, but on the other hand, never hesitate to do so if you have something to add. The important thing is that you are here are reading it – and you are there and practicing it.
Take care and God Bless you, brother!
Thought I’d comment to state my appreciation for what y’all do here. Wonderful website and great posts. I enjoy reading it, and am subscribed to it.
Thanks and God bless!
Thank you, Elizabeth. Frankly, one of the reasons that I wanted to do the give-away was just to see if anybody was actually reading Confederate Colonel or if I was just wasting my time. Your kind words are deeply appreciated and a real blessing to me. Sometimes that’s what it takes to keep me going when I think about all the other things I need to be doing.
Again, thank you.
I found this blog a few weeks ago, or, I should say, stumbled upon it. This is one of the best blogs on Southern heritage and traditions that I have yet seen. The strength of this blog lies in its range of topics, which tie directly to current issues, and the articles are dignified in a way that reaches to a broad spectrum of readers.
You are definitely not wasting your time, and in the short time I have been reading this blog, I have learned a lot. This is a place for kindred spirits, and I will forward the link to all in my address book.