When I started working on ToM nine months ago, I wasn't quite sure it would all work out. Conceptually, the blog I had pitched to Wired was like Dragon Naturally Speaking hooked up to the misfiring synapses of a profanely rambling schizophrenic pervert. And, you know, a few thousand posts later, ToM's been cancelled, so maybe it didn't work out.
Still, we've all had some fun. At the very least, without ToM, Wired would not be ranked as high in Google for searches about cephalophilia, vagina dentatas, and Lord Cthulhu as it is. That is a sizable accomplishment. Hopefully, another massive publishing empire will come along someday and rake in the vast profits that can be had from the coffers of the Internet's most bizarro fetishists. Who'll be laughing then?
But in all seriousness: though ToM is no more, it stands in the unique position of having a loyal, intelligent community that is the envy of the other Wired Blogs. That's you guys. And, without trying to seem maudlin, the comments, feedback, support and even criticism of ToM's readers has been the aspect of running ToM that I have treasured most.
Why? Because when I took over ToM, I wanted to prove that blogs didn't have to be fetishistically devoted to a single subject matter (like games, or gadgets, or music) to be successful. That the most important aspect of a successful blog wasn't obsessively updating about "the news" but strong voice and personality. And that a blog dedicated to a broad spectrum of fringe art and culture could attract a sizable audience, because not everyone's interests are obsessively exclusive to a single note played over and over and over again.
You guys proved that for me, and everyone at Wired knows it. Thanks for that. I wish we all could have stuck around ToM longer, but it wasn't in the cards.
But it's not goodbye: we've got a new hangout! I hope I'll see you there!
