Doug Update
Our colleague hopes to make his return soon.
Some good news on the Where’s Doug? front.
He sends his “apologies for the extended and unanticipated absence” and “Thanks for the concern” shown for his well-being.
He has “been dealing with some personal issues” and “hope[s] to get things back to normal soon.”
Like.
Well, that’s something of a relief. Please convey our well wishes to him.
At the same time, it has been nice to see more writing from you and Steven.
Doug? Who is this Doug of which you speak?
I flashed on the 1953 movie, Shane, in which the little boy calls to a departing Alan Ladd, “Come back Shane!” Probably not realizing that Shane was either going to leave or hop Little Boy’s mommy and kill his daddy.
But I’m pretty sure Doug could return without either killing or adultery. Probably.
He’s probably been at home waiting for the Cable TV guy to show up…
Good news. Hope things are working out for Doug. Look forward to seeing him posting again soon. And do appreciate your own and Dr. Taylor’s efforts in the breach. Please keep up the posting.
I’m somewhat relieved, and wish Doug a speedy recovery.
At the same time, it has been nice to see more writing from you and Steven.
Please keep up the posting.
First do what you do best. Pursue your chosen careers to support your families.
Then fulfill the whims of us heathens if you have the desire and the time.
Thank you for the update; Doug’s been on my mind. And thank you for providing this site, and the efforts you, Steven, and Doug, and the others, take to keep this a place to have these kinds of discussions.
That’s encouraging.
Great to hear.
Whatever it is, Doug…kick it’s ass.
Best wishes to Doug
Good to hear. Thank you, James.
@Jay L Gischer: Concur. I saw some twitter activity from Doug, but it looked like something automated. Hope he’s back soon, and it is indeed nice to hear more from our other hosts as they pick up the slack.
Glad to hear it and glad Doug had the courage to step away for a bit. I hope that if things need a “new” normal, he also has the courage to embrace that, too.
That’s good to hear.
Looking forward to his return, but also hopefully to a continuation of the output from James & Steven.
Excellent news.
I’m glad there’s been a Doug sighting. I hope he returns someday, but mostly I hope he is well.
Good to hear. Thanx for the update James.
Whew! Hope he’s not dealing with any irremediable situations so he can get back here soon.
Thank you for passing along the update.
I sincerely hope Doug is well.
Life happens to us all.
I’m so relieved to hear that Doug reached out. We look forward to having him back when he’s ready to be back.
Best wishes, Doug, and hope you feel better soon!
Come back when you’re up to it, Doug
Great to hear 🙂
We miss you, Doug!
As the other comments above me have pointed out, thanks to James and Steven for filling in the gaps. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hearing more from you both!
Miss you on twitter — never thought I would say that in my life — hope you are well and come back.
Take care
Yay!! I’ve been worried!
Good luck Doug!!
James, thank you for keeping us posted on this.
Please send our best wishes to Doug.
Another voice added to the chorus: Hope all is resolved satisfactorily and Doug is soon resuming his contribution here.
In an alternate universe…
Doug decided that the reasons for calling himself a libertarian and independent had warn so thin in the 2010’s, that he had realized that he likely would no longer be able to, in good faith, however stealthily, vote for a Republican in the future.
This, of course, caused his head to explode., with fragments all over the various corners of the internet.
However, in this universe, I am very glad that he will be returning!
That’s good to know :-). Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the update. I wish Doug well as he deals with the things he is going through.
Doug was carrying the majority of the content load here for awhile now. He was the go-to guy for day-to-day breaking news which is the biggest and hardest beat by far.
And creating content for a site like this is *really* hard. And his style was traditional: premise, background, supporting evidence, reaction, conclusion; that’s *hard* work which takes many, many hours to do properly. It’s detailly, which you can’t fudge. We, the commentariat, would have swarmed him if he’d half-assed it, which he didn’t. It’s a lot of pressure both external and internal.
Also, in OTB’s instance, there is a slight disconnect between commentators and hosts – majority center-left commentators and center-right hosts.
When the host(s) and the comment section are aligned politically, philosophically, and psychologically it’s *way* easier to produce content. Find a hook, chuck red meat at the horde, and call it a day.
Doug could not do that; he did it properly. Which we should appreciate.
@de stijl: Agreed all around. I carried the whole load at OTB for a while and was Doug-like in my productivity for years, averaging something like 10-13 posts day in, day out. I eventually burned out doing that. It’s just exhausting. Doug was so prolific that it became easy for me to just weigh in on the handful of issues that truly interest me—a much easier undertaking.
@James Joyner:
Don’t ding yourself too hard. I was in your shoes, briefly. It’s truly wickedly hard exhausting work.
Reacting to every news story is a fool’s game. It will kill you eventually.
Pace yourself – generously, and then some. And if Doug chooses to never post again that is super cool and correct if that’s his wish. If I were he I would probably bail – zero upside by max effort. That’s a hard row to hoe continually.