How we're doing, and how are we doing?

A little breather. A sorbet, if you will, to cleanse the palette; something to remove the nasty taste of daily law school dirt.

From a technical standpoint, this blog has taken off in a big way. Daily reads are increasing, we're well over 160,000 views, and the switch to moderated comments has - I think, at least - made a huge difference to the quality of discussion. In fact, rather than discouraging people from reading, the increase in quality comments has encouraged more readers and lifted the comments out of the gutter. You're probably safe to read this blog at work now.

It's been said before, and it's worth saying again - the comments and the participation are the life of this blog and where the real action takes place.  It's where anyone can join in and air their opinions.  The writers here merely set it up (very well) for you to smash to pieces (even better).

Now is the time to continue to put in the effort. The new crop of 1Ls will be starting school in a few months, and this is the last chance to discourage them from making the dumbest decision of their lives. Participate here, or participate elsewhere, but participate. Whether it's posting a comment or taking it a step further, do something. If you're just reading, then you could do more.

For those of you who don't feel comfortable commenting here for reasons of privacy, I'll quickly go over what we see as admins of the site. When we log in, we see a screen that shows all the unpublished comments - no names, no IP addresses, no identifying information at all if you're posting comments under the Anonymous category. We cannot trace you, we cannot out you, we have no ability to look behind the curtain and see anything other than your words. There is no way for us to see who you are, where you are, or link your opinions to you in any way whatsoever. Not that any of us here have any desire to do that even if we wanted to, but still. This place is absolutely anonymous.

Following on from that, all opinions are welcome. There have been some heated discussions over the past few days from those with all manner of differing opinions, and we typically publish every comment other than the obvious spam. If you have something to say, whether you agree or disagree, then please join in.  That includes those who would consider themselves in opposition to our broad mission here.  Tell us why we're wrong and you're right.  Let's discuss it - these issues will never be resolved if you remain on your side and we remain on ours and we never interact.

Now to flip this around 180 degrees - how do you think we're doing? Are we still on the right track? Are there things we're not covering that we should be? Everyone here is open to comments, criticism, suggestions and direction. Email us at outsidethelawschoolscam at gmail.com if you need to get in touch with any of us with tips, hot news, or if you want to join as a regular writer.

Remember, this is a community effort. If this blog is not serving you properly, let us know. And likewise, please do your best to add whatever contributions you can, be it spreading the word elsewhere, writing comments, writing posts, or standing outside law schools in September with a placard reading "The End Is Nigh" - anything to get the message into the heads of those who don't yet understand.

Oh, and thanks!