Ten days from now, No Force, No Fraud will have been in existence for two years.

Two years doesn't sound like much, but that's coming from someone who, when he enlisted in the Navy, told his father "it's only 4 years". Within a few days, I had an idea how long that 4 years was going to seem. Looking back on No Force, it seems much longer than 2 years. Truth is, it seems like an unending string of self-imposed deadlines and laborious effort. This is the 430th posting, and most of those postings have been original articles of from 800-1200 words each. That's getting close to half a million words, written on subjects that are emotional and complex. Simply put, that's one hell of a lot of work.

To date, No Force has recorded close to a quarter million cumulative readers, an average of roughly 500 readers of each article. My own standards for what I publish in my name have made it much more difficult... I dislike verbosity and pretentious writing. Unlike many writers, I avoid trying to sound intellectual because my goal has been to communicate, not to impress. I've tried to present conceptual content that would make readers think, rather than factual material that might persuade readers to accept my conclusions without serious questioning.

My greatest fear in writing has been that my readers are people who don't NEED to think more about what I've written... that they're folks who already understand and agree with libertarian positions. I've actually tried not to address those readers, but to speak to those who disagree, in hopes of getting them to rethink their positions.

My greatest pleasure has been, therefore, from the occasional comment that I have helped a reader reconsider a position, or that I've provided a point of view they hadn't considered before. Each individual must make their own judgments, and be responsible for those judgments. It is of no value for anyone to say that they agree with Bob Smith's positions. I've made my share of mistakes, and each reader must decide whether my position is correct or not. That it is my position is of no importance.

My greatest frustration has been in not being able to judge the effect of my effort. I would like to think that, with 500 readers/day, that the effect has some significance, but as a friend of mine often says "you just never know". I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, but "a lot" is a very relative term. I don't seek compliments, and I don't even take them very well, because they're just not very important to me. The IDEAS are important, and the RESULTS are important, and both are far more important than the messenger.

I'm winding down publishing of No Force, No Fraud. Within the past few months, I've taken charge of a fledgling non-profit, the Liberty Education Fund that deserves more time than I've given it. I also have a number of other volunteer activities that occasionally take a backseat to No Force.

The folks at City Pages have started their own group blog, The Blotter, providing even more reader competition for those of us on Babelogue. The other more serious Babelogue entries, Bush Wars, Civil Liberties Watch, and Homeland Insecurities, have all pretty much faded from view, with no new posts since mid-March. The new readership star is the scatological Pussy Ranch, which will get (and is) more readers just from the name than from content. The handwriting seems to be on the wall... political blogs are out... T & A is in. So be it.

For those of you who have No Force, No Fraud bookmarked or linked to, I hope you'll make sure that you're linked to noforce.org rather than the Babelogue URL. noforce.org is my domain name and will direct you to wherever I'm currently writing.