Nederlog
What a good subject for a thread! It would be great to see a comprehensive list of ME blogs emerging...
My favourite ME Blog by quite some distance is Nederlog by Maarten Maartensz:
http://www.maartensz.org/log/2011/NL11.htm
Maarten's an exceptionally intelligent writer who has been blogging for more than a decade, and he has an extremely logical and principled approach. He pulls no punches and can be very hard-hitting and critical of a wide range of people within the ME/CFS world - leading advocates included - but whilst that style may be too abrasive for some (and perhaps, sadly, incompatible with the principles of this particular forum), I find his perspective essential reading. Whenever I'm puzzled about an issue of internal politics or looking for a different perspective, I turn to Nederlog. I don't always agree with Maarten's conclusions, but his analysis is always thought-provoking and hard to disagree with.
His recent summary of issues around ME and XMRV was particularly good; one of the most well-balanced pieces of writing I've read on that subject:
http://www.maartensz.org/log/2011/NL110319a.htm
And here's a great page full of ME-related resources and information: a veritable treasure trove:
http://www.maartensz.org/log/2010/NL101008a.htm
Since I'm writing about Maarten, I'll also make some comment now on a matter of considerable regret both to myself and to Cort: the circumstances under which Maarten left Phoenix Rising. I haven't commented publicly on this subject before now, but since there's a chance that Maarten may read this post, whereas he seems to be ignoring my emails, I'll just have one more attempt at apologising for my bungled early attempts at moderation, and try to set the record state on a rare occasion where Maarten "believed something on the basis of insufficient evidence".
It's a matter of great personal regret that when I first became a moderator on Phoenix Rising, I moderated a post of Maarten's in a hopelessly bungled fashion; I was under a lot of pressure at the time and made a complete mess of it. With hindsight I can understand why Maarten found that moderation so unacceptable. At the same time, I was emailing with Maarten behind the scenes, and I was very excited to find such a fascinating person with so many interests in common with myself. To my great regret, that excitement of finding a writer who appreciates Russell, Plato and Heller but is sceptical of Wittgenstein, and who writes with authority on the philosophical and psychological themes of interest to all of us with ME...that excitement led me to make some assumptions and leaps that weren't justified; I thought I'd found a kindred spirit, I assumed too much, and something in our conversation got lost in translation. A confused and rushed email hoping to explore the issues around my circumcision operation (a result of a chronic infection that went untreated by a doctor who believed I was psychosomatising but of course did not tell me so) was misinterpreted - I felt sure Maarten himself had raised this issue in an earlier PM to me but my inbox was so chaotic in those days that I may have confused him with somebody else - a rather tragic error if so.
Anyway...I remain very sad that Maarten left PR because of my mistakes, but the positive aspect is that the break between us doesn't stop me from reading and appreciating Nederlog, and it doesn't stop Maarten from appreciating what's best from Phoenix Rising as well, so neither of us are throwing away everything because of the differences between us, and that's just as it should be. Part of me wishes we were still chatting about everything from Mathematical Logics to the works of my favourite author Joseph Heller...but I have quite enough work to be getting on with so maybe that's for the best too.
Perhaps Maarten will still see my repeated expression of great "respect" for him and his writing as a mocking and sarcastic insult - I suppose my heartfelt appreciation of his writing may have seemed over the top - but nevertheless it's still true that he's someone whose opinion I value and respect enough to continue to seek it out. Nothing more to be said, I suppose, except to say once again to Maarten that I genuinely am very sorry for the way I messed up that moderation job, and very regretful of the upset I caused him; to sincerely wish him all the best; and to thank him very much for Nederlog.
