"I'm completely aware of my own shortcomings when it comes to political awareness in Taiwan, but reading Letters from Taiwan is like colliding headfirst into a freight train of political heavyweightedness.
Admittedly at this stage of my Taiwanese political education, much of the content found on Letters from Taiwan is way over my head. Also, being a blogspot blog the annoying 'show full posts on the main index page' option is switched on meaning the homepage is annoyingly long.
Whilst I'm sure Letters from Taiwan is of interest to those with a much keener interest in Taiwanese (and by proxy Chinese) politics, for me it was a little hard to digest.
Ben Goren definitely doesn't write for those testing the waters of Taiwanese political awareness. That's not to say his blog posts aren't well written, far from it, but just that there is a definite feeling that the content is written for political heavyweights.
If you aren't largely familiar with the political tides of China and Taiwan then there's probably a very good chance you're going to feel overwhelmed trying to engage Letters from Taiwan as a blog."First, I'd like to thank Ozsoapbox for reviewing my blog and being honest in his comments and opinions. Its very helpful to get a fresh pair of eyes give another perspective on your work. That said:
- Thanks for letting me know my index page is too long. I had been running it at my convenience in that I didn't have to use more clicks to review my posts and how they flow together. I don't really like the idea of showing truncated posts or headlines only but what I have done is set the maximum recent posts to show on the index page at 3 days worth.
- I was aware that my blog was getting a bit intense and 'top heavy'. Accordingly, I have tried to vary my topics to include lots of commentary on things happening outside Taiwan such as US politics, environmental issues, death penalty, religion and atheism, sexuality and humour. When I do get into Taiwanese politics I'll admit it can be heavy going, especially for someone new to the field or not especially interested in it. It's a speciality area, one I studied and one that I am passionately invested in. That's said, I will try to keep varying the content and tone of my posts.
- Thanks for the compliment about my writing style. For my part I recognise that I am sometimes wordy and verbose and sometimes prone to ranting and name calling. Improving my writing is a constant work in progress. It appears I have plenty of room for improvement!
Thanks
Ben
