Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Friends, my dear, dear friends, I have a favour to ask of you. But first, some backstory.

I am considering leaving the blog.

Lately, I've found myself increasingly dissatisfied with the tone around here. On the one hand, you have the excessive silliness and unpleasantly high tide of extraneous material that distracts from the worthwhile conversation, and it makes it difficult to wade through the comments to find the good stuff. On the other hand, you have the self-appointed blog guardians who consider it their sacred duty to weed out any and all fun so that we can all have much more serious and on-topic conversations in Newspeak. Both factions make me want to claw my own eyes out so I no longer have to view the results of their bickering.

More importantly, though, I worry that I personally am becoming a distraction. It seems that all too often, the flashpoint for some big ugly debate about the blog is something I've written. When someone complains about the off-topic stuff, they seem to invariably toss in an aside about how tired they are of reading music recommendations. Now there's this giant debate over acceptable language, and it's all because I refuse to sanitize the things I write and people leapt to my defense. (Which, by the way, I do appreciate, but still. I wonder if I'm more trouble than I'm worth.)

I realise I am occasionally a bit of a controversial figure; the thing is, I don't care. I write the way I write because it's the only way it works for me. I don't plan on changing it in any way, shape, or form.  I do wish I could be more accommodating, but it just isn't in me.

So here's the deal: I'm going to make a poll. You all can vote on whether or not you want me around. Please feel free to vote honestly; there's no way for the mods to see who voted what way on a poll.  If you would like to see me stay and continue as a contributor, vote stay. If you would prefer I leave and the blog get some new blood, or if you feel I've become a distraction, or you just flat-out don't think you can stand to read another of my ridiculous sob stories only tangentially related to baseball, then vote go. If the stays have it, I'll stay. If the gos have it, I'll step aside as soon as a replacement can be found.

For the record, I'm not interested in anyone stroking my ego with love. I want to know what the community honestly thinks. I'm also not interested in criticism, constructive or otherwise. As I said, I have no interest in changing. Thus, I'm going to close the comments on this post in order to avoid either flattery or complaint. Only the poll will be open. (That is, if I can do it that way. I believe it will work,but I won't swear to it.)

So there it is. I don't want to be a distraction, and I don't want to overstay my welcome. I'll abide by whatever decision the community makes.  Again, it is completely confidential and it isn't going to hurt my feelings one way or the other. Be honest.