A most sincere Welcome to Middle Age Day to Atrios, aka Duncan Black, one of the most venerable voices in the liberal blogosphere. When I first started wasting startling amounts of time contributing to our nation's debased political discourse on the internets almost nine (sic!) years ago, Eschaton and Daily Kos were actually very similar places, and there was much cross-fertilization. (In fact, on one or two rare occasions, Kos was seen in the Eschaton comments section.) While Markos soon moved toward the collaborative model that has developed into the sophisticated (heh) place we know today, Atrios remained resolutely low-tech, and other than shifting once or twice from one shitty comment system to another (haloscan, echo, disquss), his place looks very much the same as it did a decade ago. As someone who has spent quite a bit of time in both locales, I would say there is still a place for both types of site. In addition to his expertise (a PhD in economics, and an unceasing critic of those who refused to help those who most needed it during the Great Recession) and relentless hounding of the zombie lies that pervade our discourse, Atrios has offered a unique watering hole for a (well, mostly) good-hearted (and, now and then, quite funny themselves) group of commenters.
There's a birthday thread of sorts over there as well.
Cheers, Atrios!
(Raises a glass)
-- Stu