Many, if not all, of you know what a strong presence the Downtown Guy's web blog (http://downtownguy.blogspot.com/ ) has been for Oklahoma City. More particularly, see the comments, http://downtownguy.blogspot.com/2005/09/dreams.html#comments to a message he posted yesterday. He indicated (obliquely, but, as he said below, with style) what he was done.

Here, I'm largely quoting with his permission some Private Messaging here at OkcTalk:

Originally Posted by Doug Loudenback
I've left a comment to you in your blog regarding your last post. Would you explain more clearly what you mean ... and you shutting down your blog? Man, I hope not. It's a great community resource. Before a general post here, I thought I'd send you this.

From the Downtown Guy:
I think there will be other voices rising up soon to replace mine. I started the blog as a hobby, but its grown to the point where I was starting to get egotistical and maybe even absusive at times as the hit counter hit higher and higher. And that's not me.

Maybe in a few months I'll return, but only as a moderator who posts other stories or contributors thoughts, not my own.

I'll keep the blog up. I just won't be posting.

Thanks for all the generous comments and praise.


From Doug Loudenback:
damit! I'm so sorry that you are bowing out ... I'd post something here about a pep rally to get you to change your mind, but that would be unfair. I also wholly disagree with what you said, "I was starting to get egotistical and maybe even abusive at times as the hit counter hit higher and higher." I always found your posts, while sometimes strong, to be temperate and modest, and inviting differences of opinion to be stated. And, actually, the introspective self-critical attitude you've just expressed indicates WHY you are not that which you have charged yourself with being! Can't you see that? * * *

It would be good, I think, if you'd start a thread here to let people know what you intend. You are very much a "public figure" in the Okc internet circles, don't you know, and your public would appreciate a statement less oblique than what you've said in your blog. We love you, don't you know, and have come to rely on you as a solid source of information about what's happening/might happen in Oklahoma City.

As for me, I will surely miss your presence.

I again thank you for the rapproachment you (and none but you) caused to occur between me and OkcTalk. Had you not done your "intervention", well, I guess Todd wouldn't have asked my permission to make a mirror of my downtown Oklahoma City pages here, and, of course, I'd not have unhesitatingly said, "Sure!", to his request, since it would never have been made. This is perhaps a small, but important to me, example of the good that you have done ... and I hope will continue to do, in such manner as you see fit.

So, now, what are we going to have ... an Old DowntownGuy, and Old Old DowntownGuy, and some new contemporary DowntownGuy. Are you sure that you want to do this?

Thanks again for all that you have done, do, and will/may yet do, whoever the hell it is that you are as a person.

Take care.

[Downtown Guy]
I won't post on the blog again... I really liked that last entry as a classy way to say goodbye.
But if you want to share any of this in the comment section, feel free.

Remember, it's just the blog that's disappearing. It's not the ideas, it's not the discussion, it's not the dream. [But note: at the top, he said, “I'll keep the blog up. I just won't be posting.”]

Call me sentimental, cause that’s true. Get out your hankys. My last comment in his blog reads:

Downtown Guy!

(Ok, here, think of the movie, Dances With Wolves, toward the end, where the initially hostile (no comparison intended) Indian posts himself atop the hill overlooking the exit point and says, (English version)

Dances With Wolves! Do you see that I [we] love you! Do you see that I [we] am [are] your friend[s]! (over and over again)
The cavalry isn't chasing you. You don't have to go. Please don’t.Maybe some of you here who have greater abilities in persuasion than I do will have some things to add. As it stands, this is a sad day, at least for me. Perhaps some of you here have more powers of persuasion than I do. I hope so. If you don't, this will be a sorely missed resource for Oklahoma City, and, I'd say, a black day for Oklahoma City.

That is indeed sad news. I too wondered about the last post.

His blog was widely read and widely respected and oft quoted among other blogs. I think his contributions will be very much missed. I too hope he reconsiders. I didn't find any of his posts to be egotistical or unreasonable. Perhaps with a little break his interest will return.

Downtown Guy, we applaud you for the work that you did. We appreciate everything you've done. We are sad to hear the news. We miss your posts already. We'll check back each day hoping to find that you've had a change of heart and that you will grace us with your contributions once again.

Instead of a dream, this is a nightmare I hope ends soon. We love downtown, and no one made it more interesting than The Downtown Guy. This feels suffocating because he (or she) was a grassroots voice challenging the activities of downtown's movers and shakers, when there was none. He provided perspective on downtown's history, current happenings, and our hopes for its future. Was there pressure to end his blog? Was he "outed" and then silenced? I pray not.

But if so, downtown has lost an important advocate, to the wishes of those who'd rather we act like the easy-to-please suckers they've entertained in the past.

Well it's a new day in Oklahoma City.

I do quite well with "egotistical" and "abusive," personally.

And I'll miss DTG; he had insights on things that sometimes never occurred to the rest of us.

Hate to be critical but I guess he's just like every other leader and advocate we've ever had in this city...what a quitter. Sadly, I thought downtownguy was different.

Downtownguy, you will be missed......your absence is a huge blow to downtown and the renaissance effort we're trying to keep alive here. I hope you realize that.

ouch

Sorry.....I was just a little upset when I posted that.

DowntownGuy, thanks for believing in the dream and sharing your thoughts with the masses.

He's been doing a slow fade for a few weeks now, but this is still very disappointing.


I think he was somehow frightened about the attention he and his blog was receiving.