Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Thanks for all the hard work and good luck in the future. Hopefully you will have similar luck to me and land on your feet running after this change.

Hi Margo.

It tool me ten minutes to write that. I am so devastated at our loss as a group and, really, as a Nation which needed independent thgought and media coverage... and at your pain in what you have written.

How hard it has been personally, financially, emotionally. I wish I could give you a big hug and say thanks for being so brave and working so hard, if you knew how admired you are out here in the real world you would certainly be proud of yourself.

You have been an inspiration to so many and a voice to challenge the direction we are being led.

Please don't be offended by the naysayers, they are the damaged amongst us that the wisdom here was healing. I have been so educated, so rarely does one get to hear another's point of view when so different and how they came to that conclusion and their evidence,and come to respect them for it and even find common ground on other topics, that is what has been so humanising.

Sharing ideas, passions, learning and understandings. This can only have benefited us all. I feel privileged to have heard such erudite and passionate people, some with great intelligence/wit/education well beyond mine, such as Dee , Duncan, Fiona, and many others and arguing skills to be admired although frustrating of C Parsons and the compassion of Geoff and Marilyn and the dogged determination of Jay and Bob and the research of others like Damian and Mark Parker and what a store of knowledge and experience in our community upon so many different topics. All to be admired. All to make us think and question. Can it be better? Are we moving in the right direction as a nation? Did that really happen? That is a deed to inspire.

Above all the person who made it happen.

I think not of the Rose but of the wattle, able to grow in the most desolate challenging harsh soils,suddenly blooms so brightly bits of annoying uncontrollable bright gold stuff all over the place challenging order and control,and after seeming to disappear and calm again decending, soon new wattle trees growing everywhere, making the soil richer for their presence, and after the dark of winter, the air errupts full of uncontrollable spreading blooms.

Thankyou.

Cheers, Angela.

Little l, Little z, Big H, Uni lecturer, older mother of 5 little ones, and with a husband very jealous of the time Webdiary took from him.

Dear Margo, I am saddened by your news. To read that Webdiary is closing tonight at midnight and that you are leaving journalism is akin to learning of the death of a close friend.

I suspect many of your readers may well stop reading newspapers at midnight tonight. This is journalism's loss, this is a loss to the media and a loss to Australia. We need your humanity and thank you for your humanity.

I hope you will be writing another book and hope it is not too long before you can return to us all. The saddest thing of all is that, I imagining that, I can totally understand your reasons for leaving at this moment.

Reading the posting by obviously anonymous John Smith shows how dangerous these times are and how dangerous people can be when they judge by hatred and not intelligence.

MARY DAGMAR DAVIES
Founder and Administrator
JANNAH THE SIEVX MEMORIAL

I'd echo Michael Park's sentiments, Margo - "Say it ain't so!" - but it's your decision to make. God bless!

And thanks, Michael, I'll look forward to hearing some good news soon about young JP.

By the way, about your US/Venezuela project, I've got a blog (such as it is) that could do with some quality content... But as I said to you once, you really should blog yourself.

Sorry it didnt work out for you Margo, all the best for the future.

Bummer about Webdiary...started humming ........

I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need

Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh....

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me now...

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!

Very sad Margo. You should know that you have inspired a lot of people to get more involved in important issues and clear their throats more often. There'll be a silver lining somewhere and whatever you do now will benefit hugely from your passion. There is no-one in Australian journalism who deserves more respect. Happy trails.

Thank you Margo for providing such a wonderful site. It has been very well run, everybody has had a chance to contribute.

It has been very apparent that you and your supporters have spent many hours fielding our posts and then editing them.

Best wishes to yourself and team.

Thanks for keeping the lights of democracy burning.

Well this is quite a shock, Margo. After following your site for years I never imagined I'd see Webdiary go. Best of luck for the future and never say never - who knows, you may feel inspired to revive Webdiary one day.

I'm sure Tim Blair is devastated as he won't know what to write about now.

Margo, thank you for trying so hard and achieving, in a short space of time, so much. My feeling is that we are in a bit of a messy period right now, when different ways of using media are being tested. I think your way was terrific, and I wish you could have kept going. Good luck, god speed, and don't give up commentary.

Sorry to see you go Magro. I had high hopes for this site as a way of promoting our democratic ideals (specifically, ridding this country of hoWARd!). Unfortunately there were just a few too many conspiracy theorists and authors flogging books contributing to the site which left us open to a lot of ridicule but in essence it was a job well done.

I think you have done a lot to help the geniune democratic process in this country as opposed to the shonky election system we have now, which only poses as democracy, but in reality lets idiots like Howard run our country just because they managed to get a "majority" of scared, uneducated Australians to vote for them. Surely there is a better way? Maybe there needs to be some sort of test of morals or values before you can vote or something?

Maybe you could continue the "cause" in a smaller, less expensive fashion rather than dissapear altogether? "Thinking Australians" need a site like this to ensure that the right people eventually gain some real power.

Dee, I have a Bachelor of Commerce, a Bachelor of Laws and a Masters of Business Administration. In my professional opinion, you couldn't teach Jay or anyone else for that matter anything about economics except, perhaps, how not to do it.

Margo,

We have had the best of times, unfortunately now it's our turn to suffer the worst of times!
Take a break.
Go out and see Australia the way it really is not the way these bastards have made it.

Regards
George Ivanow
Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea

Margo, I was truly shocked to see this post, as I am a quite recent and ardent devotee to WD as being an absolute shining light in the depressingly controlled and supine excuse for media in this country today.

I really admire your courage, steadfast ethics and great intellect and humanity in establishing and maintaining the WD forum which has obviously been at a substantial personal cost to you. This is a sad day for us all because now more than ever we need such a forum, to inform and give us all hope that reason, decency and erudite discussion are alive and well in this once great country.

Thank you so much again Margo and you have achieved greater things than you can imagine with this forum!! You are an inspiration to us all. Take care and have a well earned break which I hope inspires you to even greater achievements than WD.

Margo, on occasions such as this there are no profound words, except perhaps for a sincere goodbye, good luck and thank you.

In the immediate future I wish a Merry Christmas to you and yours. In the far future I look forward to a resurgent centre left party led by PM Margo storming into Parliament House and giving us all a very Merry Christmas for 2010.

And if you are ever looking for a Foreign Minister, you have my email address :-)

Just for reference, Kaua'i is the most beautiful place on earth, the northernmost of the Hawaiian Islands. If you ever have need to recharge yourself, go there.

Margo - what a huge loss! Not just for Aussie debate but for all of us who have loved it so much. Webdiary is a national treasure and so are you. Your inclusive approach, refusing only abuse – and not even abuse sometimes - has been unique and, I suspect, irreplaceable. A wonderful sprawling canvas of multiple views, engaging with the full spectrum of what humanity, not just Australia, faces in truly dire times.

Thanks for the chance to contribute from New York and thanks for access to all these diverse voices –like Jay and Greg H as well as Bob, Damian, Mark, Ian, Grace P, Darren U and hundreds of others too numerous to mention. I’ll miss you all sorely.

This was the place to come to plunge into the tide of thought and concern about where the juggernaut is taking us and how we can respond. This has been priceless.

The irises have finally succumbed to the season and died away, the snow is on the ground. I hope, after a decent rest, life will offer you a new arena for your gifts - thanks for all this.

In grief, Kerryn

Margo: Thanks Kerryn. Your letters from America have been enjoyed by all, I reckon I can say without being controversial - for once. Considered, informed, and beautifully written. It's been an honour to publish your work. Hope to see you next time you're in Oz.

This is a tragedy Margo and I am quite choked up. I have only ever posted once but visit this place every day and read most of what is on offer. I'm sure there are thousands of others like me who read avidly but never really post. I just found it hard to say anything original amongst such a scholarly lot!

This place is an oasis in a desert and I am so so sad.

My heartfelt thanks go to you and to all contributors to this wonderful idea.

Bless you.

Margo, This is indeed a sad day. For your years of effort and toil you have my undying respect. For the tenacity you have shown to those who abuse and deride your efforts you are unequalled.

Well done, and rest fully. Hopefully WD will continue in some form, it is a measure of democracy for which we will be poorer without.

Margo, as some of the commenters here might know, I'm as rightwing pro-Bush conservative as ever there was. But I say it sincerely, I will miss you and Webdiary. I wish you well Ms Kingston on whatever you do in the future.

As a Yank-Reaganite, there's probably not a word you've written with which I could agree (I find most of it pretty loopy), but, for what it's worth, sorry to hear you're packing up shop.

With the distant whistles of a lone harmonica blowin' in the wind, Chief Bartender Kingo took a long last drag of a rolled cigarette out the front of the swinging doors to Club Chaos.

She flicked the butt on the dirt and with a cool twist of her cowgirl boot she stubbed out the crimson flame. Of course, a passing tree hugger and loyal Club Chaos regular scooted by and binned any butt rubbish before Kingo had time to bend her weary back and pick it up.

"Time to blow this chicken stand," she mumbled under her breath as the murmurs from the crowd inside abruptly fell to gasps and then to silence.

"Say it aint so!" a regular chirped, but Kingo seemed beyond changing her mind.

The Chief Bartender was to close Club Chaos and would ride off into the late midnight sunset in a blaze of glory. Because for five great years it had been truly glorious. Indeed, a tremendous toast was in order as Kingo called for last drinks ...

Sniffs. MK, I'm very sad about the closure of Webdiary because I'll selfishly miss it, but I do hope this decision means you can breath a sigh of relief and grab some chill out time and space. Enormous thanks for all the opportunities you and Webdiary have given me. I sincerely wish you the best with your future endeavours. Stay cool.

Margo: Polly, you've been a stayer, and I thank you for it. I love your work and always have. And I've loved the way you've recorded Webdiary's growth and tribulations since you invented 'Club Chaos' all those years ago. Waiting to take us away indeed. I'm sorry I couldn't make the move work, Polly, but I tried, I really did. Stay cool yourself - your brilliant writing career has just begun.

Sitting at home yesterday, listening to the atrocities being slammed through Parliament, I thought it was a dark hour for Australian politics. Reading this thread is much darker.

It's hard to write this... If you hadn't dragged me into the writing I've been doing, a lot of things wouldn't have been written. I owe you more than you know, as focussing on Webdiary has kept me on track at times in my life when I couldn't see a direction.

Know that whenever you're in Adelaide you always have my hospitality, and I want you to promise to look me up when you're here.

Hamish has been great to work with, and in Kerri I've found a kindred soul who I could talk to till the end of time. I hope that they are both ok, and wish their futures to be bright ones... they both deserve it.

As do you Margo. Please don't write off your journalistic career forever. Many of us trying to make sense of everything that's happening will need a voice of reason in the future. I hope it will be you.

With deep sadness and fond regards, Richard.

Dear Margo,

Just came home and saw this notice. What can I say, except the devastation and emptiness that I am feeling right now.

So I'm down and so I'm out,
But so are many others
So I feel like tryin' to hide,
My head 'neath these covers
Life is like the seasons
After winter comes the spring
So I'll keep this smile awhile
And see what tomorrow brings.

Love and Thank You - PF Journey.

Margo: And you, PF. Your work as Webdiary's Asia columnist ( see here and here) has been nothing short of brilliant. It enriched Webdiary's perspective no end. I hope you'll continue to write elsewhere, because your voice is unique in Australia. And PF, thank you for all you've done to try to make this work. I'll be grateful forever, and hope to have yum cha with you again soon. Love always to you and your wonderful family.

Very sad to see you go, Margo, and just when I was getting warmed up too. I'm starting to regret not getting more actively involved back in the SMH days rather than just being a 'reader'.

Nonetheless, you've been an inspiration. All the best for the future. The offer still stands for a coffee next time you're up this way.

This is a sad day and I will miss Webdiary. On one hand the loss of an alternative voice merely confirms the slide into rigid, hierarchical, centralised control by the present government. On the other hand, I hope the loss of WD is an example of the hundred headed hydra - lop off one and more spring up in their place.

Well done Margo, I appreciate what you have done and wish you all the best.

“It seldom wins and then by the skin of its teeth. It crawls, it goes into hiding but keeps on, putting down its quickly drying track on the historical landscape, on documents and boundary lines, amid building sites and ruins, skirting retreats and silted revolutions.

‘What do you mean by the snail?’
‘The snail is progress.’
‘What’s progress?’
‘Being a little quicker than the snail…’

…and never getting there, children.”

Gunter Grass, From the Diary of a Snail.

Dear Margo, please go into your very well-earned rest with the knowledge that as you “stare at the trees and sky for a while” that many of those trees of progress and that wide sky of freedom were flowers and horizons which you planted, pointed to and helped to foster and grow.

E. M. Cioran: “A flower grows faster if you pray beside it.”

Thankyou very much for your super-human efforts and the very best of luck, health and fortune.

Hi Margo

Thanks so much for what you've done.

"Accepting failure"? Does it have to continue to have succeeded?

Looking at what it has achieved, Webdiary has been great. It's been a fantastic source of much-needed information and critique, and has shown what can be done with the internet.

I'm sure it will actually be directly responsible for a lot of great things that happen online in the future!

I've really appreciated your work since first hearing you on LNL.

Guess it's up to the rest of us to find creative ways to continue what you've started.

All the best

Don

NOW what am I going to do as I eat my breakfast each morning?

I haven't generally been game to contribute to the discussions, but Webdiary has been a huge addiction for me for the last 5 years or so. I've loved watching it evolve, and the people come and go (and sometimes come back again). It has helped me to analyse better what is going on in the marketplace of ideas ... and to be patient with other points of view. But mostly I've enjoyed your passion, Margo (and that of other contributors). I hope the hurts heal quickly, and you find a worthy outlet for your talents in the future.

You done good ... very good.

Hello Margo, are you talking to me? Remember your wonderful, well thumbed and well read book Not Happy John was born here in Adelaide and your exposes of Woomera sure helped get that terrible place closed.

Some in the media don't have your integrity though - witness the hatchet job on Oday Al Tikriti this week. This lovely man is now in grave danger just as many of us told the journo involved he would be. You would not do that to any man.

I loved meeting you Margo, I love your work and you.

Come back soon.

Marilyn

Oh my god! I'm gonna miss this blog. I was just about to get on the internet at home so I could spend hours pouring over the people's thoughts. I love the people's thoughts - even the righties!

Can anyone recommend a blog as good where I can get my fix? Farewell Margo.

I've not seen an anti-Margo web site. When I read right wing opinions I choose only the ones who explain or argue - not propaganderise. I read a selection of columns where Oliver North (Iran - Contra guy) has one. I don't read him as he doesn't seek debate but ideological war.

The Scott Ritter thread is an example of what I don't like here. The comments in this thread have no value as it's all word games. Luckily not all, or even most, threads were like this.

Still why don't you sue Bob Carr for defamation and retire on his money. Win - win all round - Carr gets punished and you get rich.

Anyway good bye and good luck.

Bugger
In this, the darkest of weeks for our democracy, a loud voice of dissent and independence has gone.

I only discovered Webdiary a few months ago but it has become my primary source of real information. (After all my daily paper is the West Australian, enough said!).

I will miss your unique contribution to the framework of discussion in Australia.

Rest assured when future generations look back on our once great democracy they will not ask you “why did you just let it happen?”, rather they will lament “if only there were more like you our freedoms might never have disappeared”.

You not only tried you succeeded. Regular readers will know more, think more and accept less than they did before. That is real success.
Thanks Margo

Margo, thank you (and all the team) for your dedication to the Webdiary cause. I wish you all the best in your future activities. Hopefully you can still make a contribution to journalism in some other way. Webdiary may close but it stands as a unique example of its type. For this reason I hope there is a way to archive the site to make its content accessible to readers and researchers.

As a writer of a number of Webdiary articles, I would like to say how much I have enjoyed writing these pieces. It was satisfying and always a learning experience to write these pieces and follow the comments thread of readers. Finally, Webdiary surely was a ‘virtual community’ that will be missed by all of us who would drop by for its alternative points of view and open debate.

Margo,
So sorry - and I was just getting into this website - thank you for your great writing - a visit was always reassuring somehow - hope you're thinking differently in a few months time.

You've done a terrific job.

Very sorry to see you go. Really enjoyed the stuff.
Thank you and God bless.

Keith Binns

Margo, I haven’t participated (perhaps once) on your Webdiary but have certainly enjoyed reading it. I am very disappointed that it will end and that its end marks the end of your career in journalism, I have admired you for many years. All the best.

Farewell Margo and thanks for all the fish. Is it an open invitation for WDs to the National Library on 22nd? What time? Just want to shake your hand or something...

Maybe your next great adventure is to write the definitive work on the Lying Rodent and all his works over the past decade. There is a big gap on my bookshelf just waiting....

Margo, I can't tell you how sorry I am to read this news. I've been reading Webdiary for a long time, even though I haven't posted much (I don't seem to have the level of erudition of some of your more informed contributors!) The level of information and analysis available through this site has been invaluable, and has made a big difference to my life.

About 6 months out from the last election I was one of those people walking around saying "if Howard gets up again, I'm leaving the country." But as the election drew closer, and it became obvious that he would win, I changed my tune. Thanks in no small part to articles and comments here, I realised that it is better to stay and fight. Since then, I have quit commerce and the big smoke of Sydney, and am working with indigenous people in the far reaches of WA.

Nationally, things have obviously got worse since then, but sites like Webdiary are vitally important. I hope and believe that, through discussion forums like this, we are starting to make a difference.

Thanks so very, very much for hosting this site and making this discussion space available. Webdiary is a real community, and I hope it can stay together, somehow, in the future. For me, it is the true "light on the hill" in the dark days ahead.

Seems like crisis/opportunity time. You're a marvellous influence in the world Margo. Thankyou for all the seeds you've planted. I don't think you need to be sorry for not being able to carry this through as I'm sure you'll keep planting seeds wherever you go. You've done so in many forums already and I can't imagine you'll suddenly stop caring about the world your in. Every interaction with the world counts. Your caring, acceptance, willingness to engage, courage, honesty and dedication certainly has and no doubt will continue to do so.

Thankyou.

You have created the template, Margo. A fine creation living in many varied ways, in form, minds and hearts.

I'll reserve a note for you in email over the days ahead, when the shock of this has died down.

I note you mentioned once your back was in pain; you've indeed long carried a weight for all of us. How is it today?

Margo: Hi Robert. I'm honoured that your piece has been published on Webdiary's last day. My back is hurting, but not as bad as recently. Russell sent me some magnetic thing which seems to be helping. Love aways, and thanks for your belief in me and what I tried to do.

Margo, I'm sorry to hear that Webdiary is closing. I was only ever able to come here sporadically due to other commitments, but it was certainly thought-provoking.

I'll admit I disagreed with the vast majority of what was written on this site, and often felt like I'd entered a parallel universe. I sometimes felt like the only one who kinda liked Australia the way it is, and was pretty relaxed and comfortable with how thing's were progressing. (I'm quite a centralist guy in real-life, but found myself in the "Right Wing Death Beast" camp here). However, diversity is important in the media. It was an article you wrote about media diversity (ownership laws, etc) which first led me here, I recall.

I'm a gung-ho, free-market capitalist, but information is not "widgets". Trying to apply economic laws without reservation to the media is like trying to cut the lawn with a hammer, or whack nails with a whippersnipper.

There's nothing wrong with hammers. There's nothing wrong with whippersnappers. There's nothing wrong with capitalist economics. But you need different tools for different jobs.

(Hmmm, I just realized the above was not very coherent, but I know what I meant!)

Anyway, moving right along. My unsolicited advice, Margo:
- take a holiday, sit on a beach, etc
- read nothing more strenuous than a New Idea for a few weeks.
- then get back into journalism in some form or another.
- just have a personal blog where you can write whatever you want. Your space.
- forget codes of ethics, management teams, paid moderators, blah blah, etc. Hundreds of thousands of people do it, and it costs zero to run.
- only rule you need is 'this is my private space. piss me off and you gone. no correspondence entered into.'
- ie: have the best of both worlds. access, press passes, etc with your "day job". And a personal space to say whatever you want in your own time.
- your space, your rules, no obligation to do jack if you didn't feel like it.
- post when you feel like it, don't when you don't.

You could be the "left"/"liberal" etc answer to Tim Blair. I read Blair's site, and I'll admit I really enjoy it. But as I said, diversity of opinions is important.

I'm glad some of the other "RWDB"s have been graceful about this. To John Smith - look mate, I think some of the stuff that bugs you about WD is probably the exact same stuff that bugged me. I'm just not sure if this is the time or place to go feral. As I'm sure you're aware, there's other venues where you can do that freely right now.

And to rest of you sods, cheer up, this is the internet! There's a zillion options if you want to keep a "Webdiary community" going.

For starters, have you considered USENET? It's old skool, but completely unmoderated, and very efficient. I'm not up to date on what are the most popular groups these days. But I know aus.politics and alt.ozdebate were quite active, and discussed Aussie politics a lot. Migrate there, perhaps?

You can use an ordinary email client like Outlook Express to read, or a dedicated news clients like Xnews, Agente, Forte, Dialog, etc, etc

It's free, fast (instant/within minutes essentially), unmoderated, "ownerless", and all your posts are archived for eternity by Google-groups (although you can set it up so your posts are not archived.)

Go there, post links to mainstream articles, and argue your tits off. Great, huh?

Tips:
- Obey USENET ettiquette. (Don't use HTML text).
- "Munge" your email address, so spambots don't get it.

Actually, if you really wanted, you could even create a new USENET group just for this purpose. You could call it "alt.webdiary" or somesuch. It's all free, and costs zero to run. (In fact, there would be no "owner" really.) Is this appealing to those of you with 'open-source' instincts?

On the other hand, a lot of people a really more comfortable with web-interfaces, like blogs. If that's the case, have any of you guys tried Larvatus Prodeo? I'm not too familiar with it, but my understanding is that it is a left-of-centre blog which many might be comfortable with (and like WD, has multiple contributors). There's also Tim Dunlops's Road to Surfdom and that Anthony Lowenstein bloke too.

See? Options, options, options all around you people! Cheer up, the world is your oyster.

I'm sure Margo will be back in some form or another.

Take care, Margo.

Margo - time to look after yourself - one can only keep on giving so much. WD has been a great journey with all the ups and downs that a journey throws up - thanks for leading it and allowing others to do so at various times.

As they say one door closes and another opens - enjoy the next journey. If ever in Fremantle, Little Creatures also does good food and coffee (and not bad beer if you ever partake again).

Take care.

Well, at least you gave it a go.

There was a time when I really enjoyed Webdiary; it was a good place to be around the time of the 2004 election, when there were heaps of intelligent responses from readers, and a sense that an anti-Howard force could be built, and be successful.

Unfortunately, Webdiary descended into lots of panic-ridden articles of late, comparing Howard to Hitler, and sensing pending doom in just about everything that happened. It just got depressing, and blew stuff out of proportion. That sort of thing just gives right wingers ammo, so in some ways, it's good that Webdiary is ending.

As for a future direction, Margo - you're empathic, emotional, and care about people's wellbeing. How about a career in social services/ welfare? I think you'd be good at it, and would be around like-minded people. Journalism's for bastards, anyway.

Margo, you were my first chief of staff, and I looked forward to every day at work with you at the SMH bureau in Canberra. I'll miss reading your posts and those of your inspired contributors, and I hope it won't be too long before you're back in some incarnation that's even better than this one.

Best wishes, Karen Ingram

Dear Margo,
I am so saddened that Webdiary is closing down. It has been my daily reading since it began and it feels a bit like losing a friend. Thank you for all you have done, for your integrity, courage and decency and for providing us, your readers, with such stimulating, thought-provoking articles.

I hope you may be able to rest and recuperate and regain your strength. Please know that the good wishes of your readers are with you.

Should you or Hamish Alcorn decide to restart Webdiary in the future please keep my email address on file and let me know. I would like to become a subscriber.

My very best wishes to you.

Margo,

Congratulations on making your mark, and a terrific 6 year contribution to the lifeblood of this nation. Nothing wrong with taking a break if you feel this current incarnation didn't work out quite the way you thought.

Now, if you really want to get up Howard's nose join the ALP :) (you knew I was going to say that!).

Margo, as someone who mainly lurks (and has posted mostly when irritated thus offering only unhelpful diatribes), I want to add both my thanks to what's been said by others.

Webdiary has been one of the few regular reads around that have managed to lift me out of despair about Australia's state, and in large part that's because of the atmosphere and opportunity to contribute that you have offered. I'm terribly sorry about the demise of WD, but would rather concentrate on the good that you have created. Many thanks for that.

Dear Margo,
I am very sad to learn that Webdiary is closing down. It has been my daily reading since it began and I feel as though I am losing a friend. Thank you for all you have done. For your integrity, your courage and your intelligence and for providing us, your readers with so many stimulating and thought-provoking articles.
I hope that you will have the time to rest and recuperate and to regain your strength. The good wishes of your many readers will be with you.
Please keep my email address on file and should Webdiary restart I would like to become a subscriber.
Again with many thanks and good wishes, Faye Lake

Margo,

We've never met and I've not been viewing your pages long.

However, I'm perceptive enough to see when I see A GOOD THING. Webdiary is (was) it. One of your other contributors said it "You created the Template". I really hope that someone else with more resources (money?) picks up the template and runs with it.

On a personal note, I empathise with you about back pain. I have had 20 years of spinal pain and it really affect one's ability to work at something. You truly are a wonderful and courageous journalist. Would that it be ever so. Best wishes in whatever you choose to do. Will we hear from you again?

Dear Margo, I'm in Byron today trying to escape the heatwave and humidity the Gold Coast has dished up over the last couple of days...
The last hour or so Ive been nostalgically brooding over my and others posts over the past five years...

The Tampa affair/despair...
The invasion of Afghanistan...
Peter Reith and the truth overboard photos...
Trip to Woomera/Brisbane/Canberra to help asylum seekers...
Your trip to South Africa and your posts for the Fred Hollows foundation...
The Iraq invasion... marches against it...
The further Americanisation of our culture and implementation of failed U.S. social policies for Australia...
to name a few...

Like in the movie Forrest Gump where Forrest stops running, after running across the U.S. "Why did you stop running Forrest? I'm tired! The crowd of followers say "What will we do now?"

Seriously it's been a somewhat intense experience for me sharing my anger and disbelieve as this government divests itself of responsibility of portfolios leaving the market to hack away at social sevice in this country.

Will miss you and Webdiary Margo!

Kind regards.