I can't remember exactly when I started reading blogs, but it was before they were called that. I started reading Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish in 2002, I think.

But I'm sure when I stopped reading almost all of the ones mentioned in the media.  That was October of 2004, several weeks before the presidential election.  And it ended where it started, with Sullivan.

A some point Sullivan -- and almost all the rest of the political blogs now so discussed and feared in the "Main Stream Media" -- became so shrill, so predictable ...

So tiresome.

That I just stopped.  Oddly enough, I never really restarted, at least with those.  These days the only "big" blog I read regularly is InstaPundit, which is light and largely free of invective and pointed commentary.

I still read a lot of blogs, though, but they tend not to be what are thought of blogs in the current discussions.  So no Sullivan or Power Line or Josh Marshall.  I still read InstaPundit, but other than that, it's mostly what I call expert blogs -- smaller traffic blogs that specialize deeply in one area, and are often written by professional practicioners.

One of my favorites, for example, is The Luminous Landscape, a wonderful blog that focuses on landscape photography.

Which brings me to several points.  Over the next few weeks I'll be writing and discussing -- come on, click on those comment links! -- about how the blogosphere is maturing, and starting to develop in new and interesting ways.

And I won't be linking for the sake of linking.  One of the things I'm thinking about is that the blogosphere is dividing into different species.  I think that An Imperfect Equilibrium will be more about thinking, and essays, and conversations in the comments, and less about delivering a big bag o links every day.  But more about that as we go through this emerging ecosystem.