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Brooklyn historian befuddled by Brooklyn blogs

Y'know, I agree with critics who say blogs (in general) are too often insubstantial. But there are some solid Brooklyn blogs, and when a dead-tree writer criticizes them in print, he ought to get his facts straight.

Here's an excerpt from a Brooklyn Daily Eagle essay headlined Historically Speaking: Researching Brooklyn — Online, by former Brooklyn Borough Historian John Manbeck:
The Gowanus Lounge has a blog with its slogan: “Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.” The Atlantic Yards Report has news about the Nets.

Adventures in Brooklyn and BK 11201 recount personal tales with pictures. Brooklyn Enthusiast deals with food and recipes as does Bread, Coffee, Chocolate, Yoga and All in Brooklyn. Frisket of Hicks Street recently became Frisket of Main Street: it’s about this dog. Two others have Brooklyn Bridge pix: Never Sleepist and Sam I Am.

To me, most of the material I encountered in blogs has been gossipy and unreliable. While the Web sites are more substantial, information there must be further researched in, say, a book.


Further research shows

Um, The Gowanus Lounge, which includes firsthand reporting often critical of the Brooklyn real estate firmament, is different from the eclectic but homier Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. Suffice it to say that Borough President Marty Markowitz is unlikely to hail GL's Bob Guskind at his final "State of the Borough" address, as he did OTBKB's Louis Crawford, founder of the annual Brooklyn Blogfest (the third annual event will be May 8).

While AYR obviously touches on the Nets, Atlantic Yards is about much more than basketball, as any casual reader would know. For news about the Nets, go to NetsDaily.

I've read some very good stuff by Manbeck over the years; his 11/13/05 op-ed on AY for the New York Times was not, however, his most incisive work. Nor is this one.

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