The thing to wonder about is if anyone who isn't playing your game cares about your game. Saying that so and so is going to open a restaurant with Jim Bob Jones doesn't mean anything to anyone till I can go sit down in the place. Otherwise it's just hype.

I'm sure those that don't care outnumber those that do. But those that do care have a tendency to be the loudest voices, and they can be very hard to ignore.

+1 for Graham. As long as you take note of something the same day, when it comes to news, or the same month (maybe) when it comes to food, I could give a shit who was FIRST when it came to a stupid restaurant opening or whatever.

WE APPRECIATE YOU FOR WRITING THOUGHTFULLY ABOUT FOOD, AND ENGAGING WITH YOUR READERS THROUGH THE BLOG ABOUT YOUR FOOD EXPERIENCES.

Have you ever heard a normal human being give a shit about who was first to break ANY KIND of story?

While there's some truth to Graham's statement, it's over-statement. Anyone who's opened a restaurant knows that even a one paragraph notice about a restaurant opening can have people walking by the place, knocking on the window several times a day to find out why you're not open yet.

That said, I've never really cultivated sources. I think I've been cultivated as a source a lot more. All I ever used to do is sign up for every newsletter I could and re-publish stuff from those sources and existing media. Or if I heard about a place, I might stop by on the way home from work and grab a menu and type it up if it wasn't online or make a phone call to see if a rumor had any basis in truth. Just time and effort, no real inside-dope needed. But that's the benefit of it being a hobby rather than my livelihood.

But PAC's description of the game definitely exists, though the rewards seem marginal. I've seen food media reporters' eyes brighten as they told me they had a story to break and couldn't tell me. I have some pretty unpleasant emails from one media source about another media source all about breaking stories, etc. I've had restaurateurs pretty bluntly tell me that I wasn't worth telling some pre-opening information to because they had to save it for the Oregonian or whatever. Seems goofy to me, but, like I said, it was never my livelihood.

I actually never really noticed if you were a part of it, PAC. I don't know if you'd consider that a compliment or not. I just enjoyed that you tried to get outside "the next big thing," more like the bloggers I respect, but in print.

Although, it's worth noting you're still playing this game with the whole cattiness about what you're doing next.

These last few posts of yours make it sound like it was a horrible gig. Thanks for taking that bullet for us readers???