I only read your blog for Las Vegas content and nothing else, why should I keep reading?

You shouldn't.

I only read your blog to see live photos from Vegas, why should I keep reading?

You shouldn't.

Don't you care if I leave???!!!

You?

No.

Why would I?

Remember those 10,000+ photos I've posted?  Remember the hundreds of photos from the Adult Entertainment Expo, Sexxpresso, the airplane flights, the videos, the Pussycat Pit, the Double Down, the M Resort, the Conservatory, the construction, the grand openings, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Well, let me let you in on a little secret.  I've never gotten a dime for any of them.  I put them up for your viewing pleasure, at my own time and expense.  Fortunately, I'm blessed with a great online social circle and the forums are a self-sustaining entity, but the blog has always been a fucking money pit.  If you subscribe to the "time is money" school of thought, it's been a huge money pit.  I once spent 72 sleepless hours combing through years of video and cobbling together a stupid video for my blog.  The video is pure and utter shit, but it took a long time.



Why did I do it?

Just because.

That's the reason.  I do stuff to do it.

As the years wore on, however, I began realizing that I didn't even like a solid 50% of the people who consumed my photos and videos, and believe me when I tell you ... it got harder and harder to stay motivated.  I don't even want most of you to look at them.

"Gee Rex, how do I know if I am one of those people who you don't want looking at them?"

If you're the type of person who throws a hissy-fit when someone stops giving you a gift, then you are one of those people.  If you criticize other people's stuff, and have nothing to show for your own efforts, then you are one of those people.  If you consume content while claiming not to like it, then you are one of those people.

You have to realize that my sponsors don't make anything from people who consume photos or Vegas content and then leave.  If you have no interest in online gaming, then you are not a financial asset to me whatseover.  You never were.

Look, if you want to be a freeloader, that's fine with me.  Read, look, watch, enjoy, hate, bitch, moan, it's all good as far as I'm concerned.

I'm going to shoot you straight, though.  On my own personal blog, there are going to be WAY more photos of Seattle.  And Olympia.  And Portland.  And Aberdeen.  And Ocean Shores.  I could not care less if you like them or not.  You aren't paying for them, and the only reason I am taking the photos is ... just because.

Now, I still have over a million Vegas photos, 99.99% of them are unposted.  They aren't ripped off pictures, they're 100% my photos.  Over the years, I will share them with the internet community.  If you want to see them, see them, if you don't, don't.

If the answer is that you don't, do us both a favor and save the farewell opus.  Get your free content from someone else and bitch to them when it's out of focus.

You are complaining that you are no longer receiving digital welfare.  You're complaining because someone took the iTit out of your mouth.  Save the drama for Obama and ask him to give you live photos.

Better yet, maybe it's time for you to put down the digital malt liquor and start paying the Internet back for all you have received.  Get off your ass, take your own pictures, and contribute.  Let me sit back and visually keep up with Vegas from 1,200 miles away.  I deserve it.

When it comes to free photographs and videos, I've done my part in spades.  I've done more than 99% of the population has done.  Now, it's my turn to sit back and scrutinize your images.

Don't be a shiftless, lazy, ingrate.  Pay me back.  Get out there, get to work, and return the favor.

It's the least you can do.

Fine Rex, I am leaving and you won't have any readers left.

Maybe, maybe not, but you have to realize that I don't make my living primarily through blogging.  I don't blog to please anyone or to get or keep readers, I blog to blog.  It's a creative outlet that I picked up when I reduced my other endeavors.  I still have a guitar and I still have an amp, but when I play ... it's almost always in a room by myself.  I still make up songs, still record them, but for the most part, I am the only one that ever hears them.

I blog in a very similar manner.  I record onto a page, and if people want to read, I'm glad.  If they don't, I'm cool with that as well.

My interest in Las Vegas is going to wane over time, and it will be replaced with things that do interest me.  Churn is a healthy thing.  People evolve, their interests change and develop, and they move on.  When that happens, you lose some readers, gain others, or perhaps you just end up talking to yourself.  All of the above is fine with me.  Like my email friend who keeps telling me that he is leaving, I do have a couple of stalker-types who post several "I used to like you but I don't anymore, goodbye forever" fake blog comments through an anonymous proxy on a daily basis (turn off Javascript you idiots), so my guess is that I will never be completely alone.

That being said, there is a bit of strange irony in all of this.

Since I moved, traffic to my personal blog is up about 30%.  I think some of it is a temporary "what the hell is going on?" spike, but for every 1 person who leave the blog, 1.3 people discover it.  When they discover it, they tend to pound the hell out of it and read back several months.

The Pacific Northwest actually seems more receptive to "bloggers" than Las Vegas.  People seem to read more here.  I've already been approached by businesses here in the PNW who want to advertise on my personal blog, or want me to check out a particular business and write something about it.  One of them told me "Vegas' loss is our gain".

Sure, some folks are less than thrilled that a god-fucking, earth-hating, meat-eating, non-PC misanthrope is now shopping with them at the same Thriftway, but such is life.  It could be worse.  The Supersonics could still be here.

To summarize all of the above, and to bring peace and closure to millions of Sudanese refugees, I will close with the following:

For the overwhelming majority of you who resisted the urge to be assholes and expressed your appreciation, well, you're welcome.  I'm glad that you enjoyed it.  I mean that sincerely.

I can't tell you whether or not you will continue to enjoy it because I don't know and I don't spend time thinking about it.  If you like online gaming, lists of random stuff, the Pacific Northwest, mostly-negative Vegas articles, and pictures of Llamas licking their balls ... you might.

Then again, you might not.  I guess it won't cost you anything to find out.

As for the rest of you -- Yes, I am still VegasRex, no I will not try to be a Vegas blogger, and yes, you are going to miss many of the things I used to do.

It's the end of an era in Las Vegas, and believe me when I tell you, the pleasure was all yours.

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