ALT In terms of other factors explaining the blog’s success, I have the following traits, all of which seem to be conducive to successful blogging: A high level of intellectual self-confidence that is no doubt frequently arrogant, if not outright delusional. (It’s good to be intellectually humble but publishing a blog involves an implicit assumption that you have something valuable to tell other people). An ability to be unbothered by harsh criticism and occasional personal attacks. (Most of those who comment on your articles do so because they think you got something wrong. Although most of the feedback I get is high-quality, thoughtful, and respectful, I also receive a lot of outright hostile responses in absolute terms, which I think is pretty common among anyone who takes controversial stances on heated topics). Obsessive interests in a wide range of ideas and topics. (This has many obvious benefits but also less obvious ones. For example, readers are much more likely to be interest