After all the fuss about Dave Winer’s promised retreat from blogging, he’s decided to replace the cheerful header on Scripting News with a gloomy one. Sensitively done, Dave. It’s good to see you’ve retained your sense of humour.

There’s been a note of gloom in the blogosphere for a while now, mainly coming from the old tech A-list, which sees itself being usurped by a younger crowd and the commercial set. Robert Scoble and Dave Winer have been blogging 24/7 since the blog stone age. They’re all blogged out.

Neither does it for money per se, just reputation and “celebrity” buzz. How they’ve maintained the energy over all those years beats me. The psychological force behind the comments they get would be enough to blow away an adult male elephant.

Jaded, faded stars are always bitter. Norma Desmond would have a lot to say to Messrs Scoble and Winer.

Tribute To Dave Winer and Robert Scoble:

Memorable Quotes from Sunset Boulevard. (1950)

Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.
Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It’s the *pictures* that got small.

Norma Desmond: They took the idols and smashed them, the Fairbankses, the Gilberts, the Valentinos! And who’ve we got now? Some nobodies!

Norma Desmond: We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!

Max Von Mayerling: She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn’t know, you’re too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. Later he strangled himself with it!