In case you didn’t know — this blog is celebrating its first full year online. Although I have owned this particular domain since 2003, only the last 12 months’ worth of material represent the essence worthy of the name Doctor Pundit. Originally, this blog had its beginnings in the carefree early days of the blogosphere when “anything goes” was the mantra — at least as far as blogs were concerned. Back then, in the pre-Twitter days, many blogs were nothing more than online cubicles of random thought characterized by fleeting ephemera (who really wanted to know how many times you got a headache downing a Slurpee?) written by netizens just looking to take part in the next big Internet fad. Times have certainly changed, as blogs have matured into a medium in which many, if not all, media organizations have either co-opted or harvested as part of their essential newsgathering.

The top blogs today — which are as well known as the traditional media outlets they scoop — were humbly just getting off the ground. Not really knowing how to approach what, at the time, I considered to be more of a hobby than serious exercise in information dissemination; I ultimately squatted the domain name for a couple of years. I wasn’t quite ready to enter the Wild Wild West of that corner of the ‘Net just yet. Friends convinced me at that time (around 2005) to put the darn thing to some use. Of course, this was still before bloggers were considered serious peddlers of information enough to be called online journalists. The appellation “blog” was just starting to emerge as a standalone term in its own right, as “weblog” became a little too cumbersome for the rapid pace of the attention span of the audiences they were supposed to serve. The blogosphere was rapidly growing and leaving me behind; however, I still was reticent.

Flash forward to December 1, 2008, when the current incarnation of Doctor Pundit was born. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I really started writing about my interest in health policy and politics. As you all know, the main focus of this blog is evident in its subtitle/tagline. However, a caveat to the main fare featured on Doctor Pundit is presented in the Welcome section on the main page — that is, every now and then, I may feel like writing about off-topic issues. I really don’t know what those are just yet; health policy has essentially taken up much of what has been presented so far. (I really think it will for some time to come.) As part of the special Doctor Pundit first birthday celebration, I will soon present special then-and-now features entitled “Doctor Pundit @ 1 Year” about twice a week highlighting what this blog featured on its pages exactly a year earlier and comparing each post with an update of sorts. Readers will know if a post falls into this special series by noting the icon above; it will appear in each post within. Of course, the blog will continue to provide information that is consistent with its core mission. I look forward to presenting more features throughout 2010 as this blog works its way through its second year. Thanks for all of your support and interest in healthcare and health policy, and I hope that you continue to follow along for the ride.