Twenty-one years in the past, the web regarded vastly completely different. Social media websites like Fb and Twitter didn’t but exist. Just one in 4 People had entry to high-speed web, so for most individuals, downloading photos or their favourite music took a substantial period of time. Since inventors had not but created smartphones, customers surfed the web as a stationary exercise.
Individuals principally used the web at the moment for analysis or easy communication with family and friends. Blogs supplied a big supply of data on the web, protecting nearly any subject, and most supplied informative content material. Social and political commentary blogs existed, however they remained uncommon.
Though many blogs appeared on the web, most lasted solely a short while earlier than the variety of posts pale and bloggers finally shut them down or deserted them. Just a few achieved constant notability. One in every of them was the TaxProf weblog, which Paul Caron — the present dean of Pepperdine Caruso Faculty of Legislation — ran. Whereas the weblog catered to the tax and legislation college neighborhood, it stood out for its constant launch of related information alongside the occasional private or spiritual publish. If information appeared on the TaxProf Weblog, it deserved a learn.
On Monday, Caron introduced that after 21 years and 55,780 posts, he would finish the weblog. He made the choice after studying that the platform internet hosting his weblog would discontinue all blogs on September 30.
I believe I first got here throughout the TaxProf weblog after I was a tax LLM scholar at Chapman Faculty of Legislation. I used to be visiting the late Michael Lang throughout his workplace hours and I occurred to note the weblog on his laptop monitor. From that second, I visited the TaxProf weblog often within the hopes it will assist me perceive my tax courses. I don’t suppose it did, however I realized loads about authorized schooling and its questionable practices previous to 2010.
A while later, I transferred to Loyola Legislation Faculty. I had the chance to graduate with honors, however I used to be required to spend a semester writing a analysis paper. It was then I remembered a TaxProf publish in January 2006 in regards to the IRS presumably taxing the sale of online game forex. I assumed it will make an attention-grabbing paper subject that individuals would wish to learn. Not less than extra attention-grabbing than writing about partnership distributive share laws. However I used to be involved that others within the authorized neighborhood would discover it absurd and that it will make me unemployable after commencement.
To make a protracted story quick, I spent the semester going to the library after courses studying extra books than I care to confess. I talked to legislation professors, on-line sport builders, and even an economist on the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
I additionally examine a brand new kind of digital coin referred to as Bitcoin which was promoting for 50 cents every. I thought of placing $100 on it and let it sit for some time. But it surely appeared scammy, so I ignored it.
I ultimately completed the analysis paper, and it did greater than add a gold star to my LLM diploma. It was revealed within the Virginia Tax Assessment and was cited by the IRS Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report back to Congress. This later performed a component within the Inner Income Service’s preliminary digital forex and later cryptocurrency laws.
All this got here from a weblog publish that I learn one morning in 2006.
I’ll miss the TaxProf Weblog not only for the affect it had on me, but in addition as a result of it represents one in every of a dying breed of blogs created as a “labor of affection,” as Caron places it. Blogs have given option to social media. Bloggers have morphed into influencers who care extra about pleasing monetization algorithms, boosting view counts, or gaining followers. And commentators write in methods designed to troll or provoke reactions, slightly than to make individuals suppose.
I’m hopeful that algorithms of the long run will put an finish to clout chasing and reward those that present helpful info just like the TaxProf Weblog did for 21 years.
Steven Chung is a tax legal professional in Los Angeles, California. He helps individuals with primary tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He’s additionally sympathetic to individuals with massive scholar loans. He might be reached by way of e-mail at [email protected]. Or you possibly can join with him on Twitter (@stevenchung) and join with him on LinkedIn.
