As you can see, Stephen is revamping the WCI design. We're adding an 'about WCI' page. What I've drafted is below the fold. Comments welcome.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative was started by Stephen Gordon in 2005. Stephen believed that academic economists play an important role in developing Canadian public policies, and we have a commensurately important obligation to try to explain them as best as we can to the non-economist public. The blog began as his contribution to explaining public policy issues.
Stephen was also committed, right from the beginning, to discussing basic economic concepts, commenting on developments in the world economy, and posting on any topic that he found interesting enough to write about.
The name Worthwhile Canadian Initiative reflects the blog's mission – to provide useful made-in-Canada economic analysis – and is also a nod to some people's sentiments about such analysis. The phrase "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative" inspired (and won) a contest for the most boring newspaper headline ever.
Stephen Gordon was joined by Nick Rowe in November, 2008, who writes mostly on international money and macro. Mike Moffatt and Frances Woolley joined in March, 2010. Mike brings a business economics perspective to the blog, Frances writes on public finance, micro and everyday economics. Livio de Matteo joined March 2011, and often writes about health policy, education, and Ontario-related policy issues.
One of the best parts of WCI is the comment section. We figure we have the best commentators on the econblogosphere. The only rules for the comments section are: (1) be respectful of others (2) don't complain about the free pizza.
Comments not infrequently get stuck in the spam filter. If your comment does not appear, email the author of the post you're commenting on, and he or she can rescue it.
If you wish to reproduce WCI content, please abide by fair use rules. Generally speaking, copying a couple of paragraphs is fine, reproducing the substantive content of a post without permission of the author is not okay. When you reproduce WCI content, please include a link back to the original post.
We don't accept advertising – never have, never will.
For more on the history and mission of WCI, please see Stephen Gordon's inaugural post, and his post on the first five years of WCI.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Would it be possible to include a way to search and/or view all of the posts of any single author?
Joe – look at the top and click on “posts by author”. I haven’t figured out a way to search within categories yet, unfortunately.
Easily one of my favorite econ blogs- keep up the good work guys!
The “resources” drop down tab is mangled, as the links are overlayed on top of each other.
Wed development is a PITA.
rsj – yeah, we’re working on it. For the links all to appear in one navbar, the columns have to be so narrow that there’s a wrap-around problem. Reducing font size might help, but we’re seeing if there’s another solution.
I definitely agree with the point about the Comments section.
As an interested “civilian” I find they add a lot to the discussion
contained in the posts themselves. Very helpful.
@Frances: “One of the best parts of WCI is the comment section. We figure we have the best commentators on the econblogosphere.”
You make me blush. But you’re right. Compared to other heavy-hitters, WCI attracts a lot a commenters of a surprisingly high quality and who engage each others. I am always surprised at how relatively few people comment on DeLong for example compared to here. And the level is, in my view, superior to even Krugman, though he has a trolling problem.
WCI is quintessentially Canadian: polite, collaborative. 5 areas of expertise, 4 universities of which 3 anglo and 1 franco, 4 from large cities and 1 from a regional one. That maybe part of the success. Polite from the start, trolls just don’t feel right coming. The variety of specialities means there is always something interesting even when one of the gang is busy or need a rest.
The links on the right are less numerous than Mark Thoma’s Economist’s view (but your link to him made me discover a whole universe).
I can’t boast ” I was here when there was 2 comments a week!”. I came (via PK) when Nick lost it and therefore gained a lot. My comment on that thread was warmly welcome and since then, WCI is one the first thing I do in the morning.
Keep on the good work and feel assured of our support!
I like this site and visit fairly often (~1/week at least) despite being a non-expert. If easy, I would suggest a mobile-friendly version. But content matters more than appearance.
Cheers,
Chris
Looks great, keep up the good work.
B
Frances, excellent as is. The only think I could think of adding is that “Being Canadian, boasting is considered very bad manners, sometimes to the point of false modesty. For example, one brilliant macro contributor claimed he was ‘crap at maths’, while another contributor called herself the ‘mumbling professor’ despite having a lovely, clear voice.”
Greg – you are too kind!
Bob – thanks!
Chris – I’ll talk to Stephen about it. There are tweaks that you can do to your settings to make the content easier to read on a mobile, I should add that info to the About page.
Jacques Rene – thanks – you keep us honest – whenever I write something about Quebec I do a mental “what would Jacques Rene say?” check.
Since there are 8 million Stephen Gordon’s and Prof Gordon (now at Laval), B.A. (UofT), M.A(UWO), Ph.D(UofT 1990) twitters under StephenFGordon, shouldn’t you mention the “F”?
And need we point out that the ‘contest’ was a narrow nerdy view from the U.S. while Stephen F. Gordon has a more expansive world-view from the heights of Quebec City?
A big reason, apart from the the brilliant bloggers, that there is such a great comment section is the lack of moderation. The delay introduced by moderation means it’s impossible to have a debate because by the time your comment appears, 10 other commenters may have said the same thing which makes the thread unreadable. But tolerating unmoderated criticism takes a great deal of courage and patience and is a real credit to all of you.
“One of the best parts of WCI is the comment section.”
From your link of the inaugural post
“Economics is witchcraft! Get thee behind me, Satan!”
It’s true, I do love the comments.