WEST SEATTLE, Washington, July 22, 2010 (WSFB) – Time.com ran an article today entitled “Are Hyperlocals Replacing Traditional Newspapers?” and it got folks in the neighborhood worked up into a lascivious lather about their local neighborhood “news” blog.

The article highlighted the meteoric rise of hyperlocal blogging in general, but put a focus on another blog in West Seattle that serves the community by observing and reporting on whale carcasses washed ashore and attending “15+ community meetings each month”.

“Every day we break stories,” quotes time.com. “”In the past hour, I learned a major parks project is being delayed because of drainage trouble and just broke that on our site.”

Isn’t that really what hyperlocal media is all about? And, who the fuck cares? This isn’t to say that everyone in the community doesn’t give a rip about the ability of a grassy knoll to shed water, but come on – is this really journalism we can’t live without?

Hyperlocal blogging is tough work. It requires sleepless nights, unrelenting pursuit of content, and severe obsessive compulsive disorder the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since Idi Amin decided he had no tolerance for people of Lango and Acholi descent.

To understand the hyperlocal blogger, one must first step back and assess the core motivation. Like most people that pour their heart, soul, blood, tears, and hard earned money into something for which they have unbridled passion, the hyperlocal blogger is motivated by profit and personal gain (and for some, celebrity). Case in point: “[local non-fun blog] made six figures in revenue last year before taxes; the same is expected for 2010″ (obfuscated quote from the time.com article linked above.)

Don’t be fooled by a wolf in blogger’s clothing. It’s all about the Benjamins, and you’d pay to know what they want you to think.