Bad Times At The Blogging Times?
It came as a surprise to me when Minic Rivera’s name suddenly appeared on the Blog Herald as part of the contributors list, and more so when I realized he had already been contributing news items on the site itself. Minic is known to run one of the Blog Herald’s “competitors” (friendly competition, that is. Right guys?), The Blogging Times. While the Herald’s thrust had been more about blogging and new media, one of the features of the Blogging Times was Minic’s ability to find really obscure, but relevant news items and write about these on the Times.
It wasn’t a surprise that Minic was taking a break from the Times, as he had been looking for someone to replace him as editor. It didn’t quite hit me that this would be for good (and we thought he was just taking a little break). But the bad thing was that the move was met with speculations that the Blogging Times was going down the drain, and had even resorted to copying content from elsewhere. Now it’s all clear. There is someone new at the helm of the Blogging Times. And that person is not just there as a temp. Apparently, the entire site had moved servers, and with that the editorial slant has also shifted.
For one, the usual format of text-only headlines on the front page is replaced with (striking and strong) images. And then there’s the new “porno” tag, as highlighted by 901am. Okay, that’s from some naughty topics topping technorati’s search list. But still that sounds a bit sensational to me. Strange times, indeed.
Is TBT going downhill, as naysayers are predicting? Well, I guess speculations like this come with any sale of major blog-related online real-estate. In this case we’re not even sure the Times had actually been sold (more like lent perhaps?). But one cannot help but wonder what comes next. I’m sure glad the people behind the Blog Herald were able to pull it off quite nicely. I hope that’s also the case with the Blogging Times’ new editor/s.
What do you think?