Dan Rubin, the Inquirer's first blogger to engage the local blogosphere, announced the Inky was promoting him into a columnist position, and shutting down Blinq.
Congrats to Dan Rubin for the move, but as I said in his comments thread, Blinq should live - either with a new blogger keeping it on, or with Dan using it as a tool for his new column. The shuttering of the URL, of the community that rose around Dan's engagement at Blinq, is self-inflicted wound.
Reactions from around the region:
Amy L. Webb: RIP: blinq
Akkam's Razor: Inquirer shutters it’s Blog Brand (Blinq)
The Long Cut: It Was Blinq, And I'll Miss It
Shallow Center: Blinq and You'll Miss It
Citizen Mom: RIP, Blinq
Metroblogging Philly: The End of an Era
Daily Sally: Blinq, Don't Blinq
All Spin Zone: Goodbye Blinq
A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago: ...and you'll miss it
Above Average Jane: The Inky Closes Blinq
Philadelphia Weekly: Week In Will Do: We Still Don't Know What To Call This Fumo Thing (which just lost its only local competitor btw)
the smedley log: Echoes of past idols
Ciao Blinq..we'll miss the fun...
Hmmm...they sure do like to shake it up, don't they? Grogan gone... Now Dan Rubin reassigned....who owns the blog content? Him or Inquirer?
Who else is doing the Inquirer shuffle???? The cuts in jobs were bad enough....but...well...guess with Grogan gone...who is next? Who will leave next, who will get reassigned or whatever????
Sheesh the Inky is sure being dumb...everyone reads blinq...will anyone archive any of the content so it doesn't get loist???
too many directions
and not enough staff is what PNI is going through. they have *very* senior writers on 150 word blurbs when they could be spending time on larger, more in-depth assignments, not that those assignments are even given out anymore. tierney and co made many promises, have they delivered on anything yet? they've just cut more jobs and put others in jeopardy.
The archives should remain
I was in touch with Dan yesterday about the fate of the archived material. He indicated that the site would remain accessible (which is definitely a good thing).
I didn't think to ask about ownership of the content, mostly because I assumed the content would belong to the employer, as the blog was actually his job, and not a personal site.
On the transition itself, I think there are thousands of us who will miss Blinq, but you also have to look at it from Dan's perspective. The chance to be a regular columnist is one that most veteran reporters would jump at, and I tend to think Dan is very excited about the opportunity. (I wrote more about the change here)