Scienceblogs continues to implode. By my count, 19 bloggers have left. (Carl Zimmer has regularly updated information here, and you can follow the events on Twitter - #SbFail.) Pharyngula is on strike and may be packing up and moving on, and Orac and others are contemplating leaving as well.
One aspect of these situations that often gets lost is the emotional hardship. It's difficult to lose income and to leave a stable situation (even when it's become intolerable). But beyond that, it seems a bit like they're having to pull up stakes and relocate their town. Even if it can be rebuilt in a new, hopefully better, location, leaving behind a familiar home and history is stressful.
Best wishes to all, and I hope the community can remain intact and even grow to include some new voices (a few radicals would be great) from around the world.
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Someone on Pharyngula said: "is it an unfeasible/unworkable option for all the ScienceBloggers to club together and create a truly independent network?", and I'm thinking along those lines too. I also wrote Bora:
ReplyDelete"I think it’d be great to see many of the former (or soon to be former) sciencebloggers creating a new network with similar goals to the previous one (debating science, making science available to the public, and providing a place for rational debate about other topics), but as free as it’s possible from commercial pressure, administered by the bloggers themselves. As far from the structure of a corporation as it’s possible. If not, I fear this could keep happening, if bloggers depend on the will of a few CEOs that have to respond to the constant pressure of being economically competitive and profit making."
It's hard to find a way to protect science and scienceblogging from capitalism but the problem needs to be addressed sooner rather than later I think.
By the way, always a pleasure to read you both here and on Pharyngula, SC.
I'm seriously getting the shakes by now. I've already picked up three new blogs ...
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