Over the past few years, I’ve been watching the disappearance of the independent blog. Like many “industries”, it’s being absorbed into larger organizations where it often becomes depersonalized and sometimes disappears altogether.
Beginning in August of 2007 this started to happen to one of the more popular support sites for Macintosh users – MacFixIt. This site, as well as iPhone Atlas, and VersionTracker, became part of CNET. And now, Ted Landau – for many people the heart and soul of MacFixIt – has ended his association with the site altogether.
Since August 2007, the general frequency of posting has declined. Some people have commented that the quality of posting has declined as well. I won’t argue that point, but I will say that the site has slowly been losing the ”personal” feel that it used to have. Now, finally, CNET plans to move the “community” to the CNET forums. Some people, myself included, wonder if this will ultimately result in the end of this site as an effective resource for Macintosh users. Ted leaving the site feels like the final nail in the coffin.
These sites (VersionTracker, iPhone Atlas, and MacFixit) and certainly not the only sites to experience this merging process. In recent times we’ve seen other site like jkontherun also blended into larger organizations. One argument is that these mergers are necessary to keep the sites financially viable.
Just like the general demise of the mom-and-pop shops in favor of the big “box” stores, this has good and bad aspects. I tend to think that the current track record (for content quality) seems to lean more toward “bad” than good.
Are you a MacFixIt user or the user of any previously independent site? What do you think of these mergers? Do they help keep these sites alive, or do they destroy the quality of the content?
