Further to the prior post, problems at OT were discussed exhaustively over the course of more than a year – first among the members of a “development group” and then among the Senior Editors. I was a participant in both groups. In late March of this year, the other editors turned down a proposal for putting the enterprise as a whole on a firmer foundation, and voted instead for what I saw as more of the same – or, to be more precise, for more of the same minus two major contributors.
Since then, the decline of the site, climaxing in the latest admitted “failure,” or set of failures, has continued, while opportunities afforded by interest in the 2016 elections have mostly been squandered. The background details and the ways in which recent events and discussion expose underlying problems might be of interest to anyone trying to understand what happened to “the blogosphere” and what might come next, but I am reluctant to say more at this time, in part because my observations might be taken as personal and unkind by one or more of those involved, and perhaps as violation of confidence.
A salvage of residual value might still be possible, and a rescue or turnaround remains conceivable even now, but I would not be surprised if by this time next year there is no “Ordinary Times.”
