I’m posting this here in behalf of fellow contributor Andy Merrett, who recently announced that the Blue Fish Network has officially closed down.
I’ve sent email to the remaining members explaining my reasoning. It’s probably past due, as small, general networks were never really going to survive unless they built a thriving community. We, unfortunately, never made it.
Make no mistake, I valued the contribution to the network of each member past and present, and I’ll continue to read the blogs of those who are still writing. I also know that I owe some of my current standing in the ‘blogosphere’, albeit a small one, to some Blue Fish members.
Blue Fish was actually more of a community or a blog commune, rather than a blog network, in the strict sense of the term. The network did not actually own any of its member sites, nor were the writers under direct payroll. Blue Fish members benefited from the interlinking, and also the getting-to-know each other part. I think it’s safe to say that one of the reasons we were able to successfully invite Andy to contribute to the Blog Herald was because we knew each other from Blue Fish (my site was included in the first few rounds of membership, if I’m not mistaken).
I wouldn’t say that closing down of Blue Fish means it has not succeeded in its aims as a blog network. As our resident relationship blogger Liz Strauss would say, a big part of blogging is all about relationships. So whatever relationships that Blue Fish has helped forge will be testament to that success.
We’ll be watching out for your upcoming new media network Andy!
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