Honestly I don’t think that most blog visitors worry too much about this sort of stuff unless the sites are unavailable for an extended period. I have noticed some odd problems with this site, like getting blank pages when I click on a link. However, hitting refresh usually works.

Some bloggers find their “voice” over time.

I would look at other things like
User to pageview ratios
Time spent on site

oh, and B5 is simply having cashflow issues.

Someone give Michelle a job. Quick.

;)

Dunc is brutally blunt (its one of his best and worst qualities), and even though he doesn’t always like the content of the blogs, he is proud of each and everyone of the B5 blogs and each and everyone of the B5 bloggers.

I know – I have to listen to it every day!

I’ll just say that I have always admired the founders of b5 (since stumbling on them over a year ago) and when the opportunity came for me to work *with* them on any level, I jumped at the chance.

I respect them each a great deal simply because of the fact that they are “human” and not “stuffy corporate types.”

If I wanted “Corporate Style blogging”, there’s always those I do not speak.

I saw it from a business angle, and I just thought it was a little strange to read a comment like that from one of the network owners – someone who really should be getting behind every single one of your blogs and really selling them, rather than calling some “totally boring”, and others “brilliant”.

I’ll quote from a comment on my post about it:

…You wouldn’t get someone like Calacanis saying “personally, I think engadget is a bit crapâ€?, or “actually, I’m not in the least bit interested in those new blogs we’ve just launched.â€? Why? Because like I said, you’ve got to be 110% behind any business if you want it to be a success….

Plus, I’m a professional writer myself, and I know that if someone who was employing me had said that a network blog that I was involved with was “totally boring” and in the same breath, labelled the next blog “brilliant” in public, instead of taking the opportunity to sell the quality of network as a whole, I’d be a bit miffed.

Just didn’t think it looked good for business, that’s all. And if someone in that position is gonna make comments like that, they’re gonna get called out. ;)

Being a part of a “network” like b5 is like being part of a family (albeit a new and distant family – but still a family just the same).

The beauty of some finding passion in writing about “beauty products” like Christine mentions above and others writing about celebrity gossip, while others write about tech type stuff (that I SWEAR I cannot wrap my own brain around for the life of me) is that we provide a perfect MIX for something that WORKS!

If we were all passionate about the same things – the blogosphere would be quite a boring place now wouldn’t it?

Just because Duncan is one of the “execs” here in b5 – that doesn’t mean he has to enjoy every single thing any of us bloggers write – And I certainly don’t think any of us expect him to. That would he was a politician hiding in Pro-Blogger clothing :)

Just my humble 2 cents too :)

I’m speaking from a business common sense angle, and also partly from experience, but surely, as the network owner, it’s your responsibility to support your bloggers (and your blogs) in a much, much more positive way than that?

If you don’t believe in your own blogs, then you’re going to have a tough time convincing other readers to believe in them. Same goes for potential investors, buyers, whatever.

All that post tells me is that you’re in it for the money. Nothing more, nothing less. Hardly the message you want to send out, is it?