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The meaning of the Blogosphere is 42: So long and thanks for all the fish

The meaning of the Blogosphere is 42: So long and thanks for all the fish

deep thoughtDuncan Riley> For those of you who have never read Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy before, it is truly the pinancle of absursidisty, or some would say comedic science fiction, and yet Adams had a knack for inserting moments in his works of great philisophical value. The most famous of these being the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, which a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who built a computer named Deep Thought asked to calculate this answer. The answer, of course, was 42.

The blogosphere is no longer the domain of geeks and political junkies, in its totality it’s richness and diversity reflect all of humankind.

I’m often asked to explain what blogging is, what’s it all about, why do it, what does it all mean. Given that many would argue that we are alone in the Universe, then I provide this answer. The meaning of the blogosphere is indeed 42.

There is no other answer, and there never will be, because there is no other way to describe all that is life, as there is no other way to describe the blogosphere.

This is my last post as the owner of The Blog Herald. At some stage within the next 24-48 hours the site will be residing in its new home, for its new owners to love, cherish and feed (and she is often hungry, so take note!). I’ll be posting for roughly the next two weeks, but I won’t be doing any commentary, only news posts, whilst the new owners settle in.

It’s been a magical experience, and there are so many people to thank.

Christian Churmlish of Radio Free Blogistan, and Jim Elve of Blogs Canada. You probably didn’t realise at the time but your syndication of The Blog Herald’s feed helped lay the foundations for what The Blog Herald is today. You’re early linking to posts opened up what was once a little tiny blog in a pretty small blogopshere to many new readers. In Jim’s case my Canadian fan club is still to this day pretty big because of it. I promise not to make to much fun of Canada though when Australia kicks some mounty rear ends at the Commonwealth Games. :-)

To Nick Denton, who sent me the hottest ever piece of A-List bad-assed email thread an up and coming blogger could ever want back in the days when The Blog Herald was about the only blog who was actually covering the blogosphere as part of its daily brief. That one email alone got me into the RSS accounts of a pile of A-List bloggers, even if the likes of Scoble has since unsubscribed due to the part feeds :-)

To Dave Winer, for entertaining me for so many years, and even the occasional link. There have been times that I couldn’t stand you and even wondered why I continued to read Scripting News (and I still don’t get OPML), and yet I have. Continue to be yourself, sure, you’re a grumpy old man but we all love you because if it, it’s who you are, and it’s what makes you unique.

To Jason Calacanis. We’ve not always agreed, but I enjoyed some of the email conversations we had. You’ve also been extremely amazing to watch, and you’ve done more than you’ll ever know in helping people like myself actually get to the stage where we can blog for a living.

To the people who have contributed posts here over the years, Natalie d’Arbeloff, Vicki Fox Smith, Jim Elve and Trudy W Schuett to name a few. Some of you I’ve lost touch with, others I haven’t, but you all helped so much, particularly back in the days when writing The Blog Herald was actually a challenge every day because there just wasn’t. Also to John Mudd, who along with Trudy helped judge the The Blog Herald Christmas Awards…don’t be a stranger.

To Darren Rowse, who is really the rising star of the Blogosphere. A lot of the rise in The Blog Herald in 2005 in particular came with help from Darren’s generous linking to The Blog Herald, indeed even today we share a lot of the same readers. Of course Darren’s rocketed past The Blog Herald and it this rate will be in the Top 50 according to Technorati pretty shortly (he’s already broken into the Top 100). I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving, a true gentleman who is beyond generous with his time.

To Jeremy Wright and Shai Coggins, for joining (along with Darren) our new adventure of b5media. Of course Jeremy himself was always great fodder for many years in reporting things at The Blog Herald, from being banned from entering the United States for being a blogger, selling his services on eBay or selling off other blog projects…his energy is amazing. I’d think with Jeremy he’s the sort of guy if you hung around with there would never be a dull moment.

To the new owners, you’ve got such a bargain, and yet I can sleep well at night knowing The Blog Herald goes to good hands. My wife is eternally grateful as well, I’m no longer having to paint the internal walls of our new house, and I’ll never again be able to complain about the heat because we can pay for Air Conditioning :-)

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To the Official Friends of The Blog Herald, those who I swapped links with back in the days prior to automated link exchanges, who at the time of writing this post still sit in the nav bar (I’m not sure what the new owners will be doing with this). There are too many of you to name, and as I check the links every now and then I notice many of you have since left the blogosphere. These incoming links helped so much, and it was a pleasure to swap them with you, I can only hope that you received as much in return as I did from you.

To all The Blog Herald readers, many of you who have been reading this blog for a long time (in blogosphere time anyway). My thanks for all your support over the years, for your comments, your occasional flames, and your links in, tips, suggestions for posts….a blog is nothing without readers. Thanks.

There are probably a whole pile of people who should have been named in this list but haven’t been, (Loren Baker for syndicating some of the best bits of The Blog Herald exposing me to the SEO community, Nick Wilson for his links at Threadwatch…it’s just not the same without you there Nick, Steve Rubel for his links and entertainment, and undertaking one of the best PR stunts I’ve seen in the blogosphere that launched him into the blogosphere in a big way)… if I’ve forgotten anyone in particular my apologies. I’ll probably start thinking of more people but by then it will be too late.

I hope you’ll give the new owners your full support. If you want to catch up though you’ll can find me a duncanriley.com, b5media and Weblog Empire. I’ll be covering a wider range of topics on my personal blog, and maybe even the tinniest little bit of blogging news as well (but not to compete in anyway with The Blog Herald itself).

So, so long and thanks for all the fish, and I’ll see you all on the other side of the galaxy at some time in the future.

Duncan.

View Comments (8)
  • Congratulations on developing a blog that has sustained a such a high quality for such a long time Duncan. I’m truely sad to see you moving on from BH although am excited by what it will open up for you in terms of time and energy.

    All the best with the move.

    Now go have a beer and put your feet up for a few days mate.

  • Thanks for everything! You’ve given me so much encouragement, not to mention keeping me on top of things when I only had five minutes a day during my dad’s final illness.

    I’ll be a faithful reader of your personal blog, to be sure!

  • I’ve only been reading Blog Herald for the last few months and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for all the great reads!

    I look forward to keeping up with you on your personal blog.

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