New Contributor Introduction: J. Angelo Racoma

Now that the dust has settled from the announcement of the Blog Herald’s new ownership, I feel it’s time I introduced myself. I am J. Angelo Racoma, and I will be assisting the new editor, Abe Olandres, in managing the site. My primary role would be as contributor, but I shall also be taking care of marketing matters.

I have been blogging for more than a couple of years now, but I started writing and blogging for a living only this year. My first network problogging stint was with–who else?–Blog Media (now Problogging Inc.) as a contributor to Gadzooki and Mobileherald (which have earlier been sold off). I then moved on to blog for Bloggy Network LLC, where I served as editor on ForeverGeek, and contributor to Blogging Pro, Apple Gazette, and the “b” brand gadget blogs.

Tough decision

When Abe first asked me to come on board the team, I thought it was a tough decision to make. For one, I had a gentlemen’s agreement with Jacob Gower, the very gracious owner of Bloggy Network LLC, not to blog for competing (or potentially so) sites and networks, so I had to choose. And when I was told the entity that successfully bought the Blog Herald was Bloggy Network Ltd, my first thought was OMFG!

(Yes, David. Thank you for pointing that out, too.)

Abe has been a longtime collaborator of mine, and this has mostly been in local team blogging efforts. He told me he needed someone who had more exposure to the major blog networks and to western readership–we both hail from the Philippines, after all. With this in mind, and after careful consideration I decided I was up to the challenge.

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Being in a very complicated situation I have also decided not to comment on the ownership issue, particularly the name, at least for the time being. I was assured that the Blog Herald would operate independently from the Bloggy Network Ltd. Of course, in the interest of transparency, fairness, and to avoid potential conflicts of interest, I had to relinquish my position as contributor to Blogging Pro, and I am in talks with Jacob right now on how we stand given this development.

I think what’s important right now is to get things back on track with the Herald. Controversy sure gets the discussion moving, but IMHO it’s solid, well-written content that makes a blog sustainable.

I hope this helps break the ice. If you need to know more about me, my personal blog is at http://racoma.com.ph. Please feel free to drop me a line if you feel there’s anything we need to talk about, or if you’d like to advertise on the Blog Herald. My personal email address is jangelo (at) racoma (dot) net, and we’re currently using theblogherald (at) gmail (dot) com for official communications until we get to set up domain emails.