Almost 2 weeks ago, I resigned from my post as About.com’s first Guide to Web Logs (http://weblogs.about.com/). That was a very tough decision for me to make, as I loved being an About Guide. I enjoy the work and its community. Unfortunately, pressing personal and professional commitments brought me to a point where I can no longer keep working on the site.
It has been a great 2 years and 8 months. I managed to build the site from scratch and grow it to one of the network’s top sites. I had a lot of fantastic opportunities to meet great people in the blogging community and learned a lot along the way. I will definitely miss it all.
Upon my departure, it was great to receive a lot of great feedback from fellow Guides, About staff / management, and of course - readers, visitors and supporters. Some left comments on the blog, some sent me emails, some left messages on the internal forum.
To all who joined and supported me over the years, a great big thank you. My life has definitely been enriched because of you.
Some of the comments I received from readers, visitors and supporters include: (via blog comments that I wish to save, as existing content will be one day deleted…)
1. This is such sad news. I love this site! You can bet I will continue to follow you on your personal site as always. Best of luck to you Shai!
Comment by Reclusivegirl — October 12, 2006 @ 7:53 pm2. *sniff* This is a little sad - like the place we first met being torn down! I suspect we will see you around, maybe even more now,
but will definitely miss you here!
Comment by Christina — October 12, 2006 @ 10:19 pm3. Shelia:
Thankyou for the information and inspiration! Over the last two years you have let me know what is going on in the vast reaches of the Blogverse.
Writing for the Internet is different than writing for print, Click This Link! Writing For The Internet
Comment by WritingFortheInet — October 14, 2006 @ 2:00 pm4. Dear Sheila:
You were my first guide when I was learning all about the Blogging World.All the best and thank you very much for everything.
Cheers
Comment by Eric Rdz — October 14, 2006 @ 10:29 pm5. sorry to see you leave
i am just getting into all the links on all the stuff that you’ve featured and had some problems with some of it especially adsense but thats the stuff that makes the web interestin for some of us. i really enjoyed your articles and will miss them==GOOD LUCK in your new endeavors even though we will all miss ya!!
truly yours Paul
Comment by paul — October 19, 2006 @ 12:13 am6. I’d hate to see you go. You’ve done a great job for weblogs.about.com. Best wishes!
Comment by Connie — October 19, 2006 @ 1:39 am
7. :’-( Have only been subscribing to the newsletter for the last month or two, but this has been a great way of trying to stay in touch with matters Blog-related, without having a great deal of time to do so.
Comment by rlcohen — October 19, 2006 @ 3:06 am8. I still remember the first day you started at weblogs.about.com! You’ve done a fantastic job. They’ll be hard put to find a replacement. Thank you for all your hard work and for being a leader in the blogosphere.
Comment by Hsien Lei — October 19, 2006 @ 6:09 am9. It was through this site that I learned about the art of blogging: the concepts, the software, the ideas.
Thank you so much and best of luck in the future!
Comment by Halina — October 19, 2006 @ 9:58 am10. I’m sad to hear that you’re leaving About. You’ve helped me a lot in getting started. I’ll definitely visit your site. Thanks again for everything.
Comment by Maria — October 19, 2006 @ 7:04 pm
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Gaurav Gombar 10.25.06 at 9:52 am
At different times in life we have to take decisions that have to be taken in order to keep up the personal & professional commitments. I know its tough but good that you have taken a decision. Best of luck for future.
[Reply]
Basang Panaginip 10.26.06 at 4:52 am
Hi Shai,
Been reading your weblogs.about.com, for more than a year already. So your departure is a little sad.
Heads up:
Your weblogs.about.com is #2 overall in Pinoy Blog Rankings
[Reply]
Tingting Rimart 10.29.06 at 4:35 pm
Oh no, this is bad news for me. I am one of your follower. Well, as long as you keep blogging here, everything will be fine (for me). I enjoy reading your works.Keep blogging!
[Reply]
Laura 01.05.07 at 10:05 pm
I came to visit you cause I just applied for the blog topic at About. Didn’t know you had started it yourself. Now that’s just a bit intimidating.
I will be glad to continue on the topic and keep a link to you as the founder. I’ve founded a few newsletters and sites and I do miss them when I move along. Good luck with everything you are moving along to. Must have been really hard to leave the house you had built. Ouch. Change isn’t easy.
[Reply]
Shai Coggins 01.14.07 at 3:27 pm
Gaurav: Absolutely. Thanks!
BP: Thanks for including me in your lists. Really appreciate it.
Tingting: Thank you. Will continue to blog and share more about blogging elsewhere. So, keep watching.
Laura: Thanks. No need to be intimated. Good luck with your application. Let me know how it goes!
[Reply]
Lilandra 02.12.07 at 10:22 pm
Well…so I haven’t visited the guide alot (especially when the forum format changed) so I just discovered the you’re not the guide anymore.
How’re things, anywayz…
Lily
[Reply]
Shai Coggins 02.15.07 at 9:21 am
Lily: Nice to hear from you again. I’m well, thanks. And what about you?
[Reply]