As Nick Wilson writes on the Performancing blog: ‘Wow, what a start to the year‘. Let me try and get this in some kind of order:
- Performancing announce their metrics package in unsustainable and needs a buyer
- PayPerPost steps in to buy the package and the Performancing website, there is blogosphere uproar
- The Performancing editor is rebranded as ScribeFire
- PayPerPost drop out of the purchase, and the metrics package will be released to open source
- Nick Wilson resigns from Performancing and is replaced by Chris Garrett
- Chris announces that Performancing’s ad network will close, to much bafflement
- Two days later, Garrett is gone and Wilson apparently back!
It sure has been a crazy time, and Performancing has almost been like a mini blogosphere soap opera. I’m sure the guys there are gutted about this, and it is a shame. Why?
Performancing was/is/will be again a great site. It was a proper community of bloggers, giving an example of how Drupal can be used to forge great togetherness online. The blog editor is a super tool and an example of software written by bloggers for bloggers – not forcing functionality upon users. Furthermore, those involved, like Nick Wilson and Chris Garrett are good people, and it would be a shame to lose them. As Darren Rowse notes:
I loved Performancing the most when it was just a blog. They produced amazing content and generated wonderful conversations. Perhaps it’s time to go back to that?
The idea appears to be to go back to the days of Performancing as a blogging community. This is Good News. It looks like ScribeFire will remain separate, which is no bad thing, but it will be cool if the Performancing community looks after it. In Wilson’s words:
- We are still interested in talking to potential partners that could help us relaunch our adnetwork – there is a ton of functionality never released and I’d love to have conversations with serious players re the possibilities.
- ScribeFire also needs some help. Jed Brown has gone MIA and we need some hlep talking it further.
- We still plan to open source Metrics, but there is no firm time frame
- And lastly, but by no means least. I intend to correct some of the mistakes I’ve made with community functionality and management here at Performancing, and again, am entirely open to suggestions and partnerships that will take us forward in 2007
Wilson was obviously unhappy with the direction Performancing was taking in his absence, and all credit to him for stepping in and trying to sort things out. Let’s hope Performancing goes on to bigger and better things in the future.
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