So, as you may have heard, the “other” blog I blog at quite regularly has been sold. Heck — I interviewed Matt Craven a few days ago about the issue. The other bloggers and I have been quietly discussing things amongst ourselves, and I think for many of us, it may be a time of reflection of where we’re all going to turn next.

Should we stay at The Blog Herald, which many of us identified as indistinguishable from the man who hired us, Matt Craven — or move on to different things? Our own blogs and bloggy aspirations? (wow — I was punning without knowing it) Take up a position with another news blog and continue our efforts there?

I’ve refrained from commenting publicly over the past few days, although we were privy to the knowledge that the BH had been sold quite a few days before it was publicly announced … mostly out of professional courtesy and simply curiosity. But, my itchy bloggy fingers (there, I go, punning again) can’t seem to stay away from the keyboard, so here are few thoughts:

• The new owners are bloggy-network.com, (not bloggynetwork.com), and they decided that they wanted to keep things their ownership a secret — even from its own bloggers
• I found out a few hours before a public post was sent out to the Blog Herald that it was, in fact, the bloggy-network.com that is my new employer.
• Unfortunately, trying to find out who is behind bloggy-network.com is quite difficult, as there is no “about” page — its “under construction”
• In fact, I only found out, through the comments section of that “announcement post”, that (one) of the owners is a guy named Mark — I didn’t have a last name until I started asking a few questions, and it turns out his name is Mark Saunders (I think).
• For reasons that are still unclear to me, Mark has elected to not speak to his bloggers in person, or make introductions in person, but rather, initiate, and presumably continue, communications through some management personnel, Abe Olandres and J. Angelo Racoma.
• While most (or all) of the bloggers have been emailed personally by the management, we’ve been told more details will be forthcoming in the next few days — or possibly after the weekend.
• Its possible that the reason why bloggy-network wanted to keep its ownership secret is because there is another blog network named bloggynetwork, and they wanted to avoid controversy at this time, particularly over the name, and particularly because the Blog Herald is an old, established blog property.
• In other conversations, it seems like Mark, and by extension, bloggy-network, has some interesting and serious plans in the works; I won’t divulge the details here mostly because I know a whisper of a twinge of a rumour of things.

At the end of the day, I would probably like to carry on with The Blog Herald for a bunch of reasons: I like to meet new people, blogging at an established Blog property is still an exciting idea, and … well, inertia is a tough thing to fight.

On the other hand, what is really bothering me is how the bloggers at The Blog Herald were treated in this transfer of power from Problogging to Bloggy-Network. Namely, that we were kept in the dark. And moreover, that, we continue to be kept an armslength away from the owner(s) of The Blog Herald.

Now, I don’t know Mark Saunders, and he might be a great guy. Certainly, the management guy(s) that I referred to above have been nothing but collegial and congenial.

However, blogging being a personal medium — and the fact that we were ALL used to dealing with Matt directly and matter-of-factly — all of this has really left me with a queer taste in my mouth, and the realization how I like to be treated: directly and matter-of-factly.

Now, I understand the necessity to delegating work in all types of organizations, but the fact that I still haven’t met the owner through email or instant messaging – heck, I don’t even know his proper email address — is quite disconcerting.

I’d like to give these gentleman the benefit of the doubt – and thanks to at least one email vouching on their behalf, I probably will for at least a few days more — but the way that bloggy-network has kept its bloggers in the dark and at arms-length from its ownership … well, quite frankly, it makes it hard.

At any rate, I will be doing some bloggy-soul-searching over the next few days while I wait for what their plans are. I’m not sure whether I should carry on with all of my attention to this blog, or distribute over a few new interesting jobs (but carry on with BloggerTalks and NewAssignment.net) , or carry on at The Blog Herald.

But I think that every extra day I don’t hear from the owners directly (remember, I don’t have an email address or an IM) is one further step away from The Blog Herald — which is sad, because I’ll always have a soft spot for the first blog that believed enough in me and my work, even though I’d only been blogging for about 3 months at that time, to hire me.

As always, your thoughts are welcome below.

(or you could try the poll on the home page)