Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Requiem for HorrorBlips

For me, a little morsel of joy went out of the blogging experience this week when the Daily Blips site, Horror Blips suddenly -- and without explanation -- self-destructed.

If you visit the site formerly known as Horror Blips today, you get the following blanket message: "Thank you for your interest, but the website you are trying to visit is no longer being supported. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our bloggers, visitors, and advertisers who have supported our sites.
That's not a lot to hold onto.

Especially because Horror Blips had become an important public spot to me (and many, many others as well). It was a great "hub" where I could see at a glance what other bloggers in the horror genre were writing about at any given moment. It was a fantastic place to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones.

Most of all, it was -- literally -- a marketplace of great ideas and great writing. Good stories you could vote up, and it was nice to see just how much damn fine writing is going on every day (every hour, really...) in the horror blogosphere. I encountered so many great blogs through Horror Blips...it was just incredible. I was already aware of many great writers from my membership at the LOTTD, but I discovered many more. Ranging from academic to absolutely balls-out crazy, nuts. And...I loved them all. Some of the headlines on those blog stories were just to die for in and of themselves....examples of great wit, charm and raunchy fun at times.

Sure, you can still find all those blogs out there in the bloggy ether, but Horror Blips was the one-stop-shopping hub that permitted easy, immediate access. I mean, you can still follow the blogs you like, still search on Google for new blogs you think you might enjoy...but the best directory, the living, breathing market place is gone now. If that makes sense...

And no, I was not EVER one of the top ranked bloggers on Horror Blips, not by any means (last time I checked I was down around 37 or 40 in the tally). And I was only on the site for approximately a year, I think. But I actually did become a top contributor in the last few months (well, since July...). And I really enjoyed that experience of finding and submitting interesting and fun material.

One of the things I appreciated the most about the Horror Blips experience was this notion that you could dig around and find interesting stories on the Web...and then promote them there. I really got into this task, particularly in regards to home-grown, local horror movie productions (which are cropping up everywhere, all over the country...) and horror film festivals (ditto). I found that sort of regional-based genre material absolutely fascinating, and I knew that even though I'm here working in North Carolina, another Horror Blips reader might be in the same town as an upcoming Zombie Walk, or the upcoming Hitchcock retrospective, or...etc., etc. I don't want to get high-and-mighty and claim I was doing anyone a big service or anything. I was just a middle man having fun, but I liked digging up weird and unusual stuff and then passing it on to others. And I really loved seeing what others had found too. I guess that's what a community is about, finding the niche where you are comfortable, and sharing what you like.

After losing Horror Blips, I've decided that even in the absence of the popular site, it's well-worth bringing some of this genre material to the attention of readers here. So, where and when I can, I'm going to post links here to stories about local horror movies in production, great film retrospectives at town libraries, and upcoming genre film festivals. I just really dig that stuff, and I hope you do as well.

I'll miss Horror Blips. But I'm glad it was there in the first place, and I know I take away a lot of "good" from having joined that one-stop hub of ideas, laughs and screams.

7 comments:

  1. Ha, that's me at number seven and I had no clue that stat even existed on HorrorBlips! Like you, I am very sad to see the site up and disappear for no reason. My blog got some decent traffic because of that site, but even more importantly, that was the one stop shop for much of my horror news. I am not a huge fan of many of the traditional horror sites, but I was able to keep up with all of their news without having to go to them all, only to find the same bullshit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Matt,

    I often read your stories at Horror Blips and voted 'em up! So it's nice to make your acquaintance in a different setting (and thank you for following).

    I still kind of hope Horror Blips resurrects itself, but I don't think it's likely, alas.

    Fun while it lasted though...

    All my best,
    John K. Muir

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:58 PM

    I'm going to miss it. I posted a lot of product stuff under the Cult Labs banner and met US bloggers who wanted imports to review. It was a little gold mine.

    If any Horror Blips users want a place to hang out, come and see us...

    http://www.cult-labs.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi anonymous,

    I'll definitely check out cult labs...that sounds great! Thanks for leaving a comment and I hope to encounter you again.

    all my best,
    John

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't agree more with your assessment of how valuable a resource HorrorBlips was. Not only did it serve to collect all the great stories that are always accumulating in the Horror blogosphere, but it also was a great resource for people who were unfamiliar with blogs or other bloggers to find each other.

    Thanks for making this post, John. There are certainly many folks out there that feel the same way we do.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I only discovered HorrorBlips & registered with them about 2 or 3 weeks before they folded! I found so many great new blogs there to read. Boo.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Zachary and Will,

    Zachary: I've seen some sort of snarkish comments out there from some bloggers about "yay, HorrorBlips is gone," but I don't really understand the hostility. It was a great way to network, a great way to find new blogs, and it was a valuable news source. I'm bummed it is gone, and glad to know you feel the same way.

    Hi Will! I'm sorry to hear you just came aboard and HBlips went down. Bummer indeed!

    best to both,
    JKM

    ReplyDelete

My Father's Journal: "Apologia"

Apologia By Ken Muir   I am a person of my age, of my time in history.    Born into an America that was on the verge of winning the greatest...