Looks like Scienceblogs is imploding...

[nvidiot]

Well I'm a regular PZ blog reader, as I'm sure many are here, and I note that the whole Pepsico debacle has degenerated into a mass exodus (just have to use that word in this thread at least once) of bloggers leaving the scienceblogs umbrella. Mr Meyers himself has put up notice that he's on strike. Pretty serious stuff for them.

Seems strange that a company that has so many good writers and craploads of individual visits would allow things to get this bad and not start jumping up and down, but perhaps I'm not giving the site managers enough credit. They did after all drop the idea for the Pepsico food blog as soon as there was an outcry about editorial independence. But communication seems to have been rather stunted between the populace and the governance of the site.

Anyone else have some thoughts on the subject? What would the management have to do to reverse or even just stem the flow of bloggers leaving for different, if not necessarily greener pastures?

ETA just in case I've put this in the wrong section my apologies, and please move where it may be more appropriately placed.

 

[bozman]

Scienceblogs?

 

[nvidiot]

http://scienceblogs.com

I would suggest it's a great place to find many scientists and non-scientists in many fields all blogging about you name the subject it's likely to be there. But at the moment it seems to be disintegrating as in the OP.

The most famous of course being http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula

Probably should have put the links in the OP sorry.

 

[Ysidro]

Damn, this is... this is... troubling.

 

[Ryokan]

What is the Pepsico debacle?

 

[Cain]

I kind of love stuff like this.

Here the ScienceBlogs people are making a move to increase their long-term income and now the whole thing might collapse. Way to destroy your brand.

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

What is the Pepsico debacle?

It's their version of New Coke.

I can't see it catching on.

 

[nvidiot]

It's their version of New Coke.

I can't see it catching on.

rofl

Basically there was an announcement of a new blog which would be sponsored and written by Pepsi and covering "food and diet" issues. Now it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're a large multi-national beverage producer who sells sugar filled drinks to the masses, you're unlikely to critically analyse the effects of said sugar filled drinks on the masses. The announcement was quickly followed up with an uproar from many of the bloggers on the site, who had otherwise been happy with the editorial policy of the site owners not interfering with copy or pushing any particular commericial interest line. The complaints and many comments made on the site resulted in the pepsi blog being dropped. There has been little to no communication between bloggers and site management since however, and many of the bloggers have since decided that this would be the opportune time to jump ship and find greener (less sugary?) pastures.

Check out the posts on pharyngula regarding the initial announcement here...

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/say_hello_topepsico_wtf.php

 

[Cain]

It's their version of New Coke.

I wish I wrote this.

 

[KingMerv00]

I don't follow science blogs but I'll wait to see if actual bias results before I rev up my outrage-atron.

 

[Jekyll's Guest]

I don't follow science blogs but I'll wait to see if actual bias results before I rev up my outrage-atron.

Good for you.

Marlboro bought out a blog I used to post on, and the changes didn't have any impact on me at all.

<Blows smoke rings>

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Reports of the implosion of SB have been greatly exaggerated:

PepsiCo has been expelled.

Search SB for "Pepsico" and you'll get an array of science blogger opinions on the scandal. SB is a really fun blogosphere community.

 

[Lamafarmer]

Reports of the implosion of SB have been greatly exaggerated

Uh, from the latest entry from PZ Meyer's blog (you linked to):

It's come to this. We've been facing a steady erosion of talent here at Scienceblogs, with the loss of good people like Carl Zimmer and Ed Yong a while back, and with the very abrupt departure of 15 bloggers after the recent PepsiCo debacle — an event that damaged the reputation of this place.

What makes you say "reports of the implosion of SB have been greatly exaggerated" again?

Anyone else have some thoughts on the subject?

I would have liked to see Pepsi stay and the other bloggers take their stuff apart, bit by bit. They would have probably left by themselves after a while.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Uh, from the latest entry from PZ Meyer's blog (you linked to):
What makes you say "reports of the implosion of SB have been greatly exaggerated" again?....

Well there's at least 80 bloggers left and they cancelled the offending member. I suspect the folks who left may be back.

I didn't say it was a non-event. I just said the group did not implode.

 

[Lamafarmer]

How active are the 80 compared to those who left or are undecided to stay?

 

[nvidiot]

Yes but those fifteen have left subsequent to the removal of the offending pseudoblog, not during. And PZ himself is on strike. It's not just that the managers of the place thought it would be a good idea to directly corporately sponsor and influence the output of a blog on a science site, but subsequent behavior by management as well. IMHO I'd be amazed if more didn't leave shortly, and only mildly shocked if there was a substantial rump left of that gathering by the end of the month.

Mind you that's just idle speculation on my part.

 

[SezMe]

Uh, from the latest entry from PZ Meyer's blog (you linked to):

Wrong spelling. It's also wrong in the tags.

 

[nvidiot]

Cheers. I would blame my iPhone autocorrect but having a teacher for a mother would quickly result in a clip across the ear.

 

[Lamafarmer]

Wrong spelling. It's also wrong in the tags.

Myer then, gee.

 

[Beerina]

I don't follow science blogs but I'll wait to see if actual bias results before I rev up my outrage-atron.

Exactly. First I have to know of scienceblogs. Then I have to know of the "Pepsico debacle". Then I have to know what the blog(s) in question had to say. Then I have to know what the reactions all are.

I know none of that, having just heard of it now, so it's rather irritating as I feel the need to ragepost about something.


ETA: I'm gonna take a wild guess and it's about some viral video by Pepsi where Micky Mouse pulls a Fatty Arbuckle on Minnie with a bottle of the new stuff.