Open Letter to Google
Re: Blogger and Blogspot
Dear Google,
I know you did a really smart thing when you bought Blogger, and I'm the last person in the world who would come to you and tell you how to run your business or criticize you. I'm way too afraid of your highly-honed super powers to try that.
Besides I covet everything you have and give you mad kudos for getting what Evhead did way back when, and for not totally screwing up Blogger once you bought it. That's something. I mean, not exactly a best practice, but something.
P.S. I'm glad you made Ev rich because he was sort of like a hero of mine a few years back and you could email Ev and he'd answer you about a problem with Blogger sometimes at 1 in the morning, and when a blogger would do something really dumb, like blow away their blog, we actually had a contact, you know, to contact.
Ev would say no prob and recreate the heavens and earths with the snap of his fingers or magic wand. I think a cat was involved or some incantation--I never asked questions.
I say all of this even though his new template's font size is like 204 points.
But I digress.
My point is that a lot has happened since you bought Blogger and Blogspot; for instance your IPO and becoming the legendary Corporate Superpower Of All Time, and you've been really busy with all of those cool tools you invented. God knows I couldn't live another day without Google Desktop (actually I uninstalled it, which you already know because you've got President Bush beat on that spying thing tenfold dontcha. ;-) )
So, times being different now, and me still caring a great deal about This Old House known as Blogger and Blogspot where my blog has lived for over 4 years now, I'd like to ask you to reconsider your purchase of Blogger and Blogspot / pyra. Yes that's right I'm asking you to sell it -- better yet give it -- to someone who actually gives a shit about the service.
I know that would be way heretical and all, but really, Ev's name is still the contact on EVERY blogspot blog on Alexa, and you're going to have to update that information anyway now that it was Reported Here First, so maybe Ev could take Blogger back from you and merge us with his podcasting venture. We could be the "pixel" arm of odeo or something. I'm just thinking outloud here. Looking for a win-win.
You could give us to Henry Copeland at blogads. He's really smart. He'd figure out something to do with us.
What I'm trying to say is that you did that update thing the other day, with the servers or something, and once again you were down for hours longer than you said, and you wrecked stuff--for instance WHERE did my profile info and picture go that was in my template and on my sidebar before you did this recent update?
I mean, HOW do you time and time again hammer our templates while we're eating pizza with the family? When you cut us, do we not bleed?
And while we're on the subject: the template situation--can we just say, things are out of control? It's been like TWO YEARS and you haven't had time to toss a few new templates up there just for yucks? Pay some of your own to develop some kickass new looks? Start a business model around the ability to flexibly change looks for those who don't want to bother with the CSS or HTML?
HELLO ADVERTISERS, here's an idea: YOU GIVE US TEMPLATES with your product/service elegantly and NOT obnoxiously displayed -- templates that work flawlessly with Blogger -- and then pay us to use them. If they are really cool, we'll say yes and take your money.
Could we be any more agreeable? Smarter? More loyal? I dare say no.
So for old times sake, if you can't pay attention to your users in the blogworld, I ask that you please, PLEASE make it so we can stop dissing you. Just hand us over to someone who cares about Blogger and Blogspot and all of us who've stuck with it over this long, long, LONG haul.
Could ya? Would ya?
