When I started this blog I intended it to be a technical one. Not "commentary on the day's tech events" which is what it has become. The reason for the evolution was largely based on my admiration of two bloggers in particular. Drama2 of the Drama 2.0 show and Loren Feldman of 1938 Media. These two defied the blogosphere's group think and, imho, told it like it was. So they've always been very important figures in my blogging life.
Six months ago today one of them disappeared.
Actually "disappeared" doesn't quite do the incident justice. After a bizarre Twitter post on April 4th the Drama 2.0 web site changed dramatically. The next day's post was entitled "Kim Kardashian vs. Lamborghini: Who Has the Smoothest Ride?" and the site's header had changed to feature porn pictures mixed in with provocative celebrity shots. It now sported the tagline "Celebrity drama has never been this sexy" and was written by "nikolay" whoever that is.
For the next week items popped up regularly sporting headlines like "Lady Gaga Has An Ass To Go Gaga Over" and "Spencer Pratt Pumps Gas Before Pumping Heidi Montag". This continued just long enough to confirm this was no prank on Drama2's part.
Then, in another bizarre twist, the site went dark. The next post appeared about 6 weeks later on May 28th and proclaimed "[Cameron] Diaz doesn’t have the freshest face" but "that doesn't mean she looks bad from the back". Since that cutting edge news item the site has only managed to put up 3 more posts (though bizarrely the last item was posted a mere 3 days ago so it's still active to some extent)
In the end a site with one of the best contrarian bloggers on the web has now become a half ass celebrity site that posts once a month or so.
Why I still don't know (and if Google is to be believed neither does anyone else). Since Drama2 was anonymous there's not really a way to track him down. Even if there was he clearly doesn't want to be found and has clearly chosen not to explain his actions.
The sad part is Drama2's still proving his worth to this day. With one exception his "2009 Predictions" have been eerily accurate so far. I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say keen insight like that is worth far more than yet another place to get a video of Kim Kardashian having sex (I know there are at least several thousand people out there who agree with me)
I'm not as high profile as Drama2 was nor am I as talented yet I've taken a good share of verbal beatings on this blog. I assume he saw even worse and I have to imagine that was part of the reason he disappeared from "the scene" (though this post makes me wonder if that's true). But it's sad because the blog world desperately needs him. Anyone who has taken an anthropology class will tell you most people line up behind the loudest voice which leads to a system of group think based around the most powerful people in a social structure.
No where is that more evident than in the blogosphere which means no group needs a talented contrarian more desperately than the tech blogs. I don't know where Drama2 went or if he still keeps up with tech blogs but if he should ever come across this I hope he knows how much the blogoshphere has lost without him and how many of us out here still hope for his eventual return.