I’ve been getting this question a lot, so it makes sense to try to answer it in a central place. I no longer write for Medium Dreams, and in fact, the site no longer exists. None of this was my choice. Here’s how it went down:
- On February 16, I received an emailed form letter stating that my contract with b5media (who owns a large blog network that included Medium Dreams) had been terminated. There was no reason given for this, other than a vague “new direction for the company” excuse.
- In the letter, they tell me to email info@b5media.com if I have any questions. At this point, I’m thinking I’ve been fired, so yeah, I have questions. I’m a freelance writer, so if I get fired off of a job, it’s pretty important to find out why. That way, I can either not make the same mistakes again, or learn from the experience in ways that will help my other writing jobs. I email them, and I don’t hear back.
- I contact a b5 blogger with whom I’ve been working, to see if she has any insight into why I had been fired. She emails me back immediately, telling me that the entire entertainment channel (around 50 blogs) has been let go, including her.
- I go to Medium Dreams and find that I’ve been locked out of the site.
- I talk further with a few different (now former) b5 bloggers and find out a little bit more. Everyone has been laid off so that b5 Media could start a general pop culture blog, staffed with all new writers and editors.
- By the end of the day, all 50 of the blogs are gone, and typing in the URLs leads to the new pop culture blog. RSS feeds have posts to the new blog, and Twitter accounts for specialized blogs are being taken over with feeds that have nothing to do with the original sites for which they were made.
- I get pissed. Not so much for myself, as I’ve only been working with them since September, but for the people who have been building an audience and an internet presence for years. Some people even ran several blogs (up to 7 in at least one case). Then, in a blink of an eye, all that hard work: gone.
- I get a Google Alert for Medium Dreams, with an old post from the site. I click on it and discover that all of the Medium Dreams content has been folded into the new pop culture site. I am still listed as the author, making it appear as though I work for the new pop culture site. I do not.
Look, there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my time as a freelance writer: the corporations for which you work are concerned with the big picture– not individual contributors. They’re running a business, and I understand that perspective. It isn’t what they did that bothers me so much; it’s how they did it.
In the blink of an eye, years of peoples’ work disappeared without warning. We weren’t even allowed to say goodbye to our readers, or explain to them what was happening. They simply went to our sites and saw something completely new, unfamiliar, and unlike what they were looking for.
Some readers have gotten a hold of me either here or on Twitter, and have asked if I plan on blogging about Medium somewhere else. The answer is, I don’t know. There are definitely advantages to doing a site like this for a corporation. Namely, the subscriptions to the photo agencies (which is where I got all of the photos for the site that weren’t episode photos), and the professional site design. You guys, I wasn’t a design major in college. I don’t know how to make things look pretty.
I do, however, own www.mediumdreams.net, so there’s a chance I may do something with it. I’m still mulling my options, and I’m just not sure logistically if it’s a good idea or not. What I do want to do, however, is thank everyone who read the site, and especially those of you who commented. You’re the reason doing this was so much fun, and you are all fantastic. Thank you for your support; I really appreciate it.
Hi, Kona. You might not know me as it looks like you started at b5 after I was gone. But, I just wanted to commiserate with you regarding what happened. I was really sad when I heard about the news.
Reading your post also gave me another twinge – esp that part about corporations caring only for the big picture not individual contributors. When I first went in to the blog network industry, that certainly wasn’t what I had in mind. Certainly not the kind of vision I wanted when I was part of b5media as co-founder/community. But, seeing as I was let go of the same way as you guys were – things have obviously changed since the beginning of “the dream”.
I have stayed away from commenting on anything b5-related over the last year since my termination from a company that I once co-owned (and still hold shares for, technically), as I avoid dwelling on past events too much. I prefer moving forward than looking back. But, these recent events really saddened me so much. I can empathise with the shock, pain, and disappointment.
I really hope that you all find your feet again. Unfortunately, these things do happen, especially as a freelancer/contract worker. I’ve experienced it enough times to know that it’s possible to bounce back. Bad things happen. But, life’s got a lot more to offer, if we just keep going.
I wish you all the best.
P.S. – Sorry for the double posting. I wanted to edit my comment, but couldn’t. Feel free to delete the previous one. Thanks.
Thank you for shedding some light on the situation. Way more courtesy than the new cybersquatters on the mediumdreams.com website have shown.
I enjoyed reading what you had to say, and am sorry you were treated so shabbily.
Good luck with your future ventures, and if you do go ahead with mediumdreams.net I would be interested in knowing that when it happens.
Kona, I was absolutely devastated when I heard this news. I got a message on FB from another b5 blogger who tipped me off that Medium Dreams was going away, and that broke my heart. Not only because it was the best site on the web for news and info about the show, but also because it was a great place to interact with other fans of the show. I made some great friends over there, and even got a couple of people to come over and join the discussions. But it also made me mad because the corp. decided to follow the pop culture fad and the bottom line, rather than consider their bloggers and readers. That was a very low-class move on their part. I really hope that you’ll keep writing about Medium somewhere in some form, and hopefully we can find another place like Medium Dreams to talk about and enjoy our favorite show. Good luck to you, and hope to see you around.
I am so sorry Kona. That is a horriblle situation and employees were treated horribly.
My vote is for a new Medium web page as well!
I am sure Dawn can help, she and I ahve a lot of, at least, Patricia Arquette material to share.
That is a place to start!
I hope everything comes together and I hope you ahve no more nasty surpises like that again!
Peace!
Mike
I also can’t believe this has happened, I loved reading you posts as I am a huge fan of MEDIUM… I also run the Wiki for it. I really hope that you find somewhere else to continue your blog!!
Hi Kona,
Thanks for the explanation that really sucks that they made all these changes without notice. I really enjoyed your blogging on Medium Dreams and i hope it will continue somewhere in the future. thanks for all your work, it has been great.
[...] addition to all of the b5media drama, there have been a lot of other changes going on around here the past few weeks. Luke started a new [...]
Hi Kona I am going to miss Medium Dreams. I enjoyed your posts about the cast and show and I reallly enjoyed interactiong with the other fans and reading their opinons. Hopefully we will get another season and another fansite to interact on. Thanks Karen.
Hey. writing from Germany. I´m kinda relieved now that I know what happened. On the other hand I´m sad cause I´ve been trying to visit Mediumdreams for months now and I always hoped it´d be back some time… But I guess that´s it now?!?
Anyway: thanx for all the work you did in the past. Medium is the only series I´ve ever watched and I enjoyed reading what other fans had to say. I really hope there will be something similar soon!! Cheers