As hinted here repeatedly, OMW is going on a hiatus of undetermined length...probably somewhere on the order of a week or two, if we had to guess right now.
Each time we use the "h word", we get a lot of queries.
Our incoming E-Mail volume increases, and it appears some people are actually concerned about the health of your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) and the future of this blog.
Don't worry...we're fine.
But, we owe you an explanation.
Simply put, at times OMW gets a bit overwhelming. When we started this little blog in mid-2005, we had absolutely no idea what it would become.
With something on the order of 1200 unique visits per day, we can confidently say we are read in every broadcast cluster/operation and media-related outlet in Northeast Ohio, and some well beyond this region. At this point, it is easier to name who does NOT read us, and we don't say that to brag...just to explain.
The problem? "Real life" intrudes, and makes it somewhat difficult to update this blog as often as we'd like. We've set a standard for regular updating, and it's very hard to keep to that standard when there are only 24 hours in a day, and Life Intervenes off of this blog.
At least some folks get demanding with us, when we do not have information on stories they want to know more about. OMW is, as always, a free service updated at our leisure. Demanding anything won't get you very far with us.
Don't get us wrong...we like the fact that this little missive has apparently become something of importance to many in the local media community. But...at times, it's difficult to keep up.
And then, there's the "Comment Problem", where your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) is forced to ride herd over a quasi-message board, including deleting inappropriate or offensive comments we do not want here.
One recent comment, a very profane, vulgar and mean tirade aimed at a local on-air personality, particularly bothered us. Most of you didn't see it, as it was removed within roughly 5 minutes of being posted.
The Internet as a whole often gets lumped into the "those crazy, stupid people with no life and no career themselves, who like to attack people anonymously" category, and we do not wish to be linked to that sentiment here.
It's time to reset, and figure out what form this report takes in the future.
We can almost guarantee that the comment system will be modified when we get back. At very least, a Google account login will be required, and we may disable them entirely - either temporarily or permanently.
We've said roughly 200 times that the OMW comment system is not a message board, and that there are no fewer than three message board options off-site if you wish to "talk" about things.
But...we haven't wanted to lose the vast majority of cogent, interesting comments that do filter into here - so it's likely we'll try out the login system first when we get back, and go from there. Maybe we'll take advantage of the "moderation" feature, though that wouldn't end the time sink that dealing with the comments has become.
If that doesn't work, we'll permanently disable comments. We'll see how the changes go.
As noted before, we will try to, within reasonable time, update major breaking news during the hiatus period. That includes station sales and format changes, other major on-air lineup changes and the like, primarily within the "primary" OMW coverage area of Northeast Ohio.
But...please don't pepper us with "why haven't you posted this?" (Yes, we know WOIO/19 "19 Action News" anchor Sharon Reed did a show on WTAM/1100 on Saturday afternoon. The local media world will probably survive without further comment on that. Oh, and since most of you have weighed in about our hiatus, we'll disable comments on this post from the start.)
We'll get around to posting news, if it's big enough, and we'll try to be back regularly soon...
