I woke up Wednesday morning, checked my e-mail and was surprised to see a message from Sara de la Guerra telling me that after a little more than four years, Blogabarbara is shutting down.
This is unexpected news, but I can certainly understand how Sara feels.
Sara cited a number of reasons; increasingly mean comments that had to be policed, an upcoming mayor and city council race that would lead to a lot of heated discussions and the Jesusita Fire, which served as a reminder of where one's priorities lie.
Blogabarbara was unique. It was a forum for discussion of local politics and issues. Among them, the "News-Press Mess." "Sara" chose to keep his or her identity confidential and as a result passed up any opportunity to get the fringe benefit of an ego boost that comes with being recognized for running a popular and successful blog.
And Sara was indefatigable in guarding that anonymity. Even in closing Blogabarbara down, Sara has vowed not to reveal who he or she is citing as one reason the fact that Wendy McCaw still owns the News-Press. (News-Press lawyers once attempted to "out" Sara's identity over a comment that had been posted on the blog.) Sara did say though that, "My heirs will pay for an obituary in the News-Press many years from now and slip the fact that I was Sara de la Guerra into the text."
Sara, I wouldn't be so optimistic about the News-Press still being around "many years from now."
Sara and Blogabarbara's contribution to civil discussion in Santa Barbara will certainly be missed and it will be hard, if not impossible, to find a replacement.
It can be hard to keep up blogging sometimes. Some of you may have noticed that I've even slowed down myself.
Best of luck to Sara as life moves on!
And thanks for the shout outs in Sara's final post, not to mention all Blogabarbara did over the years to help me promote my own blog.
© 2009 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
