An interesting voice temporarily (I hope) silenced...

One of my more favorite blogs, Tech Ramblings from the Rare Book Trade, has gone off on an indefinite hiatus. This is unfortunate, as I am fond of the blog and have always found it one of the more interesting in the realm (granted, I am, in addition to being a recovering attorney, a geek of the highest order). What is really unfortunate is that he is not taking his break because he necessarily wants to do so, but because his employer (an unnamed rare book dealer) has made it clear that his personal blog is professionally threatening to his position.

Needless to say, many bookishly inclined bloggers are unhappy about this (see, e.g. Hugh). I agree with Hugh (and ASWR) that booksellers are colleagues, not competitors. More broadly, I concur with many of the voices that Tech Ramblings' employer was extremely short-sighted and/or misguided in his fear/concern of his employees blog (N.B. this was a private blog, but I will ignore the overt "what he was doing on his own time is his own business" issues). The major sticking point appears to have been that the Tech Rambler provided links to "other" booksellers and/or bookseller's blogs.

Personally, I would embrace an employee who was so engaged both in focus of the business *and* the niche he serves (tech) that he wanted to build a voice around the area. Personally, I would have taken the opposite approach and sought to have the blog brought under my "brand" and more closely linked to my business. I track, mostly for personal amusement, where my visitors come from and where they go when the leave. I know better than most how many people link into my site from other book sites/blogs and how many follow links on my site out to other book bloggers. I can personally and professionally attest to the *value* of linking to other's in the profession.

That said, I understand Tech Ramblings' willingness/desire to roll with his employer's request and not threaten his job. I am reminded of O.W. Holmes', "This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice." It is fine (and proper) to talk about freedom of speech and personal blogs vs business pursuits and all the topics that this issue has opened for debate. In the end, however, I completely understand the decision to walk away from a personal blog run primarily/exclusively for personal amusement and pleasure in the face of losing a job that, one presumes, is interesting and rewarding.

To be clear, I hope Tech Ramblings returns. I suggest Tech Rambler show his boss how much traffic comes to his site through the blog. I hope his employer comes to realize his concern as to "other links" is unfounded. We are a community and are far stronger together than as islands. I will leave the link to TRftRBT in the side bar as it contains some great content...with luck he will return.