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Blog Killer On The Loose

Posted by Amateur Blogs

Apparently someone took my post titled "How to Kill a Blog" more seriously than I’d planned because I recently came upon a blog that I believe died under suspicious circumstances.

My initial visit to the blog site two weeks ago showed a healthy, functioning member of the blogosphere. It had a good title, a clever tag line, and an eye-catching template design. Its Google page ranking was "5" and it had a net worth of $329,827. Its last post garnered 254 Digg It! votes and it had just joined Technorati. Additionally, because of its high pageviews volume, it had been honored with Chitika link status.

Clearly, this blog had a lot to live for.What went wrong?The Usual Suspects

1. The Blog Owner: when the blog was first created 6 months ago the owner posted light, occasionally entertaining stories about his life, his job, and his kids. Especially his kids. He posted lots of photos of his kids. Wearing funny hats.And although the owner posted every day he didn’t attract much traffic. After a few months he made an unsettling discovery: the blog had started taking on a life of its own. More and more posts were centered around the art of blogging, how to increase traffic, tips for using AdSense, and SEO strategies. The blog even posted a contest for readers. As such, readership increased dramatically. When the blog owner was questioned about his increasingly rocky relationship with the blog he stated "hey, I admit it, I’m glad it’s gone. It had become sneaky and deceptive. It would post articles after I’d gone to bed at night. Something had to be done."
   
   Possible Motives: Jealously. Resentment. The owner’s identity had become overshadowed by the blog.
   
2. Blogger.Com: one of the first actions taken by the blog after its takeover was to terminate its association with Blogger.Com in lieu of a new WordPress account. The blog never shared its reasons for taking this action, but it’s been speculated that it tired of letter and line spacing anomalies and font irregularities. Blogger.Com denies any knowledge of these issues, stating that the blog never reported any problems to them. They insist that they had a friendly relationship with the blog, but there’s evidence that they threatened to spam the blog at its new WordPress site.
   
   Possible Motives: Bad press. The blog could have potentially posted negative articles about its experiences with Blogger.Com, thereby affecting future customers.
   
3. John Chow dot com: with a Google page ranking of "6" and an estimated net worth of $3,044,564.22 it’s not clear why John Chow dot com would be considered a suspect. Interestingly enough, our investigations show that John Chow dot com was a frequent visitor at the blog site early on but suspiciously stopped visiting after it became more popular. Also, Mr. Chow dot com has no alibi for the night the blog disappeared from the blogosphere. When questioned, his statements appear to be inconsistent. On one occasion he stated he was in the shower on the tragic night; on another he claimed to be hitting golf balls in his back yard. Additionally, he appeared to have trouble remembering his name; on several occasions he referred to himself as John Cow dot com.Possible Motives: No motives but Mr. Chow dot com’s behavior is suspect and points to possible bipolar disorder or split personality.

Overall, some of the suspects have strong motives for wanting to get rid of the blog. A $10 reward will be given for any evidence leading to the successful capture of the blog killer. All information will be kept strictly confidential.