I've been swamped with activity this morning, hence the lack of blogging. But here's my take on the Huffington Post deal.
I don't know.
I think it's fantastic news for Arianna, her partners and especially the unspoken hero behind the scenes, Roy Sekoff, who was the prime mover on building the blog section of the site -- without it, the Huffington Post wouldn't be what it is today. The site was developed from nothing and has won massive success. I'm very proud to be a small part of that.
On the other hand, I don't know what that will mean for the flow of opinion. And of course, I'm referring to my own participation. Until now -- and perhaps into the future -- I've been given full latitude to write whatever I want each week (with a few exceptions now and then). Naturally this is partly because the "bloggers," including me, aren't paid. Also, I believe I've earned it with quite a few columns that have achieved considerable traffic, and, subsequently, I have a decent-sized readership. The sixth highest number of fans, etc. Not to lay it on too thickly, but, while I'm here, some additional credit where credit is due: Roy Sekoff's support of my work has also contributed to my above-the-fold visibility there.
To these points, I've been assured that nothing will change, and I hope that's true. Again, it's really been the blog that makes that site great, and it would be a shame if voices were tempered or silenced. I hope AOL understands this. I really hope. I wrote for AOL's Walletpop blog last year and the arrangement didn't work out very well. We'll see what happens this time around.
So fingers crossed.