I'm one of the most veteran bloggers on
Arutz 7. And I've probably blogged
more posts/articles there than anyone else. And until a short while ago, when they used to feature the six most popular blog posts and at least two and even four were usually mine.
From the time Arutz 7 started their "bloggers column," they had always featured it on the main page of the site. That made it easy for readers to know that we bloggers exist. Even until very recently, when I'd meet people the first time, they'd say that they read my articles on Arutz 7. I remember way back when, accompanying a couple of Nefesh B'Nefesh flights as a journalist, olim told me that they knew me from my Arutz 7 blog.
But that is no more. Arutz 7 has changed more than the graphics on its site. First I noticed that clicking "Blog tag" no longer gave you the "top six" blog posts. And now you can't even find blog posts on the main page of Arutz 7. You have to click either the
tab in the upper menu banner or at the very bottom.
You should know that we bloggers do not get paid. We do Arutz 7 a favor by contributing our articles for free, and they do us a favor by giving us a forum to post them. But now that the "forum" is hidden from easy access, it's not a very good deal for us.
When
Times of Israel first began publication I blogged for them, but then I stopped. They annoyed me with all sorts of rules, such as insisting on "original material," as if they were paying us for writing. I got fed up, especially when they took down posts of mine. It would have had been different if they had paid me, but you must remember that bloggers do these publications a service. I stopped, and afterwards was glad.
So now, I may not bother blogging on Arutz 7. I still have all of my own blogs.
The Jewish Press has permission to post
my material. And recently a new internet magazine has opened which davka promotes bloggers,
Israel Blogger. I've been blogging for them, as you can see
here.
What do you think?
