Stuff That Happened: Blog Bankruptcy

CtJ Editorial
Artistic License, MO
July 2007

Eric Burke is alive and well. Sources tell the CtJ newsdesk that he is tanned and well-rested.

However, his blog Stuff That Happens has a recent post that the site will be no more. Call it Blog Bankruptcy.

The move has raised eyebrows throughout the tech blog community. The site was a successful, interesting mix of strong technical insight, moderately humorous asides, and the occasional pointed rant. With its medley of content, the blog was an archetype for a new generation of "post-modern" tech blogs, as exemplified by Code to Joy.

For many, though, the announcement is the final denouement of a steady slide of the blog persona. After years of success, and a remarkable peak of innovation with the now-famous "I *heart* POJOs" post, the blog began to descend into the abyss. Consider the final weeks:

• A contest inviting people to send stuff to his open-sourced snail mail address
• A contest inviting guest writers to debate a topic -- any topic
• Ambiguous use of the term craptastic
  
• A mini-series on screencasting, with a conclusion that involves an unusual penchant for working with bamboo floors and the quote "I'm quitting computers"
  

Sad, but true. A seemingly desperate blogger who, like a slumping baseball player, swings for the fences on the first pitch. The persona evolved into a theme of a maniacal despot of a tiny island nation, giving deranged orders to puzzled generals and lieutenants.

A Ruse?

Is it a ploy? Some kind of grand scheme in the vein of American comedian/performance artist Andy Kaufman ?

Will "Stuff" return -- perhaps as a new blog? Can someone who writes such passionate rants actually walk away from the pulpit? The author is strong in Swing, concurrency, and other aspects of Java -- can he suffer the slings and bugs of outrageous JDK libraries and not tell the world?

Who knows.... But a tip of the hat to venerable Stuff That Happens, and an invitation for its readers to join the orchestra at Code to Joy. Come along, it'll be joyous!