Ever Onwards

Still hoping Blip can find a way to get back to normal operations which would include the founder blipping again, POTW being awarded, technical enquiries being responded to, telephone calls being answered and so on.

In the face of evident abnormal operations we continue to pursue our mitigation and continuity plans. Mitigation involves trying to save our content including comments which are as valuable as our photos and commentaries including many superbly crafted by the late Chaiselongue, many upliftingly love-filled by Kendallishere, and many both creatively funny and artistically insightful by qr8dave, to highlight but three examples.

Continuity means establishing some sort of mechanism to maintain contact with those closest to us on this site whether it be through email or a rallying point on another photographic site.

Both actions are entirely legitimate and reasonable in these times of uncertainty, especially in the absence of any official information to reassure us that such actions are unnecessary.

We are seeing the classic effect of lack of communication in times of change . . . the worst possible invention rushes in to fill the gap. It is for each of us to assess the degree of invention of the rumours and act accordingly in our own interests.

I wrote to Blip Central several months ago asking for details of their site preservation plans in the event of bankruptcy. The reply I received told me not to worry about these things as the future was bright. I offered some advice along the lines of transferring x amount of their income per year (or a lump sum) along with a regularly updated copy of the site to an independent legal entity whose sole objective would be to maintain a 'day before end of trading' version of the site on separate servers to allow ongoing access to members. This independent and untouchable trust seemed the least that could be provided to preserve the priceless content of blip for access by its members. I did not receive any reply and only hope that some kind of scheme has been set up.