Bonum Certa Men Certa

IBM Has Measurably Lessened Activity in Red Hat Web Sites (It Started When Layoffs Were Announced Last Month)

Summary: OpenSource.com and enterprisersproject.com scaled down their activity around the time Red Hat's CEO announced that 700+ workers would be made redundant; are writers among the casualties of these cuts?

T HIS is a subject we deem especially and exceptionally sensitive because many good people lost their jobs at Red Hat. Some were technical, some were less technical. We know some names, but this post will name nobody.

"My wife and I have been reading OpenSource.com every day for about a decade, so these trends are easy to spot or "feel" (even the mere absence of something gets noticed)."Last year we took note of neglect in OpenSource.com (a Red Hat site for well over a decade already) and weeks later the site picked up pace again, publishing 2-3 new articles per day, except weekends (sometimes on weekends too they published new material). Unlike months prior, they didn't post obnoxious stuff; they had actually published some tasteless things last year.

My wife and I have been reading OpenSource.com every day for about a decade, so these trends are easy to spot or "feel" (even the mere absence of something gets noticed). The site's editors changed a few times over the years (we won't name them; we want to keep this impersonal).

"The 'Linux' Foundation has been very quiet this year and it is intentional; they try to keep a low profile for a reason."So what exactly is going on? Let us know. We're generally thankful for what the site offered since its birth and it would be a shame if it became something like Linux.com -- in affect killed by the 'Linux' Foundation when it fired all the staff writers and all the editors without prior notice or an explanation. Revenue was growing fast back then, unlike in recent years. The 'Linux' Foundation has been very quiet this year and it is intentional; they try to keep a low profile for a reason. We'll write about it some other day.

"The people fired by the Linux Foundation, longtime writers at Linux.com, never quite recovered or made a comeback."Contact us by IRC or E-mail if you know something about this. It seems likely IBM removed not only OpenSource.com staff*. Around April 25, a day after the Red Hat layoffs, activity in both enterprisersproject.com (another Red Hat site, a much worse one**) and opensource.com was cut down (more than halved). Coincidence? Were they impacted? One can only guess, hence we hope for anonymous disclosure of information. The people fired by the Linux Foundation, longtime writers at Linux.com, never quite recovered or made a comeback. Eric Brown 'retired' from writing 1-2 years later, Carla (tuxchick) is hard to find online, and Jack Walllen is perhaps the last survivor of that cull. He's still active in a number of sites. _________ * It is merely a side note that these layoffs aren't justified. As mintCast put it earlier today, "Red Hat lays of 4% due to high profits..."

** Over the past few months enterprisersproject.com published about 2 dozen 'articles' that merely help Microsoft hype/dial up chatbots. It's doing so again today. This helps Microsoft distract from its demise in most areas.

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