We’re back, along with 5,000 posts and 100,000 comments. The contract with Vetstreet referenced in the previous post ended at the end of 2013, and with it, our contractual obligation to redirect PetConnection.com to that site.
We liked the folks at Vetstreet, and we still do. In fact, we recommend them as great source of pet-care information, thanks to the tireless work of their medical director, Dr. Beth Thompson. We like them, liked working with them (and some of us still do write for them), but Vetstreet is not really a site that’s comfortable with strong opinions, even those well-supported by well-sourced actual facts.
Those of you who followed us before know we’re all about the strong opinions, along with cutting-edge information and good journalism. Also, snark and occasional levity. We’re fond of sticking our noses into things some folks would rather we ignored (kinda like my dog Faith, shown as a puppy at right). We needed a place for all of that, and with a couple years of pent-up posts, we wanted it now.
When Christie Keith and I figured out we could get our blog and its archives back, we didn’t waste much time: We contacted Mike Linville of Black Dog Studios, our long-suffering and utterly awesome webgods, and asked for a stripped-down version of what we had before. Just the blog, and the bloggers who were the heart of the old PetConnection (possibly plus one not yet confirmed but minus the ones who don’t have time for us anymore, such as our beloved David S. Greene). We also knew we wanted no sponsors and no advertising. We threw out every section except the blog. Personal changes? Yes, there have been a few: Some deaths, some moves and some new additions to our respective families. Life goes on, whether you’re blogging about it or not.
We still have a few little fixes here and there, but with Christie and I both heading off to the North American Veterinary Community conference this week, we didn’t want to delay our launch. We’ll surely have posts from NAVC to get us off to a good start.
If you find some bugs we haven’t gotten around to squashing yet, let us know. As for anything else that’s on your mind, I’m delighted to say that the comments section is now open … again.