from a business perspective, consolidation sounds like a logical if not eventual development for inquirer.net. we must remember that paid readership (subscription and repeated purchases) and sponsorship (ads) form the lifeblood of any publication.

the bigger picture will tell us that inquirer is not alone in this battle as hitherto print-version buyers may resort to online-only access–which is free, thus no revenue from readership, save for ad sponsorships.

it remains a tricky balance and unfortunately the online presence still has to serve to supplement the “more vital” print business, and to not forget the “subscription” part of the business.

fortunately, when it comes to building communities and brand ambassadors, online is tops. from there can arise support for subscription. not to mention the ability to make global impact.

let’s ask ourselves: we may love publications like wired, natgeo, time, pcworld, and the likes, but how many of us actually have regular subscriptions to them? we all want to keep updated, but those keeping us up-to-date also have to keep their business afloat–so, are their print and online versions doing the job? and as readers, are we doing our share?

(ultimately, the idea is to pay less for more towards a “happy reader” cycle: more readership, more ad-buyers, less subscription cost, more demand for excellent articles, more writers employed, and who knows, maybe even less ads–or only relevant ads)

Wait nyo na lang sa NEWS mga katoto kung bakit hindi na malaman dito kung ano gagawin. Lalabas na within a couple of days. And you will know na related sya sa topic dito. Someone messed up and ayun na nga, malaking scandal ito.

The Philippines exists in a time warp. Trends here go backwards.

They have put too much importance on Tech that they have more than five reporters covering this beat, this section however is the most failure among all the sections it gets only less than 10% of the traffic. Entertainment section gets 90% of their traffic.

I’ve always thought that articles on this site were from PDI and/or GMA7 when they still had that partnership with GMA7. That way, the costs would have been less and advertisements would worked to their advantage. In other printed news companies, they have online publications at hand … meaning they manage their own people and own website. The news they print are the same news they publish online. How can you pay more with that kind of set up?

Inq7.net then, Inquirer.net now, never ceased to update me for a period of 4 years when I was still working in Hong Kong. It may have been due to my loyalty to where my sister, one of the junior programmers mentioned by Leo Santos, was working at that time or it simply became very “handy” as compared to buying newspaper from the stands which would cost at least 2x its regular price.

Lastly, may it be mismanagement of people or misappropriation of funds, let the new “owner/s” do their thing in bringing Inquirer.net right back on track. Continue to patronize your favorite online publication, as long as you’re happy with the contents.

Just a side comment who is this marvin guy keeps on posting? Is this the culprit who took this once great company into its fall? It seems some people here knows him well.

JV Rufino, our EIC, is a very dedicated man to his work. Not only in Editorial dept but also for the whole company. With the help of our editors, from morning, mid and night shifts, I can say that no one can ever beat the team and will satisfy your knowledge on news in any part of the world using your computer and cellphones.

I guess, this is a BIG trial for the company. And I hope, from my former colleagues and friends in INQUIRER.net, is to find a way again to have the success for the company. I agree with Leo Santos, the company had tremendous potential. Don’t let the company down as many are wishing it to fall.

The tech team shared the same spirit in pulling all-nighters, as well as hours of research, just to make sure that the readers who have no access to local tv or radio, get the news on time and as it happens. The goal was to have a site up hours or even minutes after an event happens It was exciting stuff.

I remember that the Marketing and Sales team’s biggest challenge in the first few years was explaining to prospective clients, not just what INQ7 was or why it was a good idea to put up ads, but what the internet or web site was. They did a great job at getting advertisers and coming up with promos.

Though this is a truly sad development, I do hope that for the next incarnation of the Inquirer news site, for whatever mistakes or missteps were made in the previous one, that the current team be successful in managing it, not just for their sake, but for all the millions of Filipinos who patronize Inquirer.net.

The best move is to streamline the operation.

Keep only the best people (or whatever is left of the best).

Improve the website appearance — a little less clutter will make it easily readable.

Get advertisers who will pay for a premium. (Most of their advertisers now are real estate companies)

Bring back that start-up entrepreneurial spirit as described by Sir Leo Santos.

I think it’s more of the former than the latter, really surprising to know that will all those ads plastered all over the pages, they’d be doing well.

It’s high time to put new minds and vision in the driver’s seat.

maybe u just using the internet a year ago, do u know that before wordpress was born, there’s already inq7.net ?
better check internet history 101

My decision to leave INQ7 was the hardest. It was funny coz my team wanted to leave more than I do but I surprised them by being the first to resign but I talked them stay on. I loved working for the company, INQ7 was the turning point of my career… We received a Hall-of-Fame award for best current affairs website! We beat them all… everytime! We were innovative, we were dreamers and took pride of serving the Filipinos all over the world. We had the best programmers ever, you wouldn’t believe that INQ7 only had 3 senior programmers-Maui, En and Twinkle and 4 junior programmers, Tikoy, Karlene, Percy and Gabby not to mention Jesse the sole system adminstrator of the entire site. They are all very successful in their own businesses and careers. It’s really unfortunate that there were just some changes that I didn’t like and did not accept… The company had tremendous potential. I think it still has… I would be a dream to manage it and sail it back to sea again.

in anycase, if the site’s still going to be up, then it’s just a matter of “changing of the guard” and not really bad news for pinoys.

jomar hilario