I write this post with a mix of excitement and sadness. The exciting part is that I am helping form a new developer community site at http://www.TheRuntime.com. The sad part is that I will no longer be blogging at Codebetter. When Codebetter was first formed, myself and several other bloggers from DotNetJunkies were concerned about the signal to noise ratio, and wanted to start up our own site where we could focus on development tips and techniques with a lot more meat in the feed. We succeeded, and Codebetter became a known and popular site in the community.
In the last 6 months or so though, I've noticed a lot of negativity in the feed and coming in from our readership. Where once we used to focus on positive aspects of the community and helping developers of all skill levels become better at their jobs, I noticed the perception rising that many posts on this feed are elitist, confrontational, and overly negative. I'm saddened to say that I agree with these readers, and it saddens and angers me to lose readership over this. I want to go back to the basics and blog on a site that is about helping developers, not about evangalizing the acronym of the day, or drawing lines in the sand between "us" and "them", and builds the fellowship and closeness of community that I dreamed of when I first entered into the blogosphere.
Please note that I am not trying to put down my fellow bloggers at codebetter. They are all talented and intelligent people who would not have the success that they have in their careers if they weren't. It's just that more and more often, I read the feed and say "This is not me.", and that's something internal that I've had to work through.
Back to the exciting news though, go ahead and subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/theruntime or go directly to the site, which admittedly is still being worked on but is now functional. You'll find me, and several other talented bloggers set up there, and we'll be glad to share our experiences with you.