Sadly we bid a fond farewell to JR Raphael

Apparently the older you get, the quicker time flies. In that regard when we celebrated our 1st birthday May 5, it felt like it was yesterday. This crazy site we started that breaks so many rules when it comes to blogging, a site we managed to grow from 80,000 page views in its second month, to something along the lines of 2.7-2.8 million page views this month (we’re 2.533m as I write this on the 28th) turned 1.

During this time we’ve had six writers in various capacities, and roughly another six again guest posting or in occasional syndication. At our first birthday, there was only one original left: JR Raphael.

We were always fortunate to have JR’s services. I’ve never judged applicants by their resume alone, and always looked at writing style and eye for content, but in JR’s case I saw both. As well as writing for MSNBC, PC World, The Washington Post and Yahoo Tech, he’s also won two Emmy’s. Yeah, if that sounds like an insane resume to you, imagine how I felt. The resume should have frightened me off, but none the less he got the gig.

In the 12 months since, JR has been a solid foundation from which this site grew. He remarkably stood by me during the dark hours, the times where I doubted that what we had started could last, and where the money started to get thin. He has been a friend and confidant, a sounding board and collaborator in refining what we do today, and in the formula we finally worked out. But most of all he’s been a great writer, taking his experience, and adopting it to the style we finally came up with, the style that is to some regards uniquely ours.

I finish though on one even more positive note. While he should have been the one schooling me, I actually taught him well in one respect: he’s leaving to start his own site. That site isn’t live yet, but I’m told it’s a tech comedy site. We’ll let everyone know when it’s live so you can follow him there.

My public thanks to JR for all you have given this site, and me. I probably didn’t think you’d last so long, and I can never be grateful enough that you did.

We have offered the vacant position to a new blogger, who I’m hoping will bring their own style to the site. More on that in the coming days.