I’ve always been a firm believer of going out on top. Unfortunately, that would have meant putting the League of Extraordinary Bloggers to bed about a year ago. But rather than beating this poor horse any longer, I have decided that it’s time for the League to come to an end.
I’ve had an absolute blast writing responses each week and reading those written by my fellow bloggers. When this grand experiment started, it seems like blogs were where the action was, but slowly the forces of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram took hold and chipped away at the creative focus of many of us, myself included — it’s a whole lot easier to snap a photo and post it on Instagram than it is to write a whole blog post about it.
One of the things that I most enjoyed about the League was its ability to combine our efforts with a common cause, and I still think there is a lot going for that idea. I have plans to start something a little similar, with a more focused angle, in the near future, so stay tuned for that.
I think the League did exactly what it was meant to do, and generated some buzz among our members and assisted each out when we needed a hand. Maybe we’ll resuscitate it at some point in the distant future, but for now, we’ll let it sleep in a peaceful cryogenic state. It’s been fun, and I hope we can all still be friends!
Sad to hear but I understand. Thanks for all the hard work on your part Brian it was fun!
😀
Well thats a bummer, but I guess I can’t be too broken up about it as I haven’t exactly been at the forefront of participation for quite a while.
It was a neat community were I got to meet with a lot of cool people and got a lot of supportive followers I’d have never have found on my own, plus it got me in the habit of weekly posts. But all good things must come to an end. And in the end, I’m glad this was a good thing.
Thanks Eric. Glad to hear you it inspired you to post something every week. 😉
I’m sorry to see this go- I had a lot of fun with your writing challenges and a lot of fun with the other peoples posts. I will miss this
Sorry to hear it Brian but I understand. Although it has been awhile since i participated, i always had a blast with the topics. Grateful for all the people I’ve met along the way (including you!)
You know it Jason! (I actually might be contacting you soon about “real world” work questions.)
Wow, bummed that it’s ending but I’m glad I was able to participate at least once. Thanks for letting us do this and hopefully everybody will keep in touch. LONG LIVE THE LEAGUE!
So sad to hear, but totally understand, I’m sure this took a lot of your time.
It’s been great meeting and reading all the great posts and sites that the League opened up to me prior to joining and even after. I tried to participate as much as I could, but we all have lives that continue off of the blog-o-sphere, and those tend to take the lead of importance, but I’ve now got a ton of great new places to learn of toys, movies, figures, dinner tables guest lists, and everything in between and have you and this site to thank for it all.
Can’t wait to see where you go with the future ideas you have swirling in that brain, but know I’ll be there to watch it all.
Shame to see it go, but it was great to have had around while it lasted.
I had great fun reading through the archive (and more recently, playing along)!
I too thank you for all your efforts. I met many cool people through the League and it’s unfortunate that it has to die. Hopefully we will all still keep up on each other’s work. It was fun to feel a part of something cool.
Hey Cal, I visit your site every day and always enjoyed when you took part in the League topics.
Sad to hear this but, I get it. Seems like I’ve had less and less time to devote to blogging lately.
Thanks for organizing this Brian. It’s been a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the community. I’m really excited to hear your plans for the future 🙂
Well I guess all good things come to a end but maybe we will see it again some day…..and I totally agree about the Instagram thing.
As a fairly new member, this one really bums me out.
I can tell you’re burnt out with trying to keep the thing up and running and alive, but I still see a lot of legs for a solid blog network like this.
Any change you would be interested in letting the concept move on and let someone take over the operations of it, so that we can try to keep the magic alive?
I’d be thrilled to pass the baton to another site. It’s not so much that I’m burnt out on the idea, as it is that the participation level has dropped pretty drastically over the last few months, and I haven’t been able to figure out why. I just think the idea has run its course with the current members, but if someone could generate a good amount of new blogs, it could certainly live another day.
I would love if somebody with a decent blog with decent numbers of visits* keeps the League alive!
I was guessing if the little number of posts of the last asignment was the motivation of The End, and now I think so. On internet, very few things last more than a couple of years. The Traveling Picture Show is a good example: it is a livejournal community left abandoned by its founders. I take it as mine because I love it and, now, there are 8 years since I started to post there.
Now I’m sad 🙁
*mine gets too little visits and almost no comments 🙁
I am genuinely sorry to see the League go. I also get it though. It’s one of those things I’m always fanatically promoting (gave you a shout out on the episode of the Geek Fallout podcast I recently hosted, actually ep. 91, trying to drum up new blood) but have been having trouble getting myself to participate in.
The League is the reason I started my blog. It got me my first published piece of writing in a magazine, and it put me in touch with the folks I would go on to podcast with on Geek Fallout. The League of Extraordinary Bloggers has pretty much been responsible for everything I love about my internet footprint. So thank you for that Brian. Just don’t go shutting down Cool & Collected!
Deereeeek!! Keep running your blog!! I don’t comment because I’m shamefully lazy, but I love to read about your finds in Goodwill!!!!1
I also love Cool and Collected 😀
Goodwill is one of my absolute faves.!
Wait a minute…maybe this is this week’s assignment. We’re on to you Brian.
Seriously though, thanks for spearheading this for so long, It’s been a pleasure.
Yeah! Brian rocks! 😀 😀 😀 😀 (it seems I became a fan)
Wow, what a great ride. I will miss the challenges and reading everyone’s posts. I was lucky enough to win the Hake’s auction, and I have to say the apocalyptic challenge was my favorite. It was also the post I put the most effort into on my entire site. Truly a great time and great topics. Now the challenge will be coming up with topics to write about without your site Brian. Thank you for everything, but most importantly for the motivation. Brian I wanna thank you again for letting me be a part of it. Also, you should know I purchased the Zappa buttons, from the auction. Thank you so much. I(and I’m fairly certain we) truly appreciate all the work you put in to keep us going. Ten thousand thank yous my friend.
-Hank
Excellent! The Hake’s challenges were always my favorite ones, because everyone kept digging up items in the catalogs that I had missed. It was great seeing what the winners ended up buying.
So sad it became to an end, I LOVED the League! I loved it so much, so I dedicated a little last post saying good bye to The League:
http://traveling-pics.livejournal.com/546802.html
Thanks for the fun, Brian! 😀
It’s always been fun chatting with you Yelinna! You always brought a unique viewpoint to the topics. 🙂
All good things must end, I suppose. I too have been quite absent from my League responsibilities of late. Still, it’s sad to see it end!
I absolutely loved being a part of the League and will be very sorry to see it end.
Thank you for putting so much effort into the prompts for us, Brian.
Another thought for the future, specifically in regards to this:
“it’s a whole lot easier to snap a photo and post it on Instagram than it is to write a whole blog post about it.”
Maybe we could do photo challenges/topics? Kind of an abbreviated version of the LOEB. There are WordPress plugins that will pull all Instagram images with a specific hashtag. Could do something like #LOEB-FavHalloweenMemory
Just a thought.
I like this idea. Most of my League posts were a single photo
D-Day: [to Bluto] Let it go. War’s over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: [to Boon] Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.
Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough…
[thinks hard of something to say]
Bluto: The tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!
Now, where can I get a giant cake-shaped parade float?
Sad to see it go. It really helped me with my blogging. I’ll still be hanging around. I’ve found a lot websites here that I love visiting.
Very sad to see it go, but also proud to have been a member. Thanks for running this for all us bloggers out there, you really are awesome!
Aww, you’re awesome! 😉
Oh man, I can’t believe the LOEB challenges are ending! Ever since I took on 2 jobs League posts became a real challenge.
I wanna thank you Brian, the League brought new life to DI Treasures, I met so many wonderful people and have made some amazing friendships largely as a result of the League! Your blog is amazing, I’m sorry I don’t comment more, I enjoy it very much.
I do like the Instagram challenge idea, let’s do it!
There have been few times I look through my RSS feeds and find something that brings me real sadness. You’ve done a great thing for our community, Brian, as I’m sure you can tell by the responses above mine. You’ve brought people together and introduced us to fellow bloggers we may not have met otherwise. I know I’ll keep proudly displaying my League logo on my affiliations page.
I think the League, like any good superteam, will rise again when the world needs it!
Definitely bummed to hear but I too am guilty of abondoning the blog to pursue other social media and youtube. Glad I was part of the league as it allowed me to meet some great people and even get published in the Cool and Collected magazine! Hoping to do an Instagram spin on it at some point 🙂
If you get something going over on Instagram, count me in!
🙁 So sad to see it go. I enjoyed my time writing out whatever topics came up. Sadly I missed the last couple. But I do understand why you are shutting it down. Twitter and FB does kinda kill the blogging experience. I am looking forward to you the new project you are working tho!!
Brian,
The Toy Box volunteers to take the reins for the League. I’ll send a more formal write up via e-mail, and you can let me know if you’re interested.
If the League continues on another site, I’ll participate, I promise!!
Hate to see the League go. I had a blast participating. Thanks for letting me be a part of the fun.
Sad to see this end. Having said that I’ve only since contributed once or twice but I had fun reading the rest of the entries by the league members. Thanks for the fun Brian!
Agree with ya on the FB/twitter/instagram revolution. I’m equally as guilty too….my own blog has been in that cryogenic sleep phase for quite some time now. If you’re planning something on instagram, do count me in….I have tonnes of pictures to contribute Brian!
Boo!
That is all 🙂
Almost.
I was very late in and only probably did one in two, but it really inspired me to write more regularly and from different angles. Cheers!
Brian,
Thanks for running the League for us all for so long! It was a great idea that was, for a while, a lot of fun to participate in, and although I haven’t taken part in a challenge since last July I have often checked in to see what everyone is up to.
I have to be honest and say that I lost the faith when each challenge seemed to only generate interaction across an exclusive handful of the participating blogs, which seemed against the spirit of it all to me. Regardless, through the LOEB assignments I found several sites that I still follow and read regularly, and I’m really grateful for that.
Thanks again for your efforts Brian; I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!
Joe
And I JUST came here to participate too. Sad day. Well, I’ll find you on Twitter and FB then! good luck
Sorry to see this go. BE well everyone!
Even though I was late to the party I enjoyed my short time as a LOEB member! Great idea and excellent work from everyone involved!