Popular Filipino blog goes underground
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:37:00 07/04/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- "This blog is open to invited readers only," a local popular gossip blog Chikatime announced, as local readers were puzzled to find that the anonymous blog has recently been taken down.
Known for breaking the Brian Gorrell-DJ Montano story, Chikatime's disappearance from the local blogosphere was immediately noticed by some
href="http://abuggedlife.com/2008/07/04/you-know-it-was-bound-to-happen/">bloggers and readers.
"This is a really small industry, [t]his publishing thing. Once you poke into it, someone is bound to be more brazen than you. It isn't about right or wrong. For me, people are free to do whatever they want, as long as they are man (or woman enough) to face the consequences of their actions. If you don't know what I'm talking about, as of yesterday Chikatime is down. And they're being challenged," said Jayvee Fernandez in a recent blog post.
A series of blog entries from Jenni Epperson in popular social networking site Multiply offers some clues as to why Chikatime might have gone underground.
Epperson wrote that a reader of her blog has given her clues about the people behind Chikatime.
"I can't tell you 'how' I found out about 'chickentime's' identity, because I wasn't the one who tracked it down. It was one of my readers "mp3musicmp3" ("ridge") who did all the 'work' and got all the information -- you will notice his posts in the comments box and in my entries," she wrote in one of her more recent entries.
In her recent entry, she revealed that the alleged owner of the Chikatime blog has written her a personal note, denying owning the gossip blog.
The letter read: "I read your latest blog containing the profile information of the one who allegedly runs chikatime. I was shocked when I click[ed] on the pic[ture] as it was very familiar then I realize[d] akin pala yun [that it was mine]. I checked you[r] previous blogs and I never knew ako na pala ung pinagdududahan nyo [that I was the one being suspected]. I started to really worry kasi sa maniwala ka o sa hindi [believe it or not] I have absolutely nothing to do with that blog. At kahit most of the time kinakapos ako, hinding hindi ako gagawa ng blog at maninira ng ibang tao para lang magkapera through [I won't be doing such things to destroy people and just to earn money from] Google ads and eBay referrals."
Epperson blocked out certain parts of the letter.
Chikatime has been inaccessible for about five days, some readers said
|
