The Departed

Nothing lasts forever, and sadly this is true even in the blogosphere.  Sometimes people choose to end their blogs, putting a period at the end of a long string of posts.  (And sometimes, they come back again.)  Sometimes people just drift away from their blogs, setting them aside for months or years at a time but leaving them idling just in case they decide to put on their blogging hats again.  Sometimes people stop blogging because they have died, ending their ability to post, or do pretty much anything else.  Sometimes they simply shut down their blogs, deleting them and removing all of the content and all of the links they had assembled over the years.  And sometimes other people squat these site names, taking over an established site for their own purposes.

Michelle has been hard at work finding new blogs to add to NEPA Blogs, so I figured I may as well do some work and check every current blog link for functionality.  I found a lot of blogs that haven't been updated in more than a year, but I'm holding out hope that some of these may be revived.  I found some blogs that no longer exist, even blogs that were updated within the last few months.  I found a handful of blogs that have been changed to be read by invited readers only.  And I found several blogs that have been officially brought to an end, even though their content is still accessible.

First the blogs that have officially come to an end:

http://bealesbites.blogspot.com/
Beale's Bites has actually not been updated for several years.  In its day it was a wonderful source for the inside scoop on the local television scene, full of news, gossip, history, and "Where are they now?" pieces.  That information is still available, but it is all fading into history as time passes.

http://www.websterwilk.com/
This is a bit of a cheat.  I never linked to this "new" blog for the radio personality known as John Webster.  His old blog from his days at Rock 107 has been cybersquatted, but he kept this one updated until late last year, after which he decided to do all his updates on Facebook and Twitter.

http://northfranklin.blogspot.com/
Tom Carten kept his meandering memoir blog going until a few months ago, when he finally decided to finish it with an "Amen."

http://www.abigfatslob.com/
After a seven month hiatus, A Big Fat Slob finally decided to give up the ghost.


These blogs are currently restricted to invited readers only:

Hazleton's Cargo Airport: http://hazletonscargoairport.blogspot.com/
Luzerne County Juvenile Detention Center Analysis: http://luzernecountyjdcanalysis.blogspot.com/
The Scranton Guardian: http://thescrantonguardian.blogspot.com/
GDAC – Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition: https://gasdrillingawarenesscoalition.wordpress.com/
Coming Back to Life: http://rowdyrockincowchick.blogspot.com/

In addition, there are forty-three blogs listed in the "Updates" section that have not been updated in over a year.

I'm leaving all of these blogs where they are.  All of them still have content.  Some of them may come back.  In other cases, it is possible that the bloggers in question have, in fact, died.  I don't plan to punish them for this by delisting their blogs.

The following blogs no longer contain any content, or point to dead links, or point to sites other than the original blogs - that is, they've been cybersquatted.  It is with deep regret that I am removing them.  I wish their former bloggers the best, and hope that maybe they'll decide to return to blogging someday.

The American Check-Up: http://theamericancheckup.blogspot.com/ - Not found

PA Podcasting: http://papodcasting.ning.com/ - 404: Not found

Luzerne County Courthouse News: http://luzernecountycourthousenews.blogspot.com/ - Not found

The Duped Scholar: http://dupedscholar.blogspot.com/ - Not found

Four-Color Heroines: http://girl-wonder.org/4colorheroines - Website cannot display this page

http://cada-momento.com/ - Could not find

Rice Ink - http://www.custominvitationlady.com/ - Cybersquatted, moved to http://www.momentaldesigns.com/rice-ink/

John Cole Cartoons: http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/johncole/default.aspx - Moved, current site included in Updates

Sheli's BLOG!: http://shelistechservicesblog.blogspot.com/ - Not found

Scrantonians: http://www.scrantonians.com/ - 404: Not found

http://www.webster107.com/ - Cybersquatted; see note about websterwilk.com

Vince Sweeney's Blog: http://www.vincesweeney.com/ - Cybersquatted

PostRanger.com - broken link

TheMorningMeeting.net - "the term we received could not be resolved"

Lorely's Musings: http://loreleysmusings.blogspot.com/ - "Has been removed."

Starting A New Medical School: http://newmedicalschool.blogspot.com/ - "Has been removed."

Republican in Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA): http://republicanfaith.blogspot.com/ - "Has been removed."

We'll keep working to find more great blogs from Northeastern PA!