Okay, before you get too excited, it’s NOT the whole thing that’s closed or closing, The Sunday Salon is just closed for new membership.
Let me explain.
When I started The Welsh Reading Challenge, it was my first book challenge, and I was doing it out of a love for my own heritage as well as giving myself a prod to read those books I’ve really been wanting to, but just not done it. I hadn’t really expected very many people to join in, though I wasn’t closed to it. So when a few people joined in, I got excited. I looked around at everyone else’s challenges, especially those who were finishing up with their firsts and starting their second ones, so I could glean from their experiences. One thing that was mentioned by a couple was that having a separate blog just for the challenge was a preferable way to keep the challenge better organized and thereby easier to navigate for participants. So during Bloggiesta I decided to take the big step and give the challenge it’s own space to live and flourish.
I’ve been working on the challenge’s blog and adding pages and content, as well as beginning to get some offers for prizes (Thanks Ceri at Americymru!). It’s been a bit of a reading distraction as I’ve been hunting up titles for the suggested reading page and worked a bit on a Welsh culture page called “Hiraeth” (which actually took a lot of reading and exploring). Even when I have been trying to read, my mind drifts to the challenge and ideas for the blog to make it more fun (Pam at Bookalicio.us made the delicious suggestion of having a Welsh movie mini-challenge and we could sit around and drool over Ioan Gruffudd among others -what others? After she invoked the name of Mr. Fantastic, I was like Homer for donuts! Mmmm… Ioan.. nom-nom-nom!), as well as informative. It’s a labor of a lot of love, and even if no one else enjoys it, I do.
So when I thought about how to do a weekly wrap post to let everyone know what books were read with links to reviews and other Welsh-related stuff, I thought immediately about The Sunday Salon. It’s a great weekly meme that many bloggers participate in, and the posts are linked through the site, yahoo tubes, as well as tweeted. I jumped out of bed and ran the five steps to the computer to sign The Welsh Reading Challenge up!
Imagine my shock when I read this message:
as of January 3, 2010, we won’t be accepting new members in the Salon.
You see, apparently this fabulous meme has grown to over 500 blogs and is more than YahooPipes can handle. LOL! How fantastic is that? To think that, right now all over the world, more than 500 people are at this moment writing a post like this one, or thinking about what they’re going to write, or reading other SundaySaloner’s posts after publishing their own. I don’t know if The Sunday Salon is the largest meme on the Internet, but it’s amazing no matter what.
So what do you think? Do you participate in The Sunday Salon? How does it make you feel to know it’s closed?
Filed under: Sunday Salon, Welsh Reading Challenge | Tagged: Americymru, blogging, bookalicio.us, culture, Hiraeth, Ioan Gruffudd, meme, prizes, reading challenge, Sunday Salon, Welsh, Welsh Reading Challenge |
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR 
I think it’s a great meme. I’ve participated from the very beginning. It started off two years ago as a mini read-a-thon but it morphed into a place to review the activities of the previous week. I like what it was and I like what it’s become. I’d forgotten that there was a membership for it.
I am sad that membership is now closed to new participants. I completely understand. I do. I just hate that now people will be left out of a great thing.
I hope it won’t stop people from doing what they might have done on a Sunday Salon post if they could have joined. I don’t want anyone to be discouraged or to feel left out.
I don’t participate, but I enjoy reading other people’s SS posts. It’s too bad it’s closed – maybe a few spots will become available in the future.
I totally understand. I get hundreds of posts in my google reader on the weekends, and I feel bad when I don’t get a chance to read them all. This way I know at least there is a limit!!
I am both saddened and proud that TSS has grown so big that new membership must be closed. It is a sign of how many new bloggers have found this wonderful meme, but I feel bad that new bloggers will miss out.
I started participating in The Sunday Salon a few months ago and I love it! People write such interesting and thought-provoking posts for it. I am sad it is closed to new members, but I can also understand why that is the case. Maybe there will be a cleaning out of dormant blogs to make way for new ones?
It’s very interesting. I’ve never participated officially – but I’ve enjoyed the posts that my favorite bloggers write for this. Actually, I don’t think I ever visited the ‘source’! so I guess its being closed doesn’t bother me at all.
It’s so funny that you brought this up because I was looking for memes to join with the new year and considered this one. I guess that won’t be happening now! I will continue to enjoy other people’s posts though. It’s wonderful that so many participate.
I love The Sunday Salon and think it’s sad that it’s closed, but I can see the necessity of it. It’s just huge. I don’t think all 500 people actually participate, because I never get that many from the feed. Makes me wonder if inactive blogs could be taken out to make space for new ones eventually.
I think it’s sad that it’s closed! I’ll a number of people no longer do it. Can people “cancel”? I don’t participate but for those people I know who do it, it’s nice to see their way of making it theirs. Of course, who needs to be on the timeline to participate in something like that?
Aww man! I haven’t joined the Sunday Salon yet because I could never think of something to write but was considering joining it this year. I didn’t know it closed membership. I wouldn’t have thought of a meme being closed, I thought they were open to everyone.