Execs resign as Inquirer.net folds back to PDI

Wow! Unbelievable. All the while I was thinking that the site was going strong. I visit it daily to have a peak of everyday news. I hope it doesn’t crumble soon.

Ironically, this news should have been reported in their site. lol :)

yeah, with all the ads posted all over their site you would think they’re raking in profits… and it’s just odd, the internet is supposed to be the future of future media… is it a case of mismanagement?

Not enough Internet Marketing

I wonder what the most profitable website in the philippines is? We always hear how easy it is to make money in the internet… but significant money?? Not Easy!

blame pep.ph, pinoys love showbiz more than your regular current events

Believe me mis management yan specially sa TECH department. I was there with my team. Cream of the crop yung batch namen but eventually lahat yung umalis at napalitan ng mga inexperienced staff. There best people left dahil sa mis management ng TECHNICAL head and conflict of interests. and other dept ng inq7 can agree with that. tsk tsk super sayang ganda ng potential ng company nde na maximize bec of incompetent people.

Actually, Marvin is correct… There’s the one guy in upper management that they should fire. We all have same feelings toward him because his management inexperience and very poor understanding of the technology side. He always relying on the skills and expertise of others and claim all the glory to himself. No wonder talented individuals come and go, it’s because of this guy. I just wonder what he did to the board of trustees at Inquirer and made them think he’s the right guy for the job. He is also the cause of the other people in the other departments to leave. They don’t like him to.

Well, it’s sad to hear that… We worked so hard when it was just a startup company, I came from GMA during that time and I asked to be transferred to the partnership. We did well on the ratings and I guess, the sales and marketing team were doing so great at that time. I had a wonderful opportunity working with the most creative multimedia team ever- Chuy, Brian, and Roy. We serviced all departments at INQ7. The editorial team was topnotch, back then our EIC was Rigoberto Tiglao who’s now ambassador… JV did excellent work filling in his shoes! My hats off to his work ethics, he’s a workaholic. So too with Leo Magno who always impresses me with how he always seem to get the job done. Joey, Erwin and Gerry and Ms. Linette were the team to beat at the newsroom writing news 24 hours as it happened, of course with the hardworking interns from St. Benilde and St. Paul, QC. The power team of Ms. Edna Belleza kept finances steady with Marilyn Dee doing marketing and Mike See handling the accounts, they got it all covered coz we were happy to receive our year-end bonuses. Who would never forget Dennis Valdes, he’s a great man to work with! I look up to his management practices and ideas, my only regret was he left the fledgling news website too early not to see what would later happen. Haay! Reminiscing the good days with INQ7. I miss the dining at the pantry with Ms. Lina, Ms. Joveee and Mang Nestor!

My decision to leave INQ7 was the hardest. It was funny coz my team wanted to leave more than I do but I surprised them by being the first to resign but I talked them stay on. I loved working for the company, INQ7 was the turning point of my career… We received a Hall-of-Fame award for best current affairs website! We beat them all… everytime! We were innovative, we were dreamers and took pride of serving the Filipinos all over the world. We had the best programmers ever, you wouldn’t believe that INQ7 only had 3 senior programmers-Maui, En and Twinkle and 4 junior programmers, Tikoy, Karlene, Percy and Gabby not to mention Jesse the sole system adminstrator of the entire site. They are all very successful in their own businesses and careers. It’s really unfortunate that there were just some changes that I didn’t like and did not accept… The company had tremendous potential. I think it still has… I would be a dream to manage it and sail it back to sea again.

I am so sad about this very bad news…and so surprised that the country’s top website is not making any money.

Mismanagement and expensive maintenance costs?

I think it’s more of the former than the latter, really surprising to know that will all those ads plastered all over the pages, they’d be doing well.

It’s high time to put new minds and vision in the driver’s seat.

I feel very sad to learn about this too… INQ7.net was my first ever job after college…thanks to Leo Santos ^ who took me in as intern for his multimedia team in 2003, and then to JV Rufino, Leo Magno and Joey Alarilla who became my 3 “bosses” when I moved to the the editorial team after =) I have nothing but good memories from INQ7.net and will miss visiting the office whenever I’m in the area =(

I was with INQ7 as a senior developer for over 6 years. In that time, I got to work with such great people. I got to work closely with the editorial team. JV Rufino and Leo Magno have always been years ahead in terms of visions and plans for the web site. I remember getting emails or calls in the early morning for updates and changes and plans :) The editorial team worked in shifts, 24/7 to make sure that the latest news be available to everyone. On those times like the Impeachment or Edsa II, some worked even longer than that, not just because they were asked, but because they WANTED to cover it.

The tech team shared the same spirit in pulling all-nighters, as well as hours of research, just to make sure that the readers who have no access to local tv or radio, get the news on time and as it happens. The goal was to have a site up hours or even minutes after an event happens :) It was exciting stuff.

I remember that the Marketing and Sales team’s biggest challenge in the first few years was explaining to prospective clients, not just what INQ7 was or why it was a good idea to put up ads, but what the internet or web site was. They did a great job at getting advertisers and coming up with promos.

Though this is a truly sad development, I do hope that for the next incarnation of the Inquirer news site, for whatever mistakes or missteps were made in the previous one, that the current team be successful in managing it, not just for their sake, but for all the millions of Filipinos who patronize Inquirer.net.

When I was still with Sun.star, Inq7.net was one of our benchmarks, we would continually strive to match their traffic and the speed of their news delivery as well as quality. Having the best as the leader of the pack and a direct competitor brings everyone to higher level. It would be ashame if quality of service will degrade with the folding back to PDI.

When I heard that JV Rufino have already resigned from INQUIRER.net, this is really a bad and sad news for the company. I’m formerly intern and Editorial Assistant for almost 5 years at INQ7.net (known now as INQUIRER.net).

JV Rufino, our EIC, is a very dedicated man to his work. Not only in Editorial dept but also for the whole company. With the help of our editors, from morning, mid and night shifts, I can say that no one can ever beat the team and will satisfy your knowledge on news in any part of the world using your computer and cellphones.

I guess, this is a BIG trial for the company. And I hope, from my former colleagues and friends in INQUIRER.net, is to find a way again to have the success for the company. I agree with Leo Santos, the company had tremendous potential. Don’t let the company down as many are wishing it to fall.

“Let be by-gots be by-gots.” – Anonymous

Wow, this is really a big blow in the internet industry and ang dami pala issue na lumalabas sa organization na ito. Pati utang na kalkal na. tsk tsk. Anyway its a tragic day for all of us.

Contrary to most of the comments I read below, the article above says “Inquirer.net WILL NOT BE CLOSING DOWN but will be consolidated with the Philippine Daily Inquirer”. This might be the best move for Inquirer.net to have a cost-efficient operations.

I’ve always thought that articles on this site were from PDI and/or GMA7 when they still had that partnership with GMA7. That way, the costs would have been less and advertisements would worked to their advantage. In other printed news companies, they have online publications at hand … meaning they manage their own people and own website. The news they print are the same news they publish online. How can you pay more with that kind of set up?

Inq7.net then, Inquirer.net now, never ceased to update me for a period of 4 years when I was still working in Hong Kong. It may have been due to my loyalty to where my sister, one of the junior programmers mentioned by Leo Santos, was working at that time or it simply became very “handy” as compared to buying newspaper from the stands which would cost at least 2x its regular price.

Lastly, may it be mismanagement of people or misappropriation of funds, let the new “owner/s” do their thing in bringing Inquirer.net right back on track. Continue to patronize your favorite online publication, as long as you’re happy with the contents. :)

Meanwhile, publications abroad are going Web-only.

The Philippines exists in a time warp. Trends here go backwards.

I also noticed their web site is getting slower and slower.

Actually, may problem talaga tong website nato e. Pano nyo nasabi na the best ang mga nagwowork dito? Super bagal nitong site nato.

Wait nyo na lang sa NEWS mga katoto kung bakit hindi na malaman dito kung ano gagawin. Lalabas na within a couple of days. And you will know na related sya sa topic dito. Someone messed up and ayun na nga, malaking scandal ito.

I came across this while taking a break from facebook. I think you’re on to some good info here.