UK blog network collapses amid tears and recriminations

MORE TROUBLE in bog-land, where hardly a day passes without some soap-opera development. This time, Sam Sethi has confirmed plans to step down and auction assets of the nascent Blognation UK blogging network, and says he has recruited Scotland Yard to pursue an investigation into the disclosure of a document that could have given the project much-needed VC funding.

We knew Sethi a little way back in about 1997 when he was a Netscape UK executive but the most recent chapter of the story had him helping launch the UK and Ireland version of Techcrunch a little over 15 months ago. This was (and is) intended as the local version of the US-based all-conquering website that covers matters Web 2.0 and is seen as a mighty weapon in helping startups to get investment.

A glitzy party was attended by perhaps 200 people in London last year but the site was left unmanned for several months after Sethi fell out with Techcrunch founder, Sussex-born entrepreneur Michael Arrington. The fallout led to the departure of both Sethi and co-editor Mike Butcher. Perhaps surprisingly, given this open letter of the time, Butcher has since returned Techcrunch UK.

This time around, Sethi alleges that Arrington has threatened to publish confidential emails “knowing it would create fear, uncertainty and doubt” and says Scotland Yard’s Internet Crime Unit is looking into the leak of a document stating the details of a VC investment.

All in all then, just another day in bogging paradise. µ