StarTrek.com Team Fired!
With no warning, CBS has downsized the entire staff of the official Star Trek site and marked it for dismantling.
Goodbye from the STARTREK.COM Team
That was the header for last week's final news item on the official site for Star Trek. The story text included the following:
"Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately.
"We don't know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years.
"If you have comments, please send them to editor@startrek.com - we hope someone at CBS will read them. "
The main page of the site includes this banner:
According to TrekMovie.com's ANTHONY PASCALE, the StarTrek.com cut was just part of parent company CBS Interactive's larger cost-cutting effort. However, StarTrek.com appears to be the sole example of an entire team being eliminated.
"...new online sites...have infused invaluable DNA into the division, and are actively translating their experience in community-building to all of the Company’s properties and content," read part of CBS's official statement. "In the coming year, we intend to build on our success by expanding on that strategy of building communities online. Part of achieving this goal is reorganizing the way we do business to align the division’s workforce with our new vision..."
There was no specific mention of StarTrek.com, and it is unclear, at this point, if the site has a future at all. As of Dec. 17, it remains online, but the specific news item page includes an "Error 404" and the message "We're sorry, but the page you requested is either outdated or does not exist. You may have typed in or linked to an address that is not recognized by STARTREK.COM."
Star Trek.com was formed in 1995, as part of MSN, and was called "Star Trek: Continuum." By 1997, the site had moved to full availability on the Internet, and eventually became one of the top Trek destinations, ranking among the 20,000 most visited Web sites in the world.
"At this point, it’s still a bit confusing as to what has happened, but maybe it will all make sense in the weeks to come," StarTrek.com Senior Producer Tim Gaskill wrote in his own statement to Trekmovie. "I hope something lives on in the form of STARTREK.COM, as this is the golden franchise and I can’t really see the site disappearing completely. We shall see."
TrekMovie.com will continue to track developments, and we will keep a weather eye on the situation, as well.
[Thanks to SyFy Portal's MICHAEL HINMAN for background info.]