Weddingbee, the popular wedding blog, announced today that it closed a deal with eHarmony. Mrs. Bee, who has run the site up until now with the help of her husband and brother-in-law, writes that “I’ve been assured that editorial decisions regarding the Bees and the content on the site are still in my hands. I’ll continue to ensure that the site maintains its editorial integrity.”
There has been a lot of chatter on the site recently about LGBT weddings. Immediately after the announcement, readers and Bees created quite a ruckus discussing eHarmony’s refusal to allow same-sex matching on their dating site, as well as their past ties to Focus on the Family. One of the site’s bloggers (or ‘Bees’), who is gay and recently moved to Canada so she could marry her wife, decided that she’ll no longer be blogging on Weddingbee. Several other bloggers have voiced their concerns about eHarmony’s stance against marriage equity and may leave the site as well.
The overall vibe in the comments is polite, but clear, along the lines of: ”I’m so happy for Bee, she deserves a vacation. But… I’m sad about the sale nonetheless.” A surprising number of readers and Bees have declared their disappointment and their decision to no longer read/participate in Weddingbee, citing eHarmony’s stance on the gay community. While Mrs. Bee states her support for the right of gays to marry, it is clear that this action will turn a lot of readers and potential bloggers away. This will certainly be an interesting turning point for a site that has appealed to a large number of readers while continuing to be decidedly more off-beat than say, The Knot.
While I think it’s a bit hypocritical to promote marriage equity on one hand while selling your company to a corporation that clearly has worked to undermine the legitmacy of gay marriage and gayness itself, I understand the need to survive. Mrs. Bee mentioned that many of the companies interested in buying Weddingbee were planning to either launch a competitor site or buy hers. Hm… this sounds more like a survival strategy than a callous get-rich-quick strategy.
What do you think?
10 responses so far ↓
Wendy // October 2, 2008 at 12:39 pm |
Wow, in my vitriol at the announcement, I totally missed that line about eHarmony talking about a competitor launch. That is a crappy place to put her in. But I do think she could have found another parent company (one that would have been angered by eH’s agenda, probably, and therefore felt called to action) that would have offered quite a bit of money and would not have angered so many bloggers and readers.
midtwentiesennui // October 2, 2008 at 1:26 pm |
I hear what you’re saying. I don’t know what the market is like for Weddingbee (in terms of who was interested in buying) but it does seem like the choice of eHarmony was a (potentially harmful) oversight.
carrieitly // October 2, 2008 at 3:01 pm |
I don’t think Mrs. Bee specifically said eHarmony was going to launch a competitor. Mrs. Bee stated that they’d had quite a few companies express interest over the last year, and that some showed intention to launch a site similar to Weddingbee if their purchase of the site wasn’t successful. Mrs. Been never alludes to where other offers came from or who intended to launch similar sites.
midtwentiesennui // October 2, 2008 at 3:18 pm |
Thanks for the fact checking carrieitly! I changed the post accordingly
Linds // October 2, 2008 at 9:35 pm |
it does sound like mrs bee was under a lot of pressure to sell…but i wish it didnt have to be eharmony that won out…
Hayley // October 3, 2008 at 2:07 am |
It rather depends on why she picked the eHarmony offer over the others. It sounds like more than one company was interested and yet she picked the homophobic one with a reputation for extreme right Christian rhetoric, sounds to me like that was the highest bidder. I’d be happy to be proved wrong on that though.
Have added you to my RSS reader by the way. I’m keeping an eye on WeddingBee to see if anything else is said but after that, I won’t be reading it again. Such a shame.
The Debate Continues « Parenthetical Thoughts // October 3, 2008 at 10:13 am |
[...] What what ← Weddingbee Sold to eHarmony [...]
Wedding Fantasy and Reality « Parenthetical Thoughts // October 3, 2008 at 4:10 pm |
[...] 3, 2008 · No Comments This whole fracas over Weddingbee got me thinking about why I still read it in the first place. I got married three months ago. [...]
julie // October 16, 2008 at 3:58 pm |
i’d say it’s pretty sad. if a few companies had interest, then she had a choice. I”m all for vacations, but i’m also for ethics over money.
eHarmony: Gay is OK « Parenthetical Thoughts // November 19, 2008 at 8:42 pm |
[...] matches up until now, and this ignited a controversy over at Weddingbee when it announced its sale to eHarmony in October. Though the change apparently comes as a result of a settlement with a member who [...]