The Skyline Goes Down.

Damn. Just when I thought being sick as a dog would have to be the worst part of today (for me, at least), things get even worse… I just found out in a roundabout way (i.e., Facebook and Jeoaf Monocles’ post on the Hands Up board) that ADR (aka Ryan Clark) has taken down his much-loved local blog/forum/nonstop party site The Skyline Network, effective early this AM. Wow.

Not sure of the exact reasons behind the abrupt shutdown, but here’s what Ryan’s posted so far on Hands Up by way of explanation:

thanks everyone for the kind words! Everything is still there so if you have links or what not they will still work and won’t go away, including the wiki. it’s been fun, but its time to work on other things. party.

Again: damn. Believe me, I get how much of a time-sucking blackhole a site like Skyline can be — I’ve threatened to quit this SCR thing cold-turkey many, many times, both publicly & privately, and the urge is always there, lurking in the background. ADR’s got a day job that keeps him running non-stop, often traveling out-of-state, plus an actual personal life & whatnot, and it all takes a toll. Selfishly, I wish he’d change his mind and keep the site going, but yeah, I can understand why he would want to call it a day.

Plus, if anything, he’s going out at the top of his game. The guy’d become an incredible writer, he always seemed to be the first person to hear any little tidbit of local news/gossip, and he always appeared to be freakin’ everywhere, covering every damn thing under the sun. I’ve often found myself wondering if the man actually sleeps, for crying out loud. The Skyline, more than any other local music-type site, blog, e-zine, or paper, has made me have to work harder to attempt to keep up — ADR really, truly raised the bar for the rest of us out here. I’m damn sad to see him go.

So, ADR, should you read this: thank you. You did a heckuva job; have fun, and I hope maybe one of these days you’ll decide to dive back into this stuff.

(Btw, the SceneWiki is still live, thankfully. Despite ADR’s post above, though, I can’t get to any of the blog posts/reviews themselves…)