Guide: Rachel Sandfordlyn Shreckengast
A note from Rachel:
About.com (formerly The Mining Company) approached me in the fall of 1997 to
become the Guide for their Weddings site. At the time, I was working for
Wed Net and was writing the "Wedding Dollars and Sense" column. I loved
working at Wed Net, but was being given the opportunity to create a
comprehensive wedding planning website and couldn't resist the chance to do so.
I hoped to bring my expertise and unique perspective to the Weddings site...and
I believe I accomplished exactly what I was after. The site eventually
become one of the top ten wedding planning sites on the web.
Due to various reasons...including the fact that About.com had just cut a large
number of their Guide sites, I decided to resign on April 5th, 2001. After
3 1/2 years of working with and at About.com, it was a very difficult decision
to make but I felt that it was the best choice for me at that time. My
site was taken over by Modern Bride. I recently decided that I wanted to
contact some of the former Guides from About.com as it was the Guides that made
the About.com service truly great. A simple search term ("former About.com
Guides") was all I needed to start my search for the former Guides I had (and
have) so much respect for. I was looking forward to seeing what everyone
was up to and looking forward to visiting. Page after page came up in the
search engine. My jaw dropped in disbelief as I realized that About.com
had done it again. 300 more cuts in September. Even worse, the
Guides got little to no warning that it would happen. It felt like a sick
joke. I noticed that many of the best Guides' and sites had been cut from
the About.com service. So much talent, knowledge and hard work. I
personally know how dedicated these Guides were and how much work they put into
their sites. I can say nothing other than "I am shocked and appalled".
I wish all former Guides the best and my hopes for a rosy future. As for
me, you can find me at my new Wedding site, WedFrugal.com should you decide you
need wedding planning advice or tips.
ut Guides