A reluctant farewell from OpenFile Hamilton

After close to a year in operation, OpenFile Hamilton is calling it quits.

Company CEO Wilf Dinnick made the announcement late last week in an open letter posted to the site. While the site will remain online, with all existing content, its last day of publication was Sunday.

Dinnick writes:

After close to a year in operation, OpenFile Hamilton is calling it quits.

Company CEO Wilf Dinnick made the announcement late last week in an open letter posted to the site. While the site will remain online, with all existing content, its last day of publication was Sunday.

Dinnick writes:

Every city is different, after all, just as every neighbourhood has its own identity. One size does not fit all. Figuring out what works for each of our seven OpenFile city sites has been a challenge, but for the most part, our efforts have paid off. Our audience has grown every month, every week and almost every day — except in Hamilton.

OpenFile Hamilton’s editor Sheryl Nadler, he adds, made “heroic efforts” to find stories that were being overlooked by the city’s mainstream media. The same is true, says Dinnick, of the site’s news curator, Daniel Roos. He doesn’t mention whether Nadler or Roos will be moved elsewhere within the company.

“We will continue to expand our team and our network of sites across Canada, and we look forward to new opportunities in 2012,” concludes Dinnick, “We’re sorry Hamilton won’t be a part of that.”

You can read the full letter here.