An example of TBD’s community network badge.

TBD’s community network, which encompasses dozens of local blogs and websites who serve as an extra set of eyes in exchange for an occasional place on the big kid’s homepage, has been thoroughly analyzed, praised, and criticized as one of the more interesting experiments in recent local media history. But did TBD bite off a little more than it could chew when it thought that it would be able to sell advertising on 208 affiliate sites, ranging in size from the incredibly small to some of the more recognizable names in metropolitan-area blogging? It certainly appears that way.

In an email sent late last night, TBD informed members of its affiliate group that it will no longer require them to host TBD advertising space. The email, written by Director of Community Engagement Steve Buttry, admitted that while the content exchange in the network has been working well, “the advertising aspect of the network has not taken off as effectively” and “advertisers have not shown as much interest in the network as we had hoped.” In exchange for what basically amounts to some of the network’s 208 blogs hosting a TBD sidebar ad for varying amounts of time, each blog who participated will receive $50 in compensation — even though the network’s contract enabled TBD to occupy that space on each blog without incurring cost. (Buttry later emailed to clarify that only blogs who had been in the network for at least two months would be paid the $50.)

“We did sell ads on some blogs,” said Buttry, who responded to our request for comment via email. “But we were not selling enough ads to make the initial arrangement worth continuing.”