It was the spring of 2005 when The Philadelphia Inquirer became one of the first newspapers to assign a staffer to a blog full-time.

Veteran reporter Dan Rubin, 50, would write Blinq.

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Poynter's Amy Gahran argues that killing Blinq is a very bad idea. Here is a link to Blinq -- which, before too long, might not lead anywhere. Rubin's sign-off post on Blinq is here.

Last week, 20 months after it was launched, Blinq shut down. Rubin, who has worked at the Inquirer since 1988, will make the peculiar transition from blogger to columnist. His first piece will appear in the metro section sometime next week.

On Monday afternoon, I called Rubin to talk with him about his new assignment. My call, he would tell me, was a welcome reprieve from wrestling with his first column. At the time, he'd rewritten it four times.

"I'm going a little crazy," he said. "I think I'm writing the life out of it. I might have to start over. I'm not used to that. I'm used to writing 20 pieces a week."

After working as a metro reporter, a features writer and a foreign correspondent, Rubin become a blogger in 2005.

He was asked to cover the blogosphere, entertainment and Philadelphia culture. Mostly, he functioned as a guide, reading as much as he could, and pointing his readers to the things he found most interesting. But his readers wanted more.

They wanted to know him.

"At the beginning, I was cautious to tell them what I [thought], because I'd been a reporter for 25 years," he said.

Soon enough, the blog helped Rubin find his voice. He started writing about things he experienced, music and his family. Rubin started having a good time, and gradually, he developed a community of readers.

"It was great fun," he said. "It wasn't edited, although I talked to my editor every day. I got to shape what it was about. And I got to use words I couldn’t use in the newspaper. Like fart. Only once."

But in January, things changed at the Inquirer. The paper laid off 68 newsroom employeees. At the time, that was roughly 16 percent of the editorial staff.

"I don't think they could afford it, given how much stuff is going uncovered in the paper," Rubin said when asked why he shut down Blinq.

Amy Gahran, who edits "E-Media Tidbits" for Poynter Online, thinks axing the blog isn't the right move. "Rubin worked hard to build a strong, vibrant, highly engaged community around Blinq," she wrote today, "Now, Philly.com is just letting that community die. From a business perspective, this seems to me like a huge error." Read the rest of her take here.

It's important to point out that the higher-ups didn't pull the plug on Blinq directly. These days, Rubin said, adjustments -- even drastic changes -- have come to be expected in Philadelphia's largest newsroom. So, when long-time metro columnists John Grogran and Tom Ferrick notified the paper they'd be leaving, Rubin saw a chance to move voluntarily, before he might be forced to do so.

"I raised my hand," he said.

For the next month, Rubin will write a weekly column for the newspaper. It's a try-out for a slot as a regular twice-weekly metro columnist. His first column will appear next week.

Will Rubin miss the blog? Yes, he said. Of course.

"It's amazing," he said, "that you can have the opportunity to be a metro columnist and still feel a little wistful."

Things he'll miss: The "hand-to-hand,” instant-feedback relationship he had with his readers. Being his own editor. Flexibility.

"It'll take me a while to get used to writing at one length," he said.

That's not to say he isn't excited about his new job.

"[I missed] getting out," he said. "I loved being a European correspondent. I loved travelling and adventure and discovery. I loved three dimensions. And on the Web, there's not that sense of place."

As a blogger, Rubin pulled most of his story ideas from things he read online -- mostly news sites and other blogs. As a metro reporter, he will tell stories that live in the same town he does. "The best thing about this job is that I get to cover life itself," he said. "Not filtered through the Web, but living, breathing, smelling."

"Vast parts of this metropolis are uncovered," Rubin said. "Finding stuff to write about will be the least of my worries."

To get started, Rubin has been getting out of the office and into his city. He's started varying the route he takes to work. Steve Lovelady once told Rubin that if he couldn't find a story or two on the way to work, he ought to find another way to the office. On the morning I spoke to Rubin, he took Sixth Street, but didn't find any stories. He did, however, come across a great BBQ joint.

So far, nearly 50 readers have responded to Rubin's final Blinq post. One after another, they asked a single question. Will Rubin -- and Blinq -- ever be back?

"The paper said to stop Blinq because there's no way I can do both," Rubin said. "But I have to think, someday, in one way or another, I will have a place that will allow people to talk back and talk to each other. I enjoy that.

"But in the meantime, I'm gonna be finding more BBQ places."

And, I imagine, great stories.