His reasoning was that he often refers other people to the site, or he quotes it in message forums for various newspapers, and he thinks that it should look more serious in order to be taken more seriously. At this point in time, he says, EoZ has content and analysis that is as impressive as most major media sites and the picture of Spongebob detracts from what this site should be.
When I originally requested that the beautiful and talented Daughter of Ziyon design the logo, I specifically asked for Spongebob because I wanted to always remind myself as well as my readers that this is still a blog, and that I shouldn't take myself too seriously. (If I ever get to the point that I tell people that I am right because of what an expert I am and without giving any real proof, please shoot me.)
The blog has had the current layout for many years already; probably since 2007 or so. Since then my readership has increased dramatically, while the blog itself is a bit outdated in its design as well as slow to load. I've been wanting to do a major overhaul for a while; perhaps something like this test site I've been playing with off and on.
Yesterday I replaced the E with something more generic, and a couple of people noticed and requested that Spongebob, with any attendant copyright issues, return.
EBoZ's larger point is a good one, although with the name of the site as it is, I am not sure how seriously anyone could ever take it anyway unless they actually deign to read it.
Anyway, I decided to ask my readers whether I should return to the old logo, keep the newer one, or forget about both of them and re-do the site already (not that the test site is what a new site would look like.)
The poll is on the right hand sidebar.
Let the great debate begin!