Amanda Congdon, the host of the hugely popular video weblog Rocketboom, has left. Here's her farewell message, left on her personal blog rather than on Rocketboom.

Here's what Amanda said in her message:

"Hello, and good Wednesday, July 5th, 2006, I'm Amanda Congdon, and this is...oops, wrong show. Contrary to what has been said, or implied, in the Rocketboom comments section, I'm not on vacation. Not by a long shot. Um, I'm actually here to tell you guys, because I think, you know, it's so important to be transparent with the Rocketboom viewers, kinda what's going on. Um, so here I am, on Unboomed, as I apparently have been unboomed. Um, yeah, apparently my partner, Andrew Baron, is no longer interested in being my partner, and, um, since he owns 51% of Rocketboom and I own 49% of Rocketboom, that's just something I'm going to kinda have to live with, so I'm just kinda accepting it. And, um, yeah, I guess this is my last appearance in front of the map. But, um, you know I'm sure I'll be back, on Unboomed, hosting some crazy crazy stuff soon, and I just wanted to communicate with all of you and tell you that I haven't forgotten about any of you Rocketboom viewers, and I'm gonna be back, and I'll be back on Unboomed, and I hope to see you probably not tomorrow, but sometime soon thereafter. Say hi at unboomed@gmail.com. I miss you. And don't tell me I need a tan, I already know."

Here's the message posted on the official Rocketboom website:

"Amanda Congdon has decided to move to L.A. to pursue opportunities that have arisen for her in Hollywood.

We wanted to meet her request to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. So sadly we bid Amanda adieu and wish her all the best.

Rocketboom goes on.

Andrew Baron, the founder and creator of Rocketboom, will stay with the company in New York and will continue to produce and direct the show. We are in the daunting process of recruiting a replacement for Amanda.

While Amanda will be sorely missed, we have big plans for Rocketboom and are determined to make the show better than ever.

After Field Week and a week on hiatus, we know that you are hungry for the news! Rocketboom will be back with a news episode and an interim host this MONDAY, JULY 10. "

Okay, speaking as a longtime Rocketboom fan, all I can say is....wow. Where to begin?

Would it be stating to obvious to point out that the two messages have basically nothing in common? Are they even describing the same event?

I would love to know the real story about what's going on. It really seems a shame that, after spending over a year working on Rocketboom, Amanda gets the boot just as it is really taking off and generating some actual revenue.

Let's face it, for most fans, Rocketboom is Amanda Congdon. She's the main reason I became a fan, and she's one of the few celebrities I've ever wanted to actually meet. She brought a fun, informal quality to the show that felt like this was just something she was doing off the cuff for a few friends--even though Rocketboom had something like 300,000 viewers and clearly took hours to produce each day.

I suspect that there is at least some truth to each of the two different statements about what happened, and I also suspect that the show's recent success (financial and otherwise) had a lot to do with the breakup. Sudden success has a funny way of straining relationships and exposing parts of people that weren't obvious before.

What more can I say?

I'll miss Amanda, and I sure hope she follows through on her promise to find another venue soon.