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NYT's NBA writer leaves for Bleacher Report

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by CarlSpackler, Sep 18, 2013.

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  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Eh, a lot of people said that about SB Nation too, and now SB Nation does some of the best work out there.
     
    LongTimeListener, Sep 20, 2013
    #13
  2. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Even before they started hiring great writers, and even including some of their awful affiliated sites, SB Nation never had the reputation for excruciatingly bad content that Bleacher Report had/has.
     
    buckweaver, Sep 20, 2013
    #14
  3. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Poor Bleacher Report. Forever doomed. Never allowed to rise above its reputation.
     
    Songbird, Sep 20, 2013
    #15
  4. JennaLaine

    JennaLaine Member

    Bleacher Report has made some pretty nice hires recently. People may still have a negative view on the company, but the bottom line is, BR is paying for quality writers when other media outlets aren't.
     
    JennaLaine, Sep 21, 2013
    #16
  5. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Where did you get that impression?
     
    Versatile, Sep 21, 2013
    #17
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It don't care much about the name or its origins. My blocking them has more to do with the crappy content you do get for clicking. When you do a google search and their content-farm crap dominates the first few pages of search results. ... you get conditioned to avoid clicking -- or as I did, to block them. It has nothing to do with their name. It's the waste of your time you do get for clicking.

    I don't know if others feel the same way -- they might not, but I suspect the reason BR is trying to shift strategies is that the SEO-get-a-lot-of-meaningless-clicks strategy has run its course. People see their name in their search results and it's a "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. ..." thing.

    If that is the case, it is going to be difficult to overcome the bad experience people have already had with their content spam.. It's going to take a lot of really good stuff to overcome that, and if the crap continues to get mixed in with the good stuff, I personally am still going to keep them blocked.

    It's not an impossible task. It's kind of like when Samsung products were the cheap, crappy imitation of the better Japanese products. But then Samsung turned itself into a legit name.
     
    The Big Ragu, Sep 22, 2013
    #18
  7. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    There's so much media overload on most of the stuff I'm interested in that my rule of thumb now is: If it's not Tweeted as a link by a writer whom I follow, I don't go looking for it. Only get to Yahoo! because of a couple of its writers' Tweets. Same with CBSSports and FoxSports sites and even SI.com. I'll occasionally go to ESPN.com or the leagues' Web sites without that prompting, and specific newspaper sites that don't try to crush me with their paywalls. But that's about it.

    Bleacher Report? Never bother with 'em off search results because invariably it's a slide show that I know won't get around to what I'm looking for till the 14th click.
     
    Joe Williams, Sep 22, 2013
    #19
  8. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    On the Bleacher Report NBA homepage right now, there are no bylines from Beck, Ding or Skolnick. Their featured columnists? Bryan Toporek, a self-described 76ers fan and Mike B., who has a whole long list of favorite athletes on his bio. If B/R expects people to take them seriously, they've got a lot of work to do. I hope Beck, Ding and Skolnick truly know what they've gotten themselves into.
     
    Dyno, Sep 23, 2013
    #20
  9. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    Going to take more than playing up the legit guys from real media world. It's going to require downplaying or eradicating the fan "writers." Can't see a pro/am approach working.
     
    Joe Williams, Sep 23, 2013
    #21
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It depends what you define as working. Bleacher Report, which Deadspin noted for its "Google-raping SEO" (BTW best Deadspin line ever), will probably continue to be adept at the ways of the Internet and attract eyeballs.
     
    LongTimeListener, Sep 23, 2013
    #22
  11. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    It works fine for Yahoo, which has its whole "Contributor Network" and "Voices" sites (thankfully, that crap doesn't show up in Google searches.) It's all kept separate from their real writers, the Wetzels and Passans and Robinsons and Browns of the world.

    Even Yahoo's sport-specific blogs, like Big League Stew and Puck Daddy, which are a step down from the columnists mentioned above, are kept far away from "Voices."

    B/R would be wise to do the same. I don't know who they could hire that would compel me to click on that site, though.
     
    buckweaver, Sep 23, 2013
    #23
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