Deadspin is Burning
- Thread starter John Marzano Olympic Hero
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I was a daily Deadspin reader and Magary fanboy. The site definitely struggled a bit in the past year, but it was still some of the better content and aggregating out there. I'll miss it.
"Highly Desired Talent Squandered; Wastes No Time Thinking About Future" is an all-time headline, given the circumstances.
I thought some of their articles were good, but I got a big whiff of holier-than-thou from a lot of their writers. I can't understand why they'd be unhappy with the new owners trying to make money with the ads.
I got a chuckle out of this before becoming more than a bit concerned that Kotaku might be next
https://kotaku.com/lets-talk-about-sports-video-games-1839504970
It's just solidarity. Jezebel did the same.I got a chuckle out of this before becoming more than a bit concerned that Kotaku might be next
https://kotaku.com/lets-talk-about-sports-video-games-1839504970
https://jezebel.com/i-would-have-sex-with-an-entire-major-league-baseball-t-1839501599
I meant more in general than because of that post. They tend to Stick To Games over there, but who knows.
It's been discussed at length, but it wasn't about that. It was about a whole bunch of things (sexism, bringing in new leadership, CBA interpretation, an attempt to change the entire format) and the small part about ads had nothing to do with not making money, it had to do with bringing in a wildly outdated ad model (which cost the CEO his previous job) in place of what had (at least according to previous ownership and the EIC) been successful. Deadspin has always had ads, what the opposed in the ad space was the type of fake metrics juicing that Spanfeller was trying to do (and as mentioned in this thread, once it was brought to light their biggest advertiser pulled the plug on their deal. There is a perfectly valid argument about who decides what, whether G/O is within their power to do what they have, but just about everyone can agree that Spanfeller is bad at his job.
Kotaku doesn't really stick to games, but their games posts are tagged as such, for people who only want to read about games.
(... which is something Deadspin could've done too, if ownership hadn't decided to strangle the baby after pissing in the bathwater.)
I am absolutely devastated that I won't get this article every Christmas now
https://www.google.com/amp/s/adequateman.deadspin.com/what-did-we-get-stuck-in-our-rectums-last-year-1831046610/amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/adequateman.deadspin.com/what-did-we-get-stuck-in-our-rectums-last-year-1831046610/amp
Hell fuckin yeah, Bernie is. My angry grandpa loves himself a fight with vulture capitalists.
Before this gets lost, and while I do think Bryant isn't the best messenger for this given his DV history, I'd agree with him here and push back a bit on what @joe dokes is saying. Deadspin *was* often exhausting and often *did* do things in a shitty way. And not just in a "every entity does shitty things" way.
That said, I did just read Megan Greenwell’s goodbye column from August and it’s a doozy: https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-adults-in-the-room-1837487584
Confirms the 2-to-1 ratio of clicks for non-sports to sports articles. Also, it makes Great Hill Partners look like a massive collection of douchebros.
What about what she writes about them? Does that count? Or was it a cheap shot for her to point out that every single person in senior leadership was a white guy?
So do they serve Smirnoff Ice with the hazy IPAs at your Great Hill events, just for old times’ sake?
Our "shitty" lines might be a bit different. Ultimately writing, like art, is in the eye of the beholder.
I think part of the problem is volume-based. When they're producing a ton of content, there's more chances to be shitty. Percentage-wise, I don't know how it compares to similar sites, as Deadspin was by far the most sports-centric site I read. As compared to "traditional" coverage, I am confident it was less shitty than ESPN, and probably wasn't more shitty than the Globe. (If you can even compare those two).
I think that's a response to management's really dumb statement yesterday about lists and including a Jamboroo among their "non-sports" gripes.
To me criticizing their departure-related bomb-throwing is like criticizing people for how they mourn a loss.
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The actions do. Lack of diversity is a separate issue. I'm not willing to paint a bunch of people with a broad brush because leadership is a bunch of white men. It's an issue and CAN be a sign of bigger issues but that's not just a Great Hill Partners issue, it's really a broader business issue across pretty much all industries.
I also probably misunderstood that and assumed you were saying "All these people are douche bags - just look at them!" Which I still contend is a douche move.
Now this makes you look a douche. But, hey, at least you got a "SICK BURN!!!!11!!!!" out of it. Fuck, if you're going to try to make fun of me, at least be funny and mildly original. FINANCE! SMIRNOFF ICE! GET IT GUYSZSSSZSSS!!!!!
C'mon man, don't you know only privileged white douche-bros enjoy them? I cleaned all of them out of my fridge days ago.
Well, whether you liked or hated them, thought that their writers and editors were funny or whiny crybabies, it's hard to see how this is a positive. I'll miss Deadspin a lot, though it wouldn't completely surprise me if something similar sprouted up somewhere else.
And if you hated it, I get it diff'rent strokes and all that, but to paraphrase Ice Cube in Dead Homies, "No one ever know when it gonna be their website in the front row".
And if you hated it, I get it diff'rent strokes and all that, but to paraphrase Ice Cube in Dead Homies, "No one ever know when it gonna be their website in the front row".
Well the new Deadspin has started. It appears to be some random videos with one to two sentences below them, which appear to have been writen by a bot, and they clearly don't even have good SEO, so G/O appears to have gone with the cheapest content farm they could find to keep the site from having no updates.
I read that as a shout-out to the staff by someone on their side, since you could read "Banned, These Climbers Persevered to Climb on Uluru" as a metaphor for the writers being banned from the site, but they will continue to do what they love, or something.
I was a fan in the Will Leitch era, then began to drift away as, IMO, the content became increasingly uninspired and snarky. Though reading some of the linked articles posted here, it looks like they had picked up their game again in recent years. I think some of it with me was just aging out of what they do. Probably the same for Barstool. 25-35 year old me would have likely been pretty into it. 55 year old me finds it mostly juvenile and moronic, even offensive at times. But your larger point stands. There is nothing good about this trend of private equity people coming in and completely gutting journalism/content sites. Wherever you fall on the taste and demographic spectrum, more good content/information is better. This is a loss.
Same here. Moskovitz posted her goodbye a half hour ago, naming McKenna (who's gone at the end of the day) Deadspin E-I-C.
This doesn't seem worth the $100 or whatever they paid this guy.
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/AlanGoldsher/status/1190329975766999041
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/AlanGoldsher/status/1190329975766999041
I haven't read everything there is to read about Deadspin's collapse, obviously, but most of the discussion I have seen seems a bit micro, when the real story to me seems to be macro.
I think it's probably the case that most people who care had already concluded that, contrary to everyone's expectations even just a year or two ago, the Internet is not going to be an antidote for corporate ownership of print and tv media. I've been holding out hope that it would be, but I think the Deadspin events over the last week make clear that it's time to put a fork in that idea.
A central (the central?) idea of our country's founding is that a fully functioning media is a necessary prerequisite for picking leaders by popular vote. The corporatization of speech on a mass scale is, to me, the second most* existential problem we face in the next generation or two. If looking for a root cause of our current political situation, you could do worse than to identify it as the top factor -- and it's certainly no lower than top 3. People can't seem to be able to put to the side their micro issues about Deadspin -- whether it's viewing this story based on what one thought of the content or Portnoy rejoicing at the death of a rival -- long enough to see the big picture. Which seems to be that we're royally fucked.
*Global warming.
I think it's probably the case that most people who care had already concluded that, contrary to everyone's expectations even just a year or two ago, the Internet is not going to be an antidote for corporate ownership of print and tv media. I've been holding out hope that it would be, but I think the Deadspin events over the last week make clear that it's time to put a fork in that idea.
A central (the central?) idea of our country's founding is that a fully functioning media is a necessary prerequisite for picking leaders by popular vote. The corporatization of speech on a mass scale is, to me, the second most* existential problem we face in the next generation or two. If looking for a root cause of our current political situation, you could do worse than to identify it as the top factor -- and it's certainly no lower than top 3. People can't seem to be able to put to the side their micro issues about Deadspin -- whether it's viewing this story based on what one thought of the content or Portnoy rejoicing at the death of a rival -- long enough to see the big picture. Which seems to be that we're royally fucked.
*Global warming.
It’s an interesting point – tho “The Corporatization of Speech” seems like a strange concept in an age where humans in the free (and perhaps the not-so-free) world literally have more freedom of speech than anytime in history. I’m not saying I disagree with your point but the shittiness of the media combined with the explosion of social media seems like an interesting contrast and perhaps not unrelated.
As for Deadspin, I think what everyone here is saying about it can more or less co-exist. A news and culture website can be provocative and essential and cruel and frivolous all at once. I don’t think Deadspin had some magic formula, and I’d be surprised if the void it leaves, such as it is, weren’t filled very quickly – if it hasn’t already by said social media posters.
As for Deadspin, I think what everyone here is saying about it can more or less co-exist. A news and culture website can be provocative and essential and cruel and frivolous all at once. I don’t think Deadspin had some magic formula, and I’d be surprised if the void it leaves, such as it is, weren’t filled very quickly – if it hasn’t already by said social media posters.
Yeah, you don’t have to even like Deadspin to think this is: a) dumb; b) bad for the industry; and c) dumb.
This was the approach being pursued by the massive proliferation of new football websites a few years ago. InsidethePylon’s reaction, FWIW, was: Ew.
That and the minimum daily post count requirement for writers without reference to quality.
That guy had no idea what he was walking in to. I actually feel a bit for him, as that tweet got ratio'd to hell and he got a load of scab comments thrown at him.
This is his subsequent tweet thread saying he's out etc
View: https://twitter.com/AlanGoldsher/status/1190341197023322113?s=19
I can see this being an issue for quite a while for any new writers that go there, especially if they have no idea of what's happened to Deadspin, as appeared to be the problem here.
Dude hit the most incredible ratio in history too - seems "Pele of getting ratio'ed" would fit that dogshit bio well
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Forgive my old man ignorance, but is "ratio" referring to replies to likes?
I'm 35 and feel 85.
I'm 35 and feel 85.
You are correct, and coincidentally that is a term that originated from Deadspin.
Yes, and I believe anything worse than 1 to 1 is bad. 40 to 1 (or whatever that tweet ended up being) is not great.
*edit - I'm also 35 and feel quite old. Everything sucks now.
He even deleted his author photo from the article (by deleting it from his Kinja account).