Fucking Kotaku

[deanb]

Public opinion says they'd have to. If they didn't it'd look like they're further brushing the fact the change is so disliked under the rug.

[TheForgetfulBrain]

Still, I mean, I don't know how much input the Kotaku editors had on the redesign.

 

Maybe Crecente, but it's a whole Gawker redesign, so the final word was Denton's and then after that, their web and tech team.

[FredEffinChopin]

  On 2/13/2011 at 10:22 AM, Deanb said:

Nah that's their current review format, (unless they changed since then?). The old review style was the Red n Blue layout of this was good, this was bad. Though that format has dropped the presumptive questions of "lets pretend, yet fail miserably, in guessing what the readers might ask". It was one of the more obvious signs they were getting out of touch. Could of easily been solved with "we're going to review Game X, what do you want to know?"

 

Yeah, that's the style I'm referencing. It isn't in red & blue, but roughly half of that review is taken up by lists called "what we liked" and "what we didn't like". It does still contain "why you should care", so maybe they haven't dropped the style completely, just met both of them halfway. Or it could just be this particular review getting that treatment. It seems awfully similar to the old "loved, hated" sections that users (including myself) were upset to see go.

[FredEffinChopin]

Mean to comment on this too, forgot.

 

  On 2/13/2011 at 10:22 AM, Deanb said:

It was one of the more obvious signs they were getting out of touch.

 

That's what made the change of the site so sad to me. They used to completely have their finger on the pulse of the gaming community, or at least the portion of it that was interested in their content and style.

 

I think moment for me when I realized that at least someone over there was seriously out of touch is when one of them (for the life of me I can't remember, and it's not worth it to look up just to criticize one by name) wrote a long article around the time Blizzard was talking about users using their real names in the help forums for WoW, about ALL the potential benefits of discarding anonymity on the internet(less trolls, is what the entire thing came down to). "I'm a writer on the internet and everyone knows my name, there really is nothing to be scared of", and other nonsense like that that completely neglected the dozens of legitimate concerns over the issue in favor of "dude, there would be less trolls!!!" I don't normally get that worked up over people's writing, but I wanted to puke blood all over my monitor when I read that. That's when I realized that someone over there doesn't live amongst the common people anymore, and completely forgot what it's like to be one of them. It was so sickeningly obtuse that almost halfway through I was still considering the possibility that it might be a joke.

 

I'd estimate a good 70-80% of comments I read on the issue were against the change, or thought it was a bad decision on some level even if they didn't especially care. The topic was really hot and there were several articles surrounding it, and there were so many great posts that explained clearly and reasonably all the various reasons why it was not only a bad decision, but one that could set a precedent that could cause more grief for people down the line. There is no way they could've gone unnoticed. The fact that with all that feedback, someone over there thought it was a good idea to take the "yeah, but there'd be less annoying text I'd have to look at" side was something that I just found revolting. It was beyond playing devil's advocate, he just really didn't understand what it's like to be anything but a writer on a popular gaming blog. He even threw the old "only troublemakers care about being anonymous on the internet" sentiment in there. I'm getting annoyed just remembering it.

[BrainHurtBoy...2]

Anyone see how Mike Fahey used the anti-redesign Penny Arcade comic as the headlining image for Sunday Comics?

[peteer01]

  On 2/13/2011 at 8:22 PM, Brainhurtboy... 2 said:

Anyone see how Mike Fahey used the anti-redesign Penny Arcade comic as the headlining image for Sunday Comics?

I voted him as my favorite just because of that. Then again, I visited yesterday night just to see if they included that as the PA comic this week.

 

I was initially torn between Tim R and Brian B as my least favorite, but then realized it was definitely Tim R by a big margin. The other votes did not surprise me in that category.

Edited February 14, 2011 by peteer02

[deanb]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/112320/20110214/google-demand-media-content-farms-huffington-post.htm

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nolijncfnkgaikbjbdaogikpmpbdcdef

 

You can probably put that article, that extension and this thread together to divine it's purpose

[excel_excel]

 

C'mon....

[Akuam4n]

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:17 AM, excel_excel said:

 

C'mon....

 

They really need to figure this out. They should just load the latest / top story of the day when you go there on the left, and leave the right column the way it is. No need for TWO scrolling columns of the same. thing.

[deanb]

I assume the juxtaposition of "games don't make us violent" right next to "kid kills mum over playstation" ?

 

Also how does yours have mario up top, or is that part of a theme? (In which case... you use chrome, can you linky?)

 

Oh the running of both styles together. I wonder how much Denton will push it before it constitutes as "design change" in his bet he's got.

[Hot Heart]

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:22 AM, Iamaquaman said:

They really need to figure this out. They should just load the latest / top story of the day when you go there on the left, and leave the right column the way it is. No need for TWO scrolling columns of the same. thing.

 

I think that's sort of what the 'new' look is. That's more the 'blogroll' style.

 

I actually kinda like it like that though.

[Akuam4n]

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:25 AM, Hot Heart said:

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:22 AM, Iamaquaman said:

They really need to figure this out. They should just load the latest / top story of the day when you go there on the left, and leave the right column the way it is. No need for TWO scrolling columns of the same. thing.

 

I think that's sort of what the 'new' look is. That's more the 'blogroll' style.

 

I actually kinda like it like that though.

I don't mind the rolling / scrolling, I just liked it better when it loaded one story on the left. Seems redundant now to have two sides that scroll.

 

EDIT: Derppppp, I realized it was just because it was the "Today's big stories" post, shitttt. My bad. I shall retract my comments. T_T

Edited February 16, 2011 by Iamaquaman

[TheForgetfulBrain]

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:17 AM, excel_excel said:

 

C'mon....

 

Yikes.

 

This is bad enough to belong on Fail Blog.

 

I'm actually tempted to put it up there.

[toxicitizen]

Do it! DO IT!

[peteer01]

  On 2/16/2011 at 1:18 AM, TheForgetfulBrain said:

  On 2/16/2011 at 12:17 AM, excel_excel said:

 

C'mon....

 

Yikes.

 

This is bad enough to belong on Fail Blog.

 

I'm actually tempted to put it up there.

Hahaha. Yes.

[excaliburps]

  On 2/11/2011 at 12:00 PM, Deanb said:

Hah, your post read more like it should of opened with

 

"Hello, my name is excalipurbs and Iv'e being reading Kotaku for 5 years now......and I've not read it for 3 days now" *small round of applause from the rest of us* "feels good man"

 

Yeah I echo your sentiments on Bash, dude is pretty chill and he has been one of the best when replying to emails. But he's not exactly what I'd go to a game site to read

Luke annoyingly is generally one of the more on-topic, but yeah he's very opinionated. Which because of the way the system (very depressingly) works can become the opinions of everyone else.

Tim...well Tim on the new format better not become a featured article because...http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2066351/kotaku%20beta.png (large-ish file)

 

The COD obsession I'm kind of unsure about. tbh many of us reckon there's some under the table deal, cos even a huge COD fan isn't going to start spending articles on reviewing faceplates for a game.

http://kotaku.com/#!...ut-does-the-job

It was a star well spent (shame he banned everyone else in that thread)

Though I guess it might be the reasons for more recent posts and his GOTY stuff (I didn't actually read any of their GOTY stuff, I have a feeling I should get up to speed on Crecentes. I echoed the opinion that their method was very pretentious to hold out, especially since their GOTY choices were pretty much the same as any other site anyway)

It is a shame their coverage is so mainstream. They rarely cover indies unless they become big via other means (and while I'm a fan of Minecraft, their coverage went too far. However it does make a lot of videos and images which make for nice n simple posts to make)

 

Anywho I'm gonna reply to your "Introduce Yourself" queries here:

  On 2/11/2011 at 2:59 AM, excaliburps said:

Wait. What do you mean "stalking your Facebook account?" Care to go into details...

 

What snark that Crecente throw back at you?

 

I do remember tipping him about a super-sale in one of the major US outlets. He told me the flyer is most probably a fake and it's an early April Fools joke. Turned out it wasn't. He posted it in Kotaku with no mention of where he got it.

 

That, and I was a bit appalled at how he handled the GOTY Black Ops shenanigans. I mean people who didn't like his pick seemed to be getting the unstarring, banning that they didn't deserve, I know of one particular guy who got sent to the cornfield because of an innocent comment about it. Even the other editors was a bit miffed that Black Ops was even in the running.

 

I actually got into a mini discussion with Plunkett about it and he didn't hold back. One of the few instances where we agreed on one thing.

 

Which reminds me. I tipped a couple of things about BF3. This was last week or this week. Did not get a response. Did not get a post. But every CoD lucky kills montage, map pack info, etc. gets posted? WTF? Seems like because he (Crecente) is a huge fan of CoD, we're subjected to read about it more than other high-profile games.

 

And it's not like people aren't excited about Battlefield 3 either. Their last post about it garnered a ton of views, comments and a lot of positive feedback.

 

So, I take it if an editor drops by here and sees any of us talking trash we're going to be banned there? Did they ban your account again?

 

Basically after I was banned last July Crecente made a comment on Speakup that directly referenced stuff I'd said on Facebook. Thing is googling my kotaku account name for my facebook account takes you to my dummy account: http://www.facebook....100000905110468 which I used to play Farmville for a while (was gonna do an article on it, kinda gave up cos the game was a tad crap). Which means you'd have to jump through a couple loops to get to my real name from knowing my kotaku username then to get to my facebook. Now going through your readers facebook profiles is crossing the line, but going out of your way to track down their facebook account? That's not just crossing the line but going right over the border.

Should be noted I'm not their faceboook friends, I don't use a facebook account on Kotaku and I don't have kotaku "liked" especially after that whole thing where they stuck Gawker Applications on our FB accounts without asking.

 

Oh here's the 3DS thing as promised:http://kotaku.com/#!...343073:24343073

Lol at his "confirmation" (which I repeat from yesterday turned out to be wrong) I can't remember if we had PXOD back then, I think we did, I should of brushed up that image n posted it as an article.

Anywho I can't find his reaction of the concorde stuff. There is this one which is pretty infamous across the net:

http://kotaku.com/#!...s-the-xbox-pure

Where he basically blamed CheapAssGamer for a rumour he reported on, rather than taking the hit himself for not bothering to look more into it and notice CAG had a forum competition going on to come up with a rumour. I assume the guy who came up with the Xbox Pure rumour won

 

Which apparently googling for myself on kotaku and then the CAG incident chucks up this which I guess might be worth a spin through. I guess folks finally took crecente up on his "like it or leave" offer.

It did link to this which I remember it being fun when it hit the net:http://www.something...taku-parody.php

 

Oh and Kotaku in general:

http://kotaku.com/#!...slow-load-times

If they find a game they want to dislike, they'll go full hog on it. A fair chunk of thier GT5 stories were ridiculing how long it was taking to come out but this took the cake. While it was eventually updated and corrected it took them about 2 days to do that. Took them over half a day or so for them just to put in the first update despite many folks immediately pointing out that it was obviously slowed down. But hey, why listen to your readers pretty good and correct advice huh?

 

edit: some more of that trademark "I'm right, you're wrong lalalalalala" http://kotaku.com/#!kotakueditorialboard/forum?comment=35899914:35902898

 

 

Wait. So Crecente tracked your FB account and used the info or whatever he read there to ban you? Fuckin' shit! For real? That's a bit creepy. And come to think of it, why does he hate you? I read the thread where you criticized the site. And it wasn't as if you were hurling insults left and right or anything.

 

I also read something about that Kotaku+CoD thing. Seems like the site does cover CoD waaaay more than any usual game. Is it because Crecente likes it? Although I have heard that some people seem to think there's some sort of money involved, hence the extensive coverage. From CoD cars, to glasses, etc. It is kinda weird when they won't post an actual NEWS piece on a game but post something that's a bit of a stretch gaming-wise (CoD glasses, etc.)

[Cyber Rat]

Owen jumped in the Steam chat after the Great Massacre to try and calm the situation. From what I've gathered then and some other comments on Kotaku itself from Owen, the main problem seems to be that what Dean was saying wasn't respectful criticism, but "telling everyone how to do their jobs". Whether all the eds or just Owen and Crecente see it that way, I have no idea.

[deanb]

no no no. He didn't use info on my FB account to ban me. Just quoting my reaction to the ban that I posted on facebook.

As for the hate, dunno. I'd imagine it'd be to do with my well structured and sourced criticism of the site. And the fact a fair few folks replied agreeing, and adding to it all. I think up until that point he was just used to the "slow news day" "how is this game news" stuff.

 

I wonder if their recent drop in traffic (alexa now pins it at 60% drop week on week), they might adapt and change a bit. Focus a bit more on gaming news. Or at least drop the gaming facade once n for all and let themselves go.

 

edit: They didn't say it wasn't respectful, but yeah they did make a couple comments on the "telling us how to run the site" variety. Which it wasn't. Wasn't telling anyone anything, I'm not Denton, I'm in no position. Was just some friendly advice on how to reduce folks becoming disfranchised with the site will maintaining and increase the quality off the articles and coverage they produce.

[Hot Heart]

  On 2/16/2011 at 1:25 PM, Cyber Rat said:

From what I've gathered then and some other comments on Kotaku itself from Owen, the main problem seems to be that what Dean was saying wasn't respectful criticism, but "telling everyone how to do their jobs".

 

See, that's what's the biggest load of bullshit.

 

It's not 'telling everyone how to do their jobs', it's called constructive criticism. He could just complain (that's easy enough to do), but no, he's actually suggesting ways they might improve upon what they have. Although, Dean isn't the best at phrasing things tactfully...

[Cyber Rat]

This new layout would make it take forever to find the direct response from Owen in the comments. It was a thread of comments about Dean being ban or de-starred, I can't remember honestly, I think it was the latter, but when I said Dean was offering constructive criticism and punished for it, Owen made it sound like the eds think Dean is telling them how to do their jobs and that's something they don't want.

 

After the bannings, the new most common phrase is "you guys are just a few people among 2 million monthly readers". The fame got to whoever's heads and it's damaging Kotaku and Gawker in general now it seems. I'm only sorry for contributors like Totilo.

[deanb]

"There is a difference between constructive criticism and barging in to set editorial policy." would be owens response, and it was for when I was unstarred (oh and that was as a response to Cyber Rat)

http://kotaku.com/#!...847675:23847675

edit:

(oh though that came in a couple months after I was banned though, back when they brought in cornfield)

[Cyber Rat]

Ah, good, I wasn't far off. And Taliderpybadmintron makes a point that it might be official Gawker policy, but they could have said so right away then. "No criticism." It would make them look like douches, but not as much as "we don't care about you because we have 2 million monkeys reading our blog".

 

EDIT: nevermind, looks like Kotaku are just douches then.

[peteer01]

  On 2/11/2011 at 12:00 PM, Deanb said:

Which apparently googling for myself on kotaku and then the CAG incident chucks up this which I guess might be worth a spin through. I guess folks finally took crecente up on his "like it or leave" offer.

 

Oh, the irony. The story at that link includes the following text:

  Quote

For starters, the site layout is terrible. I’m not saying my little gig here is easy on the eyes either, but c’mon. Kotaku operates under Gawker Media. Use a little bit of that cash flow to invest in a readable layout.

 

  On 2/11/2011 at 12:00 PM, Deanb said:

It did link to this which I remember it being fun when it hit the net:http://www.something...taku-parody.php

I had never seen that before tonight. When I saw the Kirby cloud, I laughed out loud.

 

Edit: Seriously, I went back, looked at it again, laughed again, thought about making it my avatar here, and then laughed again. I'm not sure why it's tickling my funny bone as much as it is, but waving Kirby cloud is an excellent piece of satire.

Edited February 16, 2011 by peteer02

[deanb]

http://kotaku.com/#!5763005/if-sensationlist-headlines-is-how-kotaku-will-live-maybe-it-should-die

[Pirandello]

  On 2/17/2011 at 5:55 PM, Deanb said:

http://kotaku.com/#!5763005/if-sensationlist-headlines-is-how-kotaku-will-live-maybe-it-should-die

Wonder how many people read the URL address.

 

That is what the URL address is, right?