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Thursday, March 03, 2005 |
Prescience
Not only did Mariner Musings, Rich's Weekend Baseball BEAT, and Wait Til Next Year recently disappear from the all-baseball.com mast, but so, finally, did Baysball. I guess that one wasn't too hard to see coming. Good night, wherever you are, Mark and Ken.
Comments:
man, what's happening to all-baseball.com?!? they're just hemorrhaging writers! pretty soon there won't be anything left.
hrmm, if they're looking for more people, i could write about the A's. i don't have any credentials, though.
-vishal
hrmm, if they're looking for more people, i could write about the A's. i don't have any credentials, though.
-vishal
# posted by 
: 3/03/2005 06:41:00 PM
: 3/03/2005 06:41:00 PM
Vishal -- if you look at who left, they can be dropped into two categories:
1) Team-specific blogs Baysball and Mariner Musings, which were both running into problems getting enough good, differentiating content out there that they could justify standing on their own, aka burnout. Baysball appears to have simply folded, and MM merged with U.S.S. Mariner.
2) RWBB and WTNY simply had disagreements with the rest of the A-B bloggers as to the direction of the site overall; they wanted to do analysis and interviews on an ad-hoc basis, whereas almost all the other A-B-hosted blogs were team-specific (MBBR notwithstanding) and had other goals for their site. From what I understand, Rich and Bryan decided to make a go of it alone because of that.
1) Team-specific blogs Baysball and Mariner Musings, which were both running into problems getting enough good, differentiating content out there that they could justify standing on their own, aka burnout. Baysball appears to have simply folded, and MM merged with U.S.S. Mariner.
2) RWBB and WTNY simply had disagreements with the rest of the A-B bloggers as to the direction of the site overall; they wanted to do analysis and interviews on an ad-hoc basis, whereas almost all the other A-B-hosted blogs were team-specific (MBBR notwithstanding) and had other goals for their site. From what I understand, Rich and Bryan decided to make a go of it alone because of that.
yeah, i think you've got a good point. RWBB and WTNY were definitely doing something different. but i think all-baseball could actually have a lot more team-specific blogs. that could be their thing. i don't think either the M's or the A's blogosphere is saturated or anything. i think that the baysball guys just got too busy to write. all-baseball should just recruit some more people to write team blogs for them.
-vishal
-vishal
# posted by : 3/03/2005 10:34:00 PM
: 3/03/2005 10:34:00 PM
The M's blogosphere actually does -- or maybe that should be "did" -- qualify as "oversaturated", but there's been a big culling in the last year. The A's blogiverse I'm less familiar with, but I'd be willing to bet it's structured like that of the Dodgers: one guy (Blez) getting most of the traffic, and everyone else poking at the remnants.
Speaking of, has anyone heard from John's Dodger Blog lately? Thought not.
Speaking of, has anyone heard from John's Dodger Blog lately? Thought not.
I've always thought A-B's competitive advantage lay in its writing -- I don't read DT as much for its Dodger content as I do for its quality of writing. Attempting to secure a blogger for each team I think leads to tremendous variation in quality, which tends to bring the highest-quality blogs down. I also think there just isn't much value added in having an exhaustive list of team blogs.
It's too bad if there were "creative differences," because I really liked the mix they had. Of course, I have my suspicions for who's next, and I don't think they'd be that bad, either.
It's too bad if there were "creative differences," because I really liked the mix they had. Of course, I have my suspicions for who's next, and I don't think they'd be that bad, either.
i don't know too much about the M's blogs, but there aside from AN, i think there are only a couple decent A's blogs. there is room for more. and AN has been evolving more into a message board than a normal blog since the re-design last year. i don't mean that as a criticism, i'm just saying that now it's more of a community than a place you go primarily for blez' personal opinion and analysis. by contrast, jon's site, though it has certainly developed a good amount of traffic and kind of community(which is a good thing), is still primarily centered around jon's writing.
anyway, what i'm saying is that there should always be room for a good writer to write about a team. if you write it, they will read. now, i'm not saying a-b should get someone to do every single team, but there is certainly room for expansion if they can find the writers.
-vishal
anyway, what i'm saying is that there should always be room for a good writer to write about a team. if you write it, they will read. now, i'm not saying a-b should get someone to do every single team, but there is certainly room for expansion if they can find the writers.
-vishal
# posted by : 3/04/2005 09:20:00 AM
: 3/04/2005 09:20:00 AM
Stefan -- you're exactly right. The point is to pick up only the best writers rather than the alternatives. I hate to use MVN as a whipping boy here because I know they do care about their quality, but...
Vishal -- Blez has absorbed Kos's notion of what it means to have a blog. I don't have a problem with that, but I can see your point -- it's less about the writing these days and more about the community. Since I think that was ultimately what Blez had in mind anyway, it's not a surprise. It's a blog and a floor wax. It's all good.
Vishal -- Blez has absorbed Kos's notion of what it means to have a blog. I don't have a problem with that, but I can see your point -- it's less about the writing these days and more about the community. Since I think that was ultimately what Blez had in mind anyway, it's not a surprise. It's a blog and a floor wax. It's all good.
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