So, in all seriousness. And because this is obviously something that you are chasing.... there are some legitimate critiques I have:
- Update the look of your webpage. The white-on-grey without a design on either, and with your header not quite wrapping the top of your page, makes it look flimsy. Which is too bad, because your Run the Triangle thin header at the top is a pretty good design. I'd showcase that, maybe make it larger, feature it.
- Likewise, I'd bail on the pencil sketches, they look like shyt.
- Since you have access that others don't, I'd try to focus - for now at least - on bringing nuggets of information from practices/media sessions. I don't need you writing about how Kobe broke the record for most misses... I've seen it everywhere, and you don't offer anything new or newsworthy there. You don't have an angle worth reading, and you weren't all that timely.
- ALSO: Your stories don't have time stamps that are easily spotted (or at all?) so if you WERE to bring me some bit of news, how could you say you had it first, or early?
- Focus on reporting until you have developed your writing skills. Sentence structure, Passive versus Active voice, using 'surpassed' when you should used 'passed' - these are the kinds of mistakes you make when you don't have a writing background, or don't have an editing background. Simple grammatical mistakes may not seem like a big deal, but they make readers less and less likely to finish your post. As of right now, I'd focus on bringing morsels from your newfound access or videos, things that can be easily spread over social media, and while you're doing that and building a base, I'd be working on your voice/tone/delivery for when you want to include your opinion or editorial content. Focus on your strength and advantage while you build up your weaknesses.
- Give some of your longer posts some interactivity. For example: If you're going to write a piece that includes anecdotes about you missing Lil Penny, link to a fukking Lil Penny commercial. Or insert it in the post. Anything. Basketball fans love those commercials, and even if they've seen them a million times, they will go down a hole of lil penny/penny highlights, maybe end up looking at Kemp dunks, just a 90's vortex... and all the while, you're page will be up, and you're getting credit for time spent on your page. That factors into your analytics, that helps with advertising money.
- Finally - don't bring an audience a "dirk said this" piece without some fukking proof. Video, a corroborating article, even a fukking tweet. Anything. A goddamn picture of dirk. ANYTHING. Otherwise it looks like either you don't have the capability to produce those things... or you're lying. Is there audio? clip it and put it on soundcloud. Is there video? Embed it. Is there another source that can show "Yes, he said that." Well then give me that, because nobody knows who you are, and there is no reason to trust your reporting... which is a problem, because your newfound access allows you to do some.... REPORTING.
As far as "this site hates on things that try to go beyond this site" -- I think we can all agree there is an aspect of that here, for sure. There were actually a lot of people that listened to Bomani on this site LOOONG before he made it to espn. A lot of people. When his radio station essentially got shut down, and when he lost his gig in NC, there were threads upset by it.
But I always felt the Coli was mainly behind him. As far as Rod goes, most of the backlash came from him saying he was "over" messageboards. People here didn't like that. But he turned his podcast profitable, and good for him. As far as BSO goes, I think it's a flaming garbage pile, and his "reporting" is stealing, and he tries to use rumors to create website hits. But he's making money, so who cares what I think. I hated that they used aliases on sohh/thecoli to push their articles, and I think overall their work is shoddy, that's just me.
It's no secret that I had a podcast with
@Walt and and
@NYC Rebel -- people would come along and say it sucked, and it was garbage, and my voice was annoying, etc etc. Nothing different from what I've encountered on twitter or in the comment sections of various publications I've written for. The trick was always to keep an eye out for a criticism that you could actually use. "IV is a racist cac" - maybe not super useful, but "That segment was way too fukking long, I turned it off" -- well actually, that's something we can evaluate.
It is easier to say something sucks, than it is to say what needs to be improved. And it is easier to dismiss than it is to analyze.
So that is why I took 5 minutes to bang out a response, and say that I respect your dedication, and that your Dirk post is a weak-ass piece of shyt, which needs to improve if you're looking to gain traction. Look at blogs that pick up steam, see how clean and uniform they look? See how every post BRINGS you something -- video, pictures, story, analysis, or reporting? Your Dirk post is everything that is wrong with your site right now, rolled up into a garbage bento box. Off-brand imagery, no links, no pictures, no sound, no video, no proof. Three quotes just floating at the bottom with grammar fukkups like
