

Ask HN: Mashable getting worse?  - ujjwalg

I used to browse through techcrunch and mashable a lot before I discovered HN. I have slowly since then started to hate mashable. Look at these 2 articles mashable posted in the last 2 days:<p>http://mashable.com/2009/08/21/palm-pre-iphone-ad/<p>a complete misrepresentation of facts with an eye catching headline to gain traction<p>and than this is just plain simple ridiculous for a tech blog to post<p>http://mashable.com/2009/08/22/embarrassing-facebook/<p>a poor woman account probably got hacked or she was drunk enough to post it as her status, but bringing it to everyone's attention is just unethical.. IMHO.<p>Now, I dont read any article on mashable or techcrunch before I read user comments on that article on HN. What do you guys do?
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Mystalic
Thanks for the comments. I'll just add a few of my thoughts:

1\. If we misinterpret facts, please call us out in the comments or by
emailing one of us (ben@mashable.com in my case). We strive for accuracy,
period.

2\. We're more than just a tech blog. We're also a social media blog, and
we're not only interested in the technologies that make social media possible,
but in its effect on society in general, the good and the bad. Social media
and web technology has had such a profound impact on privacy and culture, and
we're interested in covering that.

3\. The image you refer to is already becoming viral. Our goal's to try to
sort fact from fiction because we have a platform and an audience to do that.
We never write with the intention to harm or embarrass anyone.

4\. I think GVRV has it right: we do have a different, broader demographic
than many other blogs. I tend to write my articles so that everyone can
understand them, not just technical or entrepreneurial minds. I do write about
programming and entrepreneurship when I can though, and love reviewing
startups.

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byrneseyeview
I don't think Mashable is for people who know what they're doing. It's very
good at getting pageviews -- the "Number Adjective Noun You Can Buzzword
Buzzword Buzzword" formula kicks ass. My only problem with them is how
oversaturated they are -- whenever there's an inane trending topic on Twitter,
I know it's either related to sports, reality TV, or Mashable.

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staunch
I started reading Mashable when it launched. I recently deleted Mashable from
my feed reader. It's a completely different site than it once was. I have no
problem with that, I just don't have any use for it anymore.

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p01nd3xt3r
I don't like mashable anymore...IMHO its becoming nothing more than a big
advertisement for twitter.

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GVRV
Personally I don't think Mashable is getting worse, it's just concentrating on
a different demographic : people who are tech savvy but not hackers/founders.
It has helped them find an audience and by some estimates it's bigger than TC.

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petesalty
Yeah, TechCrunch is getting like this too, so I've stopped reading both of
them. Nothing really wrong with that, just not what I want to read. Mostly for
me it's now HN for tech and VentureBeat for funding related stuff. Oh well,
things change and you can always vote with your feet (or eyes in this case I
suppose).

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Gibbon
I removed mashable from my rss reader a couple months ago. Endless inane
articles about twitter. Like a junkie rambling on about the wonders of his new
found drug.

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louisadekoya
I kind of admire Mashable because one could argue that they have in fact done
what every business hopes to do - start niche and then grow to serve a
mainstream market/audience. There is however always a risk that in doing so
you alienate the very audience you initially set-up to serve. But if as a
business you are comfortable with that then that's ok.

I do feel however that because of its undeniable success on Twitter, Mashable
tends to show a little bit of bias in favour of Twitter and sometimes against
Twitter's biggest rival Facebook - just my opinion.

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Chrisroad
That Facebook story isn't unethical. Turns out her account and others have
been hacked. It was a top story on HN today too. Hope that reassures you.

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frossie
_Now, I dont read any article on mashable or techcrunch before I read user
comments on that article on HN._

I am guessing everybody has sites that fall into the category of "check HN
comments first, and only then follow the link". I also do that depending on
the title.

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00joe
I setup a filter to block the word "twitter" from Mashable in my RSS reader
months ago.

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steve_mobs
mashable is usually the last tech blog i read because the content is not too
helpful and most of it is just cliche.

For more knowledgeable readers mashable just doesn't go deep enough.

