
Alt.techcrunch.die.die.die - adnam
http://adnam.motd.org/Bored-Crunch-2008-06-10-12-37.html
======
pg
_This_ is the top story on Hacker News? Embarrassing.

Should I add downvotes on stories, for users over a certain karma threshold?

~~~
iigs
Hello. I'm a lurker but I registered to make this comment, because I feel
pretty strongly about it.

I can understand that the tone of the article is one that you might not want
to represent Hacker News, but I think the article subject is on point and
worth considering.

I have been fortunate enough to live under a rock and not follow techcrunch at
all, until I started reading HN (I'm a recent reddit lurker, and as reddit
continues to become digg my clicks seem to be heading elsewhere). The TC
articles I've seen in the last few weeks have all been phoned-in armchair
architecture drivel and whining about del.icio.us's release schedule
(seriously, who cares?)

I think the upmods to the article in question here are specific backlash
against TC's quality falling faster than my west coast (USA) home's value. I'd
be concerned that downmods would lead to moderation warring, and that would
just bring this site one intellectual hop closer to reddit (and thereby digg).

I humbly suggest waiting for HN's traffic (using the metric of your choice) to
increase 20% before reconsidering downmods. If HN develops a tradition of
tuesday morning "your site sucks" rants then you absolutely have my support --
but please don't react to one or a small number of articles in what could be a
very permanent and culture-shifting way.

~~~
dcurtis
This isn't a small number of articles; it's a growing trend that started about
four months ago.

------
greyman
I tend to agree with the article, especially the "impatience factor".

What I especially don't like is the practice of "private beta invitations". I
am wasting time reading "news" about features of some new online service, only
to find out that it's not available yet, but Techcrunch has "50 free
invitations for its readers". It's a win-win-lost situation - startup got
publicity, TC is "first to report it", but I wasted my time.

What I think TC got right is the blog-like format + discussions + quick
reporting. But the content stinks. I hope competition will take him over.

------
greenagain
I think they need to decide whether they want to be a personal blog for
Arrington's uninformed self-injection or real journalism. Right now, I think
they're pretending to the latter while operating as the former.

------
bbgm
I don't read Techcrunch unless someone points me to a story that sounds like
it might be interesting which is rare. However, people seem to read, and their
traffic hasn't suffered, so I doubt that the site is going to change anything
soon. For that matter, who cares what Techcruch is writing about. By moaning
about it here, we're giving it airtime that could be used for something more
useful. Ignore it, and perhaps others will too over time (or they'll change
their focus).

Yes, the site has influence, but to think it's the only way to get noticed is
only adding fuel to the fire.

~~~
adrianwaj
Look they even get reprinted in the Washington Post:
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/05...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902914.html)

------
Mystalic
TechCrunch's quality has gone down over the last year. The problem is that
Arrington has critical mass, and not following TechCrunch could keep you out
of the loop on some important stories or conversations.

At some point though, I won't be able to handle it and will unsubscribe,
regardless of how many people follow his news.

~~~
extantproject
Important stories like Twitter's downtime or del.iciou.us not pushing new
software when Arrington decides they should?

------
t0pj
_"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss
people."_

\--Eleanor Roosevelt

------
drawkbox
To be honest I hope del.icio.us 2.0 never launches. Usually Yahoo has a knack
of making things less usable. I really think they have a solid offering now
(that is what made it purchasable) I would hate it to be another yahoo tv.

However I hardly go there, usually a track for me. so they could get some more
traffic there if they changed their site but the service within the browser
and distributed bookmarks will always be their main point.

------
coglethorpe
Am I the only one who finds that TechCrunch is unreachable most of the time? I
assume its server is overwhelmed with traffic. Possibly the problem is on my
end, but I don't have problems with other sites. I find it strange that the
guy who complains about Twitter's downtime seems to have some of his own to
deal with.

~~~
bluelu
I could always access the site without any problems and didn't see any issues.

~~~
ajbatac
not for me either, might just be you. sorry.

~~~
adrianwaj
a blessing in disguise

------
popshop
I hate Arrington as much as the next guy, but I know first-hand that 1. The
database architecture of delicious is outmoded (i.e. thought up by Josh for a
much more limited use) and as a result 2. they simply cannot get the 2.0
version to work (i.e. scale).

------
Tichy
They are in the news business and need to make entertaining stories. I don't
see the big deal - all news outlets try to make as much drama as possible, and
Arrington seems to be good with words. It's the way of the news.

------
sealedidentity
well isn't it better to just ignore TC? I mean it's easy to critique
something, where once we had insight all we have now is backchatter.

And seriously, this doesn't deserve to be on YC.

------
rw
It's clear that Techcrunch is preparing to buy Valleywag.

------
Wesmax27
Is it just me or did these types of articles start appearing once Arrington
started promoting HN on TC?

------
josefresco
Alternatives to TechCrunch, choose one, be happy:

CenterNetworks Mashable! VentureBeat Read/Write Web

~~~
brlewis
Can anybody give reasons to favor one of those four above the others?

~~~
unalone
Mashable I would advise against. It's full of fluff articles, and sometime a
year or two ago had the inexplicable idea of turning into a social network
itself. It's a mess of a site and its writing is no better.

Though I don't follow many blogs anymore, period, R/WW writes fewer articles,
but it tends to do a much better job with making sure the articles it DOES
write are good. It's fairly high-quality.

------
adrianwaj
Its problem is the commenting system. Needs something like Digg.

~~~
lpgauth
They also need some kind of comment moderation but I guess if there is no
moderation in the blog post what can you expect :?

~~~
adrianwaj
If Arrington is after traffic, people would stick around to read and
participate in comments moreso if it was actually usable.

Regarding the posts, I think better comments would encourage more cooperation
by the websites who are profiled as the comments could be more valuable.

------
garfieldheights
I do think we have more interesting things to talk about here.

------
noor420
TechCrunch needs a comment system like the one used here @ hackernews.

It will then be more fun.

