

All Things Digital shutting down - ivank
http://allthingsd.com/20131231/you-say-goodbye-and-we-say-hello/?

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elorant
Am I the only one in here who used to find AllThingsD extremely boring? I
specifically didn't like Kara's attempts to make gossip an essential part of
our industry. Yes we happen to have quite a few billionaires in this market
but nobody cares about the way they spend their money. We're here for the
innovation part.

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wyclif
I agree and came here to share a similar thought. I know a bit about
journalism and how the sausage is made, and it's a tough market for tech
journalism. Lately, that segment of the industry has been in a race to the
bottom in terms of viable financial models for success.

I would simply say to the people trying to make a go out of serious tech
journalism: I'm a nerd. Let me geek out with high quality coverage of
technical issues and tech politics. Please, no more billionaire gossip. That's
not what I want to read. If I did, I would be reading TechCrunch or Valleywag.
And if your new news site is going to be called "Re/code", then it had better
have news related to _actual code_ and computer programming, instead of just
re-warmed Apple intrigue (that John Gruber does better anyway) and rich-guy
gossip.

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minimaxir
Walt and Kara's new site is Re/code, which will launch tomorrow:
[http://recode.net/welcome/](http://recode.net/welcome/)

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GigabyteCoin
So they're not exactly shutting down, as much as they are changing brands?

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itsprofitbaron
Yes and No. Essentially Kara/Walt and WSJ/Dow Jones/NewsCorp "divorced".

The "divorce" left Kara/Walt with the writers (as they were employed by them)
and WSJ/Dow Jones/NewsCorp the AllThingsD brand, website and conference
business. However, it appears the AllThingsD site is being completely shut
down and redirected to [http://wsj.com/tech](http://wsj.com/tech) \- probably
because NewsCorp who struck the original deal with Kara/Walt don't want a
situation like this to happen again.

Recode is a completely new business (site and conference business;
WSJ/NewsCorp/Dow Jones still owns the D Conference) albeit with the same
writers from AllThingsD.

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michaelmartin
Given the histories of these 2 writers, I'd have hoped for a bit more
substance in such an important post for them.

They don't mention anything specific about the new site, and given how many
other good tech sites there are, the vagueness doesn't make me curious enough
to come back.

And in terms of journalistic integrity with full disclosures; I learnt more
about what has really happened from the comments here than I did in that post.
Surely they should have disclosed that a need to "refresh, reimagine, remake
and reinvent" wasn't the _only_ thing in play here.

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voltagex_
Does archive.org need to grab the site before WSJ break all the links?

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nwh
Too late. The whole domain is gone.

~~~
thirsteh
Direct links still seem to work: [http://allthingsd.com/20131231/you-say-
goodbye-and-we-say-he...](http://allthingsd.com/20131231/you-say-goodbye-and-
we-say-hello/)?

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peterjancelis
So is this possible because California doesn't recognize non-competes?

Because basically Walt/Kara seem to have borrowed Newscorp backing until they
didn't need it anymore, after which they announce a new URL and continue on
their own.

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seunosewa
They lost the content of their successful website and there is no guarantee
that the completely new one will be successful.

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mtkd
Sadly it looks like / is 301 to WSJ already.

This was posted last night and still available:

[http://allthingsd.com/20131231/some-of-our-fave-d-
conference...](http://allthingsd.com/20131231/some-of-our-fave-d-conference-
videos-before-allthingsd-signs-off-in-3-2-1/)

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iamabraham
It's the news-blog equivilant of "pivot."

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yawz
I liked the name, I liked the content. I'll be following their new site.

All the best. Happy new year!

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nedwin
Why are they doing this? Are there any good resources out there on the split
with WSJ?

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shinratdr
If I had to guess, I would assume it's similar to the Verge/Engadget
situation. Splitting from a stodgy corporation that doesn't want to change or
update anything.

Eventually they collectively realize that nothing is going to change and they
could run a much better site without their parent corporation, and it goes
from there.

Of course, this is complete speculation based on zero actual evidence. But it
would hardly surprise me if the WSJ and AOL had a reluctance to be proactive
in common.

~~~
bstar77
Your assumption is incorrect. Wsj decided not to renew its contract with
allthingsd. Wsj has launched a new technology section today which replaces the
old stale section.

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redidas
And to bring it full circle, the WSJ employed a former The Verge writer (that
had left The Verge for ABC).

I'm actually excited to see where the WSJ tech section goes.

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adam222
I am looking forward to the 'The Verge' moment.

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zinx
The new site looks nice, the bold fonts and red and black

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af3
GG

