Topic: Pap's rant: Issues with websites

[NWR_pap64]

One thing I hate the most in a website is when they post shock news stories that is guaranteed to make some fans upset and thus cause a ruckus either on the comments section or the website's forums.

Let me give you some examples. Over the weekend Go Nintendo posted a link to a blog of one of God of war 2's developers. The entry had to do with how said person was disappointed with the Wii and didn't see what's so great about it. That of course caused a lot of stir in the readers so in the comments section they let it all out. Insults, death threats, anger, angst, bitching and everything else that makes fanboys so special.

Not only that, the editor posted the guy's answer to all the comments, which caused EVEN MORE of a ruckus.

What annoys me about this is that the editor clearly posted those stories so that there would be some activity over the weekend and intentionally cause a discussion among the readers. I mean, do the math...

Sony developer + Negative comments about the Wii = Bitching fanboys.

This happened a lot with Joystiq. They would post stories dissing the Wii one way or another (like the infamous "comments from a non gamer" and how Twilight Princess looked ugly) and it was guaranteed that people would respond in the harshest way possible.

I agree that websites editors have the right to post whatever they want on their websites, but that doesn't mean that I can't look and disagree with it. Why must websites degrade themselves in order to get some audience? This is basically like the kid that loves to start fights just so he can sit and watch what happens. In the end, its pointless and innocent people were hurt.

Good thing NWR sticks with official news rather than just random gossip.

Anyone agree? Disagree?

[oohhboy]

They are only trying to be more mainstream. Mainstream as in tablods. Like normal news outlets whether it is print or electrons, use flashy headliners to gain attention regardless of how newworthy it maybe. It produces all those useless sob stroies, celeb head shaving stories, Fox news, OMG a moslem.

These days, you always have to have your BS filters on full.

[Shift Key]

When people get serious on the internet at all, just post this:

[ShyGuy]

I don't have a problem with blogs posting rumors and minor "tabloid" stuff like that. Heck, I like it. I think as long as their is a clear distinction to the visitors between the blog and a news site no problem. NWR is a news site, GoNintendo is a blog, it doesn't pretend to be anything else. GoNintendo is a near 24 hour stream of practically every piece of Nintendo related news on the web. To keep the steady stream of content, you have to post the mario-shaped-cupcake stories and the game-developer-X-says something-stupid stories.

What bugs me is when places like Joystiq try and pass themselves off as a serious news organization.

[GoldenPhoenix]

How dare you generalize websites as putting stuff on just to get discussion going. Those are some quality stories, and people at Go Nintendo don't eat up just anything.

[King of Twitch]

How do I comment in this thread when posting itself could prove Pap's point?


It's a trap

[Mario]

I agree, and it works because most of the viewers are even worse than the websites and just can't wait to rip into anything or anyone. The solution? Let them all be idiots in front of each other and look somewhere else!

[Artimus]

Yeah...I have no issue with GoNintendo. The editor is a very friendly person who posts everything he considers credible. That's why you should visit the site (or at least something you should know about if you do). He's very clear about that. I do get annoyed that he fails to correct inaccurate stories, though. But it's a blog so whatever.

I totally agree with the Joystiq comment too. They act like they're journalists but they're absolutely not. That's one thing I like about Kotaku, some of them are actually journalists at real papers/pages and the rest don't pretend they are.