Anil Dash to the pundits' rescue!
But as I've begun to (re-)dabble in punditry, I think it's telling that private conversations (and the occasional ranting blogger) direct so much vitriol at the people who lead much of the conversation in the world of technology. it would seem the more effective form of criticism is obvious, effective and relatively easy: Just do better yourself.
English isn't my first language, but I'm really not sure of the use of the word "pundits" here, in this case meaning the 'web celebs' we all know and love (?).
Leaving that aside, it's an interesting read, so to speak. And the excerpt above is his conclusion.
So. Here's my conclusion.
"Just do better yourself" is what caught my attention.
Do better at what? Report "news" better than Arrington, for instance? How? How many ways to re-write a press release can there possibly be? How many linkbaiting titles can one possibly come up with? And, in this example, isn't Mashable already doing, well... the same thing?
The general news bits on such blogs - there are thousands of people who can write at the same quality level. At least thousands.
As for the scoops - no one outside the rather limited Silicon Valley tech circle will ever get access to these before they do.
So, wrapping up this example, on one hand, there is no 'better' (for news), on the other hand no one else can be 'better'.
Now. If by "better" Anil meant content of higher quality, which in my view is based on more context... well then, fine.
I'll do it. I'll do better myself.
And you, Anil, shall give me the pageviews. Deal?
