Same-Sex Marriage Bill REJECTED in New York State Senate
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Catholic League Pissed at PETA
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
Bouncer Beatdown at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club
New York Magazine has not one, but five separate articles on bloggers in this week's issue. Some priceless quotes:
"The upshot? Nick Denton’s revenues from Gawker were probably at least $1 million a year and might well be cracking $2 million. Not bad, considering the blog had no serious expenses other than its writers—first Spiers and now Jessica Coen and Jesse Oxfeld, all working for journalist wages—and Webhosting fees of maybe a few thousand bucks a year. “The rest of it,” Hauslaib points out, “just goes into Nick’s pockets.”For her part, Spiers argues that Gawker is now so well entrenched that it is virtually unmovable. “You’d have be a total fuckup to ruin that site right now,” she says. “It’s got so many links, you’re just going to have a positive growth rate.”
The best quote, of course, comes from Pete Rojas (who also got the cover shot)-- it's so good they actually use it twice in the article:
For Pete Rojas, blogging paid off handsomely. Last fall, AOL bought Weblogs, Inc., which includes his blog Engadget, for $25 million. “I didn’t intend to become a millionaire,” says Rojas, “but I wound up there anyway.”
And what about Gothamist, the site you are reading now? We're still keeping it real: "Despite the popularity of Gothamist, founded by Columbia alums Jen Chung and Jake Dobkin, both have other jobs to pay the bills. “We need to work to invest in infrastructure—servers, maintenance—for our other sites,” says Chung."
What do you have to say about that? Sock it to us, baby.
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Yep, keepin it real....re-writing content from NY1, the Post, the Times or other local news outlets. Thanks for keepin it real!
Jake, you didn't like this quotation?: "You wanna reach New York, you buy on Gothamist. You want to reach mommies, you buy on Busy Mom. How does traditional media match that?” asks Brian Clark, an ad buyer who orchestrated Audi’s blogvertising last year.
To be honest, nice article, but the usual suspects. Denton, Kottke, wonkette...
www.forgotten-ny.com
(Not trying to be snarky, just remembering the article from 3 months ago and wondering how things were going.)
Yeah, the article is fine, but its just a repeat of what's already been said.
i think gothamist should have gotten more of a mention, since ny mag is about new york, after all.
i still dont understand how jen chung got into columbia, let alone graduated..she has the spelling/proofreading skills of a 7th grader!
and you asked us to "sock it to you" so im hoping this doesn't get deleted like the rest of my comments...
jen, will you please answer this question once and for all: would i be so hard to a) run a spell check. b) proofread it (its not like that would take more than 5 minutes, the entires are never more than 300 words.) c) possibly send it to ole jake dobkin and have him skim over it before posting it.
all of these things would take you a maximum of 2 minutes per post and greatly improve both the credibility of the website and the overall readability of it. i know numerous people who have stopped reading this blog simply because of jen chung poor spelling and grammar. i'm sure you're not a stupid person, so why are you so eager to present yourself as one?
all of the other -ist blogs are wonderfully proofread, why are the standards so low on this one?
here here nick
"i know numerous people who have stopped reading this blog simply because of jen chung poor spelling and grammar. "
whoa jen chung moment. sorry about that.
For better or worse, few people spell well any more. It's just not a prerequisite for success (unless you're a professional writer), and I'm not sure it ever was.
www.forgotten-ny.com
nick,
yeah, it's annoying when people don't read. take your post for example:
(1) "so im hoping this doesn't get deleted like the rest of my comments..." should be "so i'm hoping this doesn't get deleted like the rest of my comments...", right? missing apostrophe mark.
(2) the next paragraph was pure gold; you have a question, but no question mark at the end. you misspell _it_ and make the mistake that its=it is (it should be it's, for the record). another missing apostrophe mark.
the funniest part was that after you proofread your own letter, you only caught one error -- IN THE THIRD PARAGRAPH! yeah it should be "jen chung's poor spelling". got a problem with apostrophe marks?
point is, proofreading isn't the easiest thing. you suck at it. gothamist isn't great at it, but so what?
here here not nick
Personally, I have a problem with people who don't use capital letters to begin their sentences or forget to use apostrophes where appropriate. All the text messaging / emailing people do has somehow terminated their ability to capitalize and / or punctuate correctly. Shame, since it is something you learn in the second grade.
What seems really obnoxious, though, is for a person to write a nasty comment about someone's writing ability when writing poorly himself. Seriously, all of these things would take a maximum of two minutes.
People in glass houses...
Oh, and by the way, you also spelled "entries" wrong, but I guess you didn't catch that one.
Shift key broken on your keyboard, Nick? Your comment would have a lot more credibility and readability if you employed proper typing techniques.
After three years and thousands of posts do you think Jen's style is going to change because you whined about it? For me, Jen's typos are part of Gothamist's charm. Would you be willing to spend the ten minutes a day it would take to be the proofreader?
"would i be so hard to a) run a spell check...."
Nick, have you ever heard of capital letters? How about apostrophes??
Jen and Jake asked for comments about the website, not ad hominem attacks. You ought to be embarrassed.
That's "HEAR HEAR" ass clowns.
hear hear grammar nazi
That's GRAMMAR ass clown.
shame shame nick
Who cares about the grammar? The real problem with Gothamist's writing style is the valley-girl yuppie accent: (Like. Oh. My. God. Totally. That is so, like, totally cool.)
A fun drinking game is to take a swig every time Gothamist says "totally." Try it. You'll be drunk by the end of the first page.
Alternate Gothamist drinking games:
1. A reference to how a mundane event would make a good Law and Order episode.
2. Jake rambling on about what "real" graffiti is.
3. A motherly safety warning after a "Darwin Award" death.
Gothamist drinking games?
That's totally like the. Best. Idea. Ever.
Wonder if I could get away with that at work...
Oh wait, I don't have a job. So I guess I don't have a problem. Let the drinking begin!
What other alternate rules are out there? I'm totally not original enough to come up with my own...
There are a few differences between Ms. Chung and I. I, unlike Ms. Chung, am not getting paid a cent to post on Gothamist. People do not come to Gothamist to read my posts, so I owe nothing to the readers of Gothamist. Ms. Chung, on the other hand, is the editor of this website. Her job description as editor would suggest the ability to edit, but strangely enough, she does nothing of the sort.
See...I post something, people say it isn't credible because of capitalization and apostrophe problems, so I make sure that for my next post (this one), I take special note of those problems and correct them. This is a method used by people to stop criticism. If Ms. Chung and Mr. Dobkin wanted to make the money of a man like Nick Denton, I would hope they had the common sense to see posts like these as constructive criticism and not "flaming."
The simple fact is that Ms. Chung and Mr. Dobkin will not take note of these suggestions because they are self-righteous, lazy and simply not cut out for the "A-List" level of blogging*.
By the way, the man who started all this "Not Nick" stuff didn't capitalize anything either. I would ask why you didn't attack him, but I assume that all of you are in Ms. Chung's circle of friends, so whatever.
*I can't believe I just wrote that
Ah, Nick, or Mr. Horrible Copy Editor, you should correct "There are a few differences between Ms. Chung and I." The gramatically correct way of saying that: There are a few differences between Ms. Chung and me.
To prove my point: Between you and I or between you and me?
According to The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, "Because the pronouns following between are objects of the preposition, the correct phrase is between you and me. Yet the phrasing between you and I is appallingly common--'a grammatical error of unsurpassable grossness,' as one commentator puts it (41). The Careful Writer notes that "Most of those who say or write between you and I, Shakespeare excepted, are guilty of overrefinement. They have been corrected when they used 'It is me" or 'You and me ought to get together,' and have become gun-shy about the word "me." In addition they are confused because the word 'you' is the same in the objective case as it is in the nominative; therefore, although they would not dream of saying or writing between him and they or between her and we or between us and she, the phrase between you and I does not sound bad to them. But bad it is, and indefensible grammatically. Between is a preposition and it is followed by the objective case: me. To say between you and I is a needless, pointless, and ignorant exception to a good rule" (74). ( from http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#37 )
Additions to Gothamist drinking game:
1. Every time Gothamist "loves" something.
2. Every time Gothamist asks you, the reader, where you get something that they love (i.e. milkshakes with big straws, cheese, etc..)
3. Every misspelled word.
4. Every time Bluejake is linked for a photo credit.
5. Every time Streetsy is linked.
6. Every time there's one of those italicized disclaimers before a story saying it represents the view of the author. Bonus points if you yell "YEAH! NO SHIT!" before taking the shot.
7. Every time there is a reference to Jen or Jake having gone to Columbia.
8. Every time they introduce a "New Bi-Weekly Feature" (i.e. "Cute", Gothamist Comics, etc..)
9. Every time any of the following words are used: "Mashup," "Graf," "Videoblog."
There you go. Prepare to get wasted.
re: Not I,
Wouldn't Gothamist be great if it were edited by someone like you? Someone with attention to detail? I don't see why I'm getting flamed by all of these people who claim to be concerned with grammar. Don't you realize that I want to bad grammar to end too! I originally posted because I was fed up with Jen Chung's shoddy proofreading. Why don't you people turn your hateful gaze onto any sample of Jen Chung's writing and dissect it like you have dissected mine?
You people are arguing for arguing's sake. Keep it coming though, my afternoon is free!
"By the way, the man who started all this "Not Nick" stuff didn't capitalize anything either. I would ask why you didn't attack him, but I assume that all of you are in Ms. Chung's circle of friends, so whatever."
i'm part of the great gothamist conspiracy and orgy sessions. see you guys tonight! i'll bring the milkshakes.
nick, you're clueless. Since when are ad hominem attacks considered constructive criticism? If you had some reasoned criticism, and the typos and grammar issues are certainly fair game, you would make them in a reasonable fashion. Instead you start your comment with an insult of Jen's intelligence.
Nice.
Is it any wonder people then pounce on your remarks? Or are you that much of a pinhead that you can't figure it out?
Nick isn't the only one put off by Jen Chung's constant spelling and grammar gaffes. They are constant, and for a person like me who finished college and reads things printed on paper and bound in book or magazine form now and then, it is profoundly irritating. Nick doesn't have to write well because this is a comments section; Jen Chung earns money off of her crappily proofread writing. Indeed, it is enough for me at times to quit reading the blog.
BookFace, anal retentive grammar obsession since 2005.
Wait!!
More Gothamist drinking games:
1. "Teany"
2. "Lazy Sunday" (or "x + y = Crazy Delicious")
3. "iPod"
!!
Nick, seriously, if you are going to be a grammarian, you should write like one. Because unless you're the reincarnation of ee cummings, you're starting to sound like an asshole.
The following view is that of the author and is not necessarily that of Gothamist LLC.
Nick,
I don't really know about Jen's exact posting style/method, but I've been doing the weekend postings here for the past few months and maybe I can offer a glimpse into why this "grammar" issue is a built in one here at the G'ist.
Basically it's a time thing v. quality thing. But really, you probably already knew that.
A good half of the content written for Gothamist is written on the fly. i.e. One of the editors notices something interesting and wants to share it, it being a cool website, a nifty article, a panda picture, or whatever. We write it up, pick a picture, give it a proofread/spellcheck, preview it, and post it. Sadly, it can be difficult to spot errors in things you wrote yourself. Always has been, always will be. Looking at sentences you wrote you just miss stuff. It seems to me Nick that you are learning this quickly. For my part, if somebody else is in my apartment when I'm posting, I'll often ask them to check it over my shoulder for glaring errors. But still, things slip by.
That's where your problem comes in. In all of that speed going from something interesting to Gothamist post some errors are just almost always made. But here's the awesome part, a good 85% of the time those errors are pointed out (by people like the grammar nazi), are promptly fixed, and we all move on.. Or most of us do.
Now, you are correct that you'd think we'd all have learned from our mistakes, or hired a proofreader, but it just isn't that easy. For the first part, a writer can easily get paranoid about their habitual mistakes and stops being able to distinguish the correct answer from the wrong one (i.e. I constantly have problems with my apostrophes on Gothamist posts too, though I am really am clear on the distinctions, just as I suspect you are).
And remember, Nick, Jen is working a full-time job, planning a wedding, and doing her Gothamist posts. Sit down one day and notice just HOW MUCH SHE WRITES EACH DAY, and maybe you might cut her some slack?
As for hiring someone to proof, from what I understand Gothamist just isn't there yet as an organization. Personally, as a Gothamist reader, not editor, I'd take more Jen, more consistent servers and a constantly improving user experience over a few less grammatical errors any day...
Good one, Garth. Maybe hire Nick as a copy editor/proofreader, since he seems to have both a passion for this and a tremendous amount of time on his hands?
'Course, you'd have to teach him how to hit the shift key...
hear hear garth
Gothamist Drinking game--
1) a google map
2) fresh direct
3) flame war over grammar
As poorly executed as you all claim it may be, Nick does have a point. Proper grammar and spelling should be enforced here. The tone may be playful and casual, but sloppy grammar should not have a place here. As for the editors graduating from Columbia--you would be surprised to know how poorly students there, and at other "renowned" (i.e. expensive) institutions do at basic composition. Believe me I should know. Maybe Gothamist should contract someone to check each entry for errors and get paid for every error caught, reported, and fixed. I recommend BABABOOEY.
I swear, you trolls are just as bad as the geeks who post and dump on everything on aintitcoolnews.com. I, for one, also find the grammar errors abit annoying, but I've made a game of it (sort of like the "How many times will Sue Simmons flub during a newscast" game.)
In short, if it so offends you that you have to post snarky, spiteful comments, just get your blogfix elsewhere. But you won't, will you? You'll just keep visiting and being an annoying hipster. Die, die, die.
I'm a strong advocate of poor grammar. There's nothing more stilted than a spell-checked, proper grammared newswire story. The new grammar is visual and sound images. The only thing that makes my skin crawl is the use of the ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS gimmick. Usually when I see the all capped arbitrary words it involves some evil conspiracy about halliburton. garth should be fired for using the all caps gimmick.
Holy shit! I completely forgot:
Gothamist Drinking Game: "die hipster die, die die" (or similar) comment
Right on, pugsley, that's so po-mo. In the future, everyone will make up their own grammatical rules based on how they feel...
oh, can i say one thing? (and i don't like to capitalize in my comments...) anyway, we gave a few proofreaders/copy editors runs, but it just never panned out.
it's not easy reading 20+ posts a day and scanning the site every minute to check for errors. and it's possible that within that five minute span before something was corrected, someone would have been up in arms over a misplaced comma.
I'm curious: what does Columbia have to do with anything? Stop judging people based on who they were when at age 17.
add to the drinking game: drink a 40 everytime a post registers 40 or more comments.
what's a blog?
im back in commenter mode.
re: everybody - im not saying jen should consult the MLA handbook or an english professor every time she posts.. there are just some really glaring mistakes in spelling that cause confusion. there are also times when jen simply forgets to write a word, which causes even more confusing. there have been posts where i comment on the mistake and the comment is erased and the mistake isn't fixed! you dont even have to pay me! you can keep deleting my comments! just change the mistake i bring up and we'll all be happy!
btw. Nickist is totally loving the Gothamist drink game!
Why isn't Gothamist raking in a cool $1m a year??
It must be the spelling!
eh, could be worse.