4 ms·
This is a rather interesting stance to take for a publication whose article quality has degraded and ad size has increased (thirty-eight trackers, including two
by vkb 10y ago
This is a rather interesting stance to take for a publication whose article quality has degraded and ad size has increased (thirty-eight trackers, including two from Facebook, detected by my adblocker when I tried to access the article) over the past five years to the point where I refuse to read them.
If you take a look at the homepage through the Wayback archive as it used to appear in 2005[1], 2011[2], and today, you'll see how content disappears and click-baity headlines rise over time.
The Atlantic is very much a part of the problem of "the race towards the bottom" the author describes, and instead of having a discussion about how to fix it and maybe trying different revenue models, it continues to un-ironically have share and tweet buttons at the top of this article.
[1] https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20050210070148/theatlantic.com https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20050210070148/theatlantic....
[2]https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20110731234233/http://www.theatlantic.com:80/ https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20110731234233/http://www.t...
- fitzroy 10y agoPublishing pieces like this is one of the few ways the editorial side can put public pressure on the ad sales / revenue side to change or improve their behavior, particularly if other attempts have been ignored. Writers may not be able to bite the hand that feeds them, but they can nibble.
- EGreg 10y agoThe author is an individual, and the Atlantic may be contributing to the problem but at least they published his piece.
- rdruxn 10y agoThe Atlantic publishes a monthly magazine, exactly the type of bundle the author is advocating for.
- throwaway2048 10y agoBeing a hypocrite dosen't make what you are saying invalid or wrong in any way.
- robotbikes 10y agoThe point was really driven home by the absurdly wasteful click bait articles from adrev that followed the critique of them.
- Nomentatus 10y agoTherefore, kudos to Atlantic for publishing the article, despite being immersed in that same Prisoner's Dilemma, or more specifically, Nash Equilibrium/first mover's dilemma.