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"Hundreds" of contractors fired, and "about 20" part and full time positions created.

gdulli 7y ago
That's expected, right? Their freelancer database likely has a long tail of occasional or inactive contributors. It's not like it makes sense to assume they have the equivalent of "hundreds" of current freelancer FTEs. Wasn't a goal of this to convert "jobs" with low/unreliable hours to employee status?
vintermann 7y ago
Remember it's a choice by Vox Media to do handle it in this way. It's not some event of nature that just happens. No matter how "necessary" it actually was, organized labor has never accepted the idea that many precarious jobs are better than a few decent jobs. It just leads to a race to the bottom.
reaperducer 7y ago
"Hundreds" of contractors fired, and "about 20" part and full time positions created. To clarify: most of these "jobs" were so sparse they could hardly be classified as jobs. They were people working intermittently one or two hours a week as a hobby. Replacing a bunch of people cosplaying journalists when the mood strikes them with a couple of dozen actual journalists is a good thing.
- scarface74 7y ago
  So now you think it was the right thing to do to stop people who may have just wanted some side money from being able to do freelance work?
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    No one is stopping anyone from making side money doing freelance work. Vox just has to play by the rules that every other company does.
    - scarface74 7y ago
      But the rules not only affect Vox, it takes away people’s agency as far as being able to choose the type and amount of work they want to do.
- mkolodny 7y ago
  Why is that a good thing? Do you feel the same way about engineers and startup founders who help with shows like Silicon Valley and Mr. Robot? Would it be a good thing to get stop them from "cosplaying", and only allow full-time employees?
  - Daishiman 7y ago
    Given the precipitous decline in the quality of published journalism, I welcome anything that helps reestablish the profession giving it a longer-term outlook than the current clickbaity garbage we have.
- tengbretson 7y ago
  These team blogs were formerly run by actual fans of the teams they were covering. The content of these blogs is going to slide now that those responsible for them don't have a personal stake in them.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    The content of these blogs is going to slide now that those responsible for them don't have a personal stake in them. Or the content will improve because they have a professional stake in them.
    - tengbretson 7y ago
      You simply cannot pay someone enough to care this much about Illinois football. https://illiniboard.com/story/2019/10/16/leave-us-alone/ https://illiniboard.com/story/2019/10/16/leave-us-alone/ The best content in sports media comes from fans, and it's not even close.

That's expected, right? Their freelancer database likely has a long tail of occasional or inactive contributors. It's not like it makes sense to assume they have the equivalent of "hundreds" of current freelancer FTEs. Wasn't a goal of this to convert "jobs" with low/unreliable hours to employee status?

vintermann 7y ago

Remember it's a choice by Vox Media to do handle it in this way. It's not some event of nature that just happens. No matter how "necessary" it actually was, organized labor has never accepted the idea that many precarious jobs are better than a few decent jobs. It just leads to a race to the bottom.

reaperducer 7y ago

"Hundreds" of contractors fired, and "about 20" part and full time positions created. To clarify: most of these "jobs" were so sparse they could hardly be classified as jobs. They were people working intermittently one or two hours a week as a hobby. Replacing a bunch of people cosplaying journalists when the mood strikes them with a couple of dozen actual journalists is a good thing.

scarface74 7y ago
So now you think it was the right thing to do to stop people who may have just wanted some side money from being able to do freelance work?
- reaperducer 7y ago
  No one is stopping anyone from making side money doing freelance work. Vox just has to play by the rules that every other company does.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    But the rules not only affect Vox, it takes away people’s agency as far as being able to choose the type and amount of work they want to do.
mkolodny 7y ago
Why is that a good thing? Do you feel the same way about engineers and startup founders who help with shows like Silicon Valley and Mr. Robot? Would it be a good thing to get stop them from "cosplaying", and only allow full-time employees?
- Daishiman 7y ago
  Given the precipitous decline in the quality of published journalism, I welcome anything that helps reestablish the profession giving it a longer-term outlook than the current clickbaity garbage we have.
tengbretson 7y ago
These team blogs were formerly run by actual fans of the teams they were covering. The content of these blogs is going to slide now that those responsible for them don't have a personal stake in them.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  The content of these blogs is going to slide now that those responsible for them don't have a personal stake in them. Or the content will improve because they have a professional stake in them.
  - tengbretson 7y ago
    You simply cannot pay someone enough to care this much about Illinois football. https://illiniboard.com/story/2019/10/16/leave-us-alone/ https://illiniboard.com/story/2019/10/16/leave-us-alone/ The best content in sports media comes from fans, and it's not even close.