Ask HN: Mashable getting worse? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Mashable getting worse?

15 pointsujjwalg12 comments

I used to browse through techcrunch and mashable a lot before I discovered HN. I have slowly since then started to hate mashable. Look at these 2 articles mashable posted in the last 2 days:

http://mashable.com/2009/08/21/palm-pre-iphone-ad/

a complete misrepresentation of facts with an eye catching headline to gain traction

and than this is just plain simple ridiculous for a tech blog to post

http://mashable.com/2009/08/22/embarrassing-facebook/

a poor woman account probably got hacked or she was drunk enough to post it as her status, but bringing it to everyone's attention is just unethical.. IMHO.

Now, I dont read any article on mashable or techcrunch before I read user comments on that article on HN. What do you guys do?

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Thanks for the comments. I'll just add a few of my thoughts:

1. If we misinterpret facts, please call us out in the comments or by emailing one of us (ben@mashable.com in my case). We strive for accuracy, period.

2. We're more than just a tech blog. We're also a social media blog, and we're not only interested in the technologies that make social media possible, but in its effect on society in general, the good and the bad. Social media and web technology has had such a profound impact on privacy and culture, and we're interested in covering that.

3. The image you refer to is already becoming viral. Our goal's to try to sort fact from fiction because we have a platform and an audience to do that. We never write with the intention to harm or embarrass anyone.

4. I think GVRV has it right: we do have a different, broader demographic than many other blogs. I tend to write my articles so that everyone can understand them, not just technical or entrepreneurial minds. I do write about programming and entrepreneurship when I can though, and love reviewing startups.

I don't think Mashable is for people who know what they're doing. It's very good at getting pageviews -- the "Number Adjective Noun You Can Buzzword Buzzword Buzzword" formula kicks ass. My only problem with them is how oversaturated they are -- whenever there's an inane trending topic on Twitter, I know it's either related to sports, reality TV, or Mashable.

I started reading Mashable when it launched. I recently deleted Mashable from my feed reader. It's a completely different site than it once was. I have no problem with that, I just don't have any use for it anymore.

I don't like mashable anymore...IMHO its becoming nothing more than a big advertisement for twitter.

Personally I don't think Mashable is getting worse, it's just concentrating on a different demographic : people who are tech savvy but not hackers/founders. It has helped them find an audience and by some estimates it's bigger than TC.

Yeah, TechCrunch is getting like this too, so I've stopped reading both of them. Nothing really wrong with that, just not what I want to read. Mostly for me it's now HN for tech and VentureBeat for funding related stuff. Oh well, things change and you can always vote with your feet (or eyes in this case I suppose).

I removed mashable from my rss reader a couple months ago. Endless inane articles about twitter. Like a junkie rambling on about the wonders of his new found drug.

I kind of admire Mashable because one could argue that they have in fact done what every business hopes to do - start niche and then grow to serve a mainstream market/audience. There is however always a risk that in doing so you alienate the very audience you initially set-up to serve. But if as a business you are comfortable with that then that's ok.

I do feel however that because of its undeniable success on Twitter, Mashable tends to show a little bit of bias in favour of Twitter and sometimes against Twitter's biggest rival Facebook - just my opinion.

That Facebook story isn't unethical. Turns out her account and others have been hacked. It was a top story on HN today too. Hope that reassures you.

Now, I dont read any article on mashable or techcrunch before I read user comments on that article on HN.

I am guessing everybody has sites that fall into the category of "check HN comments first, and only then follow the link". I also do that depending on the title.

I setup a filter to block the word "twitter" from Mashable in my RSS reader months ago.

mashable is usually the last tech blog i read because the content is not too helpful and most of it is just cliche.

For more knowledgeable readers mashable just doesn't go deep enough.

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