> The funny thing is that Dissolve probably had everything a niche content farm needs to be successful.
> But you can’t really justify a ‘team’ of writers producing long content that doesn’t even #perform by today’s content economy standards.
> A site like ViralNova demonstrates just how a generalist content site ruined the web.
[rant]
Articles like this make me want to scream: "your metrics for 'quality' are defined by your philosophy!" Your standards (metrics) are based on your values. Your values, which are hierarchical, are based on your fundamentals. Your fundamentals = your philosophy.
A crime boss rules his neighborhood by threatening people with violence unless they pay extortion. He grows rich in terms of money. His large influence is based on force. For those who fundamentally value quantity of money or influence, by their standards, he has a quality and successful business. For those who fundamentally value honesty or the non-aggression principle [1] in their hierarchy of values as more important, he has a low quality and unsuccessful business.
No, sites like ViralNova haven't ruined the web and, no, I'm not conflating content farms and extortion. ViralNova is giving people want they want. Just as contemporary art is a reflection of the prevailing philosophy [2], so is ViralNova a reflection of ubiquitous standards that trends, "hotness," and money are morally proper reflections of value in and of themselves. To paraphrase a famous book [3], "lowbrow" content is not the root of all evil killing the Internet. You must ask what is at the root of content. Until people start experiencing and learning alternative philosophies, their values won't change. If you want to change the Web and raise the intellectual "bar," you need to focus on the philosophies behind the metrics that define "successful" - not the metrics themselves.
[/rant]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-aggression_principle