writing style of front page content

Submitted by karpodiem on

has anyone else decreased mgoblog consumption due to the strange writing style of front page content? Beyonce? Oklahoma? Really? Why is this necessary? And this seems to be the normal style for front page content for the last year or so.

Yes, it's February and this is traditionally a slower time of year (hey, basketball!) But in the history of my site patronage, my perception is that the front page content has become increasingly more difficult to read with numerous bizarre allusions. 

And I'm aware that posting this on the board for people who still read the site more frequently will probably generate a chilly response, but I'm ok with that. Just wondering if there are people still lurking around that feel the same way.

WolverBean

February 24th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^

I don't think the "smart-guys-turned-football-junkies" thing is an angle. I think it's an accurate description of the people writing the blog. Brian has a Master's degree in EECS from Michigan, and a professed love of the writing of David Foster Wallace. I don't expect him to write about sports the way say, a former player would, or even the way a journalist would. Ace's power rankings are clearly meant to be witty (I happen to enjoy that; your mileage may vary), but his post-game columns are often more pure journalism in content and style than any actual newspaper is anymore. And Seth's old posting handle was "Misopogon." He named his internet presence after a satirical essay written by a roman emperor! It can't be shocking when that leads to non-sports cultural references like "Oklahoma!" in his writing.

As far as the proliferation of internet memes on the site is concerned... well, you're on the internet. And a lot of people who read and post on this site (including the authors) spend a LOT of time on the internet, so it can't be a surprise when their current cultural references include I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER. Again, this blog was founded by an EECS nerd. That kind of stuff has been here since the beginning (been reading MGo since 2005).

WolvinLA2

February 24th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^

Very accurate.  That's just what this is, like it or love it.  

I think a big problem is that 5 years ago, 90% of the readers were people who liked it, mostly students and recents alums.  Not the site has gotten very popular, and a lot of the main page stuff goes right over peoples' heads.  

That, and I knew Karpodiem in college and I think he was a tool, so that affects my stance a bit.  No offense Karpo, of course.  

bluedog10

February 24th, 2013 at 9:03 PM ^

You've pretty much nailed it. I personally enjoy most of the memes and running inside jokes, but I've also been a reader (though infrequent poster) since the RR coaching search. This blog, with its wittiness and general sarcastic/satirical/oddball tone is what helped me survive the first two years of the RR era as an upperclassman at M.

I do miss Brian's songs. Although, again, I don't think that can be forced. FWIW, I immediately get chills and a flood of memories concerning Michigan football when I hear "Better Son or Daughter" or "Sons and Daughters." That's the kind of intangible tie to the blog that I can't undo.

Keep up the good work mgoblog writers. Life is busier for me now, but I'll always check in when I can. Thank you.

Picktown GoBlue

February 24th, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^

Big ten (grad school) EECS nerd who did a little journalism in college, I find a base to relate to the content and style. And I use the rest of the content and styles as entertaining and opportunities to learn. And gosh darn some of us love a good musical!



Nit to the OP from a math/EECS type- if there was any thread to label as META, this would be it.

LSCrepair

February 24th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^

It is a blog. Generally the stuff on sports blogs is quirky. EDSBS... BHGP... Odd stuff. This blog has a great mix of straight up information and stat analysis with a healthy dose of weird. I love it.

TickerTape

February 24th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^

I also agree with Karpodiem, and if I didnt agree I wouldnt act like a child about it. I know there were different authors at one point and or Bryan wrote more...who knows...things be different though.

dcmaizeandblue

February 24th, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^

There's plenty of sites that'll give you the straightforward news and I don't think mgoblog has ever been that type of site. I can't say I've noticed too much of a change other than there's more content overall maybe that's why you're feeling that way.

BraveWolverine730

February 24th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^

While I think it's kind of a dick move to put it how you put it (immediately after a front page post criticizing a specific poster), I do get your point. I think the lack of content has a lot to do with how boring and stable the teams are respectfully. 



As huge as a Big Ten Title race is, it's not nearly as nerve racking and content producing as a bubble team (and I am 100% ok with that). Similarly we spent the offseason of 2009 debating whether to keep RR and the 2010/2011 olfseasons on how/if we could use Denard effectively.  There's not the same divisive topics available this offseason. We pretty much all agree Mattison is awesome and how good we think Devin will be is a matter of degree (I think he'll be honorable mention all-Big Ten, but to each his own).

 

CRex

February 24th, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^

The ugly thing lurking under the rock is that we've never really replaced TomVH and Tim.  Ace has grown into more of a basketball guy and tends just to post recruiting summaries of content that have already appeared on the board or Twitter.  Useful if you don't F5 the board every 15 minutes, but a bit of a let down from the glory days of TomVH predicting the future.  These days Sam Webb's Twitter is the sole free way to gaze into the future.  

As for the rest of the content, I figure this year's football content suffers slightly because it lacks the luster of last year's content about a team that went 11-2 and won a BCS bowl.  If you go into the article feeling a bit down after a loss, it is harder to be impressed by it.  Some of 2008 and 2009 work suffered from the the dark cloud over the program.  There were some real gems there as suffering breeds artistic genius, but also so dark times.  

As for a specific callout against Seth it seems over the top. Seth is Seth and you know what you get when you read him.  No one says you have to like it, but it isn't like he randomly posts goatse after the jump to burn you.  His style is consistent and he has his established roles.  Just scroll on past like how you flip past Sharp and Rosenburg columns in print media.  If Seth suddenly was put in charge of UFRs and did them all parody style, I could see going for the torch and pitchfork style thing, but not over this.  If anything has changed it seems that now MGoBlog will get up filler content quickly, be it a barebones profile or humor to convey the news and then post serious info later.  As in over the weekend the fun posts goes up, come Monday we see a post on what this means, who we can hire to replace him, etc.  

(I'm kidding, no one reads newspapers anymore.)

CRex

February 24th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^

I just tend to lump it as the Tom and Tim recruiting era, even though TomVH was really the keystone of it.  I liked Tim since we was able to get film on some of the lower star guys that weren't as well scouted and had out their own highlights.  

What really made this blog for me though was the recruiting coverage coupled with the Brian UFRs and explanations of RR's offensive and the 3-3-5.  The former is definitely missed.  

M-Wolverine

February 24th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^

All the writers may not be my best buddies if we hung out, but I think they're all pretty good dudes. Tim went out of his way to be a dick too often. Someone would ask an innocent question and he'd be all up in their face.

I miss the guys who have come and gone*, but Tim, not so much.

*Heiko trying to take time to be a doctor and stuff has hurt the variety of front page content too.

TIMMMAAY

February 24th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^

I'd have to agree. I couldn't read his press conference "transcripts" at all, they were just (bad) summaries of the conferences, lazily written and lifeless. TVH was the real blow.

If I had to identify a weak link now, it'd probably be Seth. No offense to him, he seems like a very nice guy. His style is just too over the top most of the time, I generally either skim or skip his front page stuff. I read all of his comments, and think he's a valuable contributor, just don't like his writing style.

goldenmug8

February 24th, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^

I agree to some extent, and I think the problem could be solved with some site page that describes all these inside jokes and unique word usuage. I've been reading for some 3+ years and I still have trouble understanding some of the things on the site

LB

February 24th, 2013 at 7:55 PM ^

but I do seem to recall that the style was one of the things that drove me to click enough to remember the URL back before Chromium opened with a tab for MGoBlog.

ThWard

February 24th, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^

Informative?  Yes, always.

 

Straightforward?  Um, no.  Not ever. Not even close.

 

Some like Brian's style, some don't.  Some like the other contributors' individual style, some don't.  I'm in the former category on both, but y'all can choose to read or ignore any of the blog's contributors if you like.  

 

But shit, man, if it's your personal style to complain about specific writers who contribute content to a free blog, I don't know.  Seems dickish.  Whatever. 

ChopBlock

February 24th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^

From the ethics page on this site:

Clever nicknames will be kept to a minimum. I'll use something sporadically but I will not go into full TMQ mode. Cute nicknames just get annoying after a while.

I enjoy obscure references, nerdy senses of humor, and the rest. Howeva, I think MGoBlog has been drifting in the "TMQ" direction (as Brian dubbed it) for the past couple months. I'd say that referential analogies are a bit too common to be read without difficulty; your average person will have to either google it, or have a good chunk of the jokes go right over their heads. MGoBlog is becoming a little too difficult to read if you're not already familiar with MGoBlog, and even then it's tough.

Another thing I miss is "Brian's songs", as the MGoHoF puts it. I feel like the blog has become a little too pigeonholed; if it's not part of a regular feature (UV, Friday Recruitin, Mondays Posgame Column, Hokepoints [don't like the name change, but YMMV]), it generally doesn't make an appearance on the blog. Why can't people just write features on what they feel like from time to time? The out-of-the-ordinary posts are often the ones I'm most interested in.

That being said, all this is nitpicking on what is, in general, an excellent blog.

ChopBlock

February 24th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^

Yeah, I've never been particularly impressed with the Hoke pointing meme (distinct from Hokepoints, the former Michigan Museday column). That being said, repeated jokes don't really bother me, with a few exceptions (Kozan's vision quest; constant Kate Upton fawning).

Edit: For the love of all things holy, people, please stop negging the OP. You might not agree with the point, but the fact is that this is a good topic of discussion, as evidenced by the fact that there's been like 80 responses in an hour. Unless you want to prove the smartasses right who claim that we're all MGoLemmings, don't neg just because you're offended.

Also, please neg me for mentioning voting.

buddhafrog

February 24th, 2013 at 8:13 PM ^

I want to argue with you because your avatar looks inviting to argue with.

However, I agree 100% that  the writers should be beholden a little less to the standard recurring articles and be given a little more leway to write on topics/styles/interests that are truly their own.  That is how Brian became so successful and that is how any writer finds his/her true and most effective voice.

Freedom!

robbyt003

February 24th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^

If you just want to read dry sports content, go to mlive or the freep.  That is what makes this site different than them.  Plus it's not like you're paying anything for this, so I don't really understand why you're complaining?

Magnus

February 24th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^

I don't think people are complaining about the writing style in general.  It just seems that the attempts to be witty are now outnumbering the football/basketball/sports-related posts, or at least the ratio is getting closer and closer to 50/50.  Whereas Brian used to post news-worthy content frequently and then sprinkle in a funny post every once in awhile, now it seems that Brian posts funny things at the same rate but various other posters are attempting the same on a weekly basis.

It's definitely a change, and people are resistant to change.  If I discovered this blog today, I would be interested, but I don't know if I would latch on as much as I did several years ago.  But some people might be latching on more today than they would have back in 2006.  As I said above in the thread, different strokes for different folks.

tenerson

February 24th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^

I'm an ISU and UM fan. I'm a much bigger ISU fan in terms of how much I care. All of that said, I read this blogs main content much more than I read the largest ISU information site's main content. It's because this stuff is fun to read. When I read the ISU stuff, it's a re-hash of what espn or some other news site wrote about the game or what the local paper wrote about something. It's just very bland. The humor and other off the wall stuff is what I like about this place. 

Shop Smart Sho…

February 24th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^

I like reading Brian because he is Brian.  Seth comes off as trying to copy that style.  Sometimes it works really well.  Sometimes it misses really badly.  Sort of like an Eso Akunne jumper.  



Maybe it has become more noticeable because Heiko isn't around as much to break it up, and Ace can only post so much.  



I know the majority of us appreciate that these guys do this without forcing us to pay, but that doesn't mean that there isn't room for the users to given constructive criticism.  Otherwise it just turns into the Michigan version of TheBigLead.  Luckily it isn't like that, and I hope it stays that way.

I will admit to being annoyed that we don't get the season-ending UFR when we lose.  I know watching it has to suck, but it seems like it would be cathartic for a lot of us to get that stuff, and it would fill some of this downtime.

bdsisme

February 24th, 2013 at 8:13 PM ^

I've sat here for 10 minutes trying to nail down my opinion on this subject.  I don't know, man.  I'm still not sure if I agree with the OP, but there are some elements of truth.  For me, I feel like Brian is still Brian, but the subject matter this football offseason has been lacking.  Sure, the basketball team is doing well, but that means that most of the frontpage/UV stuff is talking about KenPom numbers, eFG %, and other basketball stats that lose their luster after they've been talked about after every game for 12 weeks.  Gifs are forced, the recruiting information is copy-pasted from other sites (or the board), and there are not enough free-form, personal, or unscripted columns (i.e. get out of the mold of UV, recruiting, hokepoints, dear diary, and game columns).  What I look forward to most are the 3 or 4 paragraphs of Brian's writings in the game columns that are heartfelt.  

Surely the site lost something big when TomVH left, but it wasn't like he was a great writer.  He simply had information that everyone coveted -- his posts were elementary but informative, and he had the type of charisma and humor that translated through his posts.  I feel like I could say much more, but out of respect for the site (that is free, by the way), I am ending my thoughts here for now.  If you really don't like the direction of the FP, you'll end up visiting the site less and you'll vote with your feet -- I don't know if this type of open dialogue is helpful or rude.

ChopBlock

February 24th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^

 

there are not enough free-form, personal, or unscripted columns (i.e. get out of the mold of UV, recruiting, hokepoints, dear diary, and game columns). What I look forward to most are the 3 or 4 paragraphs of Brian's writings in the game columns that are heartfelt.

I think this is the key. Don't get too corporate and inflexible, and you'll have my readership.

OHbornUMfan

February 24th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^

I miss a lot of the jokes; if I have a moment, I hit up the googles or click through a link to see to what the allusion is.  Allusion probably my favorite literary device; done well, enhanced meaning per word skyrockets.  

I'm getting older, though.  Not older as in "I used to be a freshman but now I'm a junior", older as in "there's a new funny movie coming out about a kid turning 21 that there is no way in hell I'm going to see because my wife won't want to watch it with me and I don't have even close to enough discretionary alone time to miss watching important sports for a college kid movie".  So there will be a lot of jokes in that movie that are funny, and there will be allusions to them, probably even on the front page, and I will miss the allusions.  Such is life.  

Long story somewhat shorter, I'm OK with missing a few inside jokes.  I won't be missing any front page content because of it.  

buddhafrog

February 24th, 2013 at 8:07 PM ^

My first reaction to the OP was that if he doesn't like it, stop reading and move along (as many have mentioned).

On the otherhand, I'm sure Brian & Co. would benefit from this type of info if it is shared by others.  It sounds like it is shared by more than I thought.

I love the witty writings and I always long for new front page content.  Still, I could see it either getting tiresome to some or a little unbalanced to new readers.  This type of quality, slightly-quirky writing is one of the things that does set MGo apart and I'm sure this style of Brian's is one of the reasons that MGo has become so successful.  I think the new contributers mostly follow that style well, yet in their own voice.

With this said, I don't think it would hurt for a little more "hard content", although I hadn't thought about this until reading this post.

I read every damn front page post.  The only ones I occassionally regret reading are the team previews (redundant info for me), the new Twitter-thing, and sometimes Dear Diary.

But it's like cocaine and I'm like Rick James.  I just can't stop myself from reading it all.

Thanks for all the front-page writers!

MGoStu

February 24th, 2013 at 8:21 PM ^

I enjoy the different writing styles and the inside jokes. I like the idea of being entertained while I get knowed up on UM sports. Boring and straight forward doesn't hold my attention any more. I'm getting old. I don't waste time on things I don't enjoy unless I'm getting paid.