Chicagoist: Friday Afternoon Diversion

goldenshfinkter

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:55:13 -0600

What happened to that lady is no joke. I was once beaten by a flacid plastic penis while I was visiting a boyfriend at his trailer park. I guess you can say I had penis on my mind for about 2 weeks.

Tankboy

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:49:07 -0600

We do care about what the community thinks, but that also includes taking notice of what works and what doesn't. We've seen traffic increase since we've broadened the depth of our coverage to include some pop culture stuff. At the same time we've been careful to make sure our Chicago-specific content is increasing as well. I think part of it has to do with perception. We went from putting up 8-10 posts a day to turning out over 20 posts a day. And we did that because the community made it clear they wanted us to put up more stuff. But we do care what everyone thinks, and really appreciate it when concerns are voiced as well as you just have. As for Thursday, that was a last minute thing put together by one of our new contributors, and I thought it was terrific that she instigated it. Unfortunately it was an evening that the majority of the staff had previous commitments. Actually, we usually have a monthly happy hour for the authors, and we actually canceled it last Thursday when we realized almost no writers would be able to attend. I'm sure we'll schedule a public happy hour or event soon and I can guarantee a bunch of us will be there since we enjoy meeting our readers in person!

plumbum82

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:59:30 -0600

My criticism comes not from a space of hate and malice. There is a lot of quality these days, and Chuck and Kevin are great. Not to say you're not, Tank, but I'm just not that huge a music guy, and I don't know what to make of your posts half the time. So that's on my end, not yours. But I'm beginning to lament not only the shift to non-Chicagocentric posts but the flippant dismissal of the wants/concerns/comments of the "community" as it were. Every time a poster gets defensive in their own posts, it feels like Eric Cartman shouting "Whateva, Whateva, I do what I want!" I admit I was a little pissy above, I just think sometimes the staff at large could care less what the peanut gallery thinks sometimes. And that makes me a sad clown. And a lot of that has to do with a fun night last night that could have been made much cooler by meeting ONE of you guys... So yeah, I'm pretty much being a little bitch.

Tankboy

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:33:01 -0600

Joc, we actually have MORE written posts than we used to, and the pictures and videos are just extra things we throw in for variety throughout the day.

smussy

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:25:39 -0600

i think there's something to be said for the fact that the number of 'awesome' link posts and picture posts have risen the last few months, and while i'm a sucker for a beautiful picture just like anyone, there's something missing from the site recently ... a bunch of posts from a bunch of different writers with a bunch of words. i'm not alone in these thoughts. there were similiar thoughts expressed last night at trivial pursuit. and it wasn't all rage and hate or anything. we love "the" chicagoist. that is, those of us who showed up (spook, matty ... i'm looking at you!!). :)

peteypants

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:49:33 -0600

true dat, plum. i guess these type of posts would be considered a diversion from a diversion then. does chicagoist not know their audience is mostly made of of people with nothing better to do at work except goof off,read this blog, and leave harassing comments.

annieF

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:45:28 -0600

Tankboy- no need to defend the FADs to plumwhateverinthehellcrawleduphisbum. I, for one, am grateful... I need those kind of stories at this point of the week. Gracias, Senor!

plumbum82

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:34:15 -0600

And here, I always thought the whole site was a bit of a "diversion" in and of itself.

peteypants

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:05:12 -0600

this link plays the story, but it's on ebaumsworld so the comments are quite possibly more annoying than those on chicagoist. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/202750

Tankboy

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:30:45 -0600

plumbum82, that's sort of why we call it a "diversion." And jnewfry, it's still there ... just taking forever to load. Let me see if I can find an alternate source.

UTV

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:28:16 -0600

Geez, Plumbum, talking smack like that, you're just begging to get smacked with a fake leg. Run! Run before I throw the ground beef!

jnewfry

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:15:51 -0600

ack. totally in the mood to be diverted, but this video is no longer available...

plumbum82

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:14:11 -0600

Random use of video as a substitute for real content? Check. Nothing to do with Chicago in the least? Check. Gratuitous use of the word "awesome"? Check. If you wanted to write the wikipedia entry for Chicagoist, this post should be front and center as a "typical posting".