I have this policy that whatever I want to say about something, I do it on my own space. However, seeing this recent post on E3 from Michael Carney, with the rather misleading title of everything I’ve missed about E3 on Day One (instead, go to the phenomenal coverage from The Verge for that) rubbed me in all sorts of the wrong way. And the more I thought about it, the more discontent I became. So hence, I commented as quoted below:
“So I just want to point out that when I come to Pandodaily to read something, I come here to look for a unique perspective on all things tech. And it’s exciting to see coverage of E3. While this might be saved for a later, longer post after E3 is done, it would be cool to see what you or others at PD think of how platforms are totally redefining the gaming space – see Xbox Smartglass, the Wii U, and the PS3+PS Vita combinations – which leverage the concept of asymmetric viewing/gaming, and are creating entirely new platforms for developers to invest in.
In particular, such is especially the case with Xbox Smartglass, which leverages the PC and entire phone ecosystem (supporting iOS and Android as well as Windows Phone) to bring this second screen. Not only that, it’s media syncing features seems to compete directly with Apple’s Airplay, and may take off more than Media Center ever did.
Or maybe commentary on game development for mobile – something you touched on yourself – and exploring why it hasn’t made a dent in E3 yet – maybe there are other outlets, or maybe it’s just that it’s on a slow rise, and looking towards the early movers who are present at the expo.
Or how about looking at something that @MrNash mentioned regarding the state of the expo as catering more towards investors vs consumers? If true, Is this going to be the oncoming trend? What inspired this trend? Where are some of those investors at the expo, because I had never even thought of investors being a presence, let alone a presence to be reckoned with, at E3.
I’d love to read about these sorts of insightful commentaries, rather than reading about colorful bean bag chair ball pits, food lines, booth babes, or how gamer stereotypes are reflected in reality – is that supposed to be snide, an insult even? “A vortex of specialness”? What does that mean? I mean, these are the people who, much like early tech adopters, are out there at conferences such as SXSW and whatnot to check out the newest stuff, and just as they shouldn’t be insulted, I think it’s a bit unfair to insult “gamers” and the cool gamer “engineers” in such an off-hand manner.
Anyways, not to beat a dead horse, but I hope PD comes back to its roots, looking towards insightful commentary on tech and all things related.”
Obviously the tone of the comment changes from start to end – I tried to be somewhat civil at first, but by the end I was so frustrated because it seems to be an ongoing trend with Pando in terms of editorial content. From what I’ve read, there is certainly good coverage going on, but it’s continually being buried by the crud. Or maybe it’s the disparaging nature of some of the posts, such as this one which I could not believe called out gamers as being in “a vortex of specialness” alongside gamers (what the fuck does that even mean anyways?).
My thoughts echo some recent writing by other authors much bigger than myself – that Pando simply doesn’t have a strong editorial direction. From my perspective, its lost sight of the “insightful commentary” portion which made the early days such a joy to read. Those hard earned scoops made PD worth refreshing every few hours to check for something exciting, and interviews with those inside the latest happenings made the reads all the more fascinating. Maybe because it played upon Sarah Lacy’s wonderful skills as an interviewer (and is a mark of how she earned the title “Sarahcuda”).
But recently, it seems like just a race for quantity, rather than quality. While allowing any and all posts to come through might have worked for TechCrunch way back when with its star team, it’s just not cutting it with PD for me as a reader. Less is exponentially more to me. And there doesn’t seem to be a cohesive direction with the coverage. One person doing a Google-only trial? One at E3? One covering incubators? And that in particular was coverage I genuinely looked forward to because it was unique and cutting edge and exciting, all the things that make PD special! (Not only that, but Greg was at the helm of it!)
Not only is it this quality vs quality debate, but things such as MG’s and Arrington’s dismissal, while not only unprofessional in its handling, brought so many questions that were not answered with the closing of the comment area for that story, which was so unlike what Sarah promised with full disclosure and frank discussion.
Such an occurence was disheartening, especially since it all just seemed like investor jealousy that the two were speaking at a TechCrunch event – if anything, having those two still on, even just as supporters of PD (which they at least were), would be better than the way this situation was ultimately handled.
But I digress.
I simply hope that PD pulls the team together and starts hacking out what the heck PD is all about. Because in my eyes, its lost its roots:
“We have one goal here at PandoDaily: to be the site of record for startup root systems and everything that springs up from them.”
Seems like on the way to accomplishing that, what made Pando special was uprooted in the quest for consumption.
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