Yesterday Gawker Prime rolled out the latest in a never ending effort reinvent itself. All sites get redesigns otherwise they would become stale and outdated. Gawker takes special pride in doing new and risky things with their designs. Let’s climb in the Wayback Machine and look at the different incarnations of Gawker throughout the years. Continue reading
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26 posts
Jezzies. You love them. Their razor-sharp wit, their entirely excessive use of all permutations of the phrase “clutching my pearls,” their lentils or whatever. The articles might be the stars of the site, but the commenters are the mellifluous Greek chorus. Specifically the one in Electra.
The most innocuous part of Jezebel, the Dirtbag, was the site of the most Jezebellian comment thread ever yesterday. Continue reading
Today Gawker did away with the special star-flake system and announced a new automated system that will judge each comment and thread with fancy computer code. Let’s take a look at the rules to determine what they imply and how to game the system. Continue reading
In a brief post on the front page of Gawker this afternoon, it was announced that Brian Moylan is leaving Gawker Media. The post was short and did not give a reason for the separation or outline Moylan’s future plans. The announcement was followed by praise for Moylan from some of the other members of the Gawker staff but management was noticeably absent, whereas with Richard Lawson’s goodbye post Remy Stern had a few nice words. Continue reading
In the interests of helping the ever-evolving English language keep pace with the technological revolution — and with apologies to Germans everywhere — I offer this humble addition to our collective vocabulary.
Moylanfreude (noun)
The slightly shameful enjoyment derived from watching a once-great internet destination painfully and gracelessly tumble down a seemingly-infinite flight of stairs, precipitated, in no small part directly by, but certainly (via an internal company culture dedicated to many parallel and unfortunate characteristics*) encapsulated within, a particular writer who, for reasons upon which I decline to speculate, remains oust-proof in an organization demonstrably dedicated to a philosophy of near-recreational and self-destructive oustiness that verges on the whimsical.
We can all pretty much agree that Brian Williams is probably the most farking awesome newscaster ever in life. Not only is he cut from the anchorman wool that dates back to the beginning of television time, but he’s also a jokester, a prankster, and a quick-witted smart guy who’s just as adept discussing the current events of the day as he is sitting on a couch trading barbs with Jon Stewart. So it’s not a huge surprise that he’s a fan of Gawker.com.
That being said, when Brian wants to offer a little constructive criticism, be prepared for things to get hilarious. Continue reading
Nick Denton appeared at Ad Age’s Media Evolved conference on Tuesday in what appears to be an effort to prove he hasn’t changed when it comes to how much he disdains the “fanatical but ill-informed commenters” who populate his media empire. Continue reading
Remember former Gawkerer Doree Shafrir? She has an essay in Slate this week about her (and my own) generation: the cohort born during the Carter presidency who are now 30 to 34.
We identify with some of Gen X’s cynicism and suspicion of authority—watching Pee-Wee Herman proclaim, “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel,” will do that to a kid—but we were too young to claim Singles and Reality Bites and Slacker as our own (though that didn’t stop me from buying the soundtracks). And, while the proud alienation of the Gen X worldview doesn’t totally sit right, we certainly don’t yearn for the Organization Man-like conformity that the Millennials seem to crave.
Your pets. They have names. If yours do not, name them immediately, because it’s really demoralizing not to have one. There’s a lot of armchair analysis of what your pets’ names say about you out there; in fact, Jezebel had an article on this topic just a couple days ago.
It made me think: Who are you to speculate on what pets’ names mean? Being “an unmarried lady who is heading full steam ahead toward age 30” as our intrepid Jez author is, doesn’t convince me of your bona fides. More to the point, the article itself really cemented my snap judgement of said qualifications.
The USDA may have replaced the venerable Food Pyramid with the new Round Plate of Nutritional Greatness, but as the Egyptians have always known, that doesn’t mean pyramids have gone entirely out of style. Continue reading