Purch Acquires AnandTech, Dominates Tech Expert and Enthusiast Market

[StinkyPinky]

I think some of you guys are over reacting a bit.

Damn, Anand must be rich as hell. Plum job at Apple, sold the site.....good on him. Living the dream.

 

[soccerballtux]

It's our attention to AT that makes the purchase valuable. The forums are a part of that. The specter of sweeping changes must as an unappealing to them as it is to us.

maybe. The forums are a bit different from the AT readership. There are a lot there that don't come here. No?

 

[soccerballtux]

Eh, I'm in no rush to go anywhere; I'll just wait and see. If all the posters worth talking with start migrating somewhere else I'm sure I'll notice. ATOT has changed a lot since I joined, and it did it all on its own. Some of it's worse, some of it's better, but on the whole it's still decent.

I'm not/I will too, I just want to be aware of where else is good.

 

[bononos]

AT has been getting complaints about the slow pace of reviews in the pipeline. Is the cost of getting hardware for roundups and probably buying some quality time from some pros getting abit too much as was suggested in the reasons for the Purch purchase?

Yeah, I do have to agree with that. As much lip service that is given that things are going to stay the same, that is already exactly all it is, lip service. They have already changed things with the removal of dailytech feed/links.

It isn't a good start if you ask me, and certainly doesn't help the community feel good about the purchase. One of the reasons so many of us read Anandtech was the fact that the marketing and editorial were completely different entities with no power over the other. The ad sales for the site could not influence the reviews. As a result Anandtech had no problem at all calling out manufacturers and products that had blatant bad ideas and poor support, and the community that read Anandtech was what allowed the site to have the influence to force changes and fixes to occur on those products. No major manufacturer wanted to get called out in an article on Anandtech for screwing something up, and all tried extremely hard to work with the reviewers on this site to resolve any problem that cropped up because the reviews of this site were so influential to the internet audience.
........

I guess we have a lab rat in THW. How did the Purch (and previous bestofmedia) purchase affect THW in terms of quality of the editorials and reviews?
brief history blurb on the Purch website mentions the PII/PIII issues but iirc THW is now quite friendly with Intel, and gave Intel (or Nvidia) an edge in one review (or test) which became controversial, something to do with 'doctored' lab results.

 

[Jaskalas]

I like to hear from people who know where the bodies are buried and the landmines are strewn.

Just that Politics and News gets a little raw sometimes. I figure that'll make the legal department nervous.

 

[gevorg]

:twisted:

 

[zinfamous]

Sorry, I'm not one of you nerds who obediently follow around a female forum member wagging your tail and asking her how high when she says "Jump!"

nor do I. But she was a generally well-respected member around here, even among some of those that had their differences. Sorry you didn't like her, apparently, but whatever.

GA and Gayner (or Gaynor, however you spell it; what happened to him?) were great for lulz.

GA was banned with Mosh due to the same incident of downloading the golden mod list...when all that happened. Gaynor...eh, he was more often an ass than not, and I seem to recall him being banned over some particularly assholeish thread. don't recall the details, though.

Nick1985, WYD, and MoTF Bane should be unbanned however, along with those other guys.

I think Nick was banned for supporting mosh and/or colluding with the download...or so the official story went. I think the same is true with WYD and MoTF Bane. At least, I recall all of them being a part of "The Great Banning" in some way.

 

[Printer Bandit]

GodlessAstronomer found God?

 

[SlickSnake]

So, was I the only one here who saw this situation coming on like a speeding freight train after Anand left?

Just wait until they decide to "update" the forums with new rules, mods and forum areas; purge and delete all the officially unacceptable, rude posts and unwanted forum areas; and change how ads are displayed to increase ad revenue.

Because money talks a lot louder than any BSing lifer's posts here can.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36764828&postcount=229

So if the website is no longer updated at some point, will the website and forums stay up and accessible, if only in archived form? Or will the website and forums all just be ancient history? Or would the forums split off and become a separate entity?

 

[Printer Bandit]

The Pardoning™....please make it happen Purch.

 

[Thebobo]

Just that Politics and News gets a little raw sometimes. I figure that'll make the legal department nervous.

Kitchen

Stove

Heat

Stay

Out

 

[tential]

So, was I the only one here who saw this situation coming on like a speeding freight train after Anand left?

Just wait until they decide to "update" the forums with new rules, mods and forum areas; purge and delete all the officially unacceptable, rude posts and unwanted forum areas; and change how ads are displayed to increase ad revenue.

Because money talks a lot louder than any BSing lifer's posts here can.

I just went to Tom's to get a feel of how the new forum will look....

Before this place dies off, what are some other good forums I can look at? I've only really looked here since 2003.

 

[boomerang]

I like to hear from people who know where the bodies are buried and the landmines are strewn. Could you PM me with some examples and areas of concern?

If you truly want that, you're going to have to give some assurances of immunity.

 

[T9D]

https://chaturbate.com/female-cams/

 

[brianmanahan]

how many people do you think will be banned before this thread gets locked?

my guess... 3.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

So, was I the only one here who saw this situation coming on like a speeding freight train after Anand left?

Of course not -- anyone with 3 brain cells knew when he left that this place was going to be sold despite any assurances to the contrary. He would've been insane NOT to sell it IMO.

 

[AdamK47]

That's a rather dire prognostication!

Communities and the preservation and growth of communities are sacrosanct to me. I'm not here to smooth things over, I'm here to tell you how it is. There's no "inevitable monetization", no strangle and no slow death and destruction for this community. Though, if there's no level of reassurance I can offer along those lines that will sate you, can I at least ask you to hang out for a bit longer and see what does take place? Every community needs a Prophet of Doom to cozy the place up with added character, and the contrarian in me wants the opportunity to prove you quite wrong.

Nope, it's not working.

More and more ads will slowly roll in, we'll start seeing sponsored threads / sub forums, and eventually posters with corporate ties promoting products (more so than we do now and with moderator immunity).

It will all happen... and more. These forums will be tailored for monetization.

 

[michal1980]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

well it was nice knowing anandtech.

The new owners are shoveling out the same crap every new owner does: nothing will change, this is for the better, will gain acess to resources.

But its about the money, so click bait spam articles will be all over the place.

It also explains why anandtech forums so quickly gave up to the phoney google pressure over the youtube downloaders. Cant rock the boat for the new overloads.

Another tech site bites the dust.

Anandtech will no longer call anyone out in its reviews and articles, because ad dollars might be at stake.

I'm sure the new master will deny. But I wish for once one of these buyers would just comeout and be honest.

 

[michal1980]

what happen to Dailytech links on Anandtech front page?

new boss doesn't want to pay.

 

[boozzer]

hmm, there is nothing wrong with wait and see. I will take the advice of 1 year grace period before forming any opinions. 970 review article was strike 1. 2 more like that I am gone. I have been a lurker since year 2004, just recently started to post. would be a total shame to see a website that has decided all of my hardware purchases since 2004 to go to @#$%.

 

[SlickSnake]

Why would this be a sign that the site is going downhill? Is it common for companies like Purch to say they aren't going to change anything, and then change a bunch of stuff anyway?

 

[lxskllr]

I'm not sure I've ever read an Anandtech review. I like hearing what real people from the field are finding, trolls and all. You get a better feel for what a product is really like. As long as the forums stay intact, I couldn't care less about the sale.

 

[SlickSnake]

Will be curious to see how many new account registrations we get over the next week or so.

Too bad you can't also track how many people may want to delete their accounts, too, since users can't actually delete an account.

 

[AdamK47]

http://purch.com/about/

Purch is a rapidly growing, constantly evolving digital content and services company that helps millions of people make smarter purchases. We bring together 350 employees from around the globe who share a commitment to serve our customers with integrity, collaborate to deliver better results, and shape the future of digital publishing.

http://purch.com/advertise/#brands

Our renowned brands offer content designed to educate, inspire, and trigger buying decisions across an array of tech-related product and service categories.

RIP AnandTech.

 

[tential]

I'm not sure I've ever read an Anandtech review. I like hearing what real people from the field are finding, trolls and all. You get a better feel for what a product is really like. As long as the forums stay intact, I couldn't care less about the sale.

That's quite sad considering a lot of them were good reviews (some a little biased, especially apple ones, but still good information).