the verge.com editor gets all kinds of butthurt and meltsdown on twitter

[Amol S.]

Hold up there is a account named butthurt on ANANDTECH!!!!!!!! Great I thought Craigslist forums had enough of that user now that user is here? lol, but that user will get banned here instantly if he does what he does on Craigslist forums.

 

[PokerGuy]

What a whiny little jerkwad. And a racist to boot.

 

[Anubis]

What's with all the love for that Josh guy? I never understood the fuss over him leaving Engadget and creating the Verge. I've always thought the latter was an eyesore and lacking in it's content and Engadget was nothing special either. And then he basically just became the polite nerd face for the weakass reporting blogging that took over tech.

Granted he was better than the assclowns that were all over Gawker's blogs (and sounds like the guy this thread is about fits right in with them).

I agree here. I remember the big thread when they left engadget and I was like Who? never heard of them before

and then they went on to make a site with what was at that time the worst layout I had ever seen

 

[CZroe]

He deserves all of this for a pretentiously designed review that made my laptop fan kick in from all the JavaScript shenanigans. I'm not talking about the video review. I'm talking about his "Wheeeee! Look what it does when you scroll!" written review.

 

[kaerflog]

I agree here. I remember the big thread when they left engadget and I was like Who? never heard of them before

and then they went on to make a site with what was a
t that time the worst layout I had ever seen

100%.
Oh god that is by far the worst website layout ever.

 

[poofyhairguy]

What's with all the love for that Josh guy? I never understood the fuss over him leaving Engadget and creating the Verge. I've always thought the latter was an eyesore and lacking in it's content and Engadget was nothing special either.

There was a time when it seemed like Mobile could be covered by a single non-partial site. That was back in the days of naïvety, when we thought that a human existed that could impartially compare an iOS and Android device.

Now a few years into Mobile we all realize that is a pipedream, and the platform specific sites will do a better job covering the platform you want to be on. If Anand can't do it, no one can.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Apple watch, lol.

He is stupid and immature just for reviewing this product to begin with.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm talking about his "Wheeeee! Look what it does when you scroll!" written review.

God that review was annoying (just from a layout POV).

 

[Born2bwire]

Man, he is really going for the Belushi look.

 

[Printer Bandit]

the review video is not bad. i especially liked the part where he was talking to the woman in the bar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noZAqbn92gM

 

[darkswordsman17]

The Verge had some good reviews and articles in the past, nothing too hardcore but in my experience there was usually something worth reading on the front page. Sometimes there still is.

But you can kinda tell how far downhill they've gone by how little other, more tech-oriented sources cite them now. I actually first discovered The Verge by hearing them cited on Security Now a couple of years ago, as well as other tech news outlets. I figured with so many people citing them they had something worth checking out. Now they've slipped into more pop-culture and less technology, and consequently no one of note in the tech world cites them anymore.

To me, at their best, the Verge's articles were about on par with ArsTechnica, which is to say, competent, but not spectacular in the least. Just like I don't read Ars for their reviews (basically just read them either as part of a bunch to get the consensus or to see if there's any noteworthy tidbits they might have now and then), the Verge never did that for me. (Actually now that I think about it, Ars is kinda becoming like the Verge, they've had some really awful posts, like an article that was just one of their writers going on about a time he had a half hour layover at an airport and some bar was playing 80s music and how much he hated the music; total WTF especially for Ars). They had maybe a few interesting articles that weren't reviews or previews or other silly nonsense, stuff that required actual research beyond trying to explain some tech as it was explained to them by a company. But even those often ended up being just fluff and compared to stuff that Wired, Ars, and some others regularly seem to write, it was no comparison.

I guess maybe I'm spoiled by how good Anand was, but I'm really disappointed with the state of tech writing these days. It is pathetic softball crap that when it's not just PR it's objectivity is basically some synthetic benchmarks (seriously WTF, why are benchmarks ruling testing so much now, especially after the blatant gaming of them that the industry was doing?). And, while I don't have the same disdain for the change as some people, even Anand did change a lot in the past several years. The only real problem is we simply don't have anyone else worthy of taking his place. Actually we've lost quite a few good sites that used to do solid reviews so now our only real source for that are forums and even those have become wonky and unreliable as they basically seem to be slowly shifting into pockets of weird obsessions or Reddit.

To me, Josh whatever his name is epitomizes this new soft journalism. He's the "geek" on Fallon, showing off some recent gadget. Now, that's not really bad and I don't mean to be hypercritical of him as he seems like an ok guy, but the problem is he seems to have set the tone for tech writers these days. Seems like the only real standouts are people who fancy themselves as the tech version of Jeremy Clarkson, basically ignorant assholes that both seem to bask in their ignorance and think that their opinions matter more than anything.

Actually that raises a good point, why is so much "reporting" now just linking some other blogs weakass article? That's become far too common as well.

I agree here. I remember the big thread when they left engadget and I was like Who? never heard of them before

and then they went on to make a site with what was at that time the worst layout I had ever seen

Yeah I remember that as well and people acted like Engadget was doomed when they'd basically always been just a glorified PR announcement site (which is why I went there, I just wanted to know what was coming out and simple information, I never gave their reviews much credit or cared about most of their other nonsense).

Yeah the Verge is just awful in layout and I can't believe how many other sites followed in their footsteps. People acted like it was going to be some incredible tech site to put all others to shame, when it was just another tech site and quickly became one of the weaker ones.

There was a time when it seemed like Mobile could be covered by a single non-partial site. That was back in the days of naïvety, when we thought that a human existed that could impartially compare an iOS and Android device.

Now a few years into Mobile we all realize that is a pipedream, and the platform specific sites will do a better job covering the platform you want to be on. If Anand can't do it, no one can.

Ok, I get that but what does that have to do with him? Was he like one of the few beacons in the dark that really tried to give all mobile platforms a chance? If so, kudos to him, and yeah it sucks that things just can't work out like that.

He seems to have this mythical aura about him but I can't figure out why? He seems like just a normal nice geek/nerd, which I have nothing against and I'm actually kinda glad someone like that could get a following in today's media world. Maybe that's just it? He's a nice guy who's reasonably competent and doesn't have any of the stereotypical nerdy/geeky personality issues associated with nerds/geeks?

 

[Geekbabe]

The milanese strap looks exactly like the Breitling metal strap, which is frankly gorgeous if you've seen it in person.

I trust their sense of style over tubby apple manchild there.

I have my eye on that Milanese strap, it looks stunning imho.

 

[Geekbabe]

There was a time when it seemed like Mobile could be covered by a single non-partial site. That was back in the days of naïvety, when we thought that a human existed that could impartially compare an iOS and Android device.

Now a few years into Mobile we all realize that is a pipedream, and the platform specific sites will do a better job covering the platform you want to be on. If Anand can't do it, no one can.

Not sure I agree with this. I think a good reviewer can point out the good and not so good points of a phone regardless of which device they use as their daily driver. I've test driven a lot of phones and they all pretty much get better and better. The secret is to remember that your personal preference may not be one that your readers share so you give them info they need and if you have a bias you disclose it openly.

 

[Blanky]

Two main points:

1) If reviewing object X don't have object Y more prevalent throughout much of the review

2) Much bigger lesson: Don't EVER say anything angry on twitter without vetting it with at least one trusted person. Holy shit, what a terrible bunch of tweets that are now stuck with him forever. Proper response here was to take the old man's ribbing and run with it. He could have turned it into a joke to benefit him; something he'd be known for. Instead it's the source of his twitter explosion.

BTW I'd never heard of him before.

 

[Jodell88]

2) Much bigger lesson: Don't EVER say anything on twitter

ftfy.