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When did AV Club go to the dogs?

Started by Hello! Replies Hidden, September 06, 2017, 06:44:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
They had the best formatted and designed site and now it's a Kotaku / Gawker wordpress template.

So much dead space on the screen and you can't find anything without backing out any using Google.

kngen

It was last week I think, but in a general sense when they got rid of Nathan Rabin - My World of Flops was a monthly treat for me, which they would have on their front page for about a millisecond, and then sacked him for not getting enough hits. He's got his own page now - https://www.nathanrabin.com/ - which means every day is like Christmas for me. So I give him five bucks a month. That's how much I value Christmas - 17 cents.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Hello! Replies Hidden on September 06, 2017, 06:44:44 PM
They had the best formatted and designed site and now it's a Kotaku / Gawker wordpress template.

So much dead space on the screen and you can't find anything without backing out any using Google.

There's another thread about this somewhere, but yeah, it's depressingly shit, and most of the community have moved elsewhere so the comments section are often bleakly quiet. A couple of people have written chrome add-on's to improve things a bit (one which brings back the reviews menu to the front page) but they're still a bit messy and it's an arse to go through.

phantom_power

It is so bad that on the Reviews page you can't even tell what thing is being reviewed from the links. Film? Album? Book?

Enzo

Jesus, it looks like a cheap wordpress style.

newbridge

Bahahaha. I assumed you all were overreacting, but it really is comically inept.

When all the good writers left and were replaced with bloggers who are focused on identity politics.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Carpool Dragon on September 07, 2017, 06:39:33 PM
When all the good writers left and were replaced with bloggers who are focused on identity politics.

There's still some really good stuff on there (Will Harris's Random Roles, the Twin Peaks recaps and articles, a recent interview with a journeyman tv director) but it's hidden amongst all the Great Job Internet! and snarky newswires about Trump and so unless you check the site out at least once a day you miss out on most of it.

kidsick5000

It feels like bumping into a friend and finding out they're going out with someone new, even though last week they seemed incredibly happy their other half.
But now, midlife crisis style, they've had a makeover and look faintly ridiculous because of it.
Probably won't be hanging out together any more.

Thursday

I mean the design isn't the writers fault, and I still enjoyed reading their recaps for Twin Peaks and Game of Thrones, and I use it sporadically anyway, so it's still easy enough to find what I'm interested in.

But it is bizarre some men have taken it over and decided it has to be redesigned this way to have this kind of shared uniform design even though it doesn't actually appeal to anyone.

hewantstolurkatad

Quote from: Thursday on September 07, 2017, 08:45:59 PM
But it is bizarre some men have taken it over and decided it has to be redesigned this way to have this kind of shared uniform design even though it doesn't actually appeal to anyone.
It appeals to Facebook driven traffic. Before I unliked the AV Club a few days ago I found myself on the site a few times through facebook and the blurring of the lines between outlets meant it was really easy to find yourself on Gizmodo or Deadspin without realising.

Had the counter effect for me of noticing that the AV Club's articles have became so vapid (have they any noteworthy writers at all anymore?) and like literally dozens of other major sites that that it's just not worth following anymore.

Small Man Big Horse

Someone's created "Kinjigger" which makes the site look better - https://gist.github.com/0x263b/5407bd4cb97bc5c653bad2d58b4a7f7e#gistcomment-2185844 - it's not a huge difference but I like it, and I think the site has put up a fair few interesting articles recently so I still plan to visit it a lot. On the downside the comments section is now largely extremely weak as most of the regulars have left, which is a real shame as it was one of the reasons I went there.

kngen

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 14, 2017, 02:15:04 PM
On the downside the comments section is now largely extremely weak as most of the regulars have left, which is a real shame as it was one of the reasons I went there.

Yeah, like CAB, it was a rarity in that the funny and thoughtful people seemed to be in the majority, and some of the running jokes could be very amusing.

Stoneage Dinosaurs


Straight Faced Customer

Just bumping this thread to call time on the AV Club. Maybe it's the misfortune of having been rebooted during this post-Weinstein cavalcade, but it's certainly lost a lot of its charm. The fact the comments section now reads like a Jezebel offshoot is one reason; if people really want that, then they could just stick to reading Jezebel instead.

I think the final straw for me was a recent front page where they had a humourless headline casting scorn on Larry David's SNL monologue, preceded by a clickbait piece on a Stranger Things actor being 'forced' into an on-screen kiss - pure bait, seeing as the gist of the story didn't actually match what had happened in the first place!

It's a pity really, especially when during the same period it's managed to throw up a really niche, really nice  and also really long article on Hong Kong cinema. Confusing times, tbh.

Small Man Big Horse

Couldn't agree more, the comments sections is depressing aggressive these days, and most of the old posters have left for the various spin off forums, whilst the articles are of a much lesser quality. There's still the occasional decent Random Roles and tv show or film review, but that's about it.

Glebe

QuoteWhen did AV Club go to the dogs?

When they fancied a flutter?

Repeater

Disagree about your point on Stranger Things, personally find the whole thing disgusting and aye, she was forced into kissing a collegue on screen.

Artemis

As somebody working on a couple of sites at the moment, I'm curious - what do people think is wrong with the AV Club design? I'm not suggesting it's great, but I'm curious about what specifically you think is bad about it.

phantom_power

It is bland and homogeneous. It forces links down your throat rather than letting you find stuff for yourself. It has no identity. It is hard to navigate or find what you want. Each section looks the same so it is hard to tell where you are or if what you are looking for is in the right section.

Ant Farm Keyboard

They've switched to a mostly chronological presentation, while the previous layout kept the opinion pieces below the top, in a separate section. It coincided with added emphasis on these op eds about society issues, which, until then, had never been the center piece of the site – the reviews were. Now, the reviews are buried between a ton of generic outraged coverage of what's wrong in this world, and I also notice a dip in quality control, like a piece about a Steely Dan litigation naming "Donald Fagan" something like five times.

Also, one of the best things about the site was how they were ready to devote pieces and coverage to some show they loved, just because a few of the writers wanted to. It allowed me to discover Rectified, The Americans and a lot of stuff I wouldn't have watched otherwise. Now they just cater to the Zeitgeist, alternating fluff or pseudo-edgy pieces about Stranger Things.

phantom_power

They are really getting balls-deep in this post Weinstein fallout as well, though that is more a question of content than design

Famous Mortimer

I visited about a month ago to see if anyone was banging on about SNL (having hated their previous recaps due to the terribly unfunny running jokes their reviewer used)  and was rather surprised to see what it turned into. I remember the first big redesign a couple of years ago forced a bunch of people away...why do websites do this, though? How can they be so misguided about what will appeal to their readership?

rjd2

Not read it in ages,but how bad did a show have to be to get a bad review?

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: rjd2 on December 23, 2017, 11:42:10 PM
Not read it in ages,but how bad did a show have to be to get a bad review?
https://tv.avclub.com/the-following-whips-regret-1798176315

They had a few shows they kept around to be the whipping boys, but yes, you're absolutely right.

Z

Giving individual episodes ratings is a bit of a mugs game in fairness

Bhazor

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 07, 2017, 07:19:02 PM
There's still some really good stuff on there (Will Harris's Random Roles, the Twin Peaks recaps and articles)

I thought their new Twin Peaks reviews were atrocious. Lots of surface level fluff and vague totally off target attempts at "Ooh can I be the first person in the world to say Lynch loves showing rape". Their South Park reviews could get pretty bad too in particular the episode about drones where the reviewer was appalled and seemed to think Trey and Matt sided with Cartman.

Their classic South Park reviews were written by guy that seems to hate South Park. Smart.

kngen

The guy who does (or did) The Walking Dead reviews seemed to actively hate the entire concept of the programme - there was a lot to criticise about it, especially the last couple of series, but he would just keep mumping on and on about how hopeless the universe was, and its lack of optimism or humour - granted, you need a bit of light with the shade, but it's a fucking zombie apocalypse, FFS. Make your point once and move on.

Small Man Big Horse

John Teti's resigned - https://twitter.com/johnteti?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor - so maybe it will get better now! Or much much much much much worse!