What is up with Kotaku?

iambeaker

iambeaker

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I just woke up from a nap (hockey will do that to you), and check out Kotaku for any updates, and I see this article: http://kotaku.com/5577227/this-is-kotaku

I know many of the Gawker blogs place an article similar to this when a blog is featured on a major network (i.e. The Today Show) or when the blog is being sold (i.e. Consumerist).

I read the comments, and I read a lot about commentors being banned or disem-voweled.

Does anybody have the story behind the story?
 
Man, the amount of ass kissing in those comments is disgusting. Kotaku is very sensitive so any negative spin on them is not acceptable.
 
That post is their response to the Game Journalists Are Incompetent fuckwits blog that criticizes sites that post stupid articles or gets information completely wrong and Kotaku accounts for probably 60% of the blog's content. And probably 60% of the Kotaku posts are about the bullshit that Brian Ashcraft posts since nobody else on their staff wants to tell him not to post about some guy in Japan that used Twitter to get a new roll of toilet paper to his bathroom stall.
 
[quote name='iambeaker']I just woke up from a nap (hockey will do that to you), and check out Kotaku for any updates, and I see this article: http://kotaku.com/5577227/this-is-kotaku

I know many of the Gawker blogs place an article similar to this when a blog is featured on a major network (i.e. The Today Show) or when the blog is being sold (i.e. Consumerist).

I read the comments, and I read a lot about commentors being banned or disem-voweled.

Does anybody have the story behind the story?[/QUOTE]

From what I gathered, one of the most well respected posters on the site, DeanB, used that post to provide a list of helpful suggestions and advice on how to make the site better. He wasn't trolling, he wasn't saying anything negative, just offered tips... similar to how some do for, say, CAG.

Crecente not only destarred him, but outright banned him... then they started devoweling everyone who had anything negative to say.

I stopped posting at Kotaku the day they changed to that stupid "only people with stars are important" criteria and have watched it go downhill ever since.
 
I feel like every day they post more and more shit just to update. Do people just sit there all day and hit reload?

I'd rather get my info from Joystiq.
 
I still have 700+ unread posts on Kotaku and usually will have up to 15 unread on Joystiq (via GoggleReader). Kotaku just likes to pile on the crap, thinking quanity > quality.

I should unsubscribe... Also, at E3 I said a simple thing to Crecente, "Hey whats up Crecente!" and all he said without looking at me was, "yea." Douchie!
 
[quote name='seanr1221']I feel like every day they post more and more shit just to update. Do people just sit there all day and hit reload?

I'd rather get my info from Joystiq.[/QUOTE]


Well in their favor they do post some unique and interesting stuff here and there, but really I stopped visiting as much when alot of things turned into veiled advertisements, or see them put up like 4,954 posts about the guys chest from prince of persia movie.

I skip over alot of it since most of the junk comes from ashcraft posting about his baby sitting next to a ps3 controller, or him showing a pic of his dinner from some japanese restaraunt he went to.
 
[quote name='animalspinners']
I stopped posting at Kotaku the day they changed to that stupid "only people with stars are important" criteria and have watched it go downhill ever since.[/QUOTE]


Not that I posted there, but I noticed a serious decline in community since then as well.
 
I love joystiq. I'm sure he's a nice guy but whoever that cat in japan is on kotaku that always posts the statues of 12 year olds in their underwear needs to be fired.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']That post is their response to the Game Journalists Are Incompetent fuckwits blog that criticizes sites that post stupid articles or gets information completely wrong and Kotaku accounts for probably 60% of the blog's content. And probably 60% of the Kotaku posts are about the bullshit that Brian Ashcraft posts since nobody else on their staff wants to tell him not to post about some guy in Japan that used Twitter to get a new roll of toilet paper to his bathroom stall.[/QUOTE]
Speaking of GJAIF and Kotaku, they recently linked to Something Awful's Kotaku parody. Damn good and highly accurate, as SA parodies typically are.
 
What is this "starring" thing everyone keeps on talking about? Does it have something to do with every Kotaku poster posting something they think is funny that they obviously thought over for about five minutes?
 
Glad to see I am not alone in questioning the journalistic integrity of kotaku. There is no news coverage, the site seems to have become a group Twitter account.
 
[quote name='strayfoxx']What is this "starring" thing everyone keeps on talking about? Does it have something to do with every Kotaku poster posting something they think is funny that they obviously thought over for about five minutes?[/QUOTE]
If you make a great comment about how awesome that editor is, they'll give you a star so your comments are more easily seen by others. If you stop kissing ass, Brian Crecente swoops down from the rafters to take your star and maybe even ban you for not following the code of the star. Pointing out the crazy shit that Ashcraft writes about is probably the most severe offense you could commit on Kotaku.

Stephen Totillo's probably the only decent writer on Kotaku and even he writes articles that only have the picture of a game disc he got early.

http://gamejournos.tumblr.com/post/774340985/its-amazing-to-see-how-personally-the-editors

This is the best post about Ashcraft on GJAIF.
 
What do you expect from Brian "I just douched this morning with Vagisil" Crecente? The guy's an a-hole, simply put.
 
The only reason I post and read Kotaku over Joystiq is that I don't want to check my email to have my comment show up. If Joystiq ever got rid of that, I might actually read them.

I guess I picked a good day to beat RE 4 for the first time and not be on Kotaku.
 
Yea I got banned from Kotaku for saying their Best of E3 list was created by a group of dumbasses. And I rarely talk on there...


[quote name='MSUHitman']The only reason I post and read Kotaku over Joystiq is that I don't want to check my email to have my comment show up. If Joystiq ever got rid of that, I might actually read them.

I guess I picked a good day to beat RE 4 for the first time and not be on Kotaku.[/QUOTE]

They changed that a long time ago. Now you don't even have to log in every time to post.
 
Brian Douchente is a clown. I hope Kotaku keeps on burning. The whole site is God awful.
 
I think they're having some type of issue (or are they doing this on purpose) with the commenting system today. I can't stay logged in and I can't promote comments. I'm still a star commenter as I didn't touch the site/flame thread yesterday and when I have been able to login I see my star but everything being jacked up does leave one to question the timing.
 
Wow, I guess I just didn't pay much attention to the comments on Kotaku, or about people getting banned. I've never registered or posted anything on Kotaku; now I'm glad I never have.

That GJAIF site is kind of creepy too (even though a lot of the stuff is true). It seems to me it's one person who has a beef with the rest of the bloggers and wants to get back at them.

This is why I never put too much stock into reviews from these blogs. At the end of the day, they are no more qualified to rate a game than anyone else. The reviews are never objective; a lot of times they're hung up on some feature they thought should be there that wasn't, or it was too similar to the last game or some other game. As a result, a lot of good games get really low scores, which wouldn't be bad except for the fact that sites like metacritic lend them credibility by including their scores in the calculation of their aggregate score.
 
I never understood the draw of Kotaku. Would much rather get my news from other places (such as Joystiq), and sites like Giant Bomb blow it out of the water as far as content and reviews go.
 
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More like, slowtaku, amirite? j/j

I do agree that there is a fair amount of fodder there, but the commenters are for the most part intelligent individuals and I don't have to deal with a bunch of lame, obvious troll posts.

For that stuff I go to Joystiq. I generally enjoy the puns and tongue-in-cheek humor by both the writers and posters there. They're usually a bit quicker with breaking their news as well.

I rarely go to gamefaqs & neogaf now though. There's too much negativity and stupidity that runs rampant there. Maybe I'm just getting too old for that kind of stuff and am not, "with it". =P
 
I post on Kotaku and they are definitely liberal with use of the banhammer and disemvoweling. Over there disagreement is not tolerated.

I used to have a star but lost it months ago. Not sure why. Then again I don't care. The last time I had a gold star next to my name was when I behaved in the fourth grade. And even then I thought it was juvenile.

Some of the regular posters on there are intelligent and funny though, which is why I continue to read the blog more for the comments than the content.
 
Didn't realize there was a whole thing going on with Kotaku... in all fairness though that other site isn't exactly earning a sympathy card.

I went through a 4 month or so phase about 2 years ago where I would visit Kotaku reguarly, although I haven't been back since. I'm not a big fan of comment sections so I would always have a laugh over how often people would get the banhammer there, but I can perhaps see how that's annoying to others. Like nearly all blogs, I eventually started to get frustrated with their articles and just sort of gave up and stuck with IGN. I don't mind a little humor or critcism and everything, but many bloggers lose focus or get egos too easily and turn their articles into stand-up routines, crusades, etc.. If mods can be annoying, bloggers can be unredeemable.
 
I had no idea there was an issue w/ Kotaku. I just go for the news and I like that they post some unique/random stuff. I also like that they post news more frequently than other sites.

then again, i don't post there.
 
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