purge at CyclingTips

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

Online cycling media is bloated and for the most part completely useless. Trimming the fat at this juncture was probably a good thing for all involved and hopefully there will be more cuts in the future. We're drowning in quantity with zero quality, I think these are mostly joke jobs - the mcdonald's fry cook of the media world.

Anyone who works in media or content creation and thinks they have a secure future has their head buried in the sand. In the modern economy there is zero reason to hitch your wagon to a giant corporation working with a broken advertising modern funded by perverse incentives - when self-funding is more accessible than any time in history.

If the "Nerd Alert" podcast or whatever is so awesome there should be no shortage of subscribers from patreon or substack or whichever. Build a better moustrap and don't cry when the giant unfeeling corporation doesn't want to sell it for you.

Imagine thinking a podcast needs corporate funding - in 2022!

Hard to believe there were layoffs with gold like this hitting the front page
https://cyclingtips.com/2022/11/i-do...e-about-today/

^ What happens when ignorance is shown.

- I don't think I have ever seen anyone refer to Rome or Caley as 'industry fat'.
- online cycling media is useless just like online media for most any hobby or sport is useless. There is no shortage of online media for everything. CT and Nerd Alert are entertaining and informative. Obviously not critical to the existence of mankind, but also not useless. Nerd Alert has pushed back hard on many current trends and has asked critical questions to those who have designed and market a lot of this tech during interviews.
Doesn't seem useless to me.
- podcasts weren't their only business. It was just part of the overall Cycling Tips platform. Your comments seem to suggest podcasting was everything.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

^ What happens when ignorance is shown.

- I don't think I have ever seen anyone refer to Rome or Caley as 'industry fat'.
- online cycling media is useless just like online media for most any hobby or sport is useless. There is no shortage of online media for everything. CT and Nerd Alert are entertaining and informative. Obviously not critical to the existence of mankind, but also not useless. Nerd Alert has pushed back hard on many current trends and has asked critical questions to those who have designed and market a lot of this tech during interviews.
Doesn't seem useless to me.
- podcasts weren't their only business. It was just part of the overall Cycling Tips platform. Your comments seem to suggest podcasting was everything.

High performers don't get shown the door. Just because you like something doesn't mean there's a business case for it to continue.

Buy in where these people go next, or contact them yourself and fund them directly. Working for a corporation in current year within the media and content generation space is asking for zero job security and poor ownership of [your] intellectual property.

[fa63]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

It's called Cycling Tips, not LiveJournal for C+ J-School Graduates.

That would be award winning journalist:

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/06/our-...cle-day-award/

Again, you clearly know nothing about CT and Iain Treloar. Do better next time.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

Online cycling media is bloated and for the most part completely useless. Trimming the fat at this juncture was probably a good thing for all involved and hopefully there will be more cuts in the future. We're drowning in quantity with zero quality, I think these are mostly joke jobs - the mcdonald's fry cook of the media world.

Anyone who works in media or content creation and thinks they have a secure future has their head buried in the sand. In the modern economy there is zero reason to hitch your wagon to a giant corporation working with a broken advertising modern funded by perverse incentives - when self-funding is more accessible than any time in history.

If the "Nerd Alert" podcast or whatever is so awesome there should be no shortage of subscribers from patreon or substack or whichever. Build a better moustrap and don't cry when the giant unfeeling corporation doesn't want to sell it for you.

Imagine thinking a podcast needs corporate funding - in 2022!

Hard to believe there were layoffs with gold like this hitting the front page
https://cyclingtips.com/2022/11/i-do...e-about-today/

You remind me of my old J School professor. Cantankerous and acerbic. Started off the class by saying “About two thirds of you will fail this class. And media will be much better off for it.”

Most of my classmates loathed him. Not me. I loved the dude. He was the embodiment of the hard living hard drinking ink stained wretch from the middle of last century. I got a kick out of him.

[mistermo]

Isn't The Radavist part of the Outside cabal? Over the last several months I've really grown to enjoy their site.

[misterha]

Originally Posted by mistermo

Isn't The Radavist part of the Outside cabal? Over the last several months I've really grown to enjoy their site.

No Proscloset is their business partners

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

You remind me of my old J School professor. Cantankerous and acerbic. Started off the class by saying “About two thirds of you will fail this class. And media will be much better off for it.”

Most of my classmates loathed him. Not me. I loved the dude. He was the embodiment of the hard living hard drinking ink stained wretch from the middle of last century. I got a kick out of him.

I read Spoon’s posts in Patches O’Hoolihan’s (Rip Torn) voice - they go down easier that way..

[misterha]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

High performers don't get shown the door. Just because you like something doesn't mean there's a business case for it to continue.

Buy in where these people go next, or contact them yourself and fund them directly. Working for a corporation in current year within the media and content generation space is asking for zero job security and poor ownership of [your] intellectual property.

Just for some context, Pinkbike bought cyclingtips and outside purchased pinkbike so CT was just in for the ride.

Also this tweet from Outside CEO allstaff email is pretty telling. Sounds like they were bleeding and throwing money into failed projects cough*NFTs*cough and trying to market "digital goods". Look at outsides nft market, its basically dead https://www.outside.io/

https://twitter.com/ari_schneider/st...86302914174976

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by glepore

I'm on the fence about cancelling, I abhor what occurred but still like those that remain, and until they go I'm conflicted.

The tone in James Huang’s IG story this AM doesn’t imply he expects to be there long..

IG sucks and it’s gone now, but it was something to the effect of his right arm being cut off.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by fa63

That would be award winning journalist:

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/06/our-...cle-day-award/

Again, you clearly know nothing about CT and Iain Treloar. Do better next time.

Embarrassing. Better to have won nothing at all than whatever that "award" is supposed to be.

Lots of gnashing of teeth in this thread, not a lot of stepping up to support the creators you guys seem to love. So it goes, as it's always gone.

If James Huang leaves and goes self-funded I'll be first in line to support him with cash, and not just kind words online. "Do better" indeed.

[trener1]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

Lots of gnashing of teeth in this thread, not a lot of stepping up to support the creators you guys seem to love. So it goes, as it's always gone.

I am not sure that this is the case, I and I am sure many others on this board joined CT as paying members exactly because we like and appreciate what they were doing over there, doing ACTUAL cycling journalism both on the website and the podcast.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

High performers don't get shown the door. Just because you like something doesn't mean there's a business case for it to continue.

.

Looking at who they fired, it seemed like theyb kept a lot of Junior people and dumped a lot of senior people. It seems like they're understanding of the business was that most writers are interchangeable, so keep the cheapest ones.

It is up to us, as readers to determine whether or not they are correct. Personally, as current but not future CT subscriber, I went out of my way to read every Dave Rome article and avoid every Johnny Long article. Maybe I am an outlier and really the junior writers drove more traffic and subscriptions, but I am not convinced that is the case.

If we look at Senior Management at Outside, don't actually seem to be particularly good at what they do. They dumped a ton of money into NFTs which, I'm sure 95% of us would have thought was a bad idea at the time. They also pushed publications like velonews onto the "Outside Feed" which made absolutely no sense (go to velonews.com during the Tour de France and the top post is some lifestyle piece about yoga and you start to realize that they are running that publication into the ground).

The only savvy business move they ever made was to flagrantly violate The Clayton Act to eliminate a significant portion of their competition.

[openwheelracing]

Well they kept James Huang right? I don't expect him to be paid like a junior writer.

We technically don't know anything here, just because we like certain personality does not mean they were good for the company. There may be friction, and there may be disagreements with the direction of the company. Who knows. All I can do is wish them best of luck and hopefully I see them pop up soon cause they are certainly knowledgeable and entertaining.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by trener1

I am not sure that this is the case, I and I am sure many others on this joined CT as paying members exactly because we like and appreciate what they were doing over there, doing ACTUAL cycling journalism both on the website and the podcast.

Yep. I've been tithing to them for years..

[hobbanero]

I'll add to the chorus of disappointment. CT was the first cycling news site I paid for, because they had something approaching journalism in a landscape of industry PR mouthpieces.

I hope they get the band back together. Or perhaps join inrng and build that up.