SweetSpot
Neyer has broken the chains of ESPN’s generic blogging protocols and has launched “SweetSpot,” complete with new URL, easier hyperlinking and greater all-around bloggy functionality. Things should stay pretty much the same content-wise — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — but word on the street has it that he’ll have something less than what he’s previously had in terms of editorial oversight, which really pretty damn critical to blogging, I’ve found. Time will tell if that’s a good idea from ESPN’s perspective, but it’s not like Neyer is the kind of guy who’s gonna get a company sued or anything.
Or maybe that’s just what he wants us to think . . .
Now, if they only let Simmons have this freedom, he might be worth reading again.
His page just disappeared from the MLB home page and his RSS feed stopped updating. Was ESPN planning on telling anyone that he’d moved? How the hell was I supposed to find this. Their new site redesign is terrible. I am further convinced that ESPN just does whatever the hell it wants because it can. Sheesh.
You missed the best part! The RSS feeds are full article’s now! That is awesome. The need for clicking through is why I didn’t give you and Gleeman’s (I already ready you guys while I haven’t heard of the other guy so sorry for leaving him out) new blog a chance. There is a lot of clicking through needed for that one. There is a LOT of content out on the interwebs and full RSS feeds allow me to see a lot of it while still being gainfully employed. Good for Rob and ESPN.
ESPN.com is incredibly frustrating. Just a few of the criticisms:
1. Just link all of the damn blogs the same way all the damn time. For the longest time, nobody outside of meadowparty readers could’ve known Keith’s draft blog even existed. Hell, I knew it existed and I couldn’t even find it!
2. The search function is terrible. Completely and utterly useless, even if you know exactly what you’re looking for. Might as well go to Google.
3. Half the time, they don’t bother linking to chats. Do people who don’t go to meadowparty even know that KLaw does chats?