The Clement Jodoin piece will be pretty nice, I hope you guys like it.
On the A.Kost situation I interviewed Slava Kozlov a while back and I think it brings fantastic insight in the mentality of some of the new eastern block players.
We talked about guys like Radulov, Stanislav Chistov, Kovalev and a few other guys, it was fascinating on a mentality standpoint.
much, MUCH better articles (both the Bust and Cory articles).
Were a nice read.
+1 to this, I really really enjoyedthem. I know you can't do an interview everyday but it would be cool on a regular basis.
Like one of the other posters, I was really impressed with Corey's attitude. Good to see him make the most of it for himself in Germany. More features about life overseas for Canadians would be cool.
But I'm sure most articles will be insightful given your contributors.
You've now entered a different arena. You're not posting replies on some random site. You are now writing on your own site, to inform and entertain us.
If I see poor grammar, incorrect use of words, and general bad writing, you're toast with me.
Nothing makes a blog look bad like bad writing. Bad writing, bad thinking. No exceptions.
I ignore every blog with bad writing, always. Immediately.
Arpon Basu for example is entertaining and works hard on research, but his writing is just good enough, and not always. That's why I don't take him that seriously. He makes mistakes, and I see all of them. And his writing is better than yours, so far.
You'd better take good writing seriously, or you're nowhere.
Better make sure your writers are up to it, or goodbye.
Also, it seems like everyone and their friend wants to be the next big habs blogster.
You guys have to ask yourself this question - outside of your circle of friends, why should the mass habs fan base give a rats ass about what you guys post over bigger, established sites such as HFboards / HIO?
I mean, readers have a certain amount of time per day to invest in reading and discussing hockey... Which is why the big main sites remain top in everyones list -- people will go where they perceive the action is at.
So, if you`re a small site, this is my advice (outside of good writing/editing):
1. Be really precise and to the point. I know for myself I don`t have time to read long essays.
2. Specialize in something. Statistics, Interviews, Humor, etc...
3. Be really good at what you specialize in... If you are going down the humor route, you better be funny. If you are talking about stats, you better know more than the next guy... If you try to specialize and come-across as merely average, you`re toast.
You've now entered a different arena. You're not posting replies on some random site. You are now writing on your own site, to inform and entertain us.
If I see poor grammar, incorrect use of words, and general bad writing, you're toast with me.
Nothing makes a blog look bad like bad writing. Bad writing, bad thinking. No exceptions.
I ignore every blog with bad writing, always. Immediately.
Arpon Basu for example is entertaining and works hard on research, but his writing is just good enough, and not always. That's why I don't take him that seriously. He makes mistakes, and I see all of them. And his writing is better than yours, so far.
You'd better take good writing seriously, or you're nowhere.
Better make sure your writers are up to it, or goodbye.
The writing is being taken care of as we speak. Don't expect to see the mistakes in the first few articles happen again.
The writing is being taken care of as we speak. Don't expect to see the mistakes in the first few articles happen again.
Exactly. The guy we have editing our stuff is very good at what he does. As far as spelling goes, it's very simple to go on google on type in; spell check.
EDIT: And I'm an idiot telling you, the guy that edits, that we have a guy to edit.
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"CS is one of my favorite people on this entire site." - ColePens
Last edited by Private Encounter: 08-14-2011 at 12:57 PM.
Exactly. The guy we have editing our stuff is very good at what he does. As far as spelling goes, it's very simple to go on google on type in; spell check.
Not really. There are variations of words, or words that sound the same, but are spelled different/ have different meaning.
I noticed the mistakes in the first article, but I didn't care. Even TSN does it from time to time.
So far the word "not" was missed in the sentence " Fans are still fussing about getting an agitator " I assume that's what you meant.
Jimmy Bonneau wasn't under a contract with the habs, just the AHL Now he's a UFA I believe.
Yemelin is penciled in on the team because if he doesn't make the team he goes back to Russia. It's the main reason he came over, or signed, because they included an out clause in his contract.
"However, if Markov’s bionic legs were to fall once again" Should be "...Fail once again", but really that's just me.
Not being a dick, just trying to help. You not only need a editor for correct spelling, you need one for facts, too. It's still the beginning. It's not like this website, or blog, or whatever has been up for a couple of years.
On a sidenote, Erik Cole is a nice signing but the majority of outcry was for a tougher team. Cole gives us size, skill and speed, but not the toughness factor.
Too long for my preference. At a certain point I started skimming through it.
I want a read a a few paragraphs, hopefully find it funny, and post a comment. Anyways, that`s my opinion... I may be harsh and hard to please.
Others may feel differently.
No hard feelings. I actually agree that it is a bit long, I'm used to writing longer pieces for print and was a bit caught up by the whole blogging format of things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Analyzer
Not really. There are variations of words, or words that sound the same, but are spelled different/ have different meaning.
I noticed the mistakes in the first article, but I didn't care. Even TSN does it from time to time.
Not that it matters, but the first three articles weren't edited at all. All the writers have since been given a style guide that covers most points brought up in this thread since launch and hopefully we'll soon be at a level where only the content of the articles can be criticized by differing opinions.
For what it's worth...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Analyzer
So far the word "not" was missed in the sentence " Fans are still fussing about getting an agitator " I assume that's what you meant.
No, what I meant was that fans were still fussing about the team getting an agitator this summer. The offseason is not over and it is still possible that somebody gets hired for that purpose before the season starts. I do agree that "fussing" might not have been the most precise word in that case..
Quote:
Jimmy Bonneau wasn't under a contract with the habs, just the AHL Now he's a UFA I believe.
Yes, my bad. I was actually thinking about Conboy, yet I mentioned Bonneau. That will be edited ASAP.
Quote:
Yemelin is penciled in on the team because if he doesn't make the team he goes back to Russia. It's the main reason he came over, or signed, because they included an out clause in his contract.
I agree. However, he's also penciled in because he has qualities that no other d-man on the team possesses. Whether those qualities permit him to shine or not is another question, but he would not have gotten that clause if the team didn't think his play was worth it. I don't think it's ridiculous to think he will make the team based on his assets and not only his contract. That's what I was getting at in the article.
Quote:
"However, if Markov’s bionic legs were to fall once again" Should be "...Fail once again", but really that's just me.
Well, I thought about using fail, it's actually what I had written at first. However, I follow it with "no possibility of jamming them back on." I liked the imagery of the legs actually falling off and therefore went with that.
Quote:
Not being a dick, just trying to help. You not only need a editor for correct spelling, you need one for facts, too. It's still the beginning. It's not like this website, or blog, or whatever has been up for a couple of years.
No offense taken dude. I do take issue a little bit with the fact that out of all the people that have posted their blogs on this board, never have I seen such pointy criticism. People usually discuss the content of the articles despite any minor shortcomings on the writing side, however it's not the case here. The first articles did have a few mistakes, but the last two have been much better in that light. Like you said, we just launched and there's still work to be done. We don't have any trained journalists (well, I'm a journalist-in-training, but I'm far from perfect) and we're gonna progress as time goes. I've taken things over in terms of editing since yesterday (my piece was written a week ago) and I can guarantee that the overall quality of the writing and factual info is gonna go up in the coming weeks. Nobody's perfect, we're still working things out to make sure we're good to go once the season starts.
Quote:
On a sidenote, Erik Cole is a nice signing but the majority of outcry was for a tougher team. Cole gives us size, skill and speed, but not the toughness factor.
That's true, however for the longest people have been talking about a big(ger) winger to play on the top-6 and PG got that player. He doesn't bump team toughness all that much, but he was a much-needed addition that lots of fans have been asking for in the last few years.
Anyhow, I hope that despite the small mistakes you enjoyed the article and will keep following the blog. Hopefully the quality standard goes up a notch in the next few weeks and we become a trusted source for Habs news despite the immense amount of competition.
Last edited by Turtleneck Plek: 08-14-2011 at 02:50 PM.
It's a blog this isn't Canada.com spamming here and saying that they want you to view their articles. They're going to be opinionated and spelling/grammar mistakes will happen. Just because it's got a domain and multiple contributors doesn't change that. You need to give them a bit of time too they'll improve a lot as time goes on. So far so good launches could go a heck of a lot worse
It's a blog this isn't Canada.com spamming here and saying that they want you to view their articles. They're going to be opinionated and spelling/grammar mistakes will happen. Just because it's got a domain and multiple contributors doesn't change that. You need to give them a bit of time too they'll improve a lot as time goes on. So far so good launches could go a heck of a lot worse
Pretty sure they would prefer people say nothing and stop going to their site after an article or two...
It's pretty constructive criticism, I feel like this website could be really good/special and make a name for itself. But as soon as you have ****** articles it brings the whole WHOLE thing down.
It's a good project, but you really can't half-ass it if you want it to fulfill it's potential. We all want it to fulfill it's potential, so we're being nitpicky.
As I said before, I'd like to eventually contribute to it so it's not like I'm just trying to take potshots and make y'all feel bad - it's a community thing.
I think the reason people are being more critical about the content is that they can see potential. The site itself looks cleaner and more professional than some of the other blogs so I think people are giving it a more thorough look.
It's pretty constructive criticism, I feel like this website could be really good/special and make a name for itself. But as soon as you have ****** articles it brings the whole WHOLE thing down.
It's a good project, but you really can't half-ass it if you want it to fulfill it's potential. We all want it to fulfill it's potential, so we're being nitpicky.
As I said before, I'd like to eventually contribute to it so it's not like I'm just trying to take potshots and make y'all feel bad - it's a community thing.
Fair enough, I just think since it's like not even the first week yet people should give them a little adjustment period is all. They're all still new to the site as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sports1131
I think the reason people are being more critical about the content is that they can see potential. The site itself looks cleaner and more professional than some of the other blogs so I think people are giving it a more thorough look.
Don't be worried guys, we better than anyone else realize the potential the site has. We have a few issues we need to work on after being online for a week but it's all uphill from here. You know, Rome once was a ****** little settlement.
The Clement Jodoin piece will be pretty nice, I hope you guys like it.
On the A.Kost situation I interviewed Slava Kozlov a while back and I think it brings fantastic insight in the mentality of some of the new eastern block players.
We talked about guys like Radulov, Stanislav Chistov, Kovalev and a few other guys, it was fascinating on a mentality standpoint.
Always a good read. Do you know Jari Byrski? (sp?) Great trainer that I'd love to see more interviews of.
Is there anyway I could possibly get involved with this? I mean, I know this is your project and everything and I don't want to impose, and I'm probably not the first person you'd look to by a long shot, but it's worth throwing my name out there.
Writing about the Habs is something I've wanted to do for a while and I had my own blog for a while that never took off due to not getting it out there enough, I assume. I'm looking to become a sports journalist so any experience I can get is what I'm looking for.
I'm not begging you or anything, but if you ever need someone to write some stuff for you, I'm always open to it.
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As far as your other articles, I think they are of very good quality. There is some clear improvement from the first one and your work appears to be very interesting. I'll be following.
Always a good read. Do you know Jari Byrski? (sp?) Great trainer that I'd love to see more interviews of.
I've known of him for a few years, he's hard to get a hold of, busy guy, an article said he had Cammy this year.
A few years back I know Higgins and Komi trained with Jon Diflorio at Institute 3E in NY, I visited the whole thing and came out with a bit of a weird opinion of it all, had a bit of a ''****** training'' feel to it ala Ivan Drago in Rocky 4.
I mean his big thing back then was how healthy Dipietro would be after training there during the summer '' guaranteed ''.
The site has a very nice feel to it and the content is great. My only problem is that I feel the articles should be more unbiased.
For example, if I happened to be a fan of Andrei Kostitsyn I wouldn't appreciate hearing some negative speculation about him that has nothing to do with the story. I'd rather just get the news and if there is to be some opinion in the article, the blogger should say it is his opinion and not say it like it's fact and nothing else.
