I’m so bummed. The owner or some author on another sailing website got a bee in their bonnet the other day and summarily dissed almost every other sailing website in existence. Except us. That hurt. We’re not good enough to get slammed – but maybe we fall into the group ”blogosphuck” – at least I think. Below is the full dissing and one or two accolades. Since this other site is the best of the best, I probably shouldn’t waste my time or money on webhosting anymore. More time to sail!
Below is from SailingAnarchy.com – warning if you go here: forums are nsfw and/or children. I’m actually surprised their mainstream advertisers want to be associated with a site that borders on porn quite a bit of the time. But hey, go where the numbers are I guess.
The Pretenders
2008 saw a recent spate of new sailing websites and services that sent us on a little research trip around the interwebs to check on the ‘state of the net,’ and we walked away shaking our heads. A tiny handful of sites offer something useful or at least creative, but the vast, vast majority of the sailing internet just flat-out blows. Every site on the World Wide Sailing Web falls into the following categories:
The Wannabes: These sites almost invariably are associated with one or more dying print publications, and their sites are ripoffs of every mainstream news site. They feature massively busy layouts, an overload of poorly written, totally outdated information, and an assault of blinking, flickering ads that moronic companies are suckered into paying thousands of dollars for. They all claim something like “wow, we’re interactive!” despite the fact that the only people interacting are the people on the payroll. Examples: Sail Magazine, Cruising World, Sailing World, Yachting Monthly
The Pretenders:Unable to come up with anything even remotely creative, these sites are unabashed ripoffs of the style and formula that has made SA such a success. They feature an SA-style ‘front page’, but the great stories and original content from a vibrant community are replaced by laughable crap and press releases disguised as real news. These lazy assholes are too arrogant to realize the huge amount of work it takes to publish great content day-in and day-out, and none has the kind of community that can make it happen. Some have even tried their own blatant ripoffs of On-The-Water Anarchy – only to find that all they end up with is the same old boring shit that Gary Jobson has been producing for years. They usually attempt some kind of forum (never realizing that no one wants to watch two guys giving each other verbal handjobs) and classified ads (not understanding that no one can sell a boat when there is no audience.) Examples: SailGroove, XS Racing, Sailmonster, Offshore Rules.
The New Media:Despite their claims of EXTREMEness and interactivity, these sites all do the same thing: They index sailing videos, playing them in some kind of proprietary video player. Some produce their own content, but most rely on a combination of self-produced videos and whatever crap they can take from real producers, slapping their own idiotic logo on it before posting it to their own player. There’s some decent video out there, but if the action is good, chances are the narration or soundtrack blows, or it’s in Norwegian. These sites serve a purpose and we’re not saying they all suck – just most of them. You’ll still get more good videos and links from the SA forums than you will on any of these sites – but we’re working with a few of them, so all is not lost. Examples: Sailingnetworks, T2P, The Sailing Channel, Sailrev.
The Blogosphuck: From the pathetic to the ultra-useful, there are probably thousands of interesting and uninteresting blogs out there full of information, photos, videos, and more. It would take a lifetime to weed through the manure to get to the gems, so save yourself some time and read SA – the forums and front page link all the good ones.
The Biz: These are single-event/organization/industry sites, and they run the gamut from hilarious to worthless. They offer a million different methods to say the same thing: “Come look at what we have for you.” If more web geeks would remember that simple fact, there wouldn’t be so many shitty corporate/organizational sites.
The Ignorant Dead:These sites once were something special. They started with good ideas, produced interesting content and grew, and then squandered everything by resisting change, being cheap as hell, run by dummies, or cashing out. Examples: Sailnet, Scuttlebutt
The Focused:These sites focus on doing one thing, and doing it well. They are usually simple, clear, and have many returning viewers. Example: The Daily Sail, SailX, Predict Wind, Sailflow.
Sailing Anarchy: More good shit than all of the above. Combined.
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