Anil Dash is on stage right now talking with Nick Denton about a variety of different things, including the failed 2011 Gawker-wide redesign which, if you remember, was going to Change Webdesign Forever and then didn’t. (Don’t worry, I’m sure Pinterest’s look will echo through the ages.)
More to the nominal point of the session, this is from Denton:
“The idea of capturing the intelligence of the readership [now] sounds like a joke.”
This strikes me as right, and completely at odds with the optimistic, inclusive, democratic vision of our networked future that dominated SXSW in 2007. But I think it’s true, and basically compatible with the (admittedly ugly) view I expressed back here, in which part of new sites’/network’s success hangs on their ability to attract early adopting elites who are genuinely better at the internet than the general online population (which arrives later, bringing advertiser dollars and ruin).
The net really is more democratic than other mediums. But that doesn’t mean it’s egalitarian, it just means the gating/sorting mechanism is (arguably) based on less arbitrary/unfair personal attributes than other parts of our society. This is about as Randian an opinion as you’re likely to get out of me, but as far as I can tell it’s true.
Denton went on to opine that democratic moderation of comments doesn’t produce interesting content because it suppresses minority views; and expressed the view that anonymity is essential to both the production and consumption of Gawker’s content. Which again, all seems right to me, though it’s a little bit sad.
MORE PROSAICALLY: Denton mentions that Gawker doesn’t have some super-secret or cutting-edge analytics platform. Editors use different things — all commercial — based on their own preferences and priorities. Which makes me feel better about my general lack of interest in these tools (beyond the basics).
[...] Lee also started documenting the interview while it was still going on. And Owen Thomas summed up much of the spirit of the conversation while [...]