What's in a Name: MMA Blog or MMA News Site?
by Luke Thomas on Feb 25, 2009 3:03 PM EST
in MMA News
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PrintThis is a bit dated, but some of the folks in the TAGG Radio forum seem to think I've somehow slandered MMA Junkie by calling them a blog rather than a news site, as if there is somehow slander in trying to classify. Let me state that whatever MMA Junkie is or is not ultimately rests on what the folks who run the site choose to do with it and is entirely none of my business. I recognize the enormous amount of news stories MMA Junkie breaks, but I made the statement because in my judgement, their roots were as a blog, their delivery of stories has changed over time but began in the blogging post format and the layout was originally (and to some extent still is) very blogging-centric. I still view them much more of a colleague than Sherdog or MMA Weekly - sites with larger operations acting with more diversified multimedia news delivery in more comprehensive coverage. Whatever one wants to call it, it's obviously a massive site that pulls huge numbers, but the crux of the complaint seems melodramatic and a petty game of semantics.
I also fail to understand the criticism that we at Bloody Elbow are a "cut and paste" blog. One wonders a) how much exposure these people actually have to this site and b) what exposure they have to blogs in general. There is plenty of unique content here, but that's not exactly the point. We are more a blog and less a traditional news site. While we offer some original content and some news reports, the main role of a blog is to filter the world (in this case, the MMA universe) through one's perspective. For anyone with even a vague familiarity with blogging, the clear point is to identify whatever the writer finds interesting, share its more meaningful parts and either offer commentary or left the selected piece serve as the larger commentary. If it's interesting, it will catch on. If not, people find someone else to read. Overall, it's the slow grind of identifying positions, discussing issues and weaving a personal narrative. Much to the chagrin of some of the forum posters, I hate to tell you one cannot do that in a vacuum.
This is also a complete oversight by critics who clearly do not understand blogs or the specifics of the MMA blogging landscape. Top MMA blogs, unlike larger blogs in other sports or fields of interest, are largely hybrid entities, both news sources and opinion drivers. They are close enough to the industry to break some scoops and have relationships with movers and shakers, but are still largely peripheral entities. And in that peripherary there exists space for commentary. In trying to classify a site, it seems hardly fair or even accurate to suggest one is clearly X or Y particularly since sites slowly change in format, style of coverage or size over time and do not to my knowledge formally announce "we are now A and no longer B". So, please, spare me the manufactured outrage. Call MMA Junkie a news site or a blog. There is a debate to be had over it, I suppose, but the presumption that the classification of the aforementioned site as a blog is somehow an obvious attempt to be demeaning or clear demonstration of petty jealousy is breathtakingly off the mark. It's actually evidence of a deep lack of understanding about blogs in general and that, GASP, the MMA blogging world is an evolving complicated creature.
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What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet
"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard
by Brett Jones on Feb 25, 2009 2:09 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
There’s always someone in some corner of the cyber universe that wants their feathers ruffled, so bitching can commence. In order for this condition to be met, often times the pot (sometimes full of shit) must be stirred, and that’s what forums are for. Just think if you would have said something truly disparaging about Junkie – which you obviously DID NOT.
Had he actually said something disparaging
I doubt the reaction would’ve been as such. These people, they almost seem to champion a cause based upon the lack of evidence for it.
by Derek Suboticki on Feb 25, 2009 2:30 PM EST up reply actions
MMA JUNKIE to me is like the ESPN of MMA Blogs. They will take information gathered on upon by MMA Mania, MMA WEEKLY, and even sometimes here at Bloodyelbow, and take it as their own and state “sources” gave them the information even though other sites were to break it first.
MMA Junkie is just like us here at BloodyElbow, just like the great guys over at MMA Mania, and they are MMA Blogs.
BTW, who cares what Tagg Radio Forum fans really say anyway? They are kinda like the Jim Rome clones…
Luke,
People just love to hate. Fuck em.
by mmafiend on Feb 25, 2009 2:23 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
wow
people are really really stupid.
"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"
by Kid Nate on Feb 25, 2009 2:25 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
I used to like MMAJunkie but once they started getting bigger they got more and more like Sherdog in the areas of community and slanted news stories.
by dumbwhiteguy on Feb 25, 2009 2:27 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I haven't been to Junkie in months
I can’t believe you actually posted on this. That shred of coal that was burnt to provide the electricity used for this will never, ever be avenged. We can talk about the evolution of language that the Internet has precipitated – and how best to categorize sites that break news and sites that analyze them. But we cannot talk about fucking idiots that impugn motives to people and places with no reality-based reasons for doing so…
But really, Luke, you’re a jealous piece of poo.
by Derek Suboticki on Feb 25, 2009 2:28 PM EST reply actions
MMAJunkie was a blog...
They used blogging software, it was laid out like a blog, it was ran as a blog, it started as a blog…
Nowadays, you could make the argument that it’s an MMA news site, but it still has the “blog” feel.
What I don’t understand is… why do they give a shit? What does it matter? Are they mad because this site’s pull will change the overall public perception of what it was. It was a blog.
It sounds like a shitload of jealousy to me.
Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com
Cut & Paste blog...
Isn’t that essentially what blogging is? Cutting and pasting stories and putting your own view on the story? I don’t understand.
I think they want to basically say “Hey! We are providing UNIQUE content! We aren’t a blog!” Who cares, who really cares? It seems that those people saying those things are the only ones. I think of blogs as more of think tanks on the MMA universe. People can analyze, push their own opinions out there, create discussion on matters.
Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com
by Leland Roling on Feb 25, 2009 2:32 PM EST up reply actions
“Cut & Paste blog…
Isn’t that essentially what blogging is? Cutting and pasting stories and putting your own view on the story?”
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."
by xFenixKnightx on Feb 25, 2009 2:38 PM EST up reply actions
I guess thesport’s reporting has grown to a level where unwarranted big heads and pettiness is bound to happen. Everyone has their favorite sites but fighting over semantics is silly, taking the internet way too seriously seems to be a very pervasive disease these days. I like this site because of the way it’s set up and I don’t care what anyone calls it, my enjoyment isn’t changed by the label used.
What does this all mean??
So now that the almighty Yahoo.com has picked up the SB Nation, and news from the SB nation will be headlined and linked directly from Yahoo, does that mean that this is now a news site???
"Infotainment"
Put me down for I don’t care what classification you want to place on any certain website.
I repeat visit the websites that inform and entertain me at the same time.
This is the first site I visit when making the rounds because of the Information I get here and for the Entertainment I get from that information. Plus the comments made here are another huge source of Information and Entertainment.
I say this “Infotainment”.
to-MAE-to, to MAH-to
There’s nothing wrong with blog, and it’s shorter than “news site” or whatever other high falutin’ name they want to come up with.
"It's like a flying knuckle sandwich." --Rogan
"And many men have eaten it." -- Goldy
LOL!!
Any sleight towards BE, is strictly out of jealousy. I say to HELL with them all, lol!!
Seriously, I used to love Junkie, but it has turned into jackass central with all the Sherdog rejects over there. The posters have brought down a fine BLOG over there, while I think the posters here and in other BLOGS have actually elevated the sites.
And, I have read the staff on here REPEATEDLY refer to this as a BLOG and really nothing outside of that. LMAO at the notion that being called a BLOG is somehow a detrimental remark. BLOG, BLOG, BLOG!!!
Yes, I just discovered the shift button.
If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.
since
the internet is really the only form of media covering mma, a blog ends up being a news site by default
I like the cut and paste.
That’s what I come here for. It saves me having to go to Sherdog, MMA Weekly, the Underground, cnnsi.com/mma, etc.
Then if something is cut and pasted here, and it catches my interest, I follow the link.
Seems pretty simple. It’s called a blog, kids. Look it up.
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 25, 2009 5:31 PM EST reply actions
Not that complicated
By definition a blog is a Web site with dated entries, usually in reverse-chronological order. Pretty simple, really.
But if you want the real answer, check MMAJunkie.com’s source code (View – Page Source) and you’ll see that their own meta description reads: UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com
People can argue the connotations all they want, but facts are facts — it’s a self-described blog that fits the definition of what a blog is. How is this news?
by lukekohler on Feb 25, 2009 6:16 PM EST reply actions 5 recs
Rec'd for debate ending content
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 25, 2009 7:14 PM EST up reply actions
bloody is the best
Out of the 20 or so MMA blogs that i subscribe to, Bloody Elbow is by far the best. MMA Junkie has gone down hill ever since they quit the blog format.
Very Interesting Post Luke
In addition to the MMA Blog/News discussion, do you have any thoughts on what qualifies as a “Media Outlet?”
Solution
Luke, I say you head over to the TAGG forums and raise hell like Buddy Revell did in Three O’ Clock High. Wait, he got his ass kicked by a nerd in the end…bad advice.
It's not enough that I succeed. Everyone else must fail.
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