This 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.