Problems at Patch.com

Arianna: "Mark McGwire, stop correcting people's grammar errors and spelling mistakes. It's posts were looking for, not quality content. Those are some of our best contributors."

 

It shouldn't be difficult to manage four posts a day at Patch. They don't want stories, but just want little tidbits. Patch is comparable to the 30-second news briefs on radio and TV.

 

Please, like a man has never had a bad business plan. Men launch the wonky business plans of other men all the time and somehow everyone rakes in the money (See: Trump, Donald). If a woman with a wonky business plan becomes successful, it must be because of sex. Geez.

Trust me, this is no endorsement of Patch or Huffington's plans. I just hate to see the stereotypical "she must have slept her way to the top" crap levied at successful women.

 

I do about five to eight a day already. Seeing as how a relevant press release or a photo gallery or a blog posting all count as a piece of content, I don't really know how people are only doing three or four a day. Most of the people in my region are at a similar output level, so I imagine part of the adjusting upward is to reflect that and put some pressure on some of the people not keeping pace.

 

4 posts a day doesn't seem that difficult, especially considering you have freelancers.

Honestly, a photo gallery of kids chasing butterflies in the park. Honest to god, it's not that hard.

I like patch. Don't know why others don't. It's community journalism (which us sports guys hate).

All I know is that on breaking news the Patch site is killing us, and we don't even know it.

 

For those against Patch, I've noticed that a large majority of people not in the journalism business have no clue what Patch is or does. At least that has been my experience, and I have met some Patch reporters who were clueless about how to report on a high school basketball game, asking me if I could ask all the questions for them. Really? I'm not being a hater, just telling my experiences with Patch reporters.

 

Southeastern Connecticut Patch just pinned a major scoop on The Day of New London, a well-respected 40,000-circulation. Big-time scoop.

 

??? Are you talking about that prom story? Can't remember if that was in The Day's coverage area or not.

 

I don't think it's the prom. Shelton's across the state.
Four items a day doesn't seem too onerous. A smart reporter can break several items out of a town council meeting - there can be follow-up stories in the bullet material. As a weekly guy, it makes my workrate look a little more impressive.

 

OK, I'll bite. What was the prom story? And/or the scoop for that matter?

 

This one:

http://shelton.patch.com/articles/shs-senior-banned-from-prom-it-just-seems-a-little-extreme

Looks like the Hartford Courant ran something first via the AP, but for whatever reason it blew up once Shelton Patch ran it. (Maybe the Courant buried it on an inside page or something.) More than 200+ comments each on three different articles, plus 3,000 FB referrals on that story alone.

 

Yeah, caught that one on MSNBC. Didn't ring a bell with just a "prom" reference, but now I remember seeing it.