sabret00the

jnsf

Anonymous

Also, isn't it sex that sells, and money the thing you collect when it does?

kurmbox

Nick Douglas

sac

Well that's a load of corporate bullshit masked to be the opposite. The readers here, we're not idiots. Stop treating us as such. You run the business, it's your place to say something especially when you park your big head in the driver's seat. It's completely fair (and expected) for you to give your take on what happened and as long as you're honest it shouldn't differ much from Nick Douglas's.

Blogger Appeasement Value of your comment (1-10 scale): about a 2.

krucoff

rcrowley

1. I hear you on the body font. There are a few fans, and I rather liked its old-school feel, but most of you in this thread, and people who've been emailing in, find it hard to read. We'll go with something more standard.

2. For those who really really liked the old design, we'll put up the skin at http://classic.valleywag.com. Should be later today. Enjoy. (I hated it, but there's no accounting for taste.)

3. Story mix. I said we'd change it slightly. So we'll still run stories on billionaire bad behavior, Valley hotties, and Eric Schmidt's adultery. Wherever there is a broader interest, or a story just to good to ignore.

4. Thomas, yeah, I get what you mean about Valleywag needing to be as open about its own business as it is nosy about other people's. It would be idiotic to spout some corporate bullshit. So I haven't said very much. Really wouldn't be fair. It's up to Nick Douglas to explain, as much as he wants to, and I think he may be making a farewell post, or jumping into this comment thread. And you can quiz him.

5. For the diehard Nick Douglas fans: I doubt he'll be out of the blog world for long. He's a funny writer, as you all know. And I know he's already had a few job offers. When he lands at a new site, we'll be linking.

Nick Denton

krucoff

RBA

I guess that plan didn't work out.

Here's a new plan.

1. Take the old design of the blog back. Seriously, the criticism of this design is universal. Don't make it a line in the sand. Just say we reconsidered on the design part and decided to change it back for now. If you really want, you can then hire some designer with skill to create you a new one and share it with the world in a month.

2. Just tell the truth about what went on with Nick. If you can't tell the truth because of some agreement signed or some other reason, at least say that. If the truth is that Nick wanted more money than you were willing to pay, then say this. If the truth is that Nick wanted to go in a different direction with the blog than you, then say this too. The important thing is that you're honest about it. People will respect the publication more for being honest about a change of this magnitude than for you to try and just sweep it under the rug and get by with it. This especially doesn't work for Valleywag.

Thomas Hawk

You'd be amazed how many posts with inane news were made readable by cunning snarkyness and perspective. This is easily shown by your narcoleptic post on Yahoo and hedge funds

Just hire someone funny, please

m-c

(p.s. love the way the only fluid element in the new design is the comment/email/etc buttons. Read the text over here, see if anybody talked back over theeerrrre!)

peekay

therealgoogle

http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2006/11/02/interview-with-vall...

loucabron

The new design couldn't be better. Just perfect.

And good luck to you, Nick Denton. A few intresting stories and soon we all will sing you the praises.

Russianoldmaid

And by the way, since I know he's reading this comments, Nick -- I've told you before in private, but you always have an open invite to edit The Blog 50.

Count me in the corner of people who enjoy the courier font, but hate the fact that Nick Douglas is no longer writing here.

jbotter

krucoff

And what's with this?
"However, I suspect we're going to tone down the personal coverage of civilians, because they haven't done anything to seek out attention, and their personal lives aren't that interesting."

Well, that is totally ridiculous. Tell me how many hits you get in general per day, and then how many you got with the Larry n' Lucy photo display. A bit of a spike?

Oh, NOW i remember what the new logo looks like.

"e.r."

Try again, and get Nick back STAT.

eknirb

Nick Douglas

JasonCalacanis

Paul Stamatiou

Another one bites the dust, eh Denton?

OH AND REX I'LL CUT YOU FOR TRASHING SPLOID.

(Heh. Context.)

Also, let me join the parade trying to close italics.

Choire

I'll miss reading Nick's posts. He's like the cubedweller next door who says and does the kind of stuff you'd love to say yourself, but don't for fear you'd get fired.

Well, I guess maybe he did get fired.

Oh well!

Malaclypse

Will future articles be equally lacking in professional refinement?

Will Valleywag be the next site on the Silicon Valley Trash Heap?

Irony is not funny.

larissakmiller

rex

Lock

Courier hurts...

And what's with the massive amounts of white space? Get more advertising dollars. Support Katrina relief or something. Otherwise it makes the site look cheap.

hikaru

rex

2. This design is horrible... the logo looks like a B-movie VHS tape cover, and the font is painful.

3. Have fun blogging Nick, but remember who owns NickDenton.net. :-)

Fun fact: Nick has done more posts on Valleywag today than he has on NickDenton.org this year.

JasonCalacanis

Okay, we'll try something else for body font tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Lock

I'm on a mac running firefox on a 24" monitor and aside from sites set in comic sans, this is the first blog I've encountered that I can't physically read.

Matt Haughey

We need Nick Douglas, stat!

grebok

usability, anyone?

farewell, nick. we'll miss your insights.

brandnew_yerretro

DeafMute

rex

How freaking lame is this. First you fire Douglas whose writing was great, then you make the site look absolutely terrible, then you basically say FU to your readers by letting us know that we can complain about how terrible things are but it won't do any good. Say goodbye to my RSS sub for Valleywag, it was good while it lasted at least. For a site that depends so much on tips from your readers, it' isn't a good idea to treat them like crap.

Davis Freeberg

Now back to not talking to you, which is much more pleasant.

Spiers

Although I guess not making the blog readable might be a simple workaround for not having compelling content....

JoblessWonder

Nick Denton

I hope you maintain the same provocative edge and irreverence that has distinguished ValleyWag. I thought Nick was great and will miss his unique perspective on things.

Don Dodge

ddodge

Soup

("Paraphrasing" might not be the word, I very well could have imagined the conversation, but it's still an accurate assessment.)

Of course, backstabbing is in the eye of the person face-down. It's often just accupuncture performed by a good friend who knows your needle points. (Works best when you loosen up first.) Nick Douglas was picked and pricked by Denton, but he's learned much at a young age. This will not be his only fickle boss to pull the rug from under him without warning.

krucoff

Courtney P

j-c

The new site hurts my eyes, my precious precious eyes. I'll wait for 3.0 to come back.

Jeremy

I'm quite disappointed. :-(

David Quiec

jfruh

(click on link to vote for where nick ends up next)

DaveMcClure500Hats

Spiers

ResearchZilla

Spastic Colon

More about the move at Marketwatch. And I'm sure Nick Douglas will have his say eventually, if he wants.

Lock

/will/ ???

That is one of the snarkiest things I've ever read on Valleywag--which is saying a lot.

"more money, a little less sex: that is Valleywag's new gossip mantra" The old model included "hypocrisy" too. Which clearly you have in spades.

hp

Very dissapointed, Nick will be missed.

4inch

AviFlombaum

schvitzatura

Back to Kotaku...

haldrogenbomb

Blackjack

DaveMcClure500Hats

So who pushed you to fire Nick Douglas? Was it Yahoo? Google?

Blackjack

I would apply for the job, but the thing I really wanted to cover is sex :(

And emoticons.

flyover

All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

Nick, is V-wag set to become the next bloggingstocks.com?

Valleywag is all growed up! All on the B-school tip!

schvitzatura

Moustache

j-c

Valleywag was starting to feel like "the worst party calendaring service, ever" so I'm hoping you can bring the content up to offset the bland design.

meanguy

Anonymous

Philipp Lenssen

Come on. Valleywag can spill the beans on every other "change in employment," but you try to pass this crap off when Nick Douglas leaves? What gives. You say, "letting him go" which typically means fired. You can do better than that.

http://thomashawk.com/2006/11/nick-douglas-leaving-valleyw...

Thomas Hawk

You guys can do better!

Best of luck with the other changes. I guess I'll have to satisfy my gossip jones from Perez Hilton from now on.

jpjp