I talked with Spy about this article a bit yesterday while I was gazing through the articles as he wanted my opinion on some stuff..... Ok I sort of lied here I just so happened to be asking who's a smog mod or writer in a convo before I say my opinion and inevitable offend someone and he was open to hear criticism lol. Not gonna copy/paste the entire convo for obvious and not so obvious reasons such as my explicit cursing with personal messages but it was a pretty interesting experience from an outside perspective. He said he could change some stuff through cms but I told him I never implied any changes to the article that just a heads up for future writers, mods, w/e. This post is long to address everything.
(1) First off in regards to the DarkNostlagia's thread, it was good so props Dark Nostalgia, but there was a huge problem I think in my eyes that is really underlying and was overlooked tremendously by its staff and I know is going to happen for future stuff. OU Viability Rankings: Best of The Best is an extremely subjective article for something that's supposed to be what I assume is an information resource? I have something about that so I'll comment later about it but I digress. This portion of the convo I can convey since it's pertinent to the point I'm trying to establish.
[7/7/15, 10:16:07 PM] AM: The most crippling flaw of Mega Altaria is perhaps its average base 80 Speed, which leaves Mega Altaria susceptible to being outsped and KOed by the likes of Weavile, Tornadus-T, and Mega Metagross before using Dragon Dance, even more so for sets not using Dragon Dance. Furthermore, Mega Altaria occasionally suffers from four-moveslot syndrome, as if it chooses a certain coverage move, it can be checked by certain Pokémon; for example, if Mega Altaria chooses to forgo Fire Blast, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Amoonguss suffice for checking it.
[7/7/15, 10:16:16 PM] AM: people want this thing suspected
[7/7/15, 10:16:22 PM] AM: and we have a section on why it isn't borked
[7/7/15, 10:16:38 PM] AM: and I can blow this reasoning back with practical scenarios that I use a bunch
[7/7/15, 10:17:40 PM] AM: "All is not well for Mega Charizard X, as its titanic power and defensive utility come with a price. For Dragon Dance sets, if the last moveslot is dedicated to Roost, then its coverage is limited to only Flare Blitz and Dragon Claw, leaving the likes of Mega Altaria, Slowbro, and Hippowdon viable answers to Mega Charizard X, and if running Earthquake instead of Roost, then Mega Charizard X lacks longevity. Flare Blitz also has a nasty side effect, as it deals a lot of recoil damage, especially with the immense damage Mega Charizard X gives out, meaning it lacks longevity somewhat. Lastly, Mega Charizard X has a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock, which heavily limits its opportunities to switch in." **repeat last line of mega altaria**
Another one which is open to way too much interpretation to be a resource. It touches upon a generic concept established by the larger community but overlooks that with all the fine intricate details in place it becomes all opinion and explaining why something isn't borked is opening a can of worms. This specific example for Char-X I can probably take each sentence and counter argue it, implying that none of this is actually fact more so opinion, as would my critique would be for this.
My point being here is that yes, I know it's suppose to be a webzine for a general userbase but I also think it's a bad idea to make articles that explain traits that are too subjective to call itself a valuable resource. It's fine if you implement a best of the best but then adding in an element such as "why it isn't broken" I forgot the exact wording of it, isn't too bright. Basically more objectivity > subjectivity if you're gonna go along with these type of articles. Stuff you can't really argue cause it's set in stone perfectly is what I think you want. We know both of the Dragon Dancers are monsters not much to argue there.
(2) What's the point of Stealth Rock articles? By issue 44 I would think it's sort of ran its course. Maybe I'm wrong here since spy didn't specifically elaborate how many articles you've done that are SR related but why does it feel like I've seen this a lot?
(3)
[7/7/15, 10:25:25 PM] AM: I'm on the next one with Albas
[7/7/15, 10:25:28 PM] AM: entry hazards
[7/7/15, 10:25:37 PM] AM: do writers decide what gets emphasized?
[7/7/15, 10:26:14 PM] AM: cause Idk why he put Mew as a defogger when it's horse caca as a defogger when he could've put like Zapdos or even Empoleon instead
[7/7/15, 10:27:42 PM] AM: this entry hazard article was ok
[7/7/15, 10:27:56 PM] AM: I think alba writes well, kind of overlooks stuff I personally wouldn't emphasize
[7/7/15, 10:28:03 PM] AM: like what I mentioned earlier
[7/7/15, 10:28:07 PM] AM: but eh that's small
My question here is the third line. I'm assuming it's just the writers choice as to placement of what goes where and then some QC guys check it or w/e from what I've been told?
(4) "how about you don't have people writing articles who are gonna get banned within every 5 minutes he says something" times and dates went away but this was referring to piexplode "disaster area" who gets banned literally every 10 minutes on the forum. I don't think this is a concern more so seems like you're gonna end up in an issue if you have to contact someone who is known to troll or say something stupid and offend the wrong person and he's banned so hard to get responses outside of irc.
(5)
[7/7/15, 10:36:22 PM] AM: jirachee interview was boring
[7/7/15, 10:36:36 PM] AM: jellicent asks boring questions
[7/7/15, 10:37:02 PM] AM: have the questions be asked by whitequeen
[7/7/15, 10:37:12 PM] AM: keep me entertained through the use of literature and text
Yeah I kind of know interviews aren't the most exciting thing in the world but you do have to realize coming from the outside in, which is going to be new users seeing this, I don't want to fall asleep on my keyboard. Keep me hooked and entertained nobody wants to read a boring interview. The whitequeen context is cause interviewers have the potential to make it entertaining not just ask the same old generic questions that I can tell my little brother to type up.
My only last question that I asked Spy is who actually is the demographic for this that it's suppose to appeal to? It seems like new people won't catch on to this and by the time they do the information is kind of moot cause it's just generic stuff that's sort of a given. So anyways those are things I told Spy in our convo and thought I would share here.