Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
Regarding requests for an announcement of the Astak devices, Astak has previously been featured on the MobileRead frontpage. The MobileRead team has not so far seen the need for any additional announcements, because Robertb has been very active on MobileRead as an official representative of the Astak brand, which is a unique situation. Given his high activity here, we consider that it is superfluous to create an additional thread to duplicate his announcements which are already quite well publicised. MobileRead is an independent site, and we have to be careful to avoid showing favoritism to one company over the others. There are no Sony reps posting officially in Sony's name on MobileRead, that is why we do the reporting ourselves. We must think about a balance in the news here and Astak has already quite a high profile due to Robertb's presence. It's important we not neglect other brands which are not as actively represented here but which are important to our readers. |
With all due respect, Zelda, this reasoning does not register as valid to my logic. The MR homepage is a high-profile page. When someone types in "mobileread.com", the homepage is the first thing that is seen by visitors to MR. The format of the homepage is different from that of the forums---whereas topics in a forum are listed such that only titles are given, the articles posted on the homepage are given in full, usually with photos, and thus are quite prominent. Topics in forums can sink and rise depending on activity, and so it is easy for a particular topic to get lost in a sea of other topics, whereas a homepage article can stay on the front page for as much as days during slow news periods. So, even if RobertB actively starts threads for Astak products (and I don't think he starts unreasonable topics nor are they excessive in number), this information is easily obtained mostly by those who already frequent the MR forums and know their way around. What of those who are new to eBooks, new to MR, or who accidentally stumble upon MR looking for information about eBook readers? I imagine they will not immediately know just by browsing about the existence of the Astak products, especially the 5-inch Pocket Pro, the availability of which, I think, does deserve a spot on the front page because of its technical features, which are no longer rumors. (Yes, it is now at the bottom of the "week's hot topics column", but that is still not equivalent to a front page spot, for the same reasons I've stated.) Much less will these visitors suspect any favoritism for Astak, in my opinion. Far from it. RoberB does not have the power to put his topics on the front page; moderators do.
So, really, the reasoning in the quoted post applies only to frequent readers of MR. And, as can be seen from the responses of some people, rather than avoiding the appearance of favoritism for some brands, the application of that kind of reasoning leads some to suspect the existence of such favoritism. But maybe it is more accurately described as being due to RobertB falling out of favor with some moderators. But then how does that benefit the general public looking for information about eBook readers? I guess this is a good time for MR moderators, managers, and owners to do a reevaluation of the goals and mission of MR, including the purpose of the MR homepage.