The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Chip, and thanks for the feedback.

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Bye-bye to the amateur hour Mac Site... I hope this isn't your day job....

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Again, Chip, thanks for the feedback. Please let us know what other Mac sites you plan to frequent, the other ways in which we aren't meeting your expectations, and how soon we should expect you to stop commenting on TUAW now that you're deleting your bookmark.

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@Michael: have you noticed how many people are saying that tuaw is going downhill fast? And your only response to Chip is some not-so-witty sarcasm? If I were you guys I'd at least try to find out what te problem is. I've visited tuaw for a few years now, and the comments are more negative than ever lately - which, quite frankly, doesn't surprise me. In my opinion many (not all) of the recent criticisms are more than justified.
Might I suggest a talkcast or at the very least a weblog entry about what the readers would like to see different? You might actually learn something from it, as opposed to the lame sarcasm that you have displayed until now in your reactions to commenters.
Of course, it's your blog. But I'm quite sure you like to please your readers, and if I'm representative, that's happening less and less.

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Mentalsticks, I don't discount Chip's feedback just because he commented off-topic on my post and addressed Victor (my boss) even though I'm the one reading the comments. I do feel, however, that I can give him back some snark for the circumstances of his feedback. "I'm deleting my bookmark" is a childish taunt. My usual response to that is "Start your own damn blog" but I was feeling magnanimous.

I disagree with your premise that the tone of the comments has grown MORE negative and critical over the past X number of days/weeks/months. I read the majority of the comments to the site, and by my estimation the peak of our negative feedback was over a year ago at the height of our iPhone jailbreak coverage, which caused many readers to threaten us with registered letters to our AOL overlords or to the FBI. Negative comments have been a relatively steady-state affair since then.

The "TUAW is slow on the news" meme is also not a new criticism and we are sensitive to that perception; however, we're not [insert name of site here] that chooses to reprint press releases with a one-line comment, or [other site here] that puts up 40 posts a day with every iPhone software update or new version of MyFabulousUtility. Our bloggers are all balancing their contributions to TUAW with their full-time professional lives, and so we encourage them to cover the stories that they find intriguing and compelling in the hopes that our readers will also find them interesting. Based on our traffic, and the vast majority of our feedback both in comments and in person at Macworld, we're living up to that standard.

When I get defensive about the criticisms, that's my personal reaction, but I'm human. There are other sites that have full-time writing staffs and full-time editors, and it's a big Internet, so if that's his cup of tea (or yours), by all means he should read them.

If by my tone I implied that we don't welcome and encourage constructive feedback -- I apologize, we do welcome it, but I didn't see Chip's comment as particularly constructive. My sense, based upon years of experience with newspaper and magazine letters-to-the-editor, is that the people who choose to offer negative comments (on a slow holiday weekend, no less) are grinding their axes independently of any objective standards and would find something else to gripe about if we fixed the particular leaky pipe of their current attention.

Anyone is welcome to join in on ANY talkcast and offer feedback, or send tips, or tweet, or email, or what have you. We follow up on negative reactions and we do try to understand why people have issues with the site. The idea of a specific feedback post on "what can we fix" is an interesting one and we did in fact do that pre-Macworld to try and set some of our coverage priorities. I fully expect that a general "what's wrong with TUAW" post would devolve into banality fairly quickly, but it might still be worth trying if only to demonstrate that we do have our ears to the ground.

Thanks, as always, for reading. If you'd like to offer specifics on how the site isn't meeting your personal needs, please say so and I'll email you personally.

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This effort is disrespectful. Some times, people need to respect others. This is one of those cases.

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Cute little band-aid! The guy is dying! Show some heart! Some people are kinda cold.

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What exactly is 'disrespectful' about wishing someone a rapid and complete recovery? I could understand 'unnecessary' or 'irrelevant' but 'disrespectful' is confusing to me.

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Lewis and Roger, we don't know for certain the details of Steve Jobs' health (nor should we) and everyone is focused on speculating. You do not know for a fact he is dying so stop contributing to the rumor mill. It doesn't help anyone here. All we know is he is ill and taking time off. Period. We have every right to wish someone well when they are ill. This is no different.

To the rest of you, stop judging so quickly the intent of others and don't put them down for something they were doing to help the spirit of the community. Spend this energy getting involved with something positive!

Doesn't anyone use the beautiful stationery in Mail.app? It includes a get well image, so I felt it was appropriate. I think you're all missing the point and taking my post completely out of context. And shame on the trolls who came over and put nasty comments on my blog. That wasn't nice.

If I were going to send Steve Jobs a get well card, that's what it would look like. (Since I know it would never get to him, I posted one on my blog instead to share with the Mac Community just like the audio clips others shared.) I was truly being sincere. I would want Steve to know how much I enjoy using Apple products and how much I care about the fact that he is a person, not a stock symbol!

I expressed my true gratitude for the company and products Steve Jobs has helped to create which in turn has given me great joy and inspiration. I don't see the harm or disrespect in that at all.

I believe in the company, its products and the man who helped it all be what it is today and I was paying due respect. I sincerely wish him a speedy recovery and the ability to focus on spending time with his family. Perhaps even take some time to enjoy the very creations that will be his legacy some day. I'm truly shocked at how much flame I've now received for this and I don't understand where it's coming from.

The best we can do is focus on continuing to keep the Mac community thriving by sharing the ways we use Apple products and help inspire others to make computing fun and useful for the whole family.

Please do not comment unless you have something nice to say.
Thanks.

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