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(The Consumerist)   Consumer Reports shuts down Consumerist. Reading the Editors Twitter, they were shut down for "failing to meet subscription goals." FARK: they aren't subscription based   (consumerist.com) divider line
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    More: Asinine, Payday loan, dodgy payday lenders, secretive cable companies, Consumer debt, Consumer, The Work, Loan, English-language films  
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2608 clicks; posted to Business » on 30 Oct 2017 at 5:40 PM (5 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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Pocket Ninja [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2017-10-30 5:52:02 PM  
11 votes:
And nothing -- absolutely nothing, the most profoundly vast absence of something ever assembled -- of value was lost. At all.
 
jaytkay [OhFark]
2017-10-30 6:18:37 PM  
11 votes:

derpes_simplex: Or they were referring to advertiser subscriptions.


Consumerist had no advertising. And nobody calls advertising buys "subscriptions".

They were not turning enough Consumerist readers into Consumer Reports subscribers.
 
jayphat
2017-10-30 7:13:02 PM  
11 votes:
Subby here. So, I've followed Consumerist for a long time, all the way back to when they had a comments section (which was usually as insightful as the original Yahoo comments sections). So,this morning the staff at Consumerist were told they had to get on a conference call with CS leadership. They were then told during the call effective immediately, they were done because they did not meet subscription goals and other metrics, metrics which the Editor in Chief said didn't exist. As in, Consumerist is free, they operate without ads or subscriptions. None were offered the opportunity to join CAR, all we're terminated effective immediately. The Editor in Chief and most of the staff have now been blocked from following Consumerist and Consumer Reports on Twitter. It's all very backhanded and strange.

Consumerist wasn't the greatest spot for info(their obsession with receipt checks is weird), but damned if they weren't at least partially entertaining to read. And Consumer Reports stopped being useful a long time ago. They are the BuzzFeed of product reviews.
 
derpes_simplex
2017-10-30 4:33:03 PM  
9 votes:

FTJones: Think subby may have misunderstood the conveyed message.  Consumerist may not be subscription based but CR sure as hell is.


Or they were referring to advertiser subscriptions.
 
Bimmer Jones [OhFark]
2017-10-30 5:40:37 PM  
7 votes:
Consumer Reports = Rust-belt liberal
Consumerist = West Coast progressive

CR's advocacy and research have been valuable through the years, but it's gotten as dull as tap water at a time when we need younger critical consumers. Consumerist deftly skewered robbing hoods like Eddie Lampert as he destroys Sears, and snickered at Walmart's brain-dead pricing fifteen-year-old MP3 players higher than new iPhones. CR has little to offer Millennials and post-Millennials behind their paywall.
 
FTJones
2017-10-30 4:32:10 PM  
6 votes:
Think subby may have misunderstood the conveyed message.  Consumerist may not be subscription based but CR sure as hell is.
 
kevlar51
2017-10-30 7:43:04 PM  
5 votes:
The Consumerist was a joke. Countless posts that either treat rogue customer service agent statements as company policy, or lambast companies that do their best not to fall into bankruptcy (OMG they decreased the size of the package!! Boycott!!).
 
ssaoi
2017-10-30 5:51:58 PM  
4 votes:
Probably too many articles about people who think having to show their receipt on the way out of a store is the equivalent of Soviet Russia.

Plus, it was surprisingly easy to get your account shut down if you comment that they hire a proofreader.
 
sigdiamond2000
2017-10-30 5:59:28 PM  
4 votes:
Dear God...this is better news than the Trump Train going off the rails.

The Consumerist was probably the single worst non-political web site on the internet.
 
Spermbot
2017-10-30 6:18:25 PM  
4 votes:

Bimmer Jones: Consumer Reports = Rust-belt liberal
Consumerist = West Coast progressive

CR's advocacy and research have been valuable through the years, but it's gotten as dull as tap water at a time when we need younger critical consumers. Consumerist deftly skewered robbing hoods like Eddie Lampert as he destroys Sears, and snickered at Walmart's brain-dead pricing fifteen-year-old MP3 players higher than new iPhones. CR has little to offer Millennials and post-Millennials behind their paywall.


As millenial home ownership increases, CR will be more valuable for unbiased reviews of durable appliances, whose reliability isn't captured well in user reviews based on just short-term use after purchase. I just bought a month's access to get the reliability ratings on central AC systems, since other sources were very short term and HVAC contractors are hopelessly biased.
 
gingerjet
2017-10-30 6:48:45 PM  
4 votes:

Magorn: Well knock me over with a feather, I had no idea there was any connection between staid but reliable Consumer Reports and annoying but often entertaining consumerist


Consumer Reports hasn't been staid or reliable in years.  Resorting to making odd public statements and acting more like buzzfeed on twitter than performing fact based research.

/consumer reports should shutdown along with consumerists
 
WTFDYW [BareFark]
2017-10-30 4:27:23 PM  
3 votes:
I'm ok with this.
 
TedCruz'sCrazyDad
2017-10-30 8:11:14 PM  
3 votes:

Spermbot: Prof. Despair: Spermbot: As millenial home ownership increases, CR will be more valuable for unbiased reviews of durable appliances, whose reliability isn't captured well in user reviews based on just short-term use after purchase. I just bought a month's access to get the reliability ratings on central AC systems, since other sources were very short term and HVAC contractors are hopelessly biased.

On the flip side, long-term reliability ratings don't hold as much water as they used to. No matter how good your accelerated wear testing is, it's not going to tell you how long firmware support will last or spare parts will be available. Most "manufacturers" are actually rebranders or assemblers whose past record isn't an indicator of future performance; this of course means there is value in detailed teardowns, but this isn't really CR's wheelhouse.
And a big issue I've noticed with appliances lately is that US models are significantly behind the feature curve, to the extent that I'd expect obsolescence well before failure even for mediocre products. If I want the washer I buy today to be gone in ten years in favor of an all-in-one washer-dryer, if I want the stove I buy today to be gone in ten years in favor of one with a convection-steam or superheated-steam oven and a multielement induction top, if I want the water heater I'm installing to be replaced with one which lets me dial a bath temperature as I finish dinner, then knowing whether today's will last fifteen or thirty doesn't help me.

Then there's the separate problem that that last water heater will finally make the CR review shortlist five years after its introduction in the US mass market, and will receive a single black half-circle rating for the user-unfriendliness of having to be toggled on combined with the safety hazard of being able to set it to 55 and potentially forget.

~Millennial~ relevance would be carving through the "1,000 aliexpress listings, 10 actual products, 1 is jarts-level unsafe, 1 is ...


AC coolant changed from R22 to R-410a.  R22 units cannot be charged after 2020.  Significant change.
 
Russ1642
2017-10-30 11:17:08 PM  
3 votes:
Half the time Consumer Reports just regurgitates the marketing press releases put out by various companies. I'm pretty sure that Amazon is their main competitor.
 
FrancoFile [TotalFark]
2017-10-30 4:54:51 PM  
2 votes:
I found the acquisition of Consumerist by CR to be really weird.

CR is very button-down and very old-school liberal.

Consumerist is all about snark and a weird combination of populism & dog-eat-dog laissez faire capitalism - depending on who writes the article, I suppose.
 
Earguy [recently expired TotalFark] [OhFark]
2017-10-30 7:38:38 PM  
2 votes:

Prof. Despair: "1,000 aliexpress listings, 10 actual products, 1 is jarts-level unsafe,


LOL I went to see my parents last weekend.  Look what I found in the garage:

i.imgur.comView Full Size


i.imgur.comView Full Size


i.imgur.comView Full Size


Really?  Giving 3" steel spikes on projectiles is a bad idea?
 
cyberspacedout
2017-10-30 9:57:11 PM  
2 votes:
Can't they just offer more content for $5 a month?

Maybe for just half that, they could send out magazines without those flyers or subscription cards that fall out when you check your mailbox.
 
centrifugal bumblepuppy
2017-10-30 6:40:14 PM  
1 vote:
Consumerist was started as a Gawker property, and sold to Consumer Reports almost a decade ago.
 
Earguy [recently expired TotalFark] [OhFark]
2017-10-30 7:09:38 PM  
1 vote:
Okay, so The Consumerist content is going to get pulled behind  a paywall.  Well, it was a fun ride.
 
Spermbot
2017-10-30 7:43:29 PM  
1 vote:

Prof. Despair: Spermbot: As millenial home ownership increases, CR will be more valuable for unbiased reviews of durable appliances, whose reliability isn't captured well in user reviews based on just short-term use after purchase. I just bought a month's access to get the reliability ratings on central AC systems, since other sources were very short term and HVAC contractors are hopelessly biased.

On the flip side, long-term reliability ratings don't hold as much water as they used to. No matter how good your accelerated wear testing is, it's not going to tell you how long firmware support will last or spare parts will be available. Most "manufacturers" are actually rebranders or assemblers whose past record isn't an indicator of future performance; this of course means there is value in detailed teardowns, but this isn't really CR's wheelhouse.
And a big issue I've noticed with appliances lately is that US models are significantly behind the feature curve, to the extent that I'd expect obsolescence well before failure even for mediocre products. If I want the washer I buy today to be gone in ten years in favor of an all-in-one washer-dryer, if I want the stove I buy today to be gone in ten years in favor of one with a convection-steam or superheated-steam oven and a multielement induction top, if I want the water heater I'm installing to be replaced with one which lets me dial a bath temperature as I finish dinner, then knowing whether today's will last fifteen or thirty doesn't help me.

Then there's the separate problem that that last water heater will finally make the CR review shortlist five years after its introduction in the US mass market, and will receive a single black half-circle rating for the user-unfriendliness of having to be toggled on combined with the safety hazard of being able to set it to 55 and potentially forget.

~Millennial~ relevance would be carving through the "1,000 aliexpress listings, 10 actual products, 1 is jarts-level unsafe, 1 is an RC car moto ...


Central AC units haven't changed all that much in the past ten years, and they're unlikely to in the next ten.  CR reliability ratings for this appliance count for a lot in this case.  In the case of other major appliances, the 20 repair shops I called throughout my state all said, "They don't make 'em like they used to.  Buy the longest extended warranty you can get."  I don't need much in the way of fancy features (except extra sound muffling on the dishwasher), so reliability is a key criteria for me.
 
bobug [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2017-10-30 8:03:25 PM  
1 vote:
I finally found out where my boss moonlight. (I.e. sets goals / metrics that have no elements within the control of the person being evaluated... or no relevance to the position.)
 
The Smails Kid
2017-10-31 10:26:04 AM  
1 vote:

sigdiamond2000: Dear God...this is better news than the Trump Train going off the rails.

The Consumerist was probably the single worst non-political web site on the internet.


You spelled "BoingBoing" wrong
 
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