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Are the new 'news/review' articles actually paid advertisements? If they are, they should definitely be labelled as such. If they aren't, why is there so much language that would only be found in an advertisement?
I'm assuming that means they're paid advertisements. Which are labelled as "News" with no mention whatsoever that they're paid advertisements. That's pretty slimy guys.
@Newschoolers How about a real conversation about this instead of more shitty jokes?
I frequent this website in part because of the ski related news and reviews. Diluting real news with paid advertising totally undermines the credibility of the site and tanks the credibility of the impartial (maybe they're not?) ski reviews that are all under the same "News" heading. Just add a tag that states when something is paid content like what many other websites do. It's such a simple solution. Do you get paid more by advertisers if you pass off their ad as news?
There are so many more that read exactly as advertisements, and when NS only give answers like the above meme and something like "next, we teach you how sausages are made" or whatever then it's clear where they stand on this.
It's sad because it totally undermines what (I still assume) are legit reviews when they all fall under the same "News" tag. I don't recall news being so blatantly advertising in the past. Maybe the parent companies had some rules about how advertisements were allowed to be posted that prevented them from being called news? Most websites I've seen that mix news and paid advertising in the same feed clearly tag the advertisements so there's no confusion.
lol the @HighSnowbiety account that posts advertisements as news has this written in the account: This account is used to post fashion/gear news. It may also feature branded content or paid links.
So it is just a company account for posting ads as news, and I guess that little statement in the account profile is the justification for not tagging those articles as ads?
coronalol the @HighSnowbiety account that posts advertisements as news has this written in the account: This account is used to post fashion/gear news. It may also feature branded content or paid links.
So it is just a company account for posting ads as news, and I guess that little statement in the account profile is the justification for not tagging those articles as ads?
corona@Newschoolers How about a real conversation about this instead of more shitty jokes?
I frequent this website in part because of the ski related news and reviews. Diluting real news with paid advertising totally undermines the credibility of the site and tanks the credibility of the impartial (maybe they're not?) ski reviews that are all under the same "News" heading. Just add a tag that states when something is paid content like what many other websites do. It's such a simple solution. Do you get paid more by advertisers if you pass off their ad as news?
There are so many more that read exactly as advertisements, and when NS only give answers like the above meme and something like "next, we teach you how sausages are made" or whatever then it's clear where they stand on this.
It's sad because it totally undermines what (I still assume) are legit reviews when they all fall under the same "News" tag. I don't recall news being so blatantly advertising in the past. Maybe the parent companies had some rules about how advertisements were allowed to be posted that prevented them from being called news? Most websites I've seen that mix news and paid advertising in the same feed clearly tag the advertisements so there's no confusion.
coronalol the @HighSnowbiety account that posts advertisements as news has this written in the account: This account is used to post fashion/gear news. It may also feature branded content or paid links.
So it is just a company account for posting ads as news, and I guess that little statement in the account profile is the justification for not tagging those articles as ads?
Yoo, it's been on my unending to do list to reply to this for a while, sorry for the delay until now! Simple answer is, yes, some of the articles you picked out are paid. It's partly an issue with the site, that news tag is automatically added to all news pieces regardless of how we tag them. We are trying to avoid doing too much work on the back end right now...
Anyway just to respond to specific examples, not everything posted about Phaenom is paid, nor that Jiberish link I believe, from memory. I can't remember which Phaenom stuff was paid and wasnt, but it's pretty clear to us a new freeski boot brand is interesting news, in and of itself. However, therein lies an(other) issue, which is that particularly when it comes to gear we haven't tested, a lot of the quick writeups we do sound paid even when they are not. Partly time is money and both are lacking so we don't always do the best job rewriting the copy on stuff that we just think is worth posting quickly about. And partly, writing about gear very often sounds paid regardless. Part of the reason we created the HighSnowbiety account (a dumb play on High Snobiety) was to have an outlet that imitates what its namesake does. Which is post often quickly written and often not terribly good, gear related 'news', some of which is paid, and some of which is not (they rarely if ever note it either). It generates eyeballs either way
There are, by necessity, paid elements in much of what we do (video sponsors etc). We try, as much as practically possible, to keep things endemic and produce the stuff we want, with brands tagging along with supporting budget. To your previous point I can't find the quote, but, yes brands pay more (or would) not to have stuff tagged. On occasion they have threatened to pull the budget and refuse to pay when we have added them. It's a difficult dance and basically we are trying to dance it the best we can. Note, this is true of much of what you'd read in a skate or ski magazine too, and rarely would it be tagged.
Just for the record though, nobody has ever paid for a Roofbox Review or an NS Originals edit, or any of our other mainline content that I can think of off the top of my head. Yes, events or brands might pay us to drop 'news' announcements or event dates. And to be frank, you might see some ads we would rather not do this season as we fire up the independent version of NS. We need to generate revenue for the new company (having started with 0) and it's a tough season in 'the game'. Teaser/to end on a positive note, we are working on something HUGE in the background and we (me and @Dr.Zorko ) have been forgoing salaries since the takeover to keep this ship floating while we do this. We will try to a better job of this where possible, because we realise keeping our members happy is the most important part of being a success.
**This post was edited on Dec 10th 2024 at 12:27:28pm
Twigyes brands pay more (or would) not to have stuff tagged. On occasion they have threatened to pull the budget and refuse to pay when we have added them.
Just for the record though, nobody has ever paid for a Roofbox Review or an NS Originals edit, or any of our other mainline content that I can think of off the top of my head.
Unfortunately, these cannot coexist. Either you have independent reviews and tag all paid reviews, or you have paid but untagged reviews and lose credibility for the legit reviews. There really is no happy middle, and NS will need to pick a lane on this going forward.
