An observation about CBR

[mmurphy1968]

Prior to the change in format I always felt this site tried to be a serious source for comic and related news. Now when I come here it seems the quality of the articles has dropped dramatically, the layout is horrible and we get treated to list after pointless list. Even the headlines are horrible: :"Rocket Raccoon: 15 Weird AF Things You NEVER Knew" and "Ant-Man: 15 Ways The Movie SUCKED" - the easiest way to identify click bait and poor journalism is the use of words in all caps. And do we need "AF" (as fuck) and "sucked" in the headlines? I swear a lot, so I am not against swearing but it doesn't give the impression of a quality site.

Maybe this could be a headline we will see soon: "15 reasons why CBR SUCKS (and 15 why Comic Book Resources didn't)"

I wouldn't care so much except there aren't many good news sites for comics and it is sad that Bleeding Cool is looking more professional than what we get here.

Rant over....

[Mia]

Click bait pays the bills. And it's not as if there's a lot of depth writing wise from the big two, and a cursory observation of most posts tell me that most fans don't want much material or depth or cerebral stuff to begin with. I suspect that people who read Image and Indies and old Marvel and DC Stuff venture on the site much.

It is what it is.

[Rich Johnston]

Prior to the change in format I always felt this site tried to be a serious source for comic and related news. Now when I come here it seems the quality of the articles has dropped dramatically, the layout is horrible and we get treated to list after pointless list. Even the headlines are horrible: :"Rocket Raccoon: 15 Weird AF Things You NEVER Knew" and "Ant-Man: 15 Ways The Movie SUCKED" - the easiest way to identify click bait and poor journalism is the use of words in all caps. And do we need "AF" (as fuck) and "sucked" in the headlines? I swear a lot, so I am not against swearing but it doesn't give the impression of a quality site.

Maybe this could be a headline we will see soon: "15 reasons why CBR SUCKS (and 15 why Comic Book Resources didn't)"

I wouldn't care so much except there aren't many good news sites for comics and it is sad that Bleeding Cool is looking more professional than what we get here.

Rant over....

Sad or inevitable?

[JCAll]

I mean, I only go to the main page anymore to read The Buy Pile.
I'm not even sure what else the main page has.

[Goggindowner]

Lists pay bills. They get ad revenue based on page visits, so making you click through 15 pages for a single article means they get paid 15 times instead of just the once for every ad on the page. Click bait headlines are just meant to lure you into the trap.

I, personally, only use CBR to post here in the forums. I haven't read an article in years from this site. I don't even really see that many news articles get posted into the forums anymore, but that could just be me not paying attention to them because I just don't care.

And yeah, I pretty much only read indies, Image, and a selection of older Marvel stuff.

[Spike-X]

Yeah, site went to shit once Jonah sold it. Just as the forums went to shit when he rebooted them and drove away most of the long-term posters over petty bullshit.

[dancj]

I disagree on the forums. They're still good.

The rest of the site though - yeah. I only have CBR on my news feed for the Brian Cronin articles these days. It's sad.

[Iron Maiden]

I agree. There were some notorious trolls that got reined in or kicked out of the forums. The thing is it's hard to find the good columnists any more. Brian Cronin has been doing columns about lists for years but not as click bait. He had other ongoing topics to like the homage covers, or behind the scenes stuff about various topics. I used to like how you could comment on the columns without it going to FB or whatever.

[Armageddon]

Comicsalliance.com

But yeah i remember when newsarama used to ne different in the early 2000s

[ouroboros]

Click bait pays the bills. And it's not as if there's a lot of depth writing wise from the big two, and a cursory observation of most posts tell me that most fans don't want much material or depth or cerebral stuff to begin with. I suspect that people who read Image and Indies and old Marvel and DC Stuff venture on the site much.

It is what it is.

Ditto fans' lack of interest in in-depth critiques, or, for that matter, arguing their positions with any semblance of logic.

Was your last sentence supposed to read, "...don't venture on the site much?"

[stain]

What's interesting to me is that it is seemingly happening all at once .... comic sales appear to be down or slumping or something to garner the almost daily fire drill of articles about the sad state of LCS and the industry in general (from both comic media and national websites), Marvel's apparent sales slump, comic book related websites either failing or dumbing down, and yet all of this is happening when comic book related entertainment and conventions are hotter than ever. If you have followed sales charts over the decades it's clear the cancellation threshold has dropped dramatically. 30k seems good today, in the past that would be a sign of cancellation.

It's also interesting how all of a sudden, in the age of the internet, people are clueless about how to find comic book shops or how to jump into reading ... yet can find obscure organic menus and trendy 'open only a month' clothing boutiques-indie coffee shops-vinyl record shops. Yelp doesn't just restaurants, they list your LCS. I think to much is made of lack of marketing, something that was nonexistent in the internet-less past when sales where higher.

What I find disappointing is that, just no more than 5 years ago, you could visit at least 7 well designed comic book related websites with excellent long form articles (with various opinions expressed). Today you are lucky to find 1 or 2 worthy articles, much less sites, with pretty much no debate or difference in opinion.

In many ways I feel like the last of my kind. LOL. I just know too many people who either no longer buy comics or are in the process of giving it up. I'm not talking about recent fans who picked up different hobbies or interest, these are people who were 30+ year readers. I don't blame the websites and their decline, it's just interesting that all of this happening seemingly at once. But I personally notice it with the websites, the substance is gone.

[mbm721]

What's interesting to me is that it is seemingly happening all at once .... comic sales appear to be down or slumping or something to garner the almost daily fire drill of articles about the sad state of LCS and the industry in general (from both comic media and national websites), Marvel's apparent sales slump, comic book related websites either failing or dumbing down, and yet all of this is happening when comic book related entertainment and conventions are hotter than ever. If you have followed sales charts over the decades it's clear the cancellation threshold has dropped dramatically. 30k seems good today, in the past that would be a sign of cancellation.

It's also interesting how all of a sudden, in the age of the internet, people are clueless about how to find comic book shops or how to jump into reading ... yet can find obscure organic menus and trendy 'open only a month' clothing boutiques-indie coffee shops-vinyl record shops. Yelp doesn't just restaurants, they list your LCS. I think to much is made of lack of marketing, something that was nonexistent in the internet-less past when sales where higher.

What I find disappointing is that, just no more than 5 years ago, you could visit at least 7 well designed comic book related websites with excellent long form articles (with various opinions expressed). Today you are lucky to find 1 or 2 worthy articles, much less sites, with pretty much no debate or difference in opinion.

In many ways I feel like the last of my kind. LOL. I just know too many people who either no longer buy comics or are in the process of giving it up. I'm not talking about recent fans who picked up different hobbies or interest, these are people who were 30+ year readers. I don't blame the websites and their decline, it's just interesting that all of this happening seemingly at once. But I personally notice it with the websites, the substance is gone.

Wow. This was a great connection that I didn't think of but it has some evidence to support it. Comic sales down, website quality down, movie audience a d revenue up. It's appealing to the least common denominator and the quality matches the average of the fan base. Which may not be long term comic readers (been reading and collecting since 1991)

[Spike-X]

If the comics industry had to survive by appealing solely to long term readers as you define them, there would be no comics industry left.

[Vegan Daddy]

Some of the recent articles were mean spirited. Like, why would you shit on comic books on a comic book site frequented by comic book fans?

[mbm721]

If the comics industry had to survive by appealing solely to long term readers as you define them, there would be no comics industry left.

I meant the website content and articles appealing to the least common denominator, not the "comics industry" which probably means the publishers and actual comics. And I did not define any term, just personal experience.