As is to be expected (everyone wants their share of the page views), Robin Fenlon wrote up a piece on Ride UK about the Streetphire poll. He raises some good points about why the results won’t be accurate and defends print’s existence. I wasn’t even going to post a link but then I saw 4Down’s tweet about the article:
It’s true. But what makes the opinion of someone who works at a magazine more important or relevant than the opinion of some dude that starts a blog? Especially someone who starts a popular blog, as H Man has done? News flash: There are some fucking IDIOTS who work for BMX magazines. Everyone wants to write a 2 paragraph comment on The Come Up listing off why print is so essential and will never die. But 4Down’s Tweet reminds me of why the internet is so awesome. It levels the playing field and the barriers of entry all drop. Some fool like me can start the biggest BMX website of all time from his bedroom. I’m not sure what kind of traffic Streetphire gets, but H-Man has certainly carved out his own niche and made a name for himself in his scene.
Robin’s article has this quote:
“On the internet, any Tom, Dick or Harry can have a voice, as demonstrated by the Streetphire post. You buy a magazine and you’re going to view high quality filtered BMX content. If you don’t fancy paying the price of a single beer for it then you can search though the thousands of crap photos and poorly written blogs online.”
But is that actually reflective of your experience online? No. It’s not reflective of anyone’s experience, because on the web, the good stuff floats to the top while the bad stuff sinks. Everyone checks sites like TCU and Defgrip because we have a consistent track record of giving you what you want. Even a site like SPRFLS shot to notoriety in a couple months just by providing content that people were interested in. If you come up with something interesting, that people like, your website will flourish. If not, you’ll be one of the thousands of BMX blogs that get close to no traffic.
Most of you don’t need any convincing that the internet is the end all and be all of obtaining information, because you already cast that vote every day by clicking around on TCU. I just wish magazines would stop bullshitting about the importance of the internet. I figured out a year or two ago that I’m good enough at this blogging shit that I don’t have to try and tear any competitors down, whether online or in print because the quality of what I put out will speak for itself. Magazines should do the same thing and focus on putting out quality issues every month instead of justifying their existence (on the internet).