Gawker: companywide interactivity initiatives

You notice how everything has looked screwy...

abalk — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:28:17 EDT

You notice how everything has looked screwy here this week? Comments disappearing or bunching up, pictures not aligning properly, tags not displaying on the main page, that sort of thing? Management decided to impose technical changes on the site without testing them out first. There's a lesson here, but we're pretty sure no one's gonna learn it.

Internal Memo Strips Last Shred Of Dignity

abalk2 — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:20:26 EDT

Remember on Monday how we chuckled at Michael Pietsch's mandate that his minions at Little, Brown post their profiles, Facebook-style, on Publishers Lunch? Well, it turns out that joke isn't funny anymore! At least, not for us.

The following note came down the pike from Gawker Media Overall King And Managing Editor Lockhart "Not Remington!" Steele:

Along with Scott's push to update the staff directory, we're asking for a new form of contact information for you, too. We want you to create a Facebook page.
(This request is actually a non-negotiable demand for everyone at Gawker Media, so do read on. This should take you about three minutes to complete.)

While we can understand the impetus behind the order (it allows Nick Denton to play his "Pick a random employee and fire him" game without having to come into the office, or at least to visually identify staff members that he's forgotten since hiring), we're a little goddamned horrified by the indignity of, you know, having to be on Facebook. What are we, 19? Are we in some goddamned state school sorority? We already spend enough of our time trying to avoid our co-workers; now we've gotta be board buddies with them? Fuck that noise. We quit. —balk

Note: Okay, we totally don't quit, we've got addictions to feed! But seriously, this is bullshit! Fortunately, we're apparently on Facebook in something of a "protected" network, and we don't really want to be your friend, but should you somehow break through the wall and see our profile, know this: The line "Alex Balk and Emily Gould are now friends" is a total lie.

Defamer's Next Top T-Shirt Slogan

Mark — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:19:23 EST

In our ongoing attempt to give you new and exciting ways to interact with this Intertubes Blogsite and fritter away even more of your employer's valuable time, we are happy to invite you, the reader who always believed that the whispers the voice inside your head distracts you with as you try to roll calls would make a catchy t-shirt slogan, to provide (and/or vote on! See? Interactive!) the idea for the next high-quality Defamer garment to be sold in the Gawker Shop. Here's how it works: The creative-minded can submit their slogans in the form found after the jump (after submitting, you'll be whisked off to the live, Digg-style voting), while the impatient and judgmental can jump directly to the voting page to celebrate the inspired or euthanize the feeble. And while we recognize that you are undoubtedly brimming with sloganeering genius, we prefer you not drain your reserves too quickly, and so limit you to a single submission every half-hour. Get to work, before the Lindsay Lohan-related idea you had is rendered obsolete by a newer and more suspicious emergency surgery.

If you see this message, your browser is not compatible with iFrames, so you can't vote. Sorry! Try upgrading your browser.

Gawker Shop

World Series Wager: Just Happy To Be Here

abalk2 — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:50:59 EDT

You may recall our World Series wager with Will Leitch of Deadspin: Should Leitch's Cardinals win it all, we'd do a full day of his posts on the sports site in addition to our duties here, while if our Tigers prevailed Will would be forced to do twenty-four posts in a day across the sites. Well, after last night's 5-4 Cardinals victory, it's looking increasingly likely that you're stuck with us. Yeah, you gotta believe, anything could happen, teams have come back from bigger deficits before, etc.; barring inclement weather the whole thing will be over one way or the other by Sunday. We're reminding you of this bet not to elicit any sympathy for our plight (don't worry about us, we've got a shoebox full of crank and a copy of The Sporting News) but as a warning: Should we, in fact, be manning both helms on Tuesday we have a very strong suspicion that Deadspin's commenters will be following us over here and, to be frank, those people are animals. Be prepared.

Cardinals Put Tigers on the Brink [NYT]

Detroit Tigers Offer You Opportunity To Be Free of Us For a Day
A Friendly Wager, If You Will [Deadspin]

Detroit Tigers Offer You Opportunity To Be Free of Us For a Day

abalk2 — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:10:18 EDT

So if you're a New York baseball fan of any variety your last remaining postseason hopes died last night on Carlos Beltran's called third strike. But fear not, New Yorkers: Much like walking angioplasty advertisement Tommy Lasorda, we're here to tell you that even though the Mets and Yankees are out of the playoffs, you still have a reason to watch the World Series. As it turns out, an editor of this site is, for reasons too complicated and extensive to go into here, a longtime fan of the Detroit Tigers. The editor of Deadspin (pictured above), Gawker Media's sports blog, is, for reasons of geography, a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, Motown's Series rival. Much like publicity-seeking big city mayors who engage in jerkoff bets in the hopes of favorable news coverage, these two editors have also engaged in a wager, the terms of which are this: The editor whose team loses the Fall Classic will, on the Tuesday after the competition's conclusion, be forced to cover not only his own site's post requirements, but additionally pick up the other guy's posts for the day. So if you hate our guts and would much prefer to have the dynamic Mr. Leitch guest here for a day, you'll be rooting for the Tigers. Conversely, should you wish to see how we handle pictures of drunken backup QBs, you'll be pulling for the Cardinals. Who will prevail? Will it be Balk and human chimney Jimmy Leyland of the Tigers or Leitch and Tony "My only World Series win required an act of God" LaRussa of the Cards? Ultimately, the only real losers are the readers.

Mets finish in unhappy Endy [NYDN]

Defamer Cares What You Think: Omissions, Additions, And Suggestions Edition

Mark — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:13:22 EDT

In addition to our weekly commenter cancellations, a feature in which we think you've already taken an almost perverse pleasure, we're also launching another week-ending item in which you, the easily bored and strongly opinionated reader, can tell us about the kinds of things you'd like to see more of (or, as the case may be, less of) in the coming week. Want every post to be accompanied by a startlingly huge, officially approved Brian Grazer headshot, regardless of subject matter? Tell us. Think there's an area of Lindsay Lohan coverage that's being criminally neglected? Say so. Either drop us a line to tips@defamer.com enlightening us about your hopes and dreams for the coming week or duke it out in this post's comments if you're one of the lucky, chosen, unicorn-riding few. Sure, we'll probably just ignore most of the suggestions (especially if they're anti-Grazer-headshot rants), but you just might open our eyes to some things we've been too drunk (or hungover) to think of on our own.