6 replies to this topic

[Kristian]

A small thing, but is anybody else slightly irritated at articles being written by the same person, on the same subject, on both sites but seemingly going through some kind of student-plagiaristic slight rewriting to look like two different articles? I've noticed it a few times now recently. Why not just admit that both sites are the same company and use the same articles? 

 

e.g. 

 

http://www.autosport...lonso-f1-future

 

and 

 

https://www.motorspo...-f1-yet-893161/

 

Its slightly insulting to the audience if its an attempt to make both sites look unique (especially those of us who get headlines via news aggregators).

 

Is there an actual valid reason for doing it this way? 

[Grayson]

This is a very interesting subject, and something which we're all giving a lot of thought to. I've had a chat with our editor about this a few times and spoken to him again this morning to make sure that what I'm about to say is up to date...

 

Our owners have promised that Autosport and Motorsport.com will continue to run as separate sites with a distinct voice. They've publicly stated to the readers that they're committed to this and they've also said it to us in terms of our jobs and careers!

 

Most of our content will be unique to one site or the other, but there are also stories which are relevant to both audiences. The article you linked to is actually a brilliant example of this - Jon Noble spent a lot of time with Alonso yesterday afternoon and had some very interesting things to say about the Indy 500 announcement and Alonso's future in F1. Plenty of people who visit Autosport and not Motorsport.com would want to read this. I think we're providing those people with a better service by making that sort of content available on Autosport as well, and the Motorsport.com readers are getting a better experience by being able to read some Autosport content.

 

Our online analytics show that there's a surprisingly low crossover of readers who visit both Autosport and Motorsport.com - there are a lot more people who would have missed out on Jon's piece entirely if it hadn't appeared on Autosport than there are people who see both sets of headlines.

 

As for the difference between the article on the two sites - that's not an attempt to make them seem different but reflects the fact that each site has its own editorial tone and approach to stories. Articles are written and subedited differently for the two sites - both versions of the story should be how it would have looked if he was only writing for one of the two sites!

[Kristian]

Hi Grayson, OK thanks for the reply - so its the individual editor who finalises the pieces rather than the writer, in these cases? 

 

OK I can see how this happens then; I just thought of poor old Jon sitting there trying to make his own article seem unique to each site himself, rather than it going through different editorial processes. At first it looked like 'cheap cloning' (to think of a better phrase) but your reasoning actually makes me more confident in the individuality of both sites. 

 

[amedeofelix]

Yes.  Makes sense.

[lettuce]

it does slightly make a mockery of the read limit though. I don't have a sub anymore and i understand the commercial direction of Autosport but given a choice between reading an article here and being nagged or disallowed from reading or reading it without nagging on the MS site i will just go to MS so in the end it's just going to drive away traffic if the content is the same.  (obviously this does not refer to the plus content)

Edited by lettuce, 25 April 2017 - 11:45.

[Kristian]

it does slightly make a mockery of the read limit though. I don't have a sub anymore and i understand the commercial direction of Autosport but given a choice between reading an article here and being nagged or disallowed from reading or reading it without nagging on the MS site i will just go to MS so in the end it's just going to drive away traffic if the content is the same.  (obviously this does not refer to the plus content)

 

Yeah I do notice most articles are posted usually next to each other on NewsNow (i.e. with little time difference), and as I now know they will be about the same thing, I tend to click on the Motorsport version of the article as the site is a lot easier to load/look at than Autosport's (plus no read limit). 

Edited by Kristian, 25 April 2017 - 13:18.

[BCM]

 

Our online analytics show that there's a surprisingly low crossover of readers who visit both Autosport and Motorsport.com - there are a lot more people who would have missed out on Jon's piece entirely if it hadn't appeared on Autosport than there are people who see both sets of headlines.

 

 

Surprising. As soon as I hit the 15 views/month I just head to either Motorsport.com or Racer.com to read the articles I'm blocked from looking at on Autosport.