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<p>Saw those. No greatness comes from a $250 review. Vendors want
control of editorial, and they have purchased it. <br>
</p>
<p>See MS Ignite this week, where many millions are being used in a
vacuum-sealed conference center to insulate people from that
tawdry press stuff.</p>
<p>Non-aligned conferences are another problem for another day. This
is why the "open" conferences have become so valuable for
non-partisan information. <br>
</p>
<p>Tom</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/5/19 6:46 AM, Tom Geller via
Ipg-smz wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:8B618D81-2E70-4369-983E-8A55134CE474@tomgeller.com">
<div dir="auto" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">On 5 Nov 2019, at 12:31, Tom Henderson via
Ipg-smz <<a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">Amazingly, I may have the largest independent
test lab, enterprise grade, left. Who's left doing
enterprise-grade product reviews?<br class="">
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
Quite right. </div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class="">Theresa W. Carey recently posted some
jobs at DotDash that looked good, including one for freelance
tech reviewers -- a job I did 20+ years ago. They
wanted 1,000-2,500 word reviews, tested on multiple devices,
with "crisp, well-lit photos of review products in clean
settings". Exactly the sort of thing a lab would do.</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class="">Well, fine -- I can do all that. Then I
realized that the chances of them paying more than $250/review
are nearly zero.</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class="">They'll get someone, of course. Probably
someone just out of school, starting up a ladder to a point they
don't yet realize no longer exists. Or a hobbyist, part-timer,
or retiree. Doesn't matter, because those 2,000 words be gone in
a few days.<br class="">
<div class="">
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
---<br class="">
Tom Geller * Writer & Video/journalist * <a
href="http://tomgeller.com" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">http://tomgeller.com</a><br
class="">
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468<br
class="">
Oberlin, Ohio * +1-415-317-1805</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<div><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On 5 Nov 2019, at 12:31, Tom Henderson via
Ipg-smz <<a href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
<div class="">Amazingly, I may have the largest
independent test lab, enterprise grade, left. Who's left
doing enterprise-grade product reviews?<br class="">
<br class="">
I wonder if this is the emergence of the tech oligarchy.<br
class="">
<br class="">
It's my humble opinion that I have but a fraction of
what might be realistic: 500 Xeon cores, 40K GPU cores,
100TB NVMe SAN, 10GB with 100GB core router. This is
crazy. There should be ten dozen of me.<br class="">
<br class="">
This is how the media becomes controlled: asphyxiation.<br
class="">
<br class="">
Imagine: I'm using this stuff to make cryptocurrency
because enterprise-grade product journalism has been
starved off-- choked.<br class="">
<br class="">
Tom<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
On 11/5/19 2:20 AM, Tom Geller via Ipg-smz wrote:<br
class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">On 5 Nov 2019, at
08:01, Howard M. Cohen via Ipg-smz<<a
href="mailto:ipg-smz@netpress.org" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">ipg-smz@netpress.org</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">many of us have
changed who we write for<br class="">
</blockquote>
If you write for a vendor, are you a "journalist"?
Open for debate, but I'd say "no", and my comments
here reflect that. Certainly the consensus answer was
"no" twenty years ago.<br class="">
<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">Ours is a vibrant and
vital community.<br class="">
</blockquote>
Arguing against that:<br class="">
* Far lower freelance rates, down over 75% from the
1990s.<br class="">
* Far fewer staff positions, probably down over 90%.<br
class="">
* Far less care and oversight (copyeditors, managing
editors, etc.). Again I'd say 75-90% shrinkage.<br
class="">
* Far fewer publications, so less mobility.<br
class="">
* For less exposure from each piece (shorter pieces,
in the public eye for only days or hours).<br class="">
* Far less publication revenue from our work, causing
all the above.<br class="">
<br class="">
I'll grant that it's a "vibrant and vital community"
-- of part-timers, hobbyists, and retired folks
looking to stay busy (*ahem*). But for only a tiny
number is it a profession nowadays.<br class="">
<br class="">
It's nice work if you can get it. And if you get it,
won't you tell me how?<br class="">
<br class="">
---<br class="">
Tom Geller * Writer & Video/journalist *<a
href="http://tomgeller.com" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">http://tomgeller.com</a><br
class="">
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468<br
class="">
Oberlin, Ohio * +1-415-317-1805<br
class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
</blockquote>
-- <br class="">
Tom Henderson<br class="">
ExtremeLabs, Inc.<br class="">
+1 317 250 4646<br class="">
Twitter: @extremelabs<br class="">
Skype: extremelabsinc<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
-- <br class="">
Ipg-smz mailing list<br class="">
<a href="mailto:Ipg-smz@netpress.org" class=""
moz-do-not-send="true">Ipg-smz@netpress.org</a><br
class="">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org">http://netpress.org/mailman/listinfo/ipg-smz_netpress.org</a><br class="">
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
<br>
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</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc</pre>
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