I remember when TC was just beginning and it was full of stories about micro companies doing cool stuff with new technologies. Big companies were rarely given any coverage at all. Today it's completely different. Most articles look like recycled PR posts about Company X raising Y millions from a Z fund.<p>Another thing that is completely ruining it is non-stop fan boy posts (MG anyone?).
Oh TechCrunch... I haven't deliberately gone there in months but when I accidently do I can't help but notice how the "Whats Hot" hasn't changed... still been this for a year now?<p><pre><code> What's Hot: Android, Apple, Facebook, Google, Groupon, Microsoft, Twitter, Zynga
</code></pre>
If something is "hot" all the time, then its pretty pointless. Thats the UX grouch in me.
Part of me thinks that if we see the "worst case scenario" tech bubble pop, combined with the "Aol Way" brand of journalism, Techcrunch will fade into obscurity over the next five years.
Summary:<p>TC has higher volume / lower median quality<p>Time-to-market trumps quality / accuracy in a zero barrier to entry space.<p>The AOL buyout gave TC some resources it didn't have before and it put demands on the staff that were perhaps not as explicit before. That it would evolve is unsurprising, whether or not the evolution is for better or for worse is impossible to predict. If they leave a gap another TC equivalent will grow in that gap.<p>That being said it would be fun to have a site focussed on what the original TC market was, small startups & new ideas & connecting people. And if they could do that without egregious site advertising (I don't mind advertising but the TMZ look is, well distracting to say the least). I would read it.<p>Disclaimer, I still read the RSS feed for TC but don't visit much.
There was an interesting comment at the bottom of the post about how TC could lose out to basically anybody who out-scoops him on a story and about how TC hangs its hat on being able to publish first. I think it would be great if they could maybe move away from the "ready, fire, aim" the author talks about and provides really sound analysis and discussion about startups.
I have stopped reading techcrunch.com about 7/8 months ago even though I still subscribe to its rss feed. The website is bloated and takes forever to load. I have also noticed the quality of the articles go down in the past year or so.
My last company was covered by TC (back in 2007), and I think all this 'blindsided' stuff is insincere.<p>I was happy to get the coverage, but I don't think not being contacted by TC before they posted an article had nothing to do with a 'hot' story. Contacting companies takes time. It may take only 20 minutes to talk to an entrepreneur about there business, but 20 minutes dedicated to each company would really slow down the whole process.
It's about pumping out as much content is possible as much as it is breaking a 'hot' story.
The AOL buyout has really pushed me to stay away from anything they write. While the quality of articles and writing was dropping pre-buyout, it has definitely gotten much worse post-buyout.