WoW Insider is taking over the world
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 9th 2008 at 1:07PM
Reader Andy wrote in this morning to tell us about what he read while having his morning cup of joe. From the The Guardian's article on The world's 50 most powerful blogs:"46. WoW Insider"
Ummm... really? Cool!
While I consider us to be a major source of news, information, and QQness about World of Warcraft related things, I never really thought that we'd ever be included on a list like this. It's kind of nice. So who did we beat? And who beat us?
Well, let's start with who we beat... "Angry black bitch", "Stylebubble", "AfterEllen", and "Copyblogger". Alright, pretty cool. We beat them like Ony beat the pulp out of me last night (more on that later today!).
Who beat us? Some of the names I recognized and read often enough include: "The Huffington Post" (#1), "Techcrunch" (#3), "Drudge Report" (#11), "TMZ" (#15), "Engadget" (#16).
I'm a Kevin Smith hack, and I would have loved for us to be up at number 37. That way I could have walked around all day yelling "37?!", instead I'm going to be saying "46?!" But oh well, his blog didn't even make the list; and part of me thinks it should have.
All in all, not too shabby if I don't say so myself. As I'm just waking up after a long night of PvP testing on the TTR, getting ready for some action today during the stress test, I'm going to go mix myself a mimosa and cheers to my fellow WoW Insider writers and all of our readers.
This site wouldn't be the same, or even exist, with out all of you! Thanks!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, WoW Insider Business, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Derick Mar 9th 2008 1:16PM
How'd WoWInsider beat Joystiq?
Not that I favor one over the other, it just seems like WoWInsider is more niche, where Joystiq would include a lot of the readership of WoWInsider and more....
Whatever.
I'm happy you're on there!
Gratz on 46!
Unfor Mar 9th 2008 1:28PM
I love your blog....because it is updated more often than any other news source. But I, and I suspect many others, do not consider it a place with much credibility at all. This is an aspect that I hope changes soon. Some editorial oversight would be an amazing addition.
The absolutely amazing and pathetic shammy QQing that is allowed to take place here and be passed off as news, has got to go (love how Mike often quotes his own past blogs as a source credit..lol)
The recent article about pally tanks and holy pallies....so very uninformed.
Is it too much to ask for a "Chief editor" who reviews all articles before publication?...or something along those lines? (If you already have one.....please replace this person....seriously)
Other than that, I love your blog, honestly. And I give credit to the author who work so hard to keep it up to date. I read it every day and have considered making it my home page. World domination? It is yours to be had! (If you get a review process in place)
G Mar 9th 2008 5:45PM
So what? Are you afraid that someone might take some specific bit of advice and go on to ruin their lives? This is a blog. WoW is a game. Relax, man. Comment where you see errors, be polite and informative. The world won't end. No, really.
warborn Mar 10th 2008 10:33AM
gratz on 46. Sad to say, I check you first thing every morning at work....world news, science, politics...screw em..WHATS GOING ON IN WOW! :P
Deuce Mar 9th 2008 1:41PM
These types of lists are highly political (Newsflash: The gaurdian
Roland Mar 9th 2008 1:48PM
"But I, and I suspect many others, do not consider it a place with much credibility at all."
I suspect far more people consider WoW Insider an excellent, reputable source of news - as well as opinion pieces. In a newspaper, the news room and editorial board are separate entities. The same is true with WoW Insider. The opinions of certain authors doesn't affect the site's accuracy when it comes to reporting hard facts - even if those might happen be Shaman nerfs. A site that just spews information without analysis is about as colorful as reading the patch notes without having played the game.
As for the actual list, it's completely arbitrary, but reasonable. The lack of music blogs (Pitchfork? Stereogum? BrooklynVegan?) is kind of weak - I don't think there's any industry where blogs are so influential.
Anyhow, congrats guys!
Unfor Mar 9th 2008 1:57PM
"In a newspaper, the news room and editorial board are separate entities."
CORRECT...but the same is not true here....they are clearly not. Which is my point. Outright nutty and not even popular opinions are passed off as "News" (complete with source links)...and this is what I hope to see changed. That is my not so humble opinion. I think if the publisher of this site read the comments from articles (minus the flames) he/she would see the overwhelming need for this.
If authors said "In my opinion..." or something along those lines, it would be fine, but some of them pass their brand of junk off as News...as fact, in a very assertive way. These people either need to be kept in check or removed.
Credibility is a fluid thing.....right now I love WowInsider, but, if something else comes along and has a bit of quaility control.....thats prob where ill be, and alot of other people too.
Roland Mar 9th 2008 2:10PM
Okay...do you have examples? I think readers should be able to distinguish opinion and news pieces. These recent posts are clearly news items, with no opinions attached:
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/08/sxsw08-how-gamers-are-adopting-the-wiki-way/
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/08/that-object-is-busy-and-other-ttr-tales/
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/08/more-realm-issues-today/
Each article is clearly sourced, and while there is some instances of "You [the reader]," I think it makes it more personable.
Let's face it. You don't think WoW Insider is credible because you disagree with some of the opinions that are expressed. It's fine to disagree. But I don't see any case where they're pushing a certain viewpoint as hard news. And more importantly, I don't think readers will accept anything short of official Blizzard sources as truth, as evidenced by the frequent disagreements.
Soapinmouth Mar 9th 2008 1:54PM
Have you ever noticed when an article is placed here blizzard seems to totally listen and do exactly what the article talks about?
drht Mar 9th 2008 2:15PM
Microsiervos FTW!!
Congrats for your 46 ^^
Mark T. Mar 9th 2008 2:16PM
It's not just credibility; WoWInsider simply is several steps removed from what's actually occurring in World of Warcraft, much less online gaming in general.
The stories that are quoted as being influential were picked up from WoWInsider after they've already made their rounds elsewhere, including the Mainstream Media. The fact is, WoWInsider never has a breaking or exclusive story; every "news" story is just a summary of a post on the General forums, 95% of which can be found by subscribing to the RSS feed on Cardplace (http://blue.cardplace.com).
The selection of blogs really reeks of the article author wanting to do a story on "that blog thing," and, being grossly out of touch, skimmed his children's bookmarks folder.
Roland Mar 9th 2008 2:32PM
So, is your stance that WoW Insider shouldn't have made it onto the list?
There's something to be said about "getting the scoop." But there's also a lot of success in aggregation. Many of the Gawker-ring blogs outsource a lot of their information. BrooklynVegan produces minimal original content, but still provides a ton of information via links (and the comments on there make this place look like a tea party).
Of course there's a barrier between the text that appears here and your in-game experience. You can't read WoW Insider while grinding. But in terms of volume (does anyone else update on weekends? Or at 2 AM?) and accuracy (we're talking about just breaking news here, not opinion), I don't know of any site that comes close. And if nothing else, the opinion pieces and columns spark discussion, which is probably more informative than what goes on in the official forums.
Mark T. Mar 9th 2008 2:49PM
The article's intent was to catalog what the 50 most influential (powerful) blogs were, not what blogs are good at aggregating information. Several blogs on the list are indeed influential (Engadget, Perez Hilton, Drudge, Huffington Post, Boing Boing, TMZ) in that they consistently influence and redefine the industry about which they report and analyze. In their analysis of Endgadget, they mention a very specific and concrete example of what the threshold might be: by simply posting a fake story, they singlehandedly caused a 3% drop in Apple's share price. TMZ and Perez Hilton have redefined how the pap industry operates . The Huffington Post and Drudge are consistently used as source material for MSM for late-breaking stories.
The threshold for influence really comes down to: would the industry about which the blog reports be changed or different without the existence of the blog? I don't think that threshold has been met with WoWInsider. Nearly every single time WoWInsider posts a "news" story, as I stated, it's after someone who IS influential (Blizzard, the Main Stream Media) has already weighed in.
Unfor Mar 9th 2008 3:22PM
You want examples? Sorry friend, I dont have time to go back and link the endless and shamless articles from Mike or that one from Alex on pally tanking.....the truth is there, you have but only to look for it. Bland outright opinion is being PRESENTED as factual news. When challenged...the excuse of "Oh this is a blog" is offered. That doesnt cut it when you present articles as if they were fact or breaking news and NOT opinion.
I am not, despite what you may think, a hater of wowinsider...I love it actually. All I am asking for is a bit of quality control. I think it desperately needs it...in a very very bad way.
Pam Mar 9th 2008 3:36PM
I found an example for you, although it's not one of WoW Insider's worst ones. http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/03/02/godaddy-invades-wow-armory/ In this article, the author says "it appears as if a registrant has grabbed the wowarmory.com domain name as soon as it expired." It would have taken the author five minutes of looking at the WoW forums to figure out that this was not the case; rather, Blizzard simply had not paid for the renewal of the wowarmory domain.
Roland Mar 9th 2008 5:28PM
Full discloser: I'm a music blogger (if the BV references didn't make that obvious), and I get a thrill when a site like Idolator (Gawker's music blog) or VH1 (corporate yes, name recognition yes) syndicates me.
The bottom line is traffic. It really doesn't matter if, to carry the music analogy, random blog x is the first to post about a band that later blows up. People are going to remember their first Pitchfork review or their first Spin or Rolling Stone (or New York Times - they're with it!) mention.
There probably are better sources of "cutting edge" WoW content. I've seen many references to worldofraids and mmo-champion during the Patch 2.4 coverage. But in the end, I'm going to be checking WoW Insider first. The guys and gals that run this site have built a brand, and that's my definition of influential. Of course, it doesn't hurt that their source material is very compelling. My account's been inactive for two months (yay school), but I still want to read about the game. I'm not saying this place is perfect, but I don't know any place that does it better.
Also, the Drudge Report is the epitome of aggregation. WoW Insider is also much easier on the eyes.
Depo Mar 10th 2008 10:56AM
I am highly amused at the fact that icanhascheezburger.com achieved rank 6. Lolcats FTW!
Delvin Mar 10th 2008 4:52PM
Any Joe can make a list like that. Considering it's from the Guardian's website and it's 10 ten list is pretty politically agenda-driven, I don't give it much credibility. Nice to be mentioned tho.
Silverrealm Mar 13th 2008 12:37PM
Just a request, can you stop pissing in each other's cheerios? This is a blog column, not the Daliy Standard, and it's certainly not CNN *vomit*
I enjoy WoWinsider, I like it how it is, regardless or how much opinion or proof are stated as 'evidence'. Honestly get over your self.
It's a blog live with it.
I'm glad that intelligent people, who understand grammar and writing interesting articles are participating at once source, and god forbid COLLABORATING!
ZOMG the world is gonna end...
~ rant fin