Crosscut readers: Tell us what you think
We've been on the Web for five months now, and we'd like your feedback. Please take our online survey.
Crosscut.com is now a strapping five-month-old! That strikes me as possibly time enough for us to take a first look at who's reading us and what you would like to suggest in the way of improvements. So please help us out, and the cause of good local journalism on the Web, by taking a few minutes to fill out our first survey. Just click here to go to the online survey.
Thanks for helping, and thanks to many of you who have sent in suggestions in the past, such as a call for a larger font (quickly implemented). Hundreds of you comment on our articles, enriching everyone's experience (almost always) and keeping us writers on our toes. The interactivity of Web journalism is one of its greatest innovations, so please join the club. You'll see the best suggestions showing up very fast!
It is gratifying and encouraging to report that digital dailies like Crosscut are starting to spread across the nation. A very ambitious new one, to be called MinnPost, has just been announced for Minnesota, to debut in October. Others we know of and admire are New West, in Missoula and nine other Rocky Mountain cities; The Tyee in British Columbia; Voice of San Diego; and Pegasus News in Dallas, a hyperlocal site just purchased by Seattle's Fisher Communications. If you know of others that we should emulate, let me know.
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Comments:
Posted Mon, Sep 10, 1:10 a.m. Inappropriate
all of the PERTINENT news links and local items that REALLY matter the most
May any changes to this website be steady, and keep up the good work!
-Bob Shannon
Seattle
Posted Mon, Sep 10, 11:24 a.m. Inappropriate
Good selection of topics, though I don't know why there isn't more traffic here. I appreciate the civilized tone of the comments compared to elsewhere, but I wish more readers would add to the discussion. Best of luck increasing your visibility and input.
Glad to see my old friends-cum-debate partners back in circulation again. I miss Angelo Pellegrini, J Michael Kenyon and a few other names from the past. Otherwise, it's a bit like old home week every week - without so many trips to the recycle bin.
Thanks for the survey too. I was hoping you'd offer readers a chance to comment on your site ... à bientôt!
Posted Mon, Sep 10, 2:10 p.m. Inappropriate
Collaborative promotion: There could be some targeted promotion of Crosscut with local professionals, academics, students, and public officials. Get some help from your friends and admirers in all those places. They can pass the word to friends/colleagues/customers/constituents that Crosscut is a unique and uniquely useful addition to the media mix, especially for those (youth?) who are increasingly allergic to print.
Posted Mon, Sep 10, 5:38 p.m. Inappropriate
Interesting that David Brewster's article should appear at the same time as The Seattle Times most recent whine-fest about the sorry state of media ownership, corporate consolidation, etc. Again, from where I sit, the Blethen's are implicitely crying out for governmental relief from the changing of the times (no pun intended).
Crosscut, Sound Politics, Drudge Report, and Internet journalism generally are the future. As much as I enjoy David Postman and Luann and For Better or Worse (even that strip is in the process of disappearing) on the comics' page, old-fashioned print media is a thing of the past.
Sure, there'll always be newspapers, but the print media can't look to survive in its present form by legal restrictions on cross-ownership or whatnot; it has to compete in the marketplace just like everyone else. The Seattle Times isn't entitled to exist just because it's The Seattle Times.
As Crosscut and its brethren emerge, some will succeed and some fail. Welcome to free enterprise, about which the Blethen's should take note.
I'm tempted to ad an Amen! to LoveYourViaduct's suggestion about allowing longer posts, but with a caveat. Disciplining yourself to live within 4,000 characters (though not the same 4,000 characters recognized by MS Word) forces self-editing, a skill I yearn to master. Having been known to post multi-parted comments myself, I would like to see greater allowable space. But I appreciate the constraints against my propensity for long-windedness. Is there a compromise?
The Piper
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 8:19 a.m. Inappropriate
As I scratched my head over the paucity of reader comments, it struck me that while asking those of us among the great unwashed how Crosscut is doing is one thing, it would very interesting and illuminating to hear from Crosscut as to how it sees itself doing.
Print publications and electronic media announce numbers. Readership figures, Arbitron or Nielsen ratings, financial health (for publicly traded corporpate owners), etc., are routinely available for all, so while we know that The Seattle Times popularity is sinking like a manhole cover down a well, how do we know whether Crosscut is up, down, or sideways?
Perhaps my question is impertinent, but I, for one, would like to hear from David, Chuck, Mossback, et al, how they think Crosscut is doing. How's its health? What does the future hold? Checkbook still balance in the black? What's a rough guestimate of how many or how often those of us in our PJ's stop by?
Any surprises in store like, perhaps, a contest where readers can submit essays on why they'd like to shave Mossback's beard with the winner getting dinner with him followed by the opportunity to apply some Gillette Foamy and an old fashioned straight razor? Or auction off one of Greg Palmer's last remaining corduroy sportcoats? These may not sound like hot-to-go promos, but given what we pay to subscribe to Crosscut, I know we can't expect all that much.
So...thoughts???
The Piper
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 9:20 a.m. Inappropriate
I totally agree that it would be great to see an entire comment section/blog by the Crosscut movers, shakers and scribes for their perspectives, ideas and evaluations.
I am eternally grateful, especially to David, Knute and Chuck, for remembering who we are here in Seattle. For not moving on, even when things get so bizaar and it seems like there's not much left to hang on to. You helped shape our Emerald City in decades past, and you're doing it again. Thank you. You are touchstones, all.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 9:43 a.m. Inappropriate
The Piper
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 9:55 a.m. Inappropriate
You really should have a tersely cogent pro-density columnist without a spec of moss. I volunteer. Oh, but I too have a beard.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 10:35 a.m. Inappropriate
Ah...we do love our moss here in Seattle. It is as vital as the salty air.
Methinks such a bearded, pro-density columnist would do very well over in, say Bellevue; they like that sort of thing over there. Or better yet, anywhere south of here, along the I-5 corridor--that's pretty much shot anyway--density could only improve that stretch.
But please--we're crying "uncle"--our beautiful home is being razed at a rate comparable to the South American rainforests. No more!
NIMBY
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 11:21 a.m. Inappropriate
Contrariness is good, Mary, but you already know that. Don'tcha?
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 12:10 p.m. Inappropriate
RE: The crush of public opinion: Well, if "CC is Seattle[;] Ain't gonna be Portland or Tacoma" I guess I can quit reading. Persoanlly, I've had a bellyfull of Imperial Seattle media.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 1:39 p.m. Inappropriate
You say your are regional but you fail to allow reviews of the arts scenes in other areas including Spokane, Walla Walla, the Tri Cities, Eugene, Vancouver (your pick), Victoria, etc.
These places have theaters, local concerts, and art exhibits.
Is Crosscut and Puget Sound so provincial they can't see beyond the local shores?
It appears so. Either be a truly regional source or just be a non-print Seattle news site.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 3:17 p.m. Inappropriate
I always enjoyed Kimberly Marlowe's writing when she was in Seattle and appreciate being able to read her reporting and comments on Portland.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 5:58 p.m. Inappropriate
DOING WELL: You compare very well to other weblogs; good, interesting writers and worthwhile commentary from the audience.
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 10:08 p.m. Inappropriate
RE: The crush of public opinion: Hey, Patrick, send us some words about density!
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 10:10 p.m. Inappropriate
http://www.crosscut.com/newsstand/
Posted Tue, Sep 11, 10:13 p.m. Inappropriate
Getting back to the survey ...: All of these comments are really appreciated, but lest it get lost in this discussion, the purpose of David's post was to encourage you all to take the survey, which is here.
Posted Wed, Sep 12, 10:19 a.m. Inappropriate
But they are not: on the home page! THAT was a much better place!
Posted Wed, Sep 12, 3:05 p.m. Inappropriate
I too had thought this feature had disappeared.
Mike
Posted Thu, Sep 13, 10:35 a.m. Inappropriate
PIPER, HERE'S THE DEAL: P. Scott, your lingering fascination with my King Korduroy Sport Koats would be inspiring if it weren't also a little unsettling. And there is indeed only one left, because I gave all the others to an Indian music and dance troupe a few years ago, and they are now the height of fashion (I presume) in Ranchi. I think you should have that last coat--bronzing it will probably cost you a bundle, but that's your choice. But you are absolutely right that it shouldn't go off out of the Palmer Kollection (all right, enough with the Ks) without money changing hands. So here's the deal; the moment the University of Washington School of Music informs me that they have received your thousand dollar, tax free donation to the HARVARD PALMER ENDOWED STUDENT SUPPORT FUND (a scholarship for bass singers I set up last year in my late father's name, he being a hell of a bass singer) I will send you that coat. For fifteen hundred, I'll have it cleaned first. The ball is in your court.
Posted Thu, Sep 13, 12:03 p.m. Inappropriate
Do all the K's konnote kraving for krispy kreme's? Or is it simply a nod to your former employer, King 5? As an aside, I also wonder, given the French roots of the word corduroy, "corde du roi," or "cloth of the king," whether wearing them as often as you did in those days wasn't carrying the company man thing a bit too far?
I remember you mentioning a few months ago your giving most of your wardrobe to a troupe of travelling musicians from India. In fact, watching Gandhi for the umpteenth time recently, I thought I caught a glimpse of one on the back of an extra. Do you get a royalty for that?
Why am I so fixated with them? Aside from my own weakness for them, I suppose it's because I admire your courage. Watching movie and other arts-related reviews and commentary way back in the old days before remote controls on TV's, I would marvel at how while anyone can go on TV fashionably dressed, it takes a real man to defy the world of good taste by dressing that way. Children were taught the necessity of staying in school and studying hard lest they, too, end up dressed like that.
Very sincerely, it would be my honor to fork over $1,000 to the scholarship you established for your father at the UW. From what I know, not only was a good bass (tenors, though, get all the good roles...and the girls), but he was a fine lawyer and even finer man. Sadly, since I spend my days commenting at Crosscut and other places instead of concentrating on my executive search practice, corporate funds do not permit such largesse. And my collection of Bubble Up bottle caps isn't sufficient to redeem for such a sum.
May I suggest as an alternative auctioning the thing off with proceeds to the scholarship fund? With, say, the gang at Crosscut matching the winning bid? Of course, all in the name of contributing to arts education and not as some silly publicity stunt to increase Crosscut readership...Just a thought.
Next time Mossback wants to write about historic preservation in Seattle, instead of flogging that nasty old Ballard Denny's building, your last remaining bit of sartorial splendor - size what? 48 short? - should be made the subject of a plea to have it declared a national wardrobe historic landmark; it is a one-of-a-kind!
BTW...you need to write and contribute to Crosscut more often...That's today's suggestion to Dave and Chuck on how to improve it.
The Piper
Posted Thu, Sep 13, 1:01 p.m. Inappropriate
Thanks for the nice words about my pop, who would have been 93 this week, and never wore a corduroy jacket in his life. I inherited a lot of Seattle First National Bank black suits, though.
And I'm doing stuff for Crosscut again, a topical and with luck semi-humorous poem that should show up tomorrow and is only about three stanzas longer than it deserves to be.
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