The State of MacApper

Some of you, both readers and writers of MacApper, have expressed a few concerns over the past few weeks. I hope to address some of them in this article. Before I begin, I want to clarify that in no way do I speak for the entire MacApper staff when I say all this, but from the discussions we’ve had, I can say that we all see eye-to-eye on many of these issues. I want to take this opporunity to have somewhat of a proxy “fireside chat” with all of you out there. It’s a bit of a long read, but I think it says some very important things that all of you who have been involved in the community will want to be clued in on. So let’s get to it, shall we?

To the readers. One of the more common complaints I’ve seen come out of the woodwork lately is that MacApper is becoming just the same as all the other Apple blogs out there. My response to this issue is twofold.

First, in all honesty, we have never claimed to be anything but what we are – a group of diehard Apple fans getting together to write about what we love. Already I believe this puts us ahead of most of the competition. We’re not in this only for the money, like other blogs out there. Yes, we would like to make back our costs and maybe a little more, but our payment system is based on quality, not pay-per-post. One thing all of the staff agree on is that we don’t want this to become a 12-post-a-day Apple news regurgitation blog. That’s not what we’re about, and if it came to that point, I personally would leave.

Second, none of the staff here see any real harm in expanding our horizons. Yes, we’ve done a few hardware reviews, and yes, that doesn’t quite fit our namesake – but again, we are all about spreading the word about products we love, and that’s what we’re still doing. The concern about MacApper becoming “just another Apple blog” is moot for one main reason – we do have somewhat of a unique perspective on the Mac world. Some of you may know that we have a relatively young staff here, and we think this is a great thing. Take, for example, the trend of teens jumping from one social network to another – it’s our young minds that make us good at adapting to new things. Also, as young people become the dominant age group on the planet for advertisers and content producers, products and services that are coming out will begin to cater specifically to them, and who better to write about a product or an application than someone who it was designed specifically for?

To the writers. This is a somewhat of a more personal message to the staff of MacApper, but I want it to be here in public because I want the entire community to know that we are striving to make this site the best it can be. The above message to the readers is very applicable here. Writers, we are looking for great, quality articles. As I said, we are not paying per post, and we are not paying writers up front. If we did, we’d probably have a more steady stream of articles being published on MacApper, but I really feel like the quality would dip significantly.

This is a learning experience for every single one of us in some way or another. All of us writers, including you, are learning how to write quality technical stuff on a regular basis. The editors are learning how to manage a large staff. Even our benefactor Miles Evans, who has had much experience in the blogosphere, is learning a thing or two. This is an exciting time for all of us here on the team. You guys are the lifeblood of the team, and without you, we couldn’t be nearly what we are right now. Just keep posting, and learn what’s good and what’s not based on what we publish. It’s that easy. All that being said, we’re always looking for new writers. Contact Miles if you’re interested in an opportunity to write for the site.

In conclusion, all of us here at MacApper are working hard to make this a better place all the time. To the readers, give us a chance to expand our horizons and write about some possibly unexpected things. We’ll do our best not to disappoint. To the writers, simply keep writing, and we will certainly reward quality articles. I hope that this little chat will allay many of your fears, and I know that this community will work together to make everything work out great. Thanks for your time.

share permalink ping 5 Comments