Subject: Re: Has the Dojo become useless? Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 08:36:37 PST From: Mitch Okun To: MTG-STRATEGY-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Len (and others)- This is, IMHO, a very delicate topic. Because you're a well respected member of this list, i feel you are certainly allowed to brooch the idea with intelligence, but i am a little concerned about where this thread will end up. I caution all to remember we are talking about one man's willingness to spend a LOT of time doing something for nothing other than a small amount of fame in a secluded industry. Hell, i would say all of us who post a lot are semi-guilty of that, at least. I would admit i am. Anyway... > That was then. Now, however, the Dojo seems in sharp >decline. Well, i don't know if its sharp. There has always been a small problem with the timeliness of the 'Decks to Beat'. I would say that the leap down from there has been sudden, though. I hope everything is OK with Frank. > Problem Numero Uno-o: Christa Stenger and Cathy Nicoloff. I > like their articles. They write well. They also don't write much > of anything that has anything to do with Magic strategy. Instead >they write nifty personality pieces and articles on the politics of >Magic..... I think the issue and the reason for Cathy and Christa is the same: Magic is developing its 'celebrities'. I've had the discussion with Dan Gray and several others on IRC several times: I don't like winning byes for major events. It causes the same people to win, and i personally would think more people would play if they felt they had a better chance at winning a 'big one'. However, Dan admits it, everyone admits it: they are trying to establish 'celebrities' in Magic. Ya know, Finkel wears "Hurloon brand sneakers" or something. And a lot of people are more likely to read an article because it was from the "famous Cathy" or the "famous Christa". No matter what the substance is about. And for that matter, hearing about the politics of Magic is even further into the 'celebrity' machine. Its like hearing gossip/info about the arguing inside the Bulls. > Problem Numero Two-o: Quard. I like humor as much as the >next guy. But humor has nothing to do with strategy. There are a >thousand web pages out there with endless jokes about Magic on them... I don't think a little humor attached to the site is so bad. One, two links.... fine. I will agree the "impulse like a..." and such went too far, and a lot of those spots are just not as funny, but this gets to the general jist that i will hit in more detail later: editing time. > Problem Numero Three-o: Lack of timeliness. Look at the Dojo >right now. Probably the single most important piece of information >on the Dojo has always been the 'Decks to Beat'. You'll notice that, >almost halfway through the month of November, the decks to beat are >old Type II (pre-Urza's Saga) and, of all things, Tempest/Stronghold/ >Exodus. Pardon me, but no one cares about this crap. It's old news. >People are concerned about Type II with the addition of Urza's Saga >and Extended with the addition of Urza's Saga (for PT: Rome). This is completely valid. But i start to get into my main point about the Dojo: How can Frank possibly have ANY free time doing this thing? I ask this all the time. He always just gives me a little smiley icon or something. > Problem Numero Four-o: Total lack of editorial direction. I >first noticed this with the Urza's Saga prerelease information. >Amidst serious discussion of the future environment there were >articles proposing totally senseless decks, schemes that revolved >around misuse of the rules, and simply scrubbiness. You'll note >that I don't really get on people's case here about rampant >stupidity- lord knows I've made my share of mistakes- but neither >does MTG-STRATEGY-L pretend to be 'the best of net'. Of the >literally hundreds of decks listed under the prerelease area for >Urza's Saga, I'd reckon maybe 10 posts have anything of merit in >them. Essentially, amidst the huge amounts of chaff, the gems >are lost. It's gotten to the point where it's less time >consuming to read both the Usenet and MTG-STRATEGY-L for >strategic information than to wade through the Dojo. And thus we hit the main thing: anyone can get an article posted on the Dojo. Why? Because Frank must get SO many hundreds of email a DAY, that i cant imagine how he possibly picks through them. The first time one of my articles (as you would imagine, one of Oath of Druids :) ), made it to the Dojo, i was quite happy. My first step to 'fame', as it were. Then i kept reading. There was some DUMBASS stuff on there. And them some people would happily proclaim: "My deck is on the Dojo" and i respond the same way, every time: "So what?! Do you know how MANY decks Frank puts on the Dojo?!" Its just not a big deal. Agreed. But again, you're asking one man to spend an awful lot of free time doing this, just to keep up the high quality. Thats rough. Nothing lasts forever, and Frank's life is hopefully moving forward in such a way that he has less time for the Dojo. I notice that you took specific umbrage with the "Best of the Net" banner. Maybe that's fair. Maybe Frank should change it to the "Most well known on the net" or "Flat out highest volume on the net" or something. But considering the history and power of the site, i hold him no grudge for leaving "Best of the Net" on there. > > Problem Numero Five-o: There's nothing to replace it as >yet. The fact that the Dojo has essentially become the People >Magazine of Magic isn't a big deal- it's Frank's site, and he >can do with it what he pleases. Unfortunately, there still exists >the need for someone to compile useful strategic information in a >readable form. > > Lest you think this is just a mean-spirited rant; it's not. >I like Frank. He's a great guy and has run a great site. But >it's reached the point where the premiere website in Magic is >no longer any better than your average high school student's >Magic homepage. Sure, you'll recognize a lot more of the names >on the Dojo, but I'd rather have anonymous people writing >intelligently about strategy than name players wasting our time >with their personal thoughts on anything that comes to mind. I like Frank too. And yes, its not the site it once was. But some folks are going to want to hear about Hacker's personal rankings against other pros (not i, mind you). He's a 'celebrity'. I recently requested Duelist's submission guidelines. It came back with an interesting tidbit... they want your DCI number. They want to know if you've won anything big. I'm sure if I and Steve OMS both submit articles on Urza Draft strategies, they would take Steve's without much perusal of the articles. That's fine. But note that they obviously want 'celebrities'. That does defend the big names with bad articles, but no, it does not defend the no names with bad articles. Thats all a matter of editing, time, all the stuff i've mentioned here already. > > If you feel as I do, I'd encourage you to write Frank and >tell him that his site's not really that useful any more. The >point isn't to make him feel bad, or to insult him- but to >constructively say: "Hey! We want our strategy back." > Enh. Frank reads this list, i believe, so he'll see this thread. Maybe it's to the point that the Dojo is not a one man operation anymore? I don't know... its always been his baby, and i don't know how one would orchestrate that. But i leave it entirely in Frank's hands, how much more time he spends, if he takes on more people, if the site just doesn't get updated as much anymore. I think he's earned that much. - Mitch Team Borg.Borg.Borg ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com