I was never a fan of the Register's IMO smug, smart-alec English IT guy "voice".
Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
71–80 of 139 posts
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#72Andrew Orlowski! He writes for the Daily Telegraph, which is the UKs equivalent of Fox News. Everything is uphill from there
The Telegraph is nothing like Fox News, except insofar as it is a center-right publication. The tone, quality, and perspective are utterly different.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#73Hello, I'm Chris Williams, the editor of The Register. Maybe I can answer some of these Qs. > what caused this transformation? All things have to evolve and move with the times. As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggreg…
For what it's worth, El Reg is still a daily visit for me (I think I've probably done so, for 20 years), and I've been known to fly in and sprinkle drops of Holy Pee (in the comments section -I don't do any authoring of content), from time to time.
I like that it (still, despite the insinuation) is a RedTop in spirit, and I am generally quite impressed by the technical level of its staff.
I do like that you have given Dabbsy and Simon a good home. Thanks for that.
Just one drop in the ocean of data, but I'm glad you guys are around.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#74Hello, I'm Chris Williams, the editor of The Register. Maybe I can answer some of these Qs. > what caused this transformation? All things have to evolve and move with the times. As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggreg…
> As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggregation and sharing. And I want our original, technical, and best coverage seen by as many folks as possible. This is like being a curry shop known for having intensely flavorful…
But it's just the headlines allegedly, not the rest of the writing, at least.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that's exactly why I never really got into the site; I got the joke, it just seemed weirdly awkward and off-putting, like having a coworker who talks like a pirate all day, every day. It's funny at first, but it drives you crazy after a while.
if they do it long and consistently enough i think i would oscillate between finding it funny and driving me crazy
And particularly if you were on the receiving end of a bit of excessive snark you sort of ended up having to talk people down that it's just The Reg being The Reg. And, of course, if you follow that style, you will overdo it not infrequently. I could name a few people on Twitter like that.
It can be funny but it can also get in the way of serious points you want to make.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#76Hello, I'm Chris Williams, the editor of The Register. Maybe I can answer some of these Qs. > what caused this transformation? All things have to evolve and move with the times. As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggreg…
For what it's worth, El Reg is still a daily visit for me (I think I've probably done so, for 20 years), and I've been known to fly in and sprinkle drops of Holy Pee (in the comments section -I don't do any authoring of content), from time to time. I like that it (still, despite the insinuation) is a RedTop in spirit, and I am generally quite impressed by the technical level of its staff. I do like that you have give…
Dabbsy's gone, unfortunately. Not sure what went on there, but I suspect he wasn't "serious" enough. He's still at Autosave is for Wimps though:
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#77Hello, I'm Chris Williams, the editor of The Register. Maybe I can answer some of these Qs. > what caused this transformation? All things have to evolve and move with the times. As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggreg…
All things have to evolve and move with the times.
This makes sense. Somewhere I have an old hacker t-shirt that says Evolve or die that supports the mantra.
If I could make one feature request of ElReg it would be that the system used by your editors puts a hard cap on article descriptions to 80 characters so I do not have to do creative editorializing of the links when I submit them here. At times I find it very difficult to submit a link and have it still make sense.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth, El Reg is still a daily visit for me (I think I've probably done so, for 20 years), and I've been known to fly in and sprinkle drops of Holy Pee (in the comments section -I don't do any authoring of content), from time to time. I like that it (still, despite the insinuation) is a RedTop in spirit, and I am generally quite impressed by the technical level of its staff. I do like that you have give…
Dabbsy's gone, unfortunately. Not sure what went on there, but I suspect he wasn't "serious" enough. He's still at Autosave is for Wimps though: https://autosaveisforwimps.substack.com
Aw, that's sad. I enjoyed his SFTW stuff.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#79Those punny headlines have been annoying me.
Re: Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
#80I still have the vulture t-shirt with the tag line, “Biting the hand that feeds IT!”.
For me the FQDN will always be www.theregister.co.uk.