Just a note here.
(A) The Stranger story was sadly short on actual information and context, aside from the writer counting how many times some other sites post. Not a dig at them, just a datapoint.
(B) One reason WSB is going EXTREMELY strong is the fact that WE ARE NOT A "NEIGHBORHOOD BLOG". NOR ARE WE ANY KIND OF "BLOG." Sorry to shout, but our name and reverse-chronological publishing format are the ONLY things "blog" about the site (and if it wouldn't wreak havoc with Google et al, we would change it in a heartbeat - someday we might anyway).
WSB is a professional, commercial, journalist-run news service that publishes in multiple channels - here on the Web, and on the major social-media services. We are credentialed as such and nationally/regionally recognized as such. It is a community collaborative news service in that we have an incredible network of tips from the community, which means that information is shared across the peninsula. In addition to what comes from the community, we work our butts off to dig up news that nobody else is bothering to look for/at - development, education, etc. - and we break those stories. Plus, we do news 24/7. I recommend to anyone who wants to go into the neighborhood-news business that they be sure they can do that - it's of huge value to potential readers.
Just wanted to note that. The community of Seattle neighborhood-news sites cringed at the story - the only person interviewed for it, Rebecca from Ravenna Blog, told them a lot more about her passion and dedication and success, and it didn't wind up in the story. Certainly the prerogative of the Stranger's writer and editors - but it would have been a truer story if they'd used a little more of what she had had to say and if they had bothered talking to a few people. NOT necessarily us, we've had our 15 minutes of fame and then some. Some people decide to write about their neighborhood as a sideline and never take it further. One site mentioned there, My Green Lake, closed NOT because it was failing, but because its incredible editor Amy Duncan decided she wanted to work in other media instead - she first worked with @BreakingNews and now is the social-media manager at KIRO TV. Unlike us, she had not worked in other media before launching her site - but she sought journalism training and learned a lot, and decided she wanted to flex her skills elsewhere.
Total apples and oranges, for everyone's circumstances. But WSB is a professional news publication that is here.to.stay, and we run it that way. Thanks to everyone for their ongoing support.
P.S. Capitol Hill Seattle is also a professionally run, community collaborative publication and has been around almost exactly as long as we have. Editor Justin Carder is a cool guy and I hope that anyone reading this with ties to or interest in CH follows his work too.
PPS to Rats - No, "drama" is NOT of interest to advertisers. Believe me. They want to be associated with credible, reliable, 24/7 news that tens of thousands of people regularly read - and that's what they get here - as well as useful information such as lost/found pet notices, the restaurant guide, and more.
-Tracy
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West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog
