It looks like the London Metroblogging site has a new competitor, Londonist. Like its competitor, it's one of a group of city sites, which have a US-bias. And, like its competitor, it has got off to a less than promising start. It feels like it's trying to be something like the opening pages of Time Out, with a mix of news and updates about local cultural events. Of the posts on the front page, only this one was of any interest. The rest, well, they felt like they were written for people who don't live here - and maybe they are. It's impossible to tell, because the link to the about page is broken,
As for the London Metblog, the quality of posts seems to be going up. I'm enjoying Bignoseduglyguy's stuff in particular. However, at least one of the contributors is an American, which seems to fly in the face of what they are attempting. Still, it's a better read now than it was a few months ago, and that's a good thing.
Hey Adam - Rob from Londonist.
Cheers for the link and comments - as you can probably appreciate it's pretty difficult for us to post between 6 and 8 posts a day without being a bit 'general' which some people find offfputting but we're trying to find a balance and I hope you continue to let us know how wer'e doing.
Just a note - before Londonist we did used to be www.thebigsmoker.co.uk so we're not coming from a standing start and we definitely don't want to give the impression that we have a US angle - Gothamist provide the space and the design - that's it.
What we failed to do (until today) is warn readers that this is just the beta test version of the site so we do have stuff to iron out and writers to recruit before we launch properly, so I'll hope you'll stick with us.
Thanks again
Rob
Thanks for the link to LondonMetroBlogging. I have been a fan of Gothamist for a long time, but find LMB's layout and overall design much much fresher. It shouts out MOVABLETYPE! Cheers. Sean
ps, Londonist's omission of the Gherkin from theie masthead I think is a grave mistake. Something about it being phallic.
Hey Adam - I'm glad you think the london metroblog is improving, I know everyone is trying.
Just to clairify something - Having an American who lives in London writing on the London site isn't flying in the face of anything. All of our sites have a combo of people who have been in those cities their entire lives as well as people who have just moved there. It's about people who live there, and how they see their city, regardless of how long they have been doing that. The reson for this is it gives new perspective on things, I've only lived in LA for 3 years so sometimes I write about things on blogging.la that I think are cool, but someone who had lived here their entire life might not have given a second notice.
Anyway, thanks again.
Nice site. Thanks:-)
Nice site. Thanks:-)