So, apparantly, the Hook doesn’t like the fact that we publish things anonymously. You can read the article here. My favorite line:
Of course, unlike the local media, the folks at cVillain aren’t accountable for what they publish, and the creators of the site have chosen to remain anonymous. (Dish asked “lilith” and “Thor” if they would agree to be interviewed under their real names, but they declined.) As a result, they have been emboldened to publish gossip and unproven claims without catching hell the way Dish would…
I think I’m drowning in tears! Unaccountable and emboldened gossip!? Ok, first of all let’s examine Dave’s email to us. On July 19th he wrote:
I’m finding your website intriguing and wanted to do a blog post or story about it. I love the raw restaurant reviews and the possibility of creating a uncensored community gossip site! Anyway, I was wondering if you would agree to speak with me and tell me how, why, this idea came about and what you hope to accomplish. I’d be willing to let you remain anonymous in anything I write, but I would need to confirm your identity. Of course, I would keep that information confidential.
We responded that we would do an anonymous chat interview and he didn’t want to do that. So, apparently “intriguing” and “love…the possibility” actually mean “I want to make you sh*t your pants as an anonymous blogger because you can get sued.”
First of all, we are accountable. Lilith and I don’t want to be the center of attention and given our place in the community it’s more important to start a dialogue than own it. We do respect people’s reputations. We DO NOT respect sh*tty service, bad food, crappy drinks or stores that treat customers poorly. Yes, we walk a fine line, but our readers agree.
The point of this site is to facilitate exciting and meaningful interaction to people who enjoy socializing and experiencing all that Charlottesville has to offer.
Jeez, that’s a mouthful, but anyone who can write is welcome to comment AND post on our site. Sure, we do a little gatekeeping and obvious libel doesn’t get posted…. But, Lilith and I honestly believe this site is more about our readers than us.
If you don’t believe us, believe our community. They comment, they post, they participate, they disagree. The vast majority of our community does it anonymously as well. We would be lost in the blogosphere if we weren’t hitting the right note with our readers.
For the last 30 days, we had over 25,000 page views and 7,500 visits.
We aren’t getting popular because of us, we are getting popular because of the people who want to make this a great place to experience all things Charlottesville. I think The Hook missed the point entirely.We are an open community. We aren’t gatekeepers.People gossip in real life and if they want to do it online, they can come here to do so.
Again, thanks to everyone who makes this a great site. We love you! And the question that The Hook failed to ask:
Does it really matter who our writers are?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Tagged as: Blogs, The Hook
Oh - Forgot to say, I don’t expect that we can keep the secret forever. So, ya one day we will be discovered and then we will probably have to end the anonymous fun.
On the flip side… good thing we have at least 15 more anonymous writers to take our place!
Well then, lets beat them to the punch again….
Baggbys Hollymead has been sold. NO name rights, system,menu etc etc. Just the lease, the space and the equipment. Dad owner wil be retiring for the 3rd (?) time and son owner will move from Hollymead to take over downtown space.
The guy who owns the convienece store on the corner next to Bodos has been talking a bit in the past about opening up another spot similiar to the Corner in the old A & N building.
Directorof Cville econmoic development says Office int he back and retial up front. Pretty pricy rent for such a thing. Rumors of grocery store always going around, but really, downtown people do not buy THAT many groceries, the profit margin for grocery stores is horrible plus if you tab in mall rents. Also, the obvious- groceries are heavy and there is no where to park. Think about where you try to park when you have a big shopping trip to Krogers…
I have my new Imac outskirts guy! Is there no way for a simple back button on the mouse when browsing firefox?
I’ll write my take later on. My response is a little different. After all, I really appreciate the publicity. I think the misconception is that I’m reveling in anonymity. I’d love to get paid to write food and music reviews
But Danpri, thanks for sticking it to the man! I like Lee’s store on the corner. Their cigarette selection is extensive and fresh, and drunk students crack me up.
I’m not surprised a grocery store won’t make it to the mall. Feast is likely what any mall model would resemble. It’s funny, though… anyone ever notice that a couple of the signs pointing to downtown have grocery carts on them? The icons vary per, but I’ve started seeing them when I run. All two times a year.
The question The Hook should be asking is why they committed one of the worst web site redesigns I’ve ever seen.
I ranted about this yesterday in another post, but I’m still blown away by how staggeringly awful it is and how much functionality they removed. It’s simply incredible.
The real problem both The Hook and C-ville have when it comes to restaurant reviews isn’t a libel suit, it’s fear of losing their advertisers. Even Best Of C-ville ends up being a bit fluffy when it comes to p[icking their categories (the year they had Best Place to Drink and Smell like Cigarettes - I’m not getting it exactly right but you catch my drift - and it was obviously awarded by popular vote to Miller’s, the bar pulled all it’s ads in C-ville for a year). Both weeklys go by the economically-wise philosophy of if you don’t have something nice to say… It takes being an enormous paper a la the Times to pull of critical restaurant reveiews, and like The Dish said, they are just jealous.
Agree about the Hook’s redesign - it’s not bad, it’s ABYSMALLY bad. Looks like somebody who got a pirated copy of Flash sold them a site with borderline negative usability. Somebody there is undoubtedly this very moment convincing others there that it’s a great site and they invested wisely. Yuk.
I agree with Lys. Having edited two alt weeklies, I can speak from experience. Your job is to be all bad ass & indie, but you have to pay the bills like everybody else. Which means not pissing off advertisers. The only way for The Hook and C-ville to guarantee independent & honest restaurant reviews would be to quit accepting restaurant advertising.
The Dish’s e-mail, meanwhile, is the classic journalistic come-on to a potential source. If he had gotten the interview, I’ll bet the coverage would have been nicer. Either way, it’s not clear at all that cVillain isn’t accountable. The comments section holds them accountable, and if there is an accusation of libel, well, I suppose some enterprising county attorney could subpoena the ISP.
Anyway, it strikes me as far more accountable than C-ville’s Rants . . .
Again, I wonder if the Feast Model would suffice on the mall. They already charge pretty high prices for goods (The Papadu peppers they charge $14/lb can be bought elsewhere on the mall for less than $4/lb!)
And again, you see lots of the Farmington Crowd grabbing the pricy fair, a crowd unwilling to hassle with the downtown parking to do their shopping.
Remember, Staples Dowtown used to be a grocery store- which reallly sucked…and it went under really fast. Trader Joes/Whole Foods etc would never touch the space, cartological demographic indicators would not meet minimum criteria.
And a convience store model was already attempted downtown in the Omni end of the mall. Impoloded really quickly. But someone will make a run at the space.
QUIZ: What two food joints on the mall ( say…between 3rd and 6th streets- where the old A & N centers) are still owned by the same folks for the last ten years? Only two that I can see. That is a lot of territory when you think about it. The mall is a tough place to operate.
Ta…off to soccer.
That Dish article comes across as extremely petty. I don’t care one way or the other if lilith and Thor are anonymous. I’d rather not know who lilith is. That takes all the mystery out of her part prude-part hipster-part eurotrash-part dork personality
haha ethan
Ethan: I’m a permagrin over here. That is so rad.
This is a really fun site, and I think actually provides a community service, but this the the second time you all kind of have freaked out when the weeklies printed something not entirely complimentary.
Just roll with it. It’s cool.
dave we like the excitement
we are villains after all
But someone will make a run at the space.
A while back, I heard a well-sourced rumor that LittleJohn’s was moving into the A&N space. I even saw one of the LJ family members in there one afternoon, and I thought LJ’s could probably survive (though maybe not on the 24-hour, Corner-style model).
Anyone know what happened?
I heard that the downtown illuminati would not alllow LJ to move downtown due to the fact it would attract all of the late night panhandler/drug/homeless/undesirable crowds. I can only say that charlottesville is lacking a true 24 hour greasy spoon. waffle house does not count, it lost all of its cred at some point.