tanker-overflow profile

You're really good at deflection and triangulation. So I'm wasting bandwidth but you aren't and Vernon isn't. I see. Yes, you're great and I'm a piker.

I don't recall asking for quantifiable metrics, but definitely -- you should keep pressing me on things I haven't talked about, since that distractive straw-man gambit isn't wasting bandwidth.

Look at the big brain on you.

You could prove you're actually willing to dig and look closely with -hang on, I think it's coming to me- oh yeah. Proof that you actually asked those tough questions and didn't let up, and got the marketing shills to admit they change standards for the same reason the grocery store occasionally moves around its inventory, for the same reason google dumbs down its android OS appearance rather than refining it, for the same reason Hollywood makes lousy remakes of lousy 70s TV shows or movies rather than making something new and interesting. It's all about the money flow, and who cares whether you're essentially ripping people off by telling them you've got something "new" that's an "improvement" only to absolute rookies and people who buy bikes to talk about or photograph but only occasionally ride.

You could do that, Vernon. But you won't.

" You seemed to accept the company's answers without counter attacking.
It's ok if you want to showcase the company's PR. It's not ok if you're
trying to demonstrate hard hitting journalism."

It's just bros hangin' with their bros, while gettin' some ducats out of it. We're supposed to envy them as "insiders." It's pretty pathetic. "Oh Vernon, you're so cool you even get to ask them questions which you'll later describe to your audience as tough ones. How privileged and lucky you are. Livin' the dream."

It's not even journalism, let alone hard-hitting inquiry or critical examination. It's fluff. But that's what Bike Mag has been since it began. Selling the image of livin' the dream. Why should we expect them to dig deep and turn on the inquisitor's bright spotlight?

You mean as close as Vernon is willing to get, which is a far different perspective from that of what you loosely call "this biz." Does "this biz" include NSMB forum participants? pinkbike forum participants? ridemonkey forum participants? local bike shop owners and employees? friends who gather to build trail and ride? formal riding clubs with dues-paying members?

Vernon Felton isn't god. He's just some guy who writes and gets paid for it. He holds no magical insights. It's far more likely that people who pay attention to the stuff Vernon's trying-at-25%-willingness-to-criticize have more insights on what's happening than Vernon does. His perspective is skewed by trying to make a buck by not offending the people who pay his salary. A man can't see what his wallet won't let him.

Pretty sad that Vernon is considered to be asking tough questions when he's just schmoozing with the folks that make his paid writing gig possible. You know. "The biz."

But let's just say that's the best we can do and the best we can get, right?

I didn't say he was trying to alter the perception of a random internet entity who calls himself Henry Chinaski. Looks to me like Felton is ducking and dodging, offering woulda-coulda-shoulda and deflecting onto the draft article he hasn't published. He didn't ask any hard questions, but comes out of the gate in his defensive rebuttal insisting there are no other hard questions, and what hard questions exist, he asked every one of them.

Good for you winning with internet snark, though. That's even more perception management. You're trying to convince yourself that you've out-smarted someone on the internet with a deflection done smugly. So we have Vernon Felton and Henry Chinaski dodging with smug self-assurance. Meanwhile, softball questions and dodges continue to rule the MTB "journalism" (paid writers who may as well be conduits for manufacturers and their marketing gurus) world. I guess we should celebrate. Image trumps facts, critical thought is for what's kept under wraps or not even examined, and you, Henry Chinaski, feel clever.

What a great world.

Actually, it's a wordy paragraph of perception management, a/k/a marketing.