This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
If you follow me on Twitter then you probably know how often I use Kotaku as a pinata. What you don’t know about my pointed barbs and infuriated declarations is that I only complain because I actually really, really like the site.
Sure, they mostly just take other people’s original stories and then do a rather haphazard job summarizing and sourcing them.
What most people don’t notice is just how good some of Kotaku’s original work can be. Brian Crecente, Stephen Totilo, Michael McWhertor and the rest of the Kotaku crew do some truly top notch original work of their own. It’s just a shame that they don’t get more credit for it.
This situation exists for a reason though, and that's why I offer up these simple steps Kotaku could take to become a better site.
#1. Do a better job highlighting original sources.
Kotaku operates mostly under a policy of “find a story, summarize and then put in a small link in the text.” They do offer up a full link and name these sources, but this is almost always buried at the bottom of the post. I suspect many readers move on after reading Kotaku’s summary and never even bother to look at the original source.
I also think they need to provide the name of the writer who wrote the original post, not just the site name.
This problem is not unique to Kotaku, and I think many other sites need to heed this advice as well. True journalism is hard. As a matter of fact I would say that I have never really reached that level and would only call myself a commentator. Still, just because it's standard practice to operate this way, that doesn’t mean this is the way we should be operating.
#2. Edit your work.
I can’t tell you how often I have seen bad editing on Kotaku. I understand they want to get posts up quickly, but they could at least go back and clean posts up after people point out misspelled words. This sets a sloppy tone for the many sites out there that follow this model and Kotaku needs to…
#3. Admit they are a leader in games journalism.
I also can’t tell you how many times I've heard people try to excuse Kotaku for their actions by saying that “they are just a blog.”
I'm sorry guys, but Kotaku simply gets too many hits to claim that they're “just a blog.” They have dipped their feet into the pool of true journalism far too many times to try to claim that they don’t have a responsibility to act more legitimate than a guy who runs an underground blog dedicated to the game Seaman.
One response to my Twitter complaints about Kotaku was “With great reader base comes great responsibility.”
I think that says it all.
#4. Quit with the filler posts.
I understand the guys at Kotaku have a set number of posts they are expected to put up each day, but at least use a tiny bit of restraint. Talking about manga or porn actresses is fine, but it often seems like Kotaku has absolutely no filter on what is worthy of posting and what is not.
I would suggest Brian Ashcraft make a series where he complies all of his wacky ideas about what is post-worthy into one big post a week, since he seems to be the biggest offender of this rule.
#5. Take some pride in what you do.
A lot of these rules kind of revolve around this point, but I think this is worth having as a separate rule for because Kotaku is just so cool in so many ways. Maybe they could try a redesign that puts more emphasis on original work. Anything would be a welcome improvement over the cluttered, yet still oddly sparse look they have right now.
I think in many ways Kotaku is ready to take the training wheels off. Amazing things could happen at the site with just a little bit of work and a belief that it is worth trying to be the best.
Look, I'm a nobody. I’m not the best writer in the galaxy and I have no pull with the guys at Kotaku what-so-ever. All I can do is offer up these suggestions and pray that someone agrees with me. I truly do enjoy Kotaku and I only write this piece because I care. If you are like me then I guess, for now, we will just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that someone is listening.