Tangotiger posted something the other day asking readers if they liked Fangraphs. There were mixed reviews. Since I know you want to know what I think, here's what I wrote:
I visit Fangraphs and B-Ref daily. I’d say most days I visit each site more than once. However, I rarely visit Fangraphs for anything other than their stats. The quality of the articles they publish is very poor in my opinion. If there’s an article Tango or MGL links to I’ll read it and it’s usually good, but there’s so much stuff on there I’d classify as garbage. As a result, I only read the blogs that people have linked to.
I'm curious what OV readers think of Fangraphs too.
Also, one of the complaints was about poor spelling or grammar or something like it. I have no problem with people pointing out a spelling error.
I agree with Ken/87. I don’t care about typos and don’t even proof-read my own blogs, but if someone points out an error I either take the time to correct it (usually not) or ignore it. It’s never bothered me that someone has pointed out a typo that I made. As a result, the comment about my typo is lost without everyone on the site drawing even more attention to it. Like Ken, I definitely find the negative reaction to such comments more annoying because it highlights the error further when it didn’t need to be.
it reminds me of the sites where some commenter will ask a question and then you have 8 commenters telling the person to look back at the last thread for the answer. Just answer the damn question or ignore it.
Take the last thread here, RC pointed out an error in the Cubs record. I had them at 58-59 and they obviously are not that. I corrected it. It's important to the article and I'm glad he pointed it out. Had he pointed out a spelling error I'd probably have just ignored the comment, but not because I find it irritating that someone would point out a spelling error. It just doesn't bother me (a spelling error or someone pointing it out).
I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the grammar police.
Comments
I stopped regularly reading FG articles a long time ago except forthwith occasional good blog.
I also generally don’t point out errors because I know how irritating that stuff is. The 58-59 thing was pretty funny though.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Ironic that autocorrect would fuck with me in the post about errors.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
It was funny and I don’t mind, especially when it’s important like that is. I also noticed another error. I had them at 6-8 (PECOTA), but it’s 6-9. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
I’m with you guys. I look up FG’s stats, but gave up on their articles. They used to do fun articles on WPA or whatever, but I don’t even know if they still do that because I don’t check. The articles I have tried to read weren’t that interesting or entertaining.
joshQuote Reply
I like to point out grammar errors when I’m feeling like a dick. But mostly it’s because I’m an editor for a living and a little bit OCD.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
They have interactive WPA graphs now. Those are really cool.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I remember why I stopped looking at them now: it was too depressing to see the exact moment the Cubs started to lose that particular game. If they were in a pennant race, I’d be scouring the net looking for every word and graph i could find that confirmed that they were as awesome as I thought they were, or gave statistical evidence that I should be worried that they will collapse any second now (that is, if memory serves).
joshQuote Reply
I’m sure there’s just as much good content on Fangraphs as ever, but the amount of new content is overwhelming. I took it off my rss reader because I was just marking all as read every time. Same thing with BTF.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I do that with MLBTR anymore. Again, maybe if the Cubs were doing well, I’d give a shit, but I don’t even read that anymore. I had no idea Hunter Pence had been traded to the Giants, for instance (or knew it for 5 minutes, then forgot).
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
I have MLBTR on my bookmarks toolbar and will check it out once a day, but I don’t have it on my reader.
mb21Quote Reply
I sometimes go to Fangraphs due to their live stats, but I have a Premium subscription to BP, so I have no use for their articles.
Jed Jam BandQuote Reply
Here’s a great comment that was on Tango’s post:
If I’m looking for team info (this year or in the past), I always visit Bref first because of what this guy said.
mb21Quote Reply
@ Jed Jam Band:
How long have you had the subscription to BP? I’m curious because I’ve had one since about 2005 or 2006 and I read many fewer articles there than I did back then.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
The first word of this sentence should have been capitalized.
fang2415Quote Reply
@ fang2415:
(dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I generally go to FG, because I’m generally looking for individual player pages, and I was able to personalize a dashboard to display just the stats that I reference 98% of the time. I’d rather do that than wade through half a hundred tables.
BerseliusQuote Reply
I don’t have a problem with people pointing out grammar mistakes, but whenever I see this I think of Jeff Sullivan’s SBN blog, where they chew you out if you don’t write comments EXACTLY the way they want you to. I.e., putting periods at the end of one sentence comments, using a title for every post, and god forbid you post a fucking picture. And we thought Alvin’s posts about posting were annoying (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
I stopped reading fangraphs blogs a few years back, probably around the time of #6org. There’s nothing in particular that made me stop, it was just too much content, and things were getting much more geared towards fantasy or analyzing micro-trends, which I don’t really care about. I pretty much just follow the Cubs these days so I could give a shit about whatever Dan Haren or whoeverthefuck is up to.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Yeah I only go to FG if someone links to it. Typically I go to B-Ref for stats.
WaLiQuote Reply