Comments on: Is this the end of Readers Recommend?

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:47:08 +0000

With hindsight, they could have handled it a lot better than they have. The new post does imply they’d misjudged just how much RR means to a lot of people.

Let’s hope whatever new thing they do preserves a lot of what was good about Readers Recommend.

By: bethnoir

bethnoir — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 15:33:38 +0000

I think the new post on the Guardian offers some hope of some kind of continuation of RR, albeit in a different form, we’ll have to wait and see, I suppose. You could well be right in your speculation.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:19:11 +0000

There's a post on The Guardian website from Michael Hann which gives some insight into the reasons.

But 10 and a bit years, and several thousand songs later, weâ€™re saying goodbye to it, after a run that is remarkable by the standards of any column. Itâ€™s been an incredible place â€“ of generosity of spirit and knowledge, where reader talks unto reader and everyone comes away happy. However, the current way of doing things consumes a lot of time and energy at our end â€“ which you donâ€™t see â€“ and we canâ€™t keep it going in its familiar format.

This may or may not confirm some of my speculations in the previous comment.

By: Tim Hall

Tim Hall — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 19:33:52 +0000

I do wonder if legal issues surrounding copyright is one factor.

RR is dependent on people posting links to sites like YouTube and Soundcloud in the comments. If The Guardian has an actual or potential responsibility to vet these links to make sure they’re legit, that’s probably a bigger overhead than deleting trols on a typical clickbait thinkpiece.

Linking to material on YouTube that’s not authorised by the artist or record company is a bit of a grey area, and I can imagine some record companues leaning on The Guardian to put a stop to it.

By: #SaveReadersRecommend: some updates | The 'Spill

#SaveReadersRecommend: some updates | The 'Spill — Mon, 04 Jan 2016 17:38:22 +0000

[…] Tim wrote this rather wonderful blog post […]

By: bethnoir

bethnoir — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 15:40:35 +0000

I agree with your well expressed sentiments. It felt as if the column’s days were numbered when they removed it from the print copy of the paper, then when they asked for contributors to compile and write the results up, but after the positive response from the community it is a bit perplexing to axe it now, when it’s still so vibrant and successful. I can’t see a reprieve happening, but I hope it does.

By: Ravi

Ravi — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 06:01:52 +0000

A bloody shame and what irks me more is the absolute disregard to readers’ feelings. If I get angry and dismayed even though I joined recently, I cannot imagine how this decision will affect the others who were integral to building it up and making it such a treasured spot on the Internet. And make to no mistake it is a rarity.