Sploid 'Sploded

August 15, 2006 3:04 PM

Alt Anti- Bizarro NoNewsFilter
posted by wendell (39 comments total)

I don't get it. Sploid is closing?
posted by jonson at 3:08 PM on August 15, 2006

My buddy stopped blogging about a week ago, too. Damn shame.
posted by billysumday at 3:10 PM on August 15, 2006

yay? Plus YouTube isn't dead.
posted by ninjew at 3:10 PM on August 15, 2006

WTF is Sploid and why the crap should we care?
posted by xmutex at 3:11 PM on August 15, 2006

.?

*shrug*
posted by blucevalo at 3:11 PM on August 15, 2006

GIANT KOREAN DONGS, PEOPLE.
posted by boo_radley at 3:12 PM on August 15, 2006

Yeah Sploid was going to be killed this month, as reported by the NYT.

Personally, I thought a tabloid blog could be interesting or funny, but so many popular blogs border on tabloid that it wasn't different enough to garner notice. We've all seen BoingBoing or this site or even Kottke post a headline that was kind of over the top, and I bet Sploid could never out-do the over-the-topness of many mainstream blogs.
posted by mathowie at 3:13 PM on August 15, 2006

OH NOES! And they just linked to us!
posted by bob sarabia at 3:16 PM on August 15, 2006

Yet another story of someone getting fired for what they blogged.
posted by smackfu at 3:18 PM on August 15, 2006

Oh well; maybe it's just me, but I'll actually miss Sploid.

.
posted by nonliteral at 3:25 PM on August 15, 2006

I thought Sploid was a good idea (as even Mr. Gawker did at one time), liked the 'different' format and especially liked its bombastic style, making it my choice for unfair and mentally unbalanced news. The others take themselves too damn seriously. And when the world is falling apart, I like to laugh to keep from crying.

.
posted by wendell at 3:27 PM on August 15, 2006

Woah. The head may be cut off but the body is still running around. If Denton hasn't deleted all their log-ins yet, this may be an intereresting evening.
posted by wendell at 3:40 PM on August 15, 2006

They whacked the screenhead guy too, and (apparently) sold it off; it's no longer youtube and fark retreads, but now oriented towards Hollywood.

Looks like Denton's facing a bit of a retrenchment; wonder if the money's running out.
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:54 PM on August 15, 2006

In other news, Screenhead without dong_resin turned to shit in about 24 hours minutes seconds.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 3:56 PM on August 15, 2006

I have never heard of Sploid until the moment I clicked the front-page link to its parting article, so I read a story about the dead of a site that, from my point of view, has never even been. You could do a whole site based of this concept, reviews and demises of sites that never existed, the web version of Jorge Luis Borges prefaces to books that were never written.
posted by nkyad at 4:13 PM on August 15, 2006

Holy crap, I didn't realize Screenhead was (in essence) gone. Too bad.
posted by brain_drain at 4:15 PM on August 15, 2006

Crap. I really liked Sploid, read it nearly as much as MeFi.

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posted by slogger at 4:40 PM on August 15, 2006

I miss (Sploid editor) Ken Layne's old blog, personally. He's a damned good writer. Oh well, suppose I can always listen to his CD instead... (highly recommended, by the way!)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:48 PM on August 15, 2006

Ditto what slogger said. What's it mean? If a site like sploid (ranked 729 out of eleventybillion on Technorati, a Google Rank of 7/10) can't be profitable, then what?
posted by rzklkng at 6:08 PM on August 15, 2006

"...debut a radical new design that looked like a robot had taken a dump on a crossword puzzle."

LOL
posted by destro at 6:18 PM on August 15, 2006

I will miss Sploid. I loved the headlines, the photos and the writing style.

.
posted by birdherder at 6:22 PM on August 15, 2006

Sploid was always a great idea, just the followthrough sucked. Also it was, and is, incoherent.
posted by nyxxxx at 7:18 PM on August 15, 2006

it was good--the design always was a problem tho.
posted by amberglow at 7:41 PM on August 15, 2006

redesign, rather

Denton's been busy lately slashing and burning, no? Is he going to sell out to some big media co?
posted by amberglow at 7:43 PM on August 15, 2006

I will miss Sploid. It was ... different. And it had a cool way of snarking on every possible topic.

.
posted by davidmsc at 8:17 PM on August 15, 2006

I'll miss it. I liked it more before the redesigns, but so it goes.

At least its passing is more dignified than Screenhead's, which has, in a matter of weeks, turned into a sprawling heap of crap under its new owners.

.
posted by renraw at 9:00 PM on August 15, 2006

Wow, Screenhead is terrible now. Whoever edited that Movable Type template for them forgot to leave the 'archives' links in.

I wonder how much they paid Denton for the domain name and logo?
posted by tapeguy at 10:34 PM on August 15, 2006

For those who never caught Sploid, it was yet another manifestation of the genius of Ken Layne: chronic misanthrope, unemployable genius, superb wordsmith, understander-of-news, and all-around marvelous human being. He was one of the greatest fellas I've ever had the opportunity to work with. Because he is so utterly his wackjob self, he inspires everyone around him to be more and more who they really are--no matter how ugly that is.

The death of Sploid means to me that a little more glee has been stolen from the world.

And yet the good news is that Ken's next project will surely be bigger, badder, and better. Until then, I'll be reading and rereading my archived "heysploid" IM logs.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:54 PM on August 15, 2006

Damn. I knew it would be soon that Sploid would die. And now it has.

I'll miss you Sploid.

I read and enjoyed Sploid on a daily basis. I am not ashamed of this.

I've linked my favorite Sploid article right about here.

.
posted by jefbla at 11:49 PM on August 15, 2006

Yes, Screenhead is utter shit now. Dong_Resin is sorely missed.
posted by Optamystic at 1:40 AM on August 16, 2006

Ugh. I didn't even realize Screenhead, which I adored, still “existed” once the old RSS feed stopped updating. This zombie version must be destroyed. AIM FOR THE HEAD.

Oh, and re Sploid:
.

Two blogs that were too classy for this world.
posted by skryche at 5:37 AM on August 16, 2006

Sploid: I am glad you're gone. The Gawker network was getting too big and too ugly anyway. Maybe Kinja and Kotaku will be next. Let's pray for that!
posted by parmanparman at 6:25 AM on August 16, 2006

Did anyone mention that "Choire Sicha" is a MeFite? rjreynolds, no?

This was a big chuckle for me:

Gawker kingpin Nick Denton decided this was the perfect time to delete the archives and debut a radical new design that looked like a robot had taken a dump on a crossword puzzle.

Jaysus, this is robot shit indeed.
posted by Shane at 7:51 AM on August 16, 2006

I weep for Sploid...an oasis of originality in the Net's ocean of bad comedy, cheap snark and snakes on planes.
posted by Kirklander at 8:43 AM on August 16, 2006

Not to self link, but I guess I will anyhow: CJR Daily is also 'closing' - the two editors and myself resigned on Friday, as our budget is being cut to subsidize a direct-mail campaign for the CJR print magazine.

I don't know how many of you ever read the Daily, but it's a loss, at least to me.
posted by jivadravya at 10:41 AM on August 16, 2006

no way, jiva--that really sucks...there was very good coverage there, even if it never had the hype other places got. very sad news....i hope you find something good fast : >
posted by amberglow at 3:59 PM on August 16, 2006

I have to chime in here as well and say that I'll really miss Sploid.

Sure, it was just a crappy tabloid blog, but it was a fantastic crappy tabloid blog. There was a real entertaining art to the way the posts were constructed that kept me coming back day after day.
posted by Caviar at 8:55 PM on August 16, 2006

Thanks bros!

(And "unthanks" to you cold-ass folks who like to see people lose their jobs! I bet your mama is so ugly ....)

We had some fun. I guess it was a little too weird & esoteric to become the online tabloid of the 21st century ... but I was never bored when writing stories for Sploid.
posted by kenlayne at 10:39 PM on August 16, 2006

we look forward to your next gig : >
posted by amberglow at 11:04 PM on August 16, 2006