Anandtech closes up shop
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TheLostSwede
Very Senior Member
I doubt anyone is truly surprised, the site has been going downhill content wise for a long time.
Met Anand many moons ago, alongside Tom and Kyle at the first ever Computex I attended.
Met Anand many moons ago, alongside Tom and Kyle at the first ever Computex I attended.
That's a real shame. After Tom's Hardware stopped going as in-depth into their articles, Anandtech had been my go-to site for any highly technical review, where they went beyond just running Cinebench and Cyberpunk 2077 to generate a bunch of colourful charts. Their CPU reviews were awesome, and they remained just as good even after Dr. Ian Cutress left them a few years ago.
I see no other site to really fill up that hole right now. TechPowerUp has nice reviews, but they don't go as deep into the technical details.
I understand that the economics are no longer there, but that does not change the fact that there is a need for this type of content. Sites like Anandtech and RTINGS are highly useful to those of us who aren't just social media doom scrolling junkies, and we want technical details. Nowadays, you get more clicks by reposting random rumour BS than from having an engineer explain the impact of a larger L3 cache in a new CPU design. And the current business model revolves largely around getting those clicks.
I see no other site to really fill up that hole right now. TechPowerUp has nice reviews, but they don't go as deep into the technical details.
I understand that the economics are no longer there, but that does not change the fact that there is a need for this type of content. Sites like Anandtech and RTINGS are highly useful to those of us who aren't just social media doom scrolling junkies, and we want technical details. Nowadays, you get more clicks by reposting random rumour BS than from having an engineer explain the impact of a larger L3 cache in a new CPU design. And the current business model revolves largely around getting those clicks.
Yeah its hard to stay afloat with very knowledgeable writers who could get very high salaries in the actual industry. The problem with sites like AT going under is that even if just a few consumers read it, the general knowledge among consumers will now be even lower, and will make various companies able to fool more people with marketing speak and further ensh*ttification of the product lines.
Tech Junky
Part of the Furniture
Have you seen the threads here?
It takes a lot of time to do in-depth reviews of products that are getting increasingly complicated. People with the knowledge to do them can usually find better ways to get paid for their knowledge.
There are not many people willing (or able) to put in the time for no monetary return. You're fortunate to be able to do it and so are your users.
I grew up in the era where people were buying magazines and newspapers at the local newsstand. So, I have no problem paying for Youtube Premium and Tidal, because I consume a lot of content from these two services. I'd be willing to pay a few bucks a month for a good tech-focused news site, that would skip on the click-baiting rumour repost. (Ian Cutress actually mentionned something about this in his video, on how Anandtech had decided to never drop to that level in the constant race for SEO and linkbacks). Unfortunately, the current generation grew up on the "free web" of the early 2000s, where quantity was more important than quality, provided said quantity remained free for them.
At some point, people's mindset will have to go back to the original model of subscription-based information sources as being something normal. Otherwise, everyone better get prepared, because in the next 5 years, I predict that a large portion of these sites will become just portals for AI-generated content. Ad revenue isn't enough, so they will cut on their costs by replacing skilled editors with bloggers whose primary skill is on how to craft a good ChatGPT prompt, and turn around a "news" article in 2 hours. Johnny in his bedroom can craft a ChatGPT prompt for much cheaper than Dr. Ian Cutress can write an in-depth article on the latest AMD CPU architecture.
Ultimately, even that will become unsustainable as a business model. What will come next? I really don't know.
I do spend a far more limited amount of time these past couple of years providing direct technical support to users. The development side of things just happens to be a hobby that I can do on my own free time, and I do have a separate fulltime job to keep a roof over my head and food on my table. That's quite different from an author devoting 40 hours a week researching, testing and writing for a living.
Tech9
Part of the Furniture
I don't believe this will ever happen. A review site like AnandTech creates content for 0.01% interested in what more this AMD processor can do. The rest 99.99% don't care much and prefer to watch free on TikTok the rear view of a chubby girl picking up an AMD processor from the floor. Technology? It's good enough now and no one cares what's inside and how it works. The girl takes the cash - the better content creator. Sad, but true.
sfx2000
Part of the Furniture
Like AnandTech - there are other tech sites focused on communities that some would consider niche...
This is just a few - there are others that were gaming focused for PC Gaming, PC customization, overclocking, linux dev, etc...
Some of these you might recognize - most went down for the same reason, mostly keeping up/paying for bandwidth, sometimes for health reasons, and sometimes, the host just decides to roll it up as life changes...
With AnandTech and TheTechReport - once the primary owners moved over to the silicon space, things did tend to run dry, as there wasn't enough editorial space to fill the room any longer...
- HardOCP
- The Tech Report
- Macintouch
- xlr8yourmac
- xbitLabs
- realworldtech
This is just a few - there are others that were gaming focused for PC Gaming, PC customization, overclocking, linux dev, etc...
Some of these you might recognize - most went down for the same reason, mostly keeping up/paying for bandwidth, sometimes for health reasons, and sometimes, the host just decides to roll it up as life changes...
With AnandTech and TheTechReport - once the primary owners moved over to the silicon space, things did tend to run dry, as there wasn't enough editorial space to fill the room any longer...
bluzfanmr1
Senior Member
I've noticed on a couple of older car forums I frequent and were dying out, but suddenly there is a constant stream of "new" posters asking questions. They are getting very good at appearing to be normal posters but they are definitely AI generated. These posts are too well polished and lack the human element you see i.e. misspelled words, run on sentences, etc. This appears to be our future.
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Tech9
Part of the Furniture
I don't blame younger people asking for YouTube videos. There are many successful tech channels out there with good quality content. Sites who missed the trend lose the audience and will disappear sooner or later. I also don't care if the bus is 256-bit, the clock is 3.6GHz and there are 16 cores. When I need hardware for specific task I'm interested in real life performance only. If someone can show it to me - gets my clicks and views. Old school comparison sheets with raw specs - not interested. Not willing to pay for this type of reviews either - I can find the differences in specs myself.
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AI is a scourge on several sites, especially reddit. And typically people who don't have experience with AI don't realize what's going on, while its easy to spot for those who have played with it. So some times you have to literally fight with mods and experienced users to convince them and get that crap removed.
TheLostSwede
Very Senior Member
Even youtube is too long form content these days. If it's not on tiktok, then no-one is watching it that's under the age of 25.
eightiescalling
Senior Member
That long?
To be honest everything going to YouTube/videos is driving me nuts. A written article can be skimmed, you can jump to the parts you want, if on a mobile device you can consume it without needing to disturb others or cut yourself off from the outside world.
Perhaps I'm just showing my age though...
sfx2000
Part of the Furniture
Food for thought...
It's getting very difficult to run an independent site these days...
autoblog.com shutdown today (9/13/2024)...
www.autoblog.com
It's getting very difficult to run an independent site these days...
autoblog.com shutdown today (9/13/2024)...
We obsessively covered the auto industry for 20 years - Autoblog
After 159,000 posts, 43,000 photo galleries, 848 podcasts and 5,000 videos, Autoblog enters a new chapter.
www.autoblog.com
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