Anyone else feel Daring Fireball has gone downhill?

[defomicron]

Seems to me in the past few years the blog has become about complaining when things aren't exactly how Grub wants them to be, and little else. Anyone agree and share remorse at the death of this critical Apple icon? Anyone disagree and want to argue he's still writing quality content? I used to love this blog above all others, lately I'm disgusted by every post. Today I finally deleted his blog from NetNewsWire.

 

[satchmo]

I was never a huge fan, but would occasionally visit his blog for insightful commentary. But I haven’t gone there much lately. It seems a bit more ad driven (understandably), these days.

His podcast at the start was interesting, but then it kind of veered off into ramblings about baseball and other topics that dragged on for 2 hours. Got bored and deleted from my rotation.

He’s still very much an Apple fanboy but at least challenges Apple on some issues. He does so in a tactful way so maybe that’s why he’s still in good with Apple brass.

 

[Puonti]

Well, you could argue that 2020 especially has been a year that's raised a lot of bad things to the surface that demand critique, and there's often connections between those things and the tech industry. If the topics he's been covering aren't what one's looking for commentary on, and the side he's taken on those topics doesn't align with one's own, I could see the blog being of less interest to that person, of course.

Sure - I would like the percentage of his tech-related reporting to be higher, too. That's what I originally signed up for and I think he still does that part well. But I get why he puts the spotlight on the other things. It helps, too, that by and large I agree with his stance on those things when I choose to read about them.

 

[Starfia]

I think I was a late discoverer of Daring Fireball and started listening to every episode of The Talk Show (rather than just the ones with Apple executives) a few years ago.

I know what you mean about sports – maybe my least favourite topic – but from what I can glean, I think John at some point got the message that it wasn't why a lot of his listeners tuned in.

But I haven't deleted him from my podcasts or from NetNewsWire. These are unusual times, and this whole era is still the first long stretch after the death of Steve Jobs (before which I'm sure was the most fortunate age in which to be commentating). But I think he's still an original – that is, while many Apple blogs feel like copies of each other, and you can pick your favourite like you pick a favourite blend of coffee, I still check Daring Fireball for the near-guarantee what John will repeat little of the boilerplate and add something no one else has. Often that's where his insight, nerdiness and pickiness come in, which are all reflections of his values and principles – and his commentary has always been value-based and principled. (Maybe that's why it has the capacity to delight some and disgust others.)

 

[MacGizmo]

I think he still posts quality content about tech, though I could definitely do without all the sports, movie and political commentary. The same goes for his podcasts, where he makes the majority of his money. The problem I have with his podcast is that he has the same 3 or 4 guests all the time. It gets old.

 

[vorkosigan1]

Ok, "Daring Fireball" is the blog, and "The Talk Show" is the podcast. The podcast talks about sports more than it used to, and I'm not a sports person, so I don't enjoy that content, and usually skip over it. That doesn't mean that the podcast has gone downhill, but it is a change.

The blog is dealing with political issues more often. His political take roughly lines up with mine, so I enjoy that content. That doesn't mean that the blog has gone downhill, but it is a change. That said, 2020 has been pretty crazy, and most content providers are covering more of that craziness, so what Grubes is doing seems fine to me....