Frank Kogan

Based on my own experiences with SB, the trouble is that obligatory nature of the writing. I got an invite to trial-write for them, before, and I believe the requirement was once or twice a week? Sure, many authors have said that the harsh incessant deadline nature of professional journalism has taught them to churn out writing regularly, instead of the commonly abandoned writing projects of amateurs who lack the self-discipline to stick at it. But then again, do those said churning authors produce a truly well thought out piece every time, as opposed to the labor of love pieces of literature?

There's also the matter of tone that SB has adopted. Idolminded's creator, Ray Mescellado, was one of those journalists who learned to write regularly, and he has a very large body of excellent works. But the difference is that Ray never quite adopted an aggressive tone in his writing. On Idolminded, he was doing "Idol Thought of the Day," short articles musing over various issues in the industry, but always in an exploratory, questioning manner, looking for alternative interpretations that could challenge his own view.

Seoulbeats editorials, in contrast, tend to take on an "offense is the best defense" strategy, a "here's my opinion, deal with it, I can already tell you you're wrong" approach. There's hardly ever an indication that they might change their opinion later, because of the implication that their admitting that they're wrong would be terrible. The Angry Review/Rant is somewhat of a popular format now, especially when paired with comedy, but the site that has best put it to use only works because the reviewers have made sure that the "angry review" part strictly belongs to exaggerated personas that are not necessarily reflections of their actual opinions, but just calculated for maximum entertainment value.

Seoulbeats editorials have taken on that same kind of brash self-confident identity, but then don't leave wiggle room for themselves or their audience. They can't backtrack. They can't apologize. They always leave that obligatory last paragraph of supposed comment thread hooks to invite reader participation, but they're usually tacked on, without an actual connection to the content.

In other words, Seoulbeats doesn't write to discuss, they write to win. It's an invitation, but not of a "talk to me" sort, but a "come at me" one.