The death of the MenuPages Chicago blog

Logged in today and learned that it had been swallowed up by (or morphed into) GrubStreet, a derivative of New York Magazine. This was not a site (at least not recently) that was written by local Chicago folks anyway, but now there seems to be less effort to disguise that fact. I was not a huge fan but every once in a while something posted there would amuse or inform me.

In any event, this move is part of a 5-city expansion into cities where MenuPages (sister company of New York Mag) already has a presence.

Not sure what this really means or what the net result will be. At first glance, the new entity seems more polished, more produced and less local (if that's even possible). I guess that in this day and age of press release-driven content, the changes probably won't be too noticeable.

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It's been rebranded, and it's slicker and more corporate, but at least Helen Rosner is still writing it -- I really enjoy the tone she brought to the MP Chicago blog.

And, that said, I think the tone of the blog is roughly the same, too. That might change.. it was pretty gossipy before, and it might become more "responsible" now, but... I don't know, I'm just not that concerned about the changes.

I actually liked the old design more, mostly because I really don't like the choice of font on the new one.

Yeah, the ownership change was a long time ago and I don't think this is a big format change, really only that some of the content from other Menu/Grub cities gets rotated in among Helen's stuff. I read it every day, 1) because Helen's funny, 2) because I stay clued into the trendy stuff I feel I should follow (but don't want to make that big an effort to) via someone whose take on it is more snarky like mine than reverential, and 3) because she posts on a pretty regular schedule each day, unlike print publications which even with multiple staffers can barely squeeze out a couple of posts a week sometimes.

I stopped reader her when she posted the winner of Top Chef Masters without any spoiler alert.

Helen from MenuPages/Grub Street here. Mike G is pretty much on the money here: the blog remains pretty much exactly the same, it's just wrapped up in shiny new design and has a nationally-branded name on top.

The biggest changes are that (1) the occasional piece of content will be cross-posted from another city in the GS network (which we used to do on MenuPages too, though in a less technologically advanced way) -- though we'll only in cases when it truly is an item of of national interest (see today's Mario Batali in a movie post, originating in New York); and (2) we're going to be rolling out more original content, which is in my opinion an unequivocally good thing -- see the Stephanie Izard Chicago Diet for starters, and stay tuned for more really exciting new stuff.

It's also worth noting that I'm always looking for input on what to cover. Please email me (hrosner at menupages dot com) whenever you think of a way I can make my coverage better - corrections, suggestions, criticisms, tips, photos, rants. It's always, always welcome.

I stopped reader her when she posted the winner of Top Chef Masters without any spoiler alert.

Darren72, I'm really sorry about the Top Chef Masters thing. Short of taking that post down, you just tell me what I can do to win you back.

helenr wrote:

I stopped reader her when she posted the winner of Top Chef Masters without any spoiler alert.

Darren72, I'm really sorry about the Top Chef Masters thing. Short of taking that post down, you just tell me what I can do to win you back.

You shouldn't post the winner in the first place, in my opinion. I see only a selfish purpose in doing so. If you do post it, you should at least put a warning so those of us who prefer to watch the show without knowing the ultimate conclusion can choose not to see who won. You put a spoiler alert on the first post, but the alert is immediately followed by a picture of the winner. So there's little way to avoid shielding the identity of the winner. Your second post that contained the name of the winner didn't contain any spoiler alert at all.

So, what can you do, short of taking down the post? Why can't you take the down the post so future visitors don't mistakenly see the identity of the winner? Short of that, why don't you do a better job of hiding the name? For example, have a clearly marked link that says "Click here if you want to know the winner".

Darren72 wrote:

helenr wrote:

I stopped reader her when she posted the winner of Top Chef Masters without any spoiler alert.

Darren72, I'm really sorry about the Top Chef Masters thing. Short of taking that post down, you just tell me what I can do to win you back.

You shouldn't post the winner in the first place, in my opinion. I see only a selfish purpose in doing so. If you do post it, you should at least put a warning so those of us who prefer to watch the show without knowing the ultimate conclusion can choose not to see who won. You put a spoiler alter on the first post, but the alter is immediately followed by a picture of the winner. So there's little way to avoid shielding the identity of the winner. Your second post that contained the name of the winner didn't contain any spoiler alert at all.

So, what can you do, short of taking down the post? Why can't you take the down the post so future visitors don't mistakenly see the identity of the winner? Short of that, why don't you do a better job of hiding the name? For example, have a clearly marked link that says "Click here if you want to know the winner".

I think what Helen might (not) be saying here is that it's not her call to decide the fate of the posts in question. But Darren, you're absolutely right. What you describe is common 'netiquette' and I was very surprised by the way the information was divulged, without any meaningful advance warning.

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Did you stop reading this site that had a spoiler?

Mike G wrote:Did you stop reading this site that had a spoiler?

Apples to oranges, my friend. The thread you refer to here (which pertains to Top Chef Chicago) was spoiled by a poster who didn't know any better (and who apologized), not by someone in charge. There was also an effort made to remedy the situation here, which doesn't seem to be the case at MenuPages/Grub Street. I can see where what happened at MenuPages/Grub Street could drive some readers away. If I'd read that information, I'd be pretty pissed, too.

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Darren72 wrote:I stopped reader her when she posted the winner of Top Chef Masters without any spoiler alert.

This really pissed me off, too. People who read blogs via RSS Reader don't really have the choice to ignore a "click here if you want to see the winner" link. Posts are shown in their entirety.

I could blur my vision as I scroll down posts so I don't inadvertently read spoiler text, but did they also need to include a picture of the winner on it?

That should not have been posted in the first place.

helenr wrote:It's also worth noting that I'm always looking for input on what to cover. Please email me (hrosner at menupages dot com) whenever you think of a way I can make my coverage better - corrections, suggestions, criticisms, tips, photos, rants. It's always, always welcome..

I liked your blog but, since the change, I can't read it in my google blog reader. All I get is a link to the post which I'm not going to click and kind of defeats the point of a blog reader. Please fix that or else you'll lose another reader (and one who really doesn't want to leave).

hoya97 wrote:

helenr wrote:It's also worth noting that I'm always looking for input on what to cover. Please email me (hrosner at menupages dot com) whenever you think of a way I can make my coverage better - corrections, suggestions, criticisms, tips, photos, rants. It's always, always welcome..

I liked your blog but, since the change, I can't read it in my google blog reader. All I get is a link to the post which I'm not going to click and kind of defeats the point of a blog reader. Please fix that or else you'll lose another reader (and one who really doesn't want to leave).

I don't have that problem.. maybe try deleting and readding the feed using the new url?

http://chicago.grubstreet.com/index.xml

If you're having RSS problems, definitely check your feed source. The old MPChicago feed is still alive, but will include headlines only. The Grub Street Chicago feed -- http://chicago.grubstreet.com/index.xml -- has full post content including images and postjump content.

helenr wrote:If you're having RSS problems, definitely check your feed source. The old MPChicago feed is still alive, but will include headlines only. The Grub Street Chicago feed -- http://chicago.grubstreet.com/index.xml -- has full post content including images and postjump content.

That works. I'm glad. Thanks.