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AWN Previews State


Drooke

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And allow me to chime in momentarily.

 

Right now, we are absolutely buried in news about the Olympics. Pablo does a great deal of research, but he's not going to be in-the-know as much as the people here in Indiana are. From a national angle, he covers the bases and we (AWN) try to promote and preview as much high school wrestling as we can. On a national level, you won't find more information on such a broad range anywhere.

 

That being said, I did not have adequate time to fully edit the preview. Pablo is a volunteer, he is not a writer by trade. His efforts are for the sport of wrestling in altruistic terms. Is he a seasoned writer? No. Do we as a magazine have the budget to hire writers from around the country to provide specific insight on every state? No. Pablo writes these because he loves the sport.

 

He's a great guy who has used wrestling to pull himself up. He's not a journalist. He writes capsule-type previews and has a few contacts, but other than that, the broad scale preview is for the broad audience. You guys have IndianaMat for all your Indiana news, so naturally, people will disagree with what's being posted.

 

That being said, we've been working with him on improving his writing -- the guy busts his butt to put as much information out as he can in a written form -- a format that isn't just a list of credentials. He's been rough around the edges, but he filled a gap for us in a pinch and he's done a lot of work to not only improve, but to recognize a lot of wrestlers nationwide who don't fall in the realm of "elite."

 

I hope some of you can understand that in rebuilding a brand such as AWN, there will be some growing pains. I typically edit the content submitted, but rather than have this sit in my inbox untouched and be outdated, I did a quick troll of some things and posted it.

 

If it were going into the print version, I'd have cleaned it up something fierce.

 

Pablo isn't a writer, but he is doing the best he can and improving every day. I'd challenge the masses to try to do what he does on a weekly basis and see if they can have a grasp on so much information. In a bubble, yeah, there are better writers, but when that bubble covers the entire country and you're producing 5-6 web articles a week simply for the love of the sport, I find most would buckle under the challenge.

 

Pablo doesn't complain, he is eager to learn how to write better ... no outlet has put out more HS wrestling information than we have this year and Pablo's work ethic is tremendous, provided English isn't his first language either.

 

I'm all about feedback, but just wanted to put that bit of info out there.

 

JB

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Welcome to the board JB.  I hated to see you go from USA Wrestling but I'm sure the move was made in the best interest of you and your family.  While this first attempt may not be the greatest  many of us do appreciate any additional coverage that Amateur Wrestling News may provide for wrestling in Indiana.

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I've been lurking for years, I had an old login before the new board software (or whenever it was changed).

 

Pablo's trying to get better, but when I started writing when I was 15, my stuff was schlock. I'm working with Pablo to refine some things, but it doesn't happen overnight.

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To be clear I dont write articles for a reason. Im a terrible writer. If i can offer any advice as a reader it would be to vary it up. It just was a boring read and didnt really have anything interesting for me. I am probably not the target audience I keep a pretty close eye on whos who more so than the average fan. 

 

That being said kudos to this guy getting to write about something he enjoys for a living better career than mine.

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He doesn't do this for a living, he's a volunteer. Much of how The Open Mat was formed was based on volunteers, then came the merger with AWN. When I took over InterMat in 2005, there was a lot of the same repair. Now with AWN, we're having to do it again, only branding it with a magazine that has never really had much of a web presence.

 

Even our print writers, for the most part, are volunteers. I worked at a newspaper in the newsroom from 1996-2005, so I'm trying to bring a lot of that experience to the mag and the web -- we're still working on getting some of our folks trained. Some have great ideas that we have to tweak.

 

As I said, I didn't have full time to edit the piece in its entirety to probably please the Indiana readership.

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Jason said it well.

 

I will simply say this. We get literally tons of emails of people wanting more coverage of their states and their wrestlers. But when we do something and it does not fit what they want, they complain. Message board hero's who love to slam people etc... are pretty funny really.

 

I am going to go through and clean it up right now. As we said, one breaking issue has consumed a large part of our time. We could have done better cleaning it up, and we should do better. That we take ownership of. But some of the comments are just tacky. My name is Eric I own the site and AWN. My number is 651-503-5632 and my email is eric@theopenmat.com feel free to contact me anytime and have an adult conversation. We love feedback.

 

Heck I wonder how many other national outlets will be at the Indiana State tournament this weekend? We will be.

 

AS to the preview not being in-depth, Jason makes it clear, we have a choice, we can show support of your state, with a high level (not so in-depth) preview so people from other states and college coaches can get a snap shot of wrestlers in your state. Or we can not do anything at all. From what I am reading the majority of you would rather have no coverage. If that is so, please do not complain when kids from your state do not get noticed as much etc...

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Thanks we appreciate your work! I felt the article could have been more than a simple Wrestler X has Record Y and placed Z last year. If you are going to publish things it is open to criticism.    Hope it helps this volunteer grow as a writer to allow him to produce better pieces in the future. As I said I was probably not the target audience but it doesnt disqualify my opinion. Hope you enjoy the State Finals easily one of the best high school sporting events in the country.

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Thanks we appreciate your work! I felt the article could have been more than a simple Wrestler X has Record Y and placed Z last year. If you are going to publish things it is open to criticism.    Hope it helps this volunteer grow as a writer to allow him to produce better pieces in the future. As I said I was probably not the target audience but it doesnt disqualify my opinion. Hope you enjoy the State Finals easily one of the best high school sporting events in the country.

 

I agree 100% and as I stated I appreciate the feedback. I also agree if something is published it is open to criticism. That I have no issue with. What I have issue with are sophmoric comments. Constructive is one thing, being a (fill in your own term) is something else.

 

We also have the ability to choose what we do cover and what we do not. We attempt to provide the most coverage possible. If we were to do an in-depth breakdown of state HS tournaments we would probably only mention 6-7. Most likely, PA, NJ, OH, MN, IA, IL and CA.

 

Listing the top 6-8 guys in each weight as a snap shot IMO is effective to those who live outside the state. It gives them an idea as to who the contenders are.

 

If this is a type of product people do not like, we will consider doing more in-depth pieces next year, but that will be limited to the states that we choose as the most interesting for that year.

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Jason said it well.

 

I will simply say this. We get literally tons of emails of people wanting more coverage of their states and their wrestlers. But when we do something and it does not fit what they want, they complain. Message board hero's who love to slam people etc... are pretty funny really.

 

I am going to go through and clean it up right now. As we said, one breaking issue has consumed a large part of our time. We could have done better cleaning it up, and we should do better. That we take ownership of. But some of the comments are just tacky. My name is Eric I own the site and AWN. My number is 651-503-5632 and my email is eric@theopenmat.com feel free to contact me anytime and have an adult conversation. We love feedback.

 

Heck I wonder how many other national outlets will be at the Indiana State tournament this weekend? We will be.

 

AS to the preview not being in-depth, Jason makes it clear, we have a choice, we can show support of your state, with a high level (not so in-depth) preview so people from other states and college coaches can get a snap shot of wrestlers in your state. Or we can not do anything at all. From what I am reading the majority of you would rather have no coverage. If that is so, please do not complain when kids from your state do not get noticed as much etc...

 

if i were you guys i'd just tell them all to $@*% off and cover other states tournaments.......what a bunch of idiots who have nothing better to do than complain about such trivial stuff......i thought it was fine......gave the writers thoughts on what might happen......and i think he's pretty accurate too.......thanks!

 

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I was critical of the writer, I think if you publish an article with such errors, it really opens the door to criticism. However, I do appreciate the attention being finally being shone on one of the premiere high school state tournaments in the country. Good luck in your progression as a writer!

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And now viritas has made an appearance too.  Keep up the good work boys.  I'm glad your original pirate rebellion finally turned into a growing news source.  Keep working on things, with the guys you have at your disposal I'm sure the regional production will continue to develop over time. 

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