"Never take your accounts department for granted ever again"
November 12, 2024 10:52 AM Subscribe
Aftermath, the tech and gaming blog founded by webugees from Kotaku, is one year old! In a lengthy post on their site, founders Luke Plunkett, Gita Jackson, Riley McLeod, Nathan Grayson and Chris Person discuss what running their little co-op business is like, and the issues they face in keeping it afloat.
Oh yeah, I resonate with that a lot.
Early on when I was first setting up my own businesses, I mentioned this to someone who said "that's great, you get to work half days..."
And as I was typing out my reply, they followed up with:
"...but at least you mostly get to choose which 12 hours of the day you work."
I had so many hats for the different roles I'd been jumping between from moment to moment throughout the day. To help spread the financial risk I'd set up multiple very different businesses, so when one sector was quiet, I could put time into the others, etc.
Fortunately I could compartmentalise with sub-email accounts, sub-folders, directories, etc. And write guides, and structured processes to get things done. So when I could get help from more people to take on particular roles as the different businesses expanded, I could essentially just pass that particular package of the business on, pre-wrapped.
I'd initially quit the corporate world because I didn't want to spend so much time at a computer serving the needs of someone else. But by working for myself (and employing a big bunch of sub-contractors) I spent even more time in front of a screen, serving the needs of all that had to be done each and every day.
I used to try and take off half an afternoon through to evening every two weeks in those first few years. This did improve and I started to have weekends once every month or two.
10 years later when I then took on another totally new business venture as well (it seemed like a good idea at the time), even with three full-time staff for that business alone plus myself, I was really happy when after about 6 months I got my working hours down from 120 hours a week to just 100 hours a week. In the last year (of 13 years doing silly hours) I was even able to set up a regular schedule to go and see a new movie once a week to help unplug.
But all that work paid off in so many ways. And it all enabled me to be where I am now. So I am very grateful, but I do not recommend it.
posted by many-things at 11:38 AM on November 12 [4 favorites]
Early on when I was first setting up my own businesses, I mentioned this to someone who said "that's great, you get to work half days..."
And as I was typing out my reply, they followed up with:
"...but at least you mostly get to choose which 12 hours of the day you work."
I had so many hats for the different roles I'd been jumping between from moment to moment throughout the day. To help spread the financial risk I'd set up multiple very different businesses, so when one sector was quiet, I could put time into the others, etc.
Fortunately I could compartmentalise with sub-email accounts, sub-folders, directories, etc. And write guides, and structured processes to get things done. So when I could get help from more people to take on particular roles as the different businesses expanded, I could essentially just pass that particular package of the business on, pre-wrapped.
I'd initially quit the corporate world because I didn't want to spend so much time at a computer serving the needs of someone else. But by working for myself (and employing a big bunch of sub-contractors) I spent even more time in front of a screen, serving the needs of all that had to be done each and every day.
I used to try and take off half an afternoon through to evening every two weeks in those first few years. This did improve and I started to have weekends once every month or two.
10 years later when I then took on another totally new business venture as well (it seemed like a good idea at the time), even with three full-time staff for that business alone plus myself, I was really happy when after about 6 months I got my working hours down from 120 hours a week to just 100 hours a week. In the last year (of 13 years doing silly hours) I was even able to set up a regular schedule to go and see a new movie once a week to help unplug.
But all that work paid off in so many ways. And it all enabled me to be where I am now. So I am very grateful, but I do not recommend it.
posted by many-things at 11:38 AM on November 12 [4 favorites]
Some all time great games journos in this project. It's not really a profitable business, but I hope this one can beat the averages.
posted by jy4m at 11:54 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
posted by jy4m at 11:54 AM on November 12 [1 favorite]
I've really been enjoying Aftermath and think the subscription is worth it.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 12:23 PM on November 12 [2 favorites]
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 12:23 PM on November 12 [2 favorites]
Huh. I was today years old when I found out that the "webugees" from Kotaku had their own site. Do a better job publicizing if you want to make it long-term!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:55 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:55 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
I'm surprised that people like the word webugees!
Yeah it took me a few months before I found about theirs too (by contrast I knew about Second Wind right away), but I subscribed to it earlier today. They're offering a special through November 29 of just $1 for the first month. (And it's just $7 a month after that!)
posted by JHarris at 1:21 PM on November 12
Yeah it took me a few months before I found about theirs too (by contrast I knew about Second Wind right away), but I subscribed to it earlier today. They're offering a special through November 29 of just $1 for the first month. (And it's just $7 a month after that!)
posted by JHarris at 1:21 PM on November 12
Reminds me of the people behind 404 media, who are webugees from the implosion of Motherboard/Vice. They're also great and now own their journalistic project.
posted by dantheclamman at 2:51 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
posted by dantheclamman at 2:51 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
many-things: After that huge effort and you say the paybacks were great, did you transition to other things in your life? Too many people I've heard of destroy any life they have other than work then when they *can* slowdown (or devote the hours to something else) they can't make the transition. If they even still want to.
posted by aleph at 3:42 PM on November 12
posted by aleph at 3:42 PM on November 12
In a similar vein, Defector are webugees from Deadspin.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 3:43 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
posted by Doofus Magoo at 3:43 PM on November 12 [4 favorites]
dantheclanman: Would you recommend 404 media? Looking to donate to effective reporting groups.
posted by aleph at 3:44 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
posted by aleph at 3:44 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
Okay, can someone fill me in on one small thing? Not too many years ago, only the misinformed would (a bit embarrassingly!) refer to each of a site's individual posts/articles as, each of them, a separate "blog." Rather, the website was the blog, and these were blog posts (or just articles/essays/whatever).
Yet, on this site, they're now doing that fairly consistently.
Was this a semi-ironic/semi-joking thing that since stuck, or did I just miss language changing out from under us on this?
Two different writers doing it in this article:
posted by nobody at 5:07 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
Yet, on this site, they're now doing that fairly consistently.
Was this a semi-ironic/semi-joking thing that since stuck, or did I just miss language changing out from under us on this?
Two different writers doing it in this article:
"hopefully there'll be more blogs on the website in 2025"and
"paying for a premium service, not a firehose of blogs about[...]"A third writer doing it in a different article:
"In the words of my most popular blog, how stupid do they think we are?"And a fourth writer doing it here:
"This is a blog about establishing a working relationship with a local powder coating guy."and
"I cannot wait to turn this thing inside out in a future blog."And I don't think I've noticed it anywhere other than on that site. Is it semi-joking? Just the (earnest?) house style? Or does it speak to the evolution of this language everywhere?
posted by nobody at 5:07 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
nobody, OH FROG YES THAT BOTHERS ME SO MUCH! INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES ARE NOT BLOGS, THEY'RE BLOG POSTS!!!
posted by JHarris at 5:36 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 5:36 PM on November 12 [5 favorites]
One more theory, after seeing a new article pop up with another example: I wonder if this is maybe an "inside the newsroom" shorthand leaking out here, using "blog" instead of typing out the full "blog post" every time, and if we're only seeing it here since Aftermath is such an inside-baseball site, writing a lot about writing outlets (including their own).
If that's the case, I'd still be curious whether it's widespread newsroom-speak now, or if it's just an idiosyncrasy brought over from one of the sites a few of these folks happened to emigrate from.
(But from another angle: every time they do it, I also see it as a bit of (false?) modesty, using "blog [post]" when "article" would surely do, on top of what my ear takes in as the maybe jokey faux-ignorance of using "blog" instead of "blog post" or "post.")
(Either way, I'm glad you think it's terrible, too, JHarris!)
posted by nobody at 6:05 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
If that's the case, I'd still be curious whether it's widespread newsroom-speak now, or if it's just an idiosyncrasy brought over from one of the sites a few of these folks happened to emigrate from.
(But from another angle: every time they do it, I also see it as a bit of (false?) modesty, using "blog [post]" when "article" would surely do, on top of what my ear takes in as the maybe jokey faux-ignorance of using "blog" instead of "blog post" or "post.")
(Either way, I'm glad you think it's terrible, too, JHarris!)
posted by nobody at 6:05 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
The use of “blog” for “post on a blog” is not unique to this site; I’ve seen it many other places. I, too, find it annoying - but it’s a pretty common use and increasingly so.
I console myself with the knowledge that “blog” is itself a silly word so it’s all just linguistic evolution all the way down.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:01 PM on November 12 [2 favorites]
I console myself with the knowledge that “blog” is itself a silly word so it’s all just linguistic evolution all the way down.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:01 PM on November 12 [2 favorites]
I was already bewildered that it’s wasn’t a (we)b log entry. Post the verb, entry the noun. So, a blog, wevs!
posted by clew at 7:55 PM on November 12
posted by clew at 7:55 PM on November 12
The problem is, what is a blog, the thing that contains what were unambiguously called blog posts, to be called?
posted by JHarris at 8:45 PM on November 12
posted by JHarris at 8:45 PM on November 12
“Website” would make too much sense, gotta find something else.
posted by clew at 8:57 PM on November 12
posted by clew at 8:57 PM on November 12
I am just disappointed that when someone makes a new post they don't announce it by saying they "dropped a blog."
posted by Literaryhero at 9:50 PM on November 12
posted by Literaryhero at 9:50 PM on November 12
Hey everybody, check out my site, I just pinched a bloaf!
posted by Literaryhero at 9:52 PM on November 12
posted by Literaryhero at 9:52 PM on November 12
Funny thing about the use of “blog”, I wonder if it’s backwash from the transmutation to “vlog”, where “vlog” is the verb and the noun. On YouTube, if you called your video a “vlog post” viewers would find it weird.
posted by itesser at 10:05 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
posted by itesser at 10:05 PM on November 12 [1 favorite]
dantheclanman: Would you recommend 404 media? Looking to donate to effective reporting groups.
I am not dantheclanman but for my money (literally!), 404, Aftermath and Remap all deserve support.
posted by bigendian at 2:36 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
I am not dantheclanman but for my money (literally!), 404, Aftermath and Remap all deserve support.
posted by bigendian at 2:36 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
“Website” would make too much sense, gotta find something else.
Not too useful? There are lots of sites that aren't blogs, often a blog isn't the whole site, and some sites even have multiple blogs.
posted by JHarris at 3:09 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
Not too useful? There are lots of sites that aren't blogs, often a blog isn't the whole site, and some sites even have multiple blogs.
posted by JHarris at 3:09 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
nobody, OH FROG YES THAT BOTHERS ME SO MUCH! INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES ARE NOT BLOGS, THEY'RE BLOG POSTS!!!
Have you ever turned in “a paper” or read “a column”?
Language moves.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:18 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
Have you ever turned in “a paper” or read “a column”?
Language moves.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:18 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
I though 'blog' had derived from 'biographic log' when on the early web people started posting 'what I'm doing'.
posted by rochrobbb at 4:49 AM on November 13
posted by rochrobbb at 4:49 AM on November 13
Let's hope they thrive long enough to never take their HR department for granted ever again.
posted by scruss at 7:03 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 7:03 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
Upon further reflection, I think language has indeed just moved on. Here's the Whitehouse itself using it the new, looser way:
posted by nobody at 7:03 AM on November 13
"In this blog, we show how this policy significantly lowers the cost of health insurance to consumers"(though I'm still surprised to see the shift at a place like Aftermath, among people who are such insiders, who have been around, writing on the internet, for so long).
posted by nobody at 7:03 AM on November 13
warriorqueen: Language moves.
Indeed it does. Or rather, it is, in this case. My reaction, and that of some others here, indicates that it hasn't moved yet, or is in the process. And as people who are bloggers, by right of contributing to Metafilter at the very least, and who also think about the internet, our voices are important to this movement, or its attempted stopping, we shouldn't shut up about this but should use our "blogs" to influence the outcome.
We don't have to accept this uncritically, as if people originally misusing a term has to be accepted as words changing meaning. I think that blog has a useful role to play as the name for the thing that contains blog posts. It isn't a huge issue (the emphasis and exclamation points I used before were intended ironically), and the use of "blog" to mean "blog post" isn't a sign of the creeping decay of society. I just think it's useful to have different words to mean the thing that contains the sequential ordering of chronological posts and the posts themselves.
If nothing else, it'd miss the opportunity to invent a new and whimsical name for the posts. Bleeps! Bloglets! Blogbees! Blobs! Bloplets!* Blots! Justin Bliebers!
* my favorite
posted by JHarris at 9:44 AM on November 13 [3 favorites]
Indeed it does. Or rather, it is, in this case. My reaction, and that of some others here, indicates that it hasn't moved yet, or is in the process. And as people who are bloggers, by right of contributing to Metafilter at the very least, and who also think about the internet, our voices are important to this movement, or its attempted stopping, we shouldn't shut up about this but should use our "blogs" to influence the outcome.
We don't have to accept this uncritically, as if people originally misusing a term has to be accepted as words changing meaning. I think that blog has a useful role to play as the name for the thing that contains blog posts. It isn't a huge issue (the emphasis and exclamation points I used before were intended ironically), and the use of "blog" to mean "blog post" isn't a sign of the creeping decay of society. I just think it's useful to have different words to mean the thing that contains the sequential ordering of chronological posts and the posts themselves.
If nothing else, it'd miss the opportunity to invent a new and whimsical name for the posts. Bleeps! Bloglets! Blogbees! Blobs! Bloplets!* Blots! Justin Bliebers!
* my favorite
posted by JHarris at 9:44 AM on November 13 [3 favorites]
My reaction, and that of some others here, indicates that it hasn't moved yet, or is in the process. And as people who are bloggers, by right of contributing to Metafilter at the very least, and who also think about the internet, our voices are important to this movement, or its attempted stopping, we shouldn't shut up about this but should use our "blogs" to influence the outcome.
Yeah, but as someone who professionally edited blogs as part of a women's magazine website in the era of blogging (2009-12013) and who also as a part of that helped coordinate a network of over 50 mommy blogs - just because it hasn't moved for you, doesn't mean it didn't start moving a long time ago.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:57 AM on November 13
Yeah, but as someone who professionally edited blogs as part of a women's magazine website in the era of blogging (2009-12013) and who also as a part of that helped coordinate a network of over 50 mommy blogs - just because it hasn't moved for you, doesn't mean it didn't start moving a long time ago.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:57 AM on November 13
I kind of think of this usage of "blog" as part of the same phenomenon as using the name of a website to mean an individual account on the site, as in "I put some pictures on my instagram". In both cases, it's a less site-centric view of the web, shifting the focus and even the meaning of words towards the content and away from the container.
I'm willing to accept this phenomenon without complaint, as long as the older usage is still understood. I am willing to be thought of as old-fashioned. (Some would say I'm old-fashioned to be talking about blogs at all.) But I will start biting people on the day that they start telling me that I'm using the word "blog" wrong.
posted by baf at 11:20 AM on November 13
I'm willing to accept this phenomenon without complaint, as long as the older usage is still understood. I am willing to be thought of as old-fashioned. (Some would say I'm old-fashioned to be talking about blogs at all.) But I will start biting people on the day that they start telling me that I'm using the word "blog" wrong.
posted by baf at 11:20 AM on November 13
Another angle that crossed my mind: it's clearly fruitless to get upset about, for example, "begs the question" now meaning "raises the question" more often than not, but it would still be surprising to find a philosophy professor using it in that way.
Warriorqueen, I'm just curious, given your prior professional expertise: do you personally these days generally call individual posts/essays "blogs" or are you just saying the shift/ambiguity is widespread out there, so you're not going to blink twice wherever you see it? (And if the former, were you and the writers working under you doing that all along?)
posted by nobody at 4:45 PM on November 13
Warriorqueen, I'm just curious, given your prior professional expertise: do you personally these days generally call individual posts/essays "blogs" or are you just saying the shift/ambiguity is widespread out there, so you're not going to blink twice wherever you see it? (And if the former, were you and the writers working under you doing that all along?)
posted by nobody at 4:45 PM on November 13
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posted by robotmachine at 11:26 AM on November 12 [4 favorites]