Open Letter To Omid: Have You Lost Your Frakkin' Mind?

[CaptRobertApril]

This will likely get me banned, so if you never hear from me again, I bid you all adieu! May all your benchmarks be strong, may all your chips be fast and may all your fanboi dreams come true.

Dear Omid.

I respectfully would like to know if you have lost your frakkin' mind.

You have junked up this site with an aberrant generic "free-template" graphical look; you seem to be far more interested in diverting hits from THG to your wholly irrelevant blog sites dealing with pink boomboxes, GM fuel standards, police trikes, Ford engines and French trains; and THG which before your buyout was respected and envied among tech sites is now getting scooped by garage sites written in incomprehensible Chinglish. Not that the recent batch of embarassing dilettante THG articles have been much better.

I've got news for you. THG does not equal CNET. They make more money than THG does. Live with it. Your efforts to expand the latitude of THG to increase your Google Adwords income and to place even more ads onto an already choked site is doomed to failure as the enthusiasts (who are the only true backbone of THG) are going to abandon this place in droves.

You didn't just buy a site. You bought a heritage. When THG spoke, captains of industry once quaked in fear. Now they're just rolling over in laughter. If they are aware of it at all.

Take it from a guy who likely has been in the business a couple of decades longer than you and was posting on THG when you thought those initials were of a hallucenogenic chemical. The key to increasing your ROI is not turning THG into salon.com or autoweek.com. It is only in recapturing the legacy of the site that brought Intel to its knees, made front-page news around the world and was acknowledged at one of the most authoritative sources on the planet. It achieved that heady status through superb journalism implemented by knowledgeable, expert engineers who focused like a laser beam on the technical aspects that mattered to the enthusiast/prosumer/gamer. You can regain this premier position and increase your profits by reawakening this hard-nosed emphasis on excellence in the reporting of PC component news and the performance grueling, cutting-edge lab testing.

This is the key to making money with THG which, as any businessman, you're primarily interested in. Don't dilute the value of this site, increase it!

Sincerely,

Capt. Robert April.

 

[gOJDO]

Who the f*ck is Omid? 8O

 

[chuckshissle]

Who the f*ck is Omid? 8O

I think that Ahkmed's younger brother.

 

[CaptRobertApril]

Omid Rahmat, CEO of TG Publishing.

 

[Flying-Q]

I've been reading Tom'sHardwareGuide since it was little more than text with simple links.

I've watched the site decline in journalistic standards such as spelling, grammar, choice of article subject matter and focus within articles as well as the all important rigorous examination of FACT.

I've also seen the creeping increase in adverts, starting with the plain banner and column ads of yesteryear (I was happy with those as they are static and can be ignored); then the disgustingly annoying 'greenlinks' which are breeding like rabbits on viagra; and now we have putrid excrescences of the FLASH kind.

GET THEM OUT OF MY EYELINE - I want to read an article not a bloody advert.

Q

 

[CaptRobertApril]

word of advice to the condemned.

I've pretty well said my piece. I'll be glad to answer any questions on this thread, but I don't think that any grandstanding on my part as the "lightning rod" against the current boneheaded editorial and marketing policy is going to serve any real purpose.

Dewd, will you bring me a cake on visiting days with a halfmoon file and a copy of Anandtech's latest reviews hidden inside? :lol:

 

[mesarectifier]

Totally right.

Toms' has decided that we are all crying out for a 'geek lifestyle' page. I dunno about anyone else, but I really, really just want Tom's Hardware Guide back rather than the Geek-Cosmo that it's fast becoming.

Biggest culprit IMO is Aaron Mckenna, who never seems to write anything about computers but is quite happy to let me read through a two page blog entry only to discover that by the end of it I haven't been informed of anything more important or interesting than that he stood behind a bratty kid in line at a computer store. Really f*cking fascinating.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

I agree 100% with you. I have the same ability as anyone else , to surf as I please, but here I am, waiting and reading what little there is to read. Ive just done a google search on one Thomas Pabst, and followed alot of links to others sites that was talking about him as well as THG. It looked to me that those posts from other sites were generated from either respect or jealousy. OK, there is room for more info here, BUT what I see going on is there has been a huge reduction of reviews about hardware AND a reduction in quality and content as well. Ive found that in a short time, reading the articles and visiting the forum Ive increased my hardware knowledge immensely. So I hope the powers that be(Omid?) listen to the eheart and soul of this site, cause as Ive learned from the forums, its as if people here are somewhat like employes, a companies best assets

 

[Torgo]

Are you trying to tell us that you don't enjoy coming to a computer hardware / software review site and reading about Ford's new 6 ton SUV / corn harvester hybrid that gets 2 miles per tank??

How can you not be happy with a site that has more FLASH ads than a crack addict's Myspace page?

Are you not interested in the fact that a pink iPod is a massive achievment and a headline that most 15 - 50 year old males will truly enjoy???

Really, can you tell us that you don't just LOVE incomprehensible reviews of the latest Nintendo Wii wristrap that goes on for 16 pages?

I mean sure, it has nothing at all to do with, you know, computers and the like, but I really think that my eyes bleeding from 3 - 6 flash ads while reading about Tonka's new line of toy trucks made from recycled batteries is pretty awesome!

</sarcasm>

Torgo

 

[Howard_Stern]

Gentlemen, I have to agree with you. Not that Toms is a bad site, far from it. But returning to its roots would benefit us all.

High Regards,
Howard

 

[Howard_Stern]

I wouldn't mind putting that purdy mouth on that flash ad to the left asking for comments to good use.

Yes I am southern, and yes I am referring to Deliverance. Hee hee, squeal piggy squeal.

Sorry a little off topic. Too much coffee this morning.

R,
HS

 

[stemnin]

If I wanted to read about the french high speed train, I go to cnn, if I want to read about some car, I read motor trend or C&D, and for those that think THG is BI-as, well take a look at those two mags!

 

[YO_KID37]

I so like the direction your trying to point out to THG. Most of the Articles suck and are at least 2 days to 1 Month behind the industry. And I use to love Opening up like 15 Pages on my Firefox and just sit there reading for the next hour about interesting Experiments and comparisons of CPU's adn Hardware in general. I've just stopped going to Toms after the new Graphical update. Everything is so out of place and confusing to find.
*The articles never get updates and they are either done half-assed or they have been done by a 10th grade kid :?
*The articles are 1 month late and they have nothing to add upon The_Inquirer's report. And many of the times the reviews turn out to be B/S
*I'm starting to head over to the INQ more often because they are starting to come up with newer and seem to get more consistent "good" news than they are usually known for.. Okay about 25% is still B/S but before it use to be 25% was even worth looking at and 75% was just authors ranting about something that's been going around as "RUMOURS". even Rahul Sood has been seen posting once.
EDIT: Just went back on TOMS and 1/2 the News are'nt even Hardware related?? WTF? ETHANOL Cars??

 

[anticupidon]

the most loved artists are those who knows how to reinvent themselves
just an ideea for the day,maybe the caffeine is kickin'

 

[rodney_ws]

Who the f*ck is Omid? 8O

I think that Ahkmed's younger brother.
Ahh... dirka dirka dirka.

 

[jitpublisher]

THG has evolved into a complete disappointment. I used to spend hours on the site reading through the wealth of good, well researched and unbiased information.
The only thing worth browsing anymore is the forums.
I can't remember the last time I actually read, or if I did read pay much attention to any article on the site. The look of the new site compliments the content quite nicely. Dull and boring.

 

[anticupidon]

THG has evolved into a complete disappointment. I used to spend hours on the site reading through the wealth of good, well researched and unbiased information.
The only thing worth browsing anymore is the forums.
I can't remember the last time I actually read, or if I did read pay much attention to any article on the site. The look of the new site compliments the content quite nicely. Dull and boring.

well it just seems that you somehow read my thoughts

 

[warezme]

All THG has to do is look at The Computer Shopper, although not exactly the same it is similar. They went from technical articles hardware dissected comparisons and price guides to what? Vogue for the geek. Its just like any other generic rag these days nobody reads.

I guess thats where THG is heading judging by many of these "new" articles I have been reading.

Anandtech is not as slick but the depth of some of their technical articles is astounding at times. I think THG used to be like that?

 

[rodney_ws]

All THG has to do is look at The Computer Shopper, although not exactly the same it is similar. They went from technical articles hardware dissected comparisons and price guides to what? Vogue for the geek. Its just like any other generic rag these days nobody reads.

I guess thats where THG is heading judging by many of these "new" articles I have been reading.

Anandtech is not as slick but the depth of some of their technical articles is astounding at times. I think THG used to be like that?

I will never, EVER forget the THG video of misc. processors having their heatsinks and fans removed... recalling those AMDs going up in smoke still brings a tear to my eye. Those were the days!

 

[choknuti]

While I agree with you that there has been a downward spiral (I have been reading since 98 when Dr. Tom was here) in the quality of articles (not all. the recent article on the graphic cards vs chipsets was great) I don't agree regarding the adds.

I am willing to endure advertising for quality articles on computer hardware. So guys keep the adds (they have to make money somehow) but please concentrate on computer hardware investigative journalism and reviews. Unfortunately I have found that in recent times I have been opening xbitlabs and behardware more often for hardware news and reviews

 

[Atolsammeek]

I agree with you all Tomshardware seem not the best anymore. I was reading the runescape exposed. The guy seem to put it next to WOW or Dungion seige and other gore games. The funny thing is when you kill a monster you get a load of bones. and mybe a skin.

Let get back to subject. What is good sites now. I been useing computer america and anandtech

Computer America talk about differnt computer stuff and you can listen to it while reading another forum or play a game.

Anandtech seem to be a back up from tg. Now it change.

 

[warezme]

I agree with you all Tomshardware seem not the best anymore. I was reading the runescape exposed. The guy seem to put it next to WOW or Dungion seige and other gore games. The funny thing is when you kill a monster you get a load of bones. and mybe a skin.

Let get back to subject. What is good sites now. I been useing computer america and anandtech

Computer America talk about differnt computer stuff and you can listen to it while reading another forum or play a game.

Anandtech seem to be a back up from tg. Now it change.

You should be a THG writer, you would fit right in....

 

[MU_Engineer]

I assume you use IE because other browsers like Firefox have the ability to block ads and Flash automatically. Go download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox and then go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Extension. Pick AdBlock Plus and be very happy

 

[Atolsammeek]

funny. My writing crap. But hand me a quill pen or a miroblaster I can write caligerphy on glass.

Writing never been my best. Writing spelling and such. But I have hands of a artest. Not many people can take a 400,000 rpm dremal and make gun stocks or write on glass metal and wood. Or use a miroblaster

But that me.

 

[Flying-Q]

I assume you use IE because other browsers like Firefox have the ability to block ads and Flash automatically. Go download Firefox from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox and then go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Extension. Pick AdBlock Plus and be very happy

It doesn't block the 'greenlinks' which I find the most annoying.

Q