Changes at L.A. Land

A few changes at L.A. Land, worthy of a short note.

First, as some of you noticed over the weekend, the blog has some new contributors -- reporters and editors who cover real estate and related issues for the Los Angeles Times. This is good news. It will lead to a more diverse, more interesting and more informative blog. As always, you'll still get the full dose of my grumpy take on real estate and the housing bubble. But now, for no extra charge, you'll get additional news, information and analysis from the experts in the Times newsroom.

Second, more good news: Beginning this Sunday, a "greatest hits" version of the blog will appear weekly in the print edition of  The Times, in the  Business section (you Web-only cheapskates had better subscribe, ASAP). The paper will "reverse-publish" the best posts from that week for those of you who missed it, or for those print readers who might not have ever come to this blog.

Third, a bit of controversy for you to chew on: The latimes.com website is in the process of tweaking its blog comment policy ever so slightly, in hopes of encouraging more thoughtful, sincere, well-reasoned discussion and debate. You can still be silly, or mean and ornery; just be silly, or mean and ornery, while making a relevant point.

My hope is that these changes will make this blog more interesting and more valuable to its readers.  You have my thanks, as always, for participating in the blog. As one of the higher-ups here told me (he meant it as a compliment, but I didn't hear it that way): "Pete, the best thing about your blog is the comments."

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[pugtv]

I just want to say my goodbyes to everyone. My comments are mostly pointless and only intended to aggravate and make fun of guys like Shockg.

If Peter intends to get rid of useless comments, you guys won't see my comments or Shockg's comments moving forward.

Thanks for the laughs Shockg. You've been a good booger to pick on.

Its been fun everyone ... sob ... =)

[anonymous]

Ace,
I'm a homeowner, so are a lot of other posters on this blog. And I'm not angry all the time. Sort through that.

[James W]

This makes me laugh...

I remember that Annette Haddad was one of the biggest cheerleaders of real estate during the the past few years.

[TakeFive]

Ace wrote:

“Isn't that ideal? Most of the commenters here are angry renters... the post will just get buried and I don't have to sort through it.”

Some of that anger may be justified, and is a legitimate commentary on the housing situation in LA. Earlier, one commenter mentioned earning 90K and being unable to purchase. When a dump in a half decent neighborhood is half a mil, even that salary won’t cut it. And that’s just crazy.

Sorting through posts isn’t too difficult. Usually the first couple of sentences indicate if the poster is coherent. But if we’re going to bury posts, I vote for anything longer than five lines without a paragraph break or typed in all caps.

[bigunit]

I somewhat agree with the sentiment concerning pointed comment. Recently there has been significantly more & lighter postings referencing outside blogs. Lots of it seems self-promoting (hard to imagine here in L.A.?).

My point: Give the people what they want! The LAT, like any other service, should be customer-driven. Its editors should know better. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Juan]

“new contributors -- reporters and editors who cover real estate and related issues for the Los Angeles Times.”

Ummmm, Pete – are the brainiacs running LA Times really this dumb? I enjoy the blog because of the singular perspective (ie yours) that frames up all the issues. I understand if you need to move to something else however, the proper thing to do would be to phase in someONE else with a similar bent as yours.

If LAT tries to dumb this down to some mass market crap by turning it into a “group” project – I predict traffic will drop faster than a drunken 90 year old with a broken hip.

Amazing – it is like back in the 1980’s when Coke tried to change its formula to “New” Coke and it spectacularly blew up in their face and they had to revert back to the original. Just like then – I find myself asking how such flagrant IDIOCY can exist at the top of a large organization.

[Patrick Duffy, HousingChronicles.com]

I think it's a great idea -- I didn't realize what a huge time commitment a single-voice blog was until I started doing my own, and I'll also be moving onto a blogging platform that offers multiple voices.

With all of the housing-related blogs out there with an agenda -- either trying to prop up or further weaken the market -- it's been great to read a blog that has reported the good, the bad and the ugly as a service to its readers.

And RIP the separate real estate section -- I'm sure there will be websites and content syndicators more than happy to take up the slack given the Times' decision to get rid of this section during one of the most tumultuous times in history.

[NV]

Well Peter, and all others who posts comments here, it was fun while it lasted.
Now it's time to move on.
good luck on your next endeavor, maybe I'll catch up with you again.
Adios muchachos !

[anonymous]

I'm going to be out of town for a few days, so I can't see how this plays out in the short term. Dang!

I have a wicked, wicked idea. Let's all ignore (no posts) anything but our Peter.

Chuckle, grin, cheers and revenge.

[Mmm donuts]

I for one welcome this change. This blog is successful because there is a demand for a common area to discuss housing information relevant to the LA area. I would imagine the bulk of the readers here would value a civil, factual discourse rather than a nasty yelling match. Pete's posts have increasingly taken a (pro-Republican) political slant that set the topics up in a way to guarantee lots of mud slinging but little interesting debate. There are plenty of potential homes for that kind of hate and filth. The LA Times should be above this.

[Joe Shmoe]

I agree with Mmm donuts. Peter has outed himself as a Republican operative, so it will be good to have other perspectives embedded in the moderating of this blog.

Thank you LA Times.

[wemogil]

Pro-Republican. Definition: anything that does not kiss the toes of his Holiness, the Great and Mighty Obama. Or blasphemes against the Democratic party sponsored corporate housing bailout bill that violates the principles the party is supposed to stand for.

Yay, L.A. Times, bring in new voices to drown out reason, and while you're at it, off to the torture chamber with this Viles guy until he takes the real estate advertising dollar oath of allegiance. Scream for mercy, you impudent cur! Whip-LASH!

Not every Dem out here is a goose-stepper, Pete. Hold out as long as you can.

[Uncle Billy Does Not Like Change]

An unofficial angry laland blog already exists for the mean and ornery. If you take away all the off topic posts, the blog is doomed. Doomed I tell you. The recipe for a successful blog requires 10%-20% off topic comments.

Higher up is -- put nostalgically -- a thimblewit.

[xtine]

Does that mean more idiotic celebrity/luxury posts like what we were subjected to last week? More hard-hitting info about what rich people do and want? More non-original links to other LAT articles?

Does it mean more poor research "E" could have improved upon by using Google?

Oh goody.

[AreYouKiddingMe]

Everybody chill. Blogging is a giant time-vacuum that can literally affect your health (two political bloggers died this year of posting-related stress). Multiple editors is a smart idea -- Gawker Media has operated that way quite successfully.

I welcome the new perspectives.

[anon]

"The paper will "reverse-publish" the best posts from that week for those of you who missed it, or for those print readers who might not have ever come to this blog."

So Sam Zell will put user-provided content into print for free? Count me out. I'll continue to read this blog, but this is my last post here.

[Tombstone Realty]

In Soviet Russia, LA Times blogs *you*

[Pat]

All your links to digg are killing the blog's user experience. It is taking as long as 15 seconds to display a blog entry. You need to get Digg to handle their load better or drop their tools.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

I jumped ship several weeks ago
(since then, things have gone swimmingly).
Last man overboard turn off the bilge pump.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Peter, write when you get work.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

letter to "The Lost Agenda Times"
NOBama.
Say Goodnight, Gracie.