An Open Letter to the Head Honchos at B/R

(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Hey Guys,

Let me start by saying that I love Bleacher Report.

I love sharing my opinions.

I love getting commenter feedback.

I love interacting with fellow fans.

But I now do have a problem with this place.

The flurry of changes!

This is my 101st Article, and first to say anything negative about The Bleacher Report.

When I joined seven months ago, this place was awesome.

Yeah, it was bare-bones and looked a little dull, but that was OK.

After all, we could all see where everyone stood (writer rankings, ahem-although these have just recently come back) and what everyone was up to (recent activities).

As time went on (about two months ago), articles began to get snazzier.

Photo positions were changed; poll positions were moved, etc.

That was fine; after all, it looked a little better.

Then about a month ago, things started changing for the worse.

All of a sudden, my activity bar went blank, and now, my activities seem more sparse than they really are (especially with the volume of comments I post).

Team pages were updated for aesthetics, but are now almost too clumsy to look at.

And just today, I found that I had fallen out of the top 50 MLB Writer's Rankings (after ranking 34 just yesterday).

I have my Featured Columnist badge, so I guess I can't really complain, but the upheaval of what had been working for more viewer (instead of user)-friendly material is getting too far into what made me LOVE Bleacher Report.

Maybe the new rankings are designed to "factor in quality of writing, consistency and traffic generated."

But if that's the case, how have Bob Warja and Andrew Nuschler fallen out of the Top-5 in Major League Baseball?

B/Rs fatal flaw in the rankings has always been it's rewarding of quantity over quality (how may authors have you seen with 500 articles that only average about 10-50 views?).

Now, these rankings seem to do that even more (four out of the Top 5 writers now have at least 200 articles-and only a few have over 200 views on any of their recent four).

And I mean, there is no good way to judge quality (unless the editors perform that task as well) because of the volume of articles pouring in here every day.

I know that rankings aren't everything, but when I'm doing this for free, and writing 400-500 word editorials twice to three times a week, I want a little something.

Now, I guess to get that one little thing to float my boat, I'll have to write 10 articles per week.

In fact, here's one right now:

"Bobby Cox Needs to be Fired"
By: Cameron Britt

Bobby Cox is a jackass.

He sucks.

The End.

Ok, now...carry the one...find the LCD...eight more of those should get me in the Top 10!!!

Look, I have been on this site far too long and spent way too much of my time researching for my articles to quit.

That's why I'm writing this.

If you guys aren't going to pay me (even though the FC program does give me more exposure than the average Bleacher Creature), at least let me say that I'm ranked No. 1 in the Braves' community, or that I'm No. 34 in MLB's.

Is it selfish?

Yeah.

But it gives me another reason to write other than just the intense desire to discuss my opinions.

As I said, it floats my boat (I never use it to put people down either).

And that's all I have ever asked for and received from this site up until this point: a bow and stern above water.

-Cameron Britt
Atlanta Braves Featured Columnist

P.S.: Don't delete this article or my profile, I still DO love this place; it just feels as if we're moving in different directions.

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