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The Onion launches new site
Following in the footsteps of the giant Gothamist network (among others), which has seen amazing success, most significantly for us Austinites with the Web site Austinist, of which I used to be an editor, The Onion and its A.V. Club have entered the city-specific entertainment site network with Decider.com.
The new site offers a host of information in the to-be-expected categories of any entertainment site (events, music, movies, food, etc.) along with offering standard comment sections and the ability for its readers to get in on the snarky action by submitting reviews of their own.
As with other sites, Decider.com also features “most popular” and “most discussed” categories, so you can make sure you’re hep to what all the kids are talking about. Also of note is the unique Debaser feature, in which an artist gets a chance to promote his work in exchange for telling a humiliating story about himself.
The site is already live in Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee and Chicago, cities that have been longtime distributors of The Onion, so it appears the nod to Austin is somewhat significant.
From yesterday’s press release: “It features great writing that doesn’t talk down to its readers and it’s both discerning and comprehensive.”
Not sure if that is meant as a zinger to other sites or not. Certainly this town is big enough for multiple sites that offer similar content. If not, should we expect a Red River Street smackdown during SXSW? If anything, it should lead to some interesting one-upsmanship with regard to parties and events. And that’s something from which we can all benefit.
According to A.V. Club managing editor Josh Modell, “We’ve developed a curatorial, approachable voice in The A.V. Club that people have come to both enjoy and respect. Decider brings that voice to the local level.”
The Austin version of Decider is edited by Sean O’Neal, who has been the city editor of the Austin A.V. edition since the free weekly began circulation here last year.
“We’ve long had trouble cramming everything that Austin has to offer into a weekly print edition, which barely covers all the stuff that helps the city maintain its smug cultural superiority over the rest of this godforsaken state: the once-in-a-lifetime screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse, the amazing art happenings, and, of course, the plethora of great shows happening every night on every street corner. But now whenever Bob Schneider blows his nose, everybody will know,” O’Neal said.
Additional cities to be added to the Decider brand include Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Denver and the Twin Cities.
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