I don't recognize Macrumors anymore, it has become an affiliate links and "best deals" sponsored posts spam site

[Alfred.Woodden]

Example of a recurring "article". Macrumors that I used to know and love and read daily for over 15 years or so... I don't even recognize it anymore.


Every week there are so many "articles" that I can only classify as ads or spam. They are unrelated to Apple news or rumors and are just straight up "best deals on usb-hubs for Macs on Amazon. Click these links". Or "Lowest ever price on Anker products" or "CleanMyMac, X percent off for MR readers" etc. Fair enough, many of the Amazon affiliate links posts are about Apple products with a 5-10% discount, but come on, is this a blog about Apple news and rumors or mostly a "great deals"-website?


Much of Macrumors' content the last year or two, has very little value to any reader who's interested in the world of Apple. You have to scroll past so many ads disguised as articles and there are so many lazy articles too, like the beta-release-articles.


I get it, clicks generate ad revenue, but why is MR writing a new blog post about every single new beta-release? "Apple has released a new Apple TV beta" is one article. "HomePod receives new x.x.x beta x" is another. macOS gets a new beta x.x.x. beta x" is a third "article". And every one of them has the same copy-paste content from the myriad of similar articles from prevous new-beta-posts: "we dont yet know whats new in this release but we can expect improvements and bug fixes and under the hood changes". Why not just write one post and put all the newly released beta numbers in that? Macrumors has become so trashy and lazy.


Sorry for ranting, but the Macrumors I used to love and be excited about exists no more. It's so much about pushing deals, affiliate links and generating as many clicks as possible by churning out lazy articles.

 

[arn]

Hi,

We definitely have been pushing more deals content in the past few years than before especially during holidays, and I do think that is probably noticeable. Notably, this time after Christmas and into New Years is definitely the slowest part of the year for any notable news, and will make the seemingly "filler" type content more obvious.

Feedback noted, we'll see about our mix of stories and focus as the next year picks up.

arn

 

[jclo]

I want to add to this that I hear the feedback on the beta posts. I'm trying to do one post for iOS/iPadOS, one for macOS Sequoia, and one for the other betas combined. This split is because the discussions are often operating system specific, so it gives people a place to share new features and report bugs. Most of that happens with iOS, and to a lesser degree, macOS. There's not typically as much discussion about the other updates.

It's still three posts, but better than five to seven. I'll combo even more if I can when the updates are particularly minor. For public betas, I've been doing just two, one for iOS and one for macOS, with a one-line mention of other updates. It's a recent change, but you should see fewer beta posts in 2025.

I've already run into a little trouble with this approach when Apple releases some of the betas on separate days, but I'm definitely aiming to minimize. Releases will still each get a separate post.

I'd love to know more about what content you do want to see. It's tough around this time of year when there's not a lot going on and limited news to share, but things should start to pick up a bit next week with CES.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I want to add to this that I hear the feedback on the beta posts. I'm trying to do one post for iOS/iPadOS, one for macOS Sequoia, and one for the other betas combined. This split is because the discussions are often operating system specific, so it gives people a place to share new features and report bugs. Most of that happens with iOS, and to a lesser degree, macOS. There's not typically as much discussion about the other updates.

It's still three posts, but better than five to seven. I'll combo even more if I can when the updates are particularly minor. For public betas, I've been doing just two, one for iOS and one for macOS, with a one-line mention of other updates. It's a recent change, but you should see fewer beta posts in 2025.

I've already run into a little trouble with this approach when Apple releases some of the betas on separate days, but I'm definitely aiming to minimize. Releases will still each get a separate post.

I'd love to know more about what content you do want to see. It's tough around this time of year when there's not a lot going on and limited news to share, but things should start to pick up a bit next week with CES.

I think it would greatly benefit the forum at large, if you (generally speaking) had a beginner's user guide to iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, as well as an intermediate guide and advanced guide. The latter two guides would showcase the power user as well as various uses of the Shortcuts app, along with keyboard shortcuts. The beginners guide would also address typical things to look for as a new iPhone user or model (whatever) user.

In regards to the aforementioned, I think it would also be a benefit for highlight tried and true apps that are often used on said devices, along with tips for day to day app use.

I believe this time of year would be a good time to go into more detail with the guides and app use, so that MR can completed by more learning guides instead of basically being known mainly for rumors, as far as the front page is concerned.

I really think the MR podcast should be doing a lot more in this area as well, in addition to showcasing apps and Developer interviews on a monthly basis.

The less MR readers have go to to YouTube to get a little more detail in regards to the subject at hand, the better for MR traffic not to mention membership.

@arn, if you want to encourage paid membership and traffic growth, you might want to consider what I mentioned in brevity. As rumors alone, are not going to illicit more traffic and membership revenue. I think MR should also start getting a reputation for user education and apps as well, in my opinion. I think that there is a lot MR could and should be doing to grow revenue and the user base.

 

[icanhazmac]

I'd love to know more about what content you do want to see.

uses of the Shortcuts app

In regards to the aforementioned, I think it would also be a benefit for highlight tried and true apps that are often used on said devices, along with tips for day to day app use.

While I am a fan of what you do now, if I were to suggest additional content I'd have to agree with @Apple_Robert and have more content that would be considered upper intermediate to advanced functionality, the shortcuts app is a great example.

App reviews, both iOS and Mac, would be great as well. I get that these would most likely be time consuming as you cannot, and should not, review an app without extended usage but I think the community would benefit from things like this.

Both could include some member content, which would be curated by MR.