[Suggestion] Keep front page posts Apple centric/related

[Quu]

So today a post was made:

Instagram Adds New Options for Bulk Deleting Comments and Controlling Who Can Tag and Mention You

Instagram has rolled out some new features that aim to prevent online bullying and other unwanted interactions on the social media platform. These...

www.macrumors.com

This really doesn't have anything to do with Apple apart from it being an application available on iOS. But it's also available on Android and through a web browser. In addition to that the story itself isn't related to Apple or Apple products in any way shape or form.

So essentially it's a story about Facebooks Instagram and it's completely about a feature within Instagram and a minor one. The story itself on here only has a handful of comments, likely due to it not really being relevant to readers here.

I did make a similar comment in the thread itself, that comment was removed and I was told to make the suggestion here instead so that is what I am doing.

 

[casperes1996]

Hm. I understand your point and I both agree and disagree with it. I think it's a fine balance to strike. For example there was a recent article about Wink smart home devices that also wasn't about Apple but that I found to be a very interesting read, and I like having those occasionally. Of course this is an Apple-centred site and it should definitely have that as its key focus, but I think some divergence for interesting articles is OK.

It's also a bit more muddied after the new front page redesign, since it's only the top, horizontally scrolling list of articles that correlate to what we used to think of as the front page, and I don't believe the Instagram article was on that list. Scrolling down the front page is effectively an "all articles" list.

I don't think it'd be a bit thing if MacRumors were a bit more selective about what they write and what they don't, like the Instagram article, but they also need clicks to stay alive, and if it's a slow day for Apple-centric news I understand chugging something else at us, and a lot of the time I'll read it anyways and find it interesting. It also wouldn't be very fun to not have any articles for a week or something.
So yeah, I actually think that if one of the writers finds something interesting, and it's loosely relevant to the site even if it is a bit of a stretch, let them share it on here and see what people think. You can always just scroll past it, and I don't think it's been that many slightly off-topic posts so far that it becomes a chore to scroll past

 

[Quu]

I didn't mind so much the Wink thing because that is almost like a PSA and many users of iOS are the target market of that device (I think it even needs an Android or iOS device just to set it up). But with this Instagram thing, it's just too targeted to Instagram itself with no intrinsic link to Apple in any way.

Like if it was at-least an iOS centric feature reveal I'd be more on board with it. If macrumors wants to become a more generalised technology site like The Verge that's fine but I already visit those general sites to get general news I come here for Apple related news and rumors.

 

[casperes1996]

I didn't mind so much the Wink thing because that is almost like a PSA and many users of iOS are the target market of that device (I think it even needs an Android or iOS device just to set it up). But with this Instagram thing, it's just too targeted to Instagram itself with no intrinsic link to Apple in any way.

Like if it was at-least an iOS centric feature reveal I'd be more on board with it. If macrumors wants to become a more generalised technology site like The Verge that's fine but I already visit those general sites to get general news I come here for Apple related news and rumors.

I agree, but the Instagram could arguably also be seen as a PSA in the same way. The Wink article, as you point out, could also be used with Android so isn't intrinsically linked to Apple either.
I think it's a bit of a balancing act and a case of you can't please all of the people all of the time

 

[AngerDanger]

It's also worth noting that the front page is the only page now, so if there's some story that interests an editor, there isn't really anywhere else to put it.

Blogs Retired

The iOS and Mac Blog sections have been retired. This means the front page is a single feed. We made this change because the distinction between Blog and Front page has gotten blurred over time. Our Mobile feed has been a single feed forever, and our social channels (FB, Twitter) also display stories in a single feed. That really only left Desktop as a divided feed. And that caused some confusion when users would see a story on mobile but not see that same story at the top of the Desktop feed.

As a result, we have merged all the feeds into a single feed.

 

[WildCowboy]

It's certainly a balancing act. As others have noted, we do expand our coverage beyond pure Apple news and rumors to include apps and services that are popular with Apple users, as well as close competitors like major Android phones, Microsoft devices, etc. Instagram is obviously one of the most popular apps used on Apple devices, so changes and updates to it have an impact on a large portion of our readership.

 

[Quu]

It's certainly a balancing act. As others have noted, we do expand our coverage beyond pure Apple news and rumors to include apps and services that are popular with Apple users, as well as close competitors like major Android phones, Microsoft devices, etc. Instagram is obviously one of the most popular apps used on Apple devices, so changes and updates to it have an impact on a large portion of our readership.

I'd think so too but only 8 comments as of this post. Not much discussion. And sure it's a balancing act, I can accept that.

 

[Quu]

Another example from today: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-ssds-memory-cards-and-flash-drives.2236174/

I don't understand why this is on the front page to be honest, just seems like.. an advertisement pretending to be an article? - If MacRumors wants to become a deals website and such.. okay but this to me as a long time reader for over 10 years this just seems wrong.

(Wrong for the home page, a side-tab on deals or something would be appropriate)