Steen challenges my opinion on Geoff Baker.  Kewl.  Bypassing more entertaining options this week, we'll respond to fair questions fairly.

Like, three years ago, it used to be the opinion (notably at Fanhome) that Mariners cyberspace was a zero-sum game, that there were only (say) 5,000 clickthroughs available a day and that we should all fight for these clicks by ignoring one another.

This wasn't the assumption at Detect-O-Vision; the assumption there was always that Mariners fans will click to as many M's blogs as hold their interest.  If there are two decent M's articles up in the morning, a fan will click on two; if there are six, a cyber-fan will read all six.   In fact there may even be a momentum effect:  if the fan is confident that the whole blog-o-sphere is robust, he's more likely to get distracted by baseball at all :- )

Amigos used to see cyber-Seattle as six different rooms with locked doors and a submarine-narrow hall between.  It is actually an open floor with 4' cubicle walls.  You can hear what other people are saying as you work.  This is a good thing.

.

=== Pitch Sequence ===

1.  We wrote an opinion that Baker rocks.

2.  Steen came up-and-in, challenging me about my right to endorse Baker when I don't endorse his peers (presumably USSM).

3.  Having responsibility to defend my opinion reasonably, this post spells out what I see the differences between Baker and his competition.

3a.  We'll try to use reasonable tact.  The goal isn't conflict.  The goal is to understand why Geoff Baker has something of a model website, what is different and superior about his work, in SSI's view of the world.

...................

1.  The questions are fair ones Steen.  :c-points:

.............

2.  Agreed that the megaphone at the Times is a big one.  We're not saying you can comp Sullivan vs Cameron vs Baker by comparing raw #'s, although having Baseball Prospectus exposure and SB Nation networking means that you have a big megaphone yourself.

We're merely saying that given a big megaphone, Baker's voice has resonated, and huge.  1,000's scream in protest when he's five minutes late.  That wouldn't be the case for anybody other than a select few.

.............

3.  Using your word, I don't believe that Baker is a "snark" type.  Other places are, but that place isn't.  At least, not nearly as much so.

Not wanting to start 'genius wars' unnecessarily, I won't spell out the differences -- except to say that there are a few analysts who wouldn't dirty the sole of their shoes interacting with the casual fans.

.

Part 2