Comments on: Why OpenFile failed

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:51:35 +0000

I read some really great material in Halifax by Bethany Horne and Neal Ozano to name a couple. They did some outstanding work. Lately the higher rate of curated pieces was a sign of something wrong. Hopefully OF will find a way to reclaim their spot as a relevant and hip news source.

By: Alex H

Alex H — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:13:19 +0000

Openfile failed for a very simple business reason: They didn't indentify their target market well, they didn't connect with it, and didn't follow through in any meaningful way with that group. In more technical web terms, they have high enough traffic, but that was combined with a low on site time (2 minutes or so) and an incredibly high bounce rate for this type of site (76%) which suggests that the site was either wasn't inviting enough to get people to read more pages (they were very low at 1.4 pages per user), or the design wasn't working with them to retain people on the site. It can all come down to the content. If the first page of content someone reads isn't very interesting, then they are gone. If the first page of content offers links off to the author's personal blog or site, people could be gone. Basically, the stats say it all: People were coming to the site, but they were not staying. That's a basic business problem.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:57:27 +0000

I see more and more journalists trying to twist the truth and manipulate the readers.

Are you referring to columnists, of which there are definitely a lot these days, or reporters, who you're accusing of pushing agendas instead of reporting the news?

In case of freelancers you have no control over their opinions and hard to manipulate.

You think freelancers are harder to manipulate than staff journalists? I don't know about that.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:24:30 +0000

Well, the truth is that journalism is less about news and more about manipulation. If you are looking for latest news than internet is the best. if you want commentaries then a newspaper is the place to look for them. I see more and more journalists trying to twist the truth and manipulate the readers.
In case of freelancers you have no control over their opinions and hard to manipulate.

By: Tantastic Ted

Tantastic Ted — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 02:31:08 +0000

Good post. Sad it didn't work. But yeah, they had no income. Curious to see if they come back out with a slightly modified concept designed to increase revenues - ie: paywall.

By: swanpr

swanpr — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:10:57 +0000

The link http://www.openfile.ca/montreal/blog/2012/note-readers is a dead one. Seems they changed either the page, or the message, or both, and it can be found here now: http://www.openfile.ca/toronto/story/message-openfile

By: Etienne

Etienne — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:26:38 +0000

I just read your undermentioned open file article about Papineau/Crémazie intersection and if that's any comfort I use it everyday as driver (Crémazie east to Papineau South) and on top of the fact I noticed the hardship faced by pedestrian crossing it I find it particularly challenging for drivers as well since on top of trying not to run over any pedestrian the bypass lane give you about 2 or 3 car length to merge (with 2 lanes of 60ish km/h traffic) or else you end up in the parked cars.

Anyway Just wanted to join in the cry to somehow change this intersections (better late than never I guess)

Etienne