Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - The Death And Rebirth Of Answerman
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Have I told you lately how little I care for your opinion on anything? I have? Okay then no need to restate it. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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You know, it's quite funny. You said you don't read my posts - oh sorry, you later amended that to say you "usually" don't - but you sure have been talking to me a lot lately. If you don't care about me then why respond to what I write? You say one thing but then do the other. Tsundere, much? When I said that cutting the column down to just three questions with no other segments was not a revamp that would make the column better than ever, that was not an opinion. It was fact. The word "revamp" is defined as an improvement, and there's no way cutting out good material (with no new material being added as a replacement) could be considered an improvement. If Brian didn't know what was going to happen to the column itself then he shouldn't have insinuated that it would get revamped. He might not have been lying per se but it is irresponsible for raising people's hopes up. And if he did know the column would be cut down then he factually lied, which means I was telling the truth when I said he lied. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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Brian lied, Answerman died! |
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Tanteikingdomkey
 Posts: 2350 |
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My Internet Personality Can Not Be This Cute. Sorry I couldn't resist, it was just such a good set up...Zac probably hates me now more then ever. I've only really known Brian as answer man (and as the only one I have ever known) I am really sad to see him go, I really hope things turn out well for you and all the best. Thank you so much for answering some of my questions and making my roommate from hell sophomore year be nice to me for just a little bit of time. |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Personally Justin Sevakis is one of the very, very, very few people I'm actually interested in hearing answer questions about anime. A short column every week of him actually answering good, interesting questions about the anime industry could be just about the best thing this site has ever regularly published. |
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Tanteikingdomkey
Posts: 2350 |
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^ I am really excited to read what he has to say as well
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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danilo07
 Posts: 1580 |
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No offense to Brian but sometimes in his columns he made mistakes that I am sure Justin wouldn't have.So I am expecting that
Answerman! will get better,hopefully people wont be asking idiotic questions. |
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Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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 I doubt the mail bag will improve any for Justin anymore than it did of Brian, or Bamboo, or Zac, or any of the others. Every new generation will have it's own crop of idiots asking the same idiotic questions as the last. They're all a part of that "circle of life" wise people talk about.
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Can I assume this format change is temporary until ANN finds a writer who can dedicate the time to reading emails and making a weekly deadline?
I noticed Brian was having a hard time with the column and I was waiting for a change, but didn't see this type of change coming at all. Brian's done a bang up job and here's to hoping his future endeavors bring him good tidings. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Er, reading emails and making a weekly deadline is what Justin will be doing. You're aware the column as it currently exists only answers 2-3 questions a week, right? If I'm being honest, when Brian told me he was ready to retire from the column, I came to two conclusions immediately: one, that it's time to put the column out to pasture, and two, that the only way I wouldn't mothball it would be if Justin wanted to write it, which I assumed he didn't have time for. This is for a variety of reasons, the most important of which being that the column itself is 12 years old and the entire purpose the column serves has changed completely (this actually isn't really my observation - credit to my girlfriend for pointing this out to me). It started in January 2001, during an era where I could actually fill columns with information about DVD release dates, whether or not something was going to air on TV, that sort of thing. It was a dramatically simpler time when internet access wasn't anywhere near what it is now, and info like that generally came from print sources or emails sent to company representatives. Over the years, with the proliferation of Google and wiki sites and the mass gathering of information in easy-to-find places, the questions changed. Now we don't answer anything like that because nobody needs to ask someone - they just google it. The questions we get now are generally all about the clandestine inner workings of the industry itself - how licensing works, what Japanese companies demand and how they operate, that sort of thing. The kind of questions only someone with direct experience and first-hand knowledge can reliably answer with any sort of actual authority (meaning he isn't speculating or working with stuff he heard on other message boards - like I said, first-hand knowledge based on personal experience in the industry). There are maybe two people I know who I'd trust answering questions like that, and Justin is one of them. He was already answering nearly every industry question Brian was getting as it was. So when I told Justin that the column would likely retire completely, he told me he'd like to take it over. Answerfans is nice and all, but it's also basically run its course - over the last year or so it's been harder and harder to get decent responses or come up with questions people actually want to respond to, and if Justin is already producing a column for us biweekly, I need to simplify what Answerman entails. To me, ditching Answerfans and simplifying the column down to a small handful of questions that someone with a deep well of first-hand experience in the anime industry on both sides of the Pacific can answer is not only an upgrade from what it's been over the last 12 years, it's also the only way to keep the column relevant. I'd have kept Brian on for as long as he wanted to write the column, but faced with his exit, I made an editorial decision, which is, you know, my job. I think the column will be improved even if it doesn't have an audience participation element in it and I think as a service to the readers this is more valuable than anything else we could've done with it. So now you know. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10015 Location: Virginia |
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Works for me, it was always the industry and technical question I found interesting anyway. I never did read the Answer Fans portion, if I want uninformed opinions I can always find them here in Talkback in abundance.
Brian did a remarkably good job on some seriously odd questions, I shudder to think what some of the ones he didn't answer were like. However, recently a lot of the questions he answered revolved around opinions concerning aspects of fandom. Since he answered with his honest opinion it sort of came across as trolling. A lot of people can't accept someone having a different opinion. I'm looking forward to the new column. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2634 |
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Sorry to see Brian go (and as others have said I am also surprised it has already been 5 years). Great final column.
But I am looking forward to Justin's contribution to the column, mainly because his columns have always been some of my favorites to read over the course of my time on ANN. He really does have a great knowledge of the industry and history of anime. |
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Cyberphobe
 Posts: 194 |
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Sayonara Answerman, and thank you for answering my past questions
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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It's interesting you say it should be retired, because I almost thought it would be, only because it seemed the same questions were often addressed, but with enough space between answers so they didn't seem repetitive. Is this something to be concerned with, going forward? It seems to me answering the same questions will cease to be functional in a few months, especially since most questions can't be answered when they pertain to "inside information", something many of us would love to know (but ANN can't answer for obvious reasons). I will say, it makes me feel better Justin took it on rather than be assigned. I was concerned his work load would eventually show through, as Brain's did with Answerman. Looking forward to the "de-improved, back to basics" column and thanks for addressing the question. Have a good weekend. |
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