Talk:Vox Media/Archive 3

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Edit requests

Hi, It's Tater graham at VM and I have additional edit requests for your consideration, mostly concerning the misunderstanding that now exists in the article about the year Vox Media was founded. The company did originate with "SportsBlogs Inc." from 2005 until 2011, as it now states in the Infobox and at the beginning of the history section, which is correct. However, Vox Media, the company this Wiki article is about, first came into existence in 2011 when it was founded as the new parent company of SB Nation and The Verge. Please see the source for support of 2011 as the correct founding date.

Since IceWelder has been so helpful in the past, I hope he can continue helping to improve the page.

Following this distinction, I would like to propose the following edits:

1. In the Infobox:
   • in the "Founded" parameter please change "2005" to "2011".
   • In the "Founders" parameter, please delete "Jerome Armstrong, Tyler Bleszinski and Markos Moulitsas" and add "Jim Bankoff" and "Trei Brundrett". The three now in the infobox are the founders of SB Nation but did not found Vox Media. Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett are the founders. The sources for this are in the content of the article.
   • In the "Headquarters" parameter, please add "New York City" before "Washington, DC, US"
2. In the lead section:
   • Please remove the word "digital" in the first sentence. Vox Media does not control only digital properties, but also several non-digital properties, including New York Magazine and they produce TV programming and live events.
   • Please replace "The company was founded in 2005 as SportsBlogs Inc. by Jerome Armstrong, Tyler Bleszinski, and Markos Moulitsas, and was rebranded as Vox Media in 2011" with "It was launched in 2011 as a parent company which included SportsBlog Nation and The Verge as separate divisions.
   • Add "As of 2020" to the beginning of the next sentence so the sentence reads, "As of 2020 the company operates additional offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, and London."

References

Thank you, Tater graham at VM (talk) 19:58, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

Tater graham at VM, thanks for the ping. I did #3, #4, and #6. However, please clarify the other three. The previous status quo was that Vox Media is a continuation/rebranding of SportsBlogs Inc., which would, in turn, make for the 2005 founding date and Armstrong/Bleszinski/Moulitsas as the founders. This is asserted by sources like Inc., The Hollywood Reporter, and Financial Times. This also appears to be accurate at least in a legal sense.

References

Regards, IceWelder [✉] 21:22, 26 February 2021 (UTC)

@IceWelder: Thank you very much for the edits you implemented! Allow me to try and clarify the somewhat unclear issue of when Vox Media was truly established as a new company, and not just a "rebranding" of an older company. From 2005 until 2011, there was an online blog called SB Nation, founded by Armstrong, Bleszinski, and Moulitsas. This was a sports-focused digital publication. In 2011, Bankoff and Brundrett launched an entirely new entity, called Vox Media. You are correct that some media outlets at the time described this change as a rebranding, but that is not an accurate representation of the process that took place internally, rather a result of some confusing messaging that led to some outlets reporting on the event incorrectly. The goal in establishing the new parent company was to create a mass media company that included SB Nation as a sub-division covering sports, as well as cover a wide range of other topics and mediums through other sub-divisions and companies. Vox Media was never viewed as a new name for SB Nation, but rather an entirely new corporate structure. As for the sources, for every source that claims SB Nation rebranded, there is at least one source that says that a new company was established at that time. Here are some media outlets that understand that Vox Media was founded in 2011 by Bankoff and Brundrett: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

The "Amended Statement by Foreign Corporation" filed on October 31, 2011 is not proof that Vox Media is a rebranded SportsBlog. This document is only proof of a legalistic technicality that should not deprive Vox Media of its status as an entirely new company. The legal teams simply determined that this was the most efficient way to establish the new entity at the time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know this is a little confusing, so please feel free to let me know if you require any further clarifications. Tater graham at VM (talk) 20:01, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

It's an odd divide in that a large cluster of sources describes the change as a rebrand, and another large cluster describes it as a new founding. At least the original press release from Vox Media reads:

The media company formerly operating under the name SB Nation today announced that it has changed its name to Vox Media, Inc (or Vox.)

I will have to look into which side is supported by the vast majority of sources. No doubt that both aspects should be mentioned in some form. @Masem and Ferret might also have second opinions on this. IceWelder [✉] 11:50, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Th Nieman Lab work and this Business Insider (interview with Topolsky, to me is perhaps the most consistent aspect that while Sports Blogs was rebranded in 2011 as per the Calif. record, it was for all purposes using an existing shell company for easy of convinence but everything within it was redone and restructured to support the new Vox initiative. While the strict business entity formed in 2005 still remained, the notion of the business drastically changed, and hence it seems fair to say Vox Media was only founded in 2011 (but with all this explained in the history). Most other outlets were likely using the press release which does a poor job of explaining the change. --Masem (t) 14:11, 7 March 2021 (UTC)

Masem, thanks for your insight. I made the appropriate changes to the infobox, lead, and prose. Regards, IceWelder [✉] 16:20, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

@IceWelder Masem ferret

I want to appeal against these changes of founding. This is a media holding company that has existed since 2003, with its first website (AthleticsNation.com) on the company-built technology, and it incorporated in 2005, grew up, and changed its name in 2011. It's first vertical was MLB blogs, followed by other sport verticals. New employees, shareholders, directors, other websites, and other properties were launched or acquired throughout its sixteen-year history. Its name before Vox Media was SportsBlogs LLC, a placeholder-name of the holding corporation, and it has built atop its founding vision throughout its history. When the company launched a vertical in tech, TheVerge.com, Josh Topolsky came up with the name Vox Media for the corporate re-name of its expanded holdings. If you were to follow the companies logic above, Josh would be the new founder. And the claim on behalf of Trei Brundrett as founder is unclear and relies upon recent farmed-content links provided by the company.

The original press release from Vox Media reads:

The media company formerly operating under the name SB Nation today announced that it has changed its name to Vox Media, Inc (or Vox.)

The claim that “Vox Media was never viewed as a new name for SB Nation, but rather an entirely new corporate structure” is incorrect.

Via email, as I understand their founder roles, Markos Moulitsas came up with the business idea, was the Chairman of the Board, and remained on the Vox Media BoD until 2016. Jerome Armstrong was the company’s tech visionary, its first CEO (2004-2007) and he hired Trei Brundrett and stepped down for Jim Bankoff to take over. And the first blogger, the face of the company, was Tyler Bleszinski, and he continued as President of Vox Media until 2016. I would recommend that the info box and first paragraph reflect this being a company since its original incorporation date, and include its original founders.

Markos lists himself as a Co-Founder of Vox Media as does Tyler and Jerome. The Series A funder of Vox Media, Accel lists Jim Bankoff as CEO and founder alongside Markos, Jerome, and Tyler. The latter seems most correct, with Trei and Josh being key persons in the development and expansion.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Ngelo95 (talk • contribs) 08:11, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

• @Ngelo95: As I explained previously, both sides of this issue are frequently represented in secondary sources, so I relied on Masem's analysis for the change. Trei Brundrett being a founder is stated in several sources; I found and added the Wall Street Journal piece to support this. The WSJ is a reputable outlet that I doubt was content-farmed. However, further to your claim, Joshua Topolsky is indeed mentioned as a founder/"co-creator" in several places (e.g. [8][9][10]).

We try to avoid primary sources here, so the Twitter/LinkedIn profiles of the individual people involved are not sufficient (otherwise, anyone could claim to be a co-founder). However, secondary sources would be available anyway. All three persons originally involved with SB Nation remain mentioned in the body and I just added them to the lead. The original entity seems to have been SportsBlogs, Inc. (not SportsBlogs LLC), which was incorporated in Delaware on 23 December 2004 and then registered in California on 28 December.[11] I will see how the conflicting information can be best presented. I hope to see further comments. IceWelder [✉] 15:45, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Edit requests

Hi IceWelder, Thank you so much for your assistance with the previous request! I hope you will be able to help with a few other matters I am finding along the way. Could you consider adding the following to the article:

1. Could we change the infobox in the parameter of "Key people" to: Pam Wasserstein - President (source), Margaret Chu - Chief Financial Officer (source), Jim Bankoff - chairman, CEO (https://www.ft.com/content/d6327fb0-af4c-11e7-beba-5521c713abf4) and Ryan Pauley - Chief Revenue Officer (https://digiday.com/media/vox-media-cro-ryan-pauley-nymag-acquisition-scale-advertising/).
2. Please add the following two statements to the end of the History section: "In January 2021, Lindsay Peoples Wagner was hired to be the new editor-in-chief of The Cut. In February 2021 the company hired the former managing editor of The Atlantic, Swati Sharma, to be the new editor-in-chief of Vox."

References

Thanks so much for your help. Tater graham at VM (talk) 13:48, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

I added the new hires to the history section. Not touching the infobox, as I don't know the template. Cheers, Suriname0 (talk) 15:42, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Key people updated as stated. IceWelder [✉] 16:15, 7 April 2021 (UTC)