The Limits Of The New Journalism

Hyperlocal website jacked after letting domain expire, hilarity ensues:

In a sharp reversal from the Rover’s previous incarnation as a hyper-local news and commentary blog, the new Web site consists of incoherent ramblings that seem like they were written from, well, halfway around the world.

A July 17 post extols on imaginary Bay Ridge eateries like “Purple Haze,” allegedly an Italian restaurant “tucked away in the serene ambience of Cherry Bay in the South East of Bay Ridge,” and the made-up “Hotel Prime Sweden,” which allegedly serves a popular meatball dish in the so-called “Columbia area” of Bay Ridge.

In a piece titled, “Bay Ridge, all set to stand tall,” the pseudo-Rover claims the neighborhood is undergoing an “increase in immigrants, especially the Irish and Italians,” while a post titled, “The place to be” describes the nearby neighborhoods of “Green Park, Rock Avenue and Slopebush.”

This is only a sampling of the peculiar reportage that has turned the once-savvy community blog into a bizarre hub of misinformation — and Web-connected Ridgites aren’t happy about it.

“I don’t get it. You must be blogging from an alternate universe,” a commenter named Tara exclaimed after a particularly strange article touted fictional Bay Ridge stores like “Eva Mall Stop,” “Electronica Mall,” “Sparkle,” and “Jacy’s.”

But the new Rover told The Brooklyn Paper that he’s trying as hard as he can to cover Bay Ridge — even though he’s doing it from Greece.

“We intend to bring the site back to [its] previous glory either by keeping it [on] our network and updating it often, or giving it to someone interested [in] it,” said Stelios Vathrakokoilis, who noted that he decided to purchase the site because his grandfather was one of the first Greek immigrants in Bay Ridge.

“When I saw the site being filled with filthy ads and having lost all the content it used to have, I decided to pay the price and try to at least bring the old content back and then to add new articles,” he said. “Although it is hard for me to keep the standards the old site had, at least I try.”