Truth, Lies, Rumors and all points in between!

I just watched DOD live for this week. The thing that caught my eye was the 5 things, the part about posting on social media and not knowing the truth. I believe MFRs words where think. Well I did think about it and believe the thread title which is a sort o disclaimer for the Gossip section. Truth, Lies, Rumors and all points in between!.

MFR said there was blame to go around, even to fans that post on social media. I take this to mean Facebook, Twitter and especially here at 4m. I say DOD has some of the blame coming. I didn't see a lot of investigation and truth there. That left the door wide open. If they don't want us speculating they need to do what a good news, even LM news, does and give us the 4 Ws, What, who, where and why. That may step on some toes, but it wouldn't leave room for our speculation. I give my share of the blame to DOD. What do you guys think? All said, I do enjoy DOD.

I love dirtondirt but sometimes Rigsby acts like he knows more than some of us fans. Been a dirtondirt subscriber for 4 years and will continue to be.

Pay attention to the words in this threads topic!

I'm a subscriber to DOD and will continue to be but they're scared to make someone mad or hurt feelings by asking tough questions, they are more of a cheerleader of the sport than a true journalism type organization.

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Originally Posted by ptown

I'm a subscriber to DOD and will continue to be but they're scared to make someone mad or hurt feelings by asking tough questions, they are more of a cheerleader of the sport than a true journalism type organization.

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I'm a big fan of DoD and always will be, but I totally agree with this. I do wish DoD had more coverage of the tiregate situation. At one point they had a lawyer on there to discuss the situation and that was one of the most interesting pieces I can remember on all of DLM Live. I do think there would be a benefit to DoD being less of a cheerleader, and more of regular journalism. They can still be impartial but I would like to hear what Tony Izzo or Josh Richards has to say about the situation, or an interview with Bloomquist about Tiregate would have been cool. Sprint Car Unlimited did a piece on Danny Dietrich and his negativity toward Susquehanna Speedway, and it was a popular piece and I don't think it really hurt either side of the argument it was just interesting. That is what would be great o see from DoD.

Thanks,
Jeff.

I couldn't agree more with what W2Racing09 and ptown said. I like my DOD subscription, mainly for the videos and an occasional racewire. I rarely click on a story (especially their top 25 or weekly roundtable recap). There is never anything juicy.

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Originally Posted by ptown

I'm a subscriber to DOD and will continue to be but they're scared to make someone mad or hurt feelings by asking tough questions, they are more of a cheerleader of the sport than a true journalism type organization.

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Originally Posted by W2Racing09

I'm a big fan of DoD and always will be, but I totally agree with this. I do wish DoD had more coverage of the tiregate situation. At one point they had a lawyer on there to discuss the situation and that was one of the most interesting pieces I can remember on all of DLM Live. I do think there would be a benefit to DoD being less of a cheerleader, and more of regular journalism. They can still be impartial but I would like to hear what Tony Izzo or Josh Richards has to say about the situation, or an interview with Bloomquist about Tiregate would have been cool. Sprint Car Unlimited did a piece on Danny Dietrich and his negativity toward Susquehanna Speedway, and it was a popular piece and I don't think it really hurt either side of the argument it was just interesting. That is what would be great o see from DoD.

Thanks,
Jeff.

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Yes and Yes.............

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Originally Posted by Bubstr

I just watched DOD live for this week. The thing that caught my eye was the 5 things, the part about posting on social media and not knowing the truth. I believe MFRs words where think. Well I did think about it and believe the thread title which is a sort o disclaimer for the Gossip section. Truth, Lies, Rumors and all points in between!.

MFR said there was blame to go around, even to fans that post on social media. I take this to mean Facebook, Twitter and especially here at 4m. I say DOD has some of the blame coming. I didn't see a lot of investigation and truth there. That left the door wide open. If they don't want us speculating they need to do what a good news, even LM news, does and give us the 4 Ws, What, who, where and why. That may step on some toes, but it wouldn't leave room for our speculation. I give my share of the blame to DOD. What do you guys think? All said, I do enjoy DOD.

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Just watch Fox, MSNBC and CNN and you ancer your own ? News Is no longer News.. pick a side and report...Why Work to find out whats True, people will read it true or not... As long as you keep paying to read it they will do no more then they have to...

Are they afraid to cross the line into any controversial issues?

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Originally Posted by Cardirt0

Just watch Fox, MSNBC and CNN and you ancer your own ? News Is no longer News.. pick a side and report...Why Work to find out whats True, people will read it true or not... As long as you keep paying to read it they will do no more then they have to...

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CNN did do a show on DLM racing and the World 100 in about 2006 or so. It was the one when Bloomer crashed the chrome car. Did anybody see that? I thought they did a decent job on that actually. I think it was called Dirt Track Warriors or something corny like that.

Nevermind, back on topic....

I saw it. My brother and I are in it for a few seconds

Was interesting and may have given insight to a novice fan.

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Originally Posted by zach51

CNN did do a show on DLM racing and the World 100 in about 2006 or so. It was the one when Bloomer crashed the chrome car. Did anybody see that? I thought they did a decent job on that actually. I think it was called Dirt Track Warriors or something corny like that.

Nevermind, back on topic....

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The thing is now what do you see on the big 3 all the news is not a thing to do with life or things that are day to day... Storys like that are gone .. Its All the Dem. this the Rep. that.. Trump this trump that.. It gets old fast...They have gave up on Sports and left that to the Sports Channels... We use to get some racing News and then Fox got it and the 1 racing Channel died...You think that there be one show that would give at lease a hour on dirt racing somewhere...

Yeah sadly they only cover our sport when someone high profile gets killed, then everybody wants to jump on the "BAN MOTORSPORTS THEY ARE TOO DANGEROUS" bandwagon.

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Originally Posted by zach51

Yeah sadly they only cover our sport when someone high profile gets killed, then everybody wants to jump on the "BAN MOTORSPORTS THEY ARE TOO DANGEROUS" bandwagon.

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Way more people have Die going up Mt Everest ,, then have died in dirt sports and there is a lot more people dirt racing then going up that Hill... Dont hear no one say don't go up it...

I too really enjoy DOD, however I didn't exactly appreciate Michael jumping on the fans for sharing their opinions, as if all we do is cause trouble. I don't recall hearing him jump on Feger for his hot takes. For someone that "doesn't know everything", there seemed to be a lot of agreement with what Driggers did in this week's Fast talk piece. It seems like a case of "go along to get along". I like Michael, but I think what he said last night was just a tad uncalled for.

Hey guys,

Don’t often chime in on here, but this is a topic I’m somewhat passionate about so I thought why not!

The original poster and some of the follow-up comments actually raise some good points. When it comes to the “journalistic” side of things I’m always happy to talk about those issues. And I actually brought the point up on LML last night that I shoulder some of the blame as well, and am not just pointing the finger at everyone else. It rests here too.

A few things to consider.

In the 10 years of doing DirtonDirt.com now (where has the time gone?!?) … Todd, Amber and myself have always strived to not be a “knee-jerk” website. Todd and I specifically have a journalism background, and we set out from the beginning to NOT print details that we didn’t have, couldn’t get, or run with something on hearsay or rumor. Sometimes fans grumble at that, but we always thought it was very important to only run … with what we could verify. We’ve stuck to that and it’s served us pretty well for a decade. In this industry more than ANY I’ve ever spent time in, the amount of “unverified” information is wide and sweeping. You really have to dig to get something, and someone on record.

Keep in mind we’re also on the hook for a libel or slander suit if things go wrong. This isn’t a random Facebook or Twitter post for us … it’s our livelihood. Something I don’t think people often consider enough. It can mean legal ramifications if not handled properly.

It’s also amazing how much the “news” has changed in ten years. The advent of cable networks doing more and more “opinion shows” has blurred the lines between news … and just that … opinions. We could easily do programming or point-counterpoint pieces where people scream opinions at each other for 30 minutes or 1,000 words of print, but that’s a huge turnoff to me and something I’ve never liked. It also doesn’t advance the topic, as much as it does create more hate and vitriol between the two sides of the discussion. Part of the reason I think we’re becoming more “divided” as a country. We didn’t want to create that environment or atmosphere in late model racing. Despite those in our industry (news, not racing) … doing it more and more.

Specifically regarding the tire/lawsuit story. I promise you we did a lot of digging, and were presented with a lot of information. Again though … when it comes to something “controversial” in our sport, DoD gets met with a lot of “no comment” … “off the record”, etc. We have become in a way the “paper of record” for dirt late model racing, and when we print something people know it’s official … so they sometimes shy away from taking that final step with us and going on the record. They know if we print it, people will believe it, because it’s been vetted and verified. It’s great people respect us that much, but it’s one hurdle we have to clear that many others don’t.

I know we live in a TMZ-age, where people like blood in the water, and constant “scoops”. But you have to remember in our industry (Unlike the NFL, NBA, MLB) … where those are multi-billion dollar enterprises that can withstand ANY AND ALL criticism, our sport is small and limited. One bad story about a promoter, a track, a driver, a sanctioning body can have a REAL and immediate impact, and usually negative. We have to balance that out, as we do feel we have a duty to the industry to leave it better than we found it. I get that people love negative stuff, and we’ll never “withhold news” that we think needs to be out there and can be verified. But we’re not going to print a he-said, she-said tire story just because we think the “fans want blood”. If that makes sense.

All that said, if you dive into the website regularly I think you’ll see we have a lot more hard-hitting stuff than you might think. It may not be titled … “click here for a crazy story”, but if you’re savvy enough it’s there, and you know we’ve double-checked it, and it’s true. We’re not a click-bait website and never will be. But we are constantly breaking news, and have new information, so I’d suggest you really click all over the website, and you’ll find it.

Side note … Dirt Track Warriors on CNN was awesome and I loved it.

Side-Side-note … I was an original member for 4m back in the day (first 100 in the door) … this place will always have a spot in the history books of dirt late model history.

Michael Rigsby
DirtonDirt.com

I've had DoD since the early weeks in 2007 & it is great. I have no problem with they way they cover this kind of stuff. They are an unabashed advocate for the sport (it is in the title after all). It would be interesting to hear some of the behind the scenes speculation but I think it is more important that they serve their role in being an advocate for the sport and trying to help it grow through their great coverage instead of just fueling into controversies and being a click bait type of website as Michael referred to it.

It sure has come a long way from the days of waiting for Speed Sport News each week to get the results. As to this particular situation, I'm sure there are more facts that none of us know. On the surface, it might appear the big bad WRG is picking on a promoter but I don't know all the facts behind the scenes.

Thanks for the insight DoD, good post.

Since you are reading this thread now I do have one suggestion (I don't know if I'm the only person who would appreciate this). Would it be possible to create like a Spoiler-Free place to sign in and watch the highlights from the previous night? I subscribed to NHL.tv this past hockey season and they had an option for this and it was great. I like to login on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch all the highlights from the previous night but often the homepage has a picture of one or two of last nights winners, and if it does not I still have to scroll past the recap thumbnails that usually have a picture of the race winner. Its not a huge deal but was just thinking that might be cool or helpful.

Thanks,
Jeff.

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Originally Posted by W2Racing09

Thanks for the insight DoD, good post.

Since you are reading this thread now I do have one suggestion (I don't know if I'm the only person who would appreciate this). Would it be possible to create like a Spoiler-Free place to sign in and watch the highlights from the previous night? I subscribed to NHL.tv this past hockey season and they had an option for this and it was great. I like to login on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch all the highlights from the previous night but often the homepage has a picture of one or two of last nights winners, and if it does not I still have to scroll past the recap thumbnails that usually have a picture of the race winner. Its not a huge deal but was just thinking that might be cool or helpful.

Thanks,
Jeff.

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Working on that. Honestly it never really occured to me that people might want that lol. I'm a news junkie and want the information now, and I'll watch highlights later.

Version 2 of website coming in next few months ... and we're attempting that.