Thanks I was curious. Just listened to the end, he said (paraphrasing) “I resigned a couple weeks ago and last day is the date of this podcast” or something along those lines. Then he planned to do nothing except hang out with kid(s) and walk the dog or something.
@Pbase sounds like he wanted a break, and can afford to take one. Dunno about y’all, but I’ve burned out twice in my career and quit jobs without having the next job lined up. Wife wasn’t happy at the time, we had young kids, but could see it was killing me and supported it.
I find Discord useless since I prefer threaded conversations that you can follow from start to finish, Discord just seems to be a jumbled set of unrelated posts.
Thats why there are channels. To keep related posts about a topic in a single thread. I’m not a fan of Discord, just saying there is organization and just like on this forum there will be posts that drift off the main topic.
IMHO Escape Collective should not allocate any salary for someone to support Discord. Not sure how long I’m going to support EC, I rarely read it and have only clicked on a podcast or two that have been posted on this forum.
Being an editor is so much more than writing about a bike (that he likely was loaned while he was still employed at Escape Collective). It’s managing a staff, creating a content calendar, editing articles, taking care of logistics, etc. On top of that his dad was having health problems that required him to travel overseas to visit him so perhaps he could use a little bit of flexibility and simplicity during some trying times. The human condition is complicated so it’s hard to say.
Sounds like I’m in the minority, but I like the Discord for specific channels. I probably ignore 80% of the rest of them. I like the region specific channels, for my home region and recs of where I plan on traveling. I also like the “New Tech” and “Tech - What to Buy” channels.
FWIW - Escape also published a “Farewell James” Article which (IMO) lends credence to it being an amicable split. I believe @mcneese.chad posted a link to it above.
I think the discussion about whether Discord is worth it is missing the mark. EC still tries very hard to be profitable and leadership concluded they left money on the table with a tiered membership scheme. Money they need.
In March my account was auto-renewed at full $99 membership. Thought I had disabled auto-renew, like I do with everything. Sent email and they downgraded me to $69 and issued refund. Very very prompt. Then I got the 27 June email there were changes, my account was being upgraded immediately to full membership, and would auto-renew next year at $99 (or whatever current price is then). Lots of info in the full transparency post on the website.
A day later I got this “Details on your full Escape Collective membership” email, and web version here:
The sections/paragraphs before and after are about Discord.
Going back to why I originally subscribed - I wanted to support independent journalism and always enjoyed CyclingTips. But I draw the line at $60/year. I don’t care about Discord, and yes I’ve been on it a couple times. I don’t care about the podcasts. I don’t care about commenting on articles. I don’t care about merch. I skim the weekly email but I skim all incoming email. The last 3 bullets and in my mind reading an article or two a month is worth no more than $60/year or $5/month. I’d compare that to buying them a coffee once a month, or post-ride I buy them a craft beer and they buy me a craft beer.
I believe his father had also been ill or perhaps recently passed away. I took from his limited comments on the podcast that he was taking some time to get away from “work” and focus on family and more important things. Regardless, there are always transitions in business. I admired his technical expertise, but the “Angry Asian” persona was sometimes a bit grating (IMO).
I never found James to be angry. I guess the moniker sounded catchy.
It wouldn’t surprised me though if he jumped off a sinking ship without any animosities whatsoever.
I wish Caley and them success but they have a huge amount of competition that doesn’t charge. Since GCN+ went away I’m actually consuming less cycling media. Cav won the other day and I was able to see the finish on Eurosport youtube shortly after. I really don’t need a long form article about Cav’s career or even a short article recapping the win. One can watch the replays everywhere. Guys like Lantern Rouge are even doing live commentary/announcing. There a ton of other pundits that will provide commentary and podcasts like LA’s are getting guys like Cav to come on right after a big win to give more than just a post race 30 seconds. He had Mat White on recently.
I’m just saying that EC has a lot of ad supported competition from every direction and their product looks very old school.
and in my mind reading an article or two a month is worth no more than $60/year or $5/month. I’d compare that to buying them a coffee once a month, or post-ride I buy them a craft beer and they buy me a craft beer.