This was a wonderful read, thank you. As someone very much inspired by FiveThirtyEight and an avid follower, this confirmed a lot of what I knew.
Specifically, I really enjoyed the call outs for Clare Malone. She got hosed, and she is/was SUCH a powerful voice. She changed my mind on issues multiple times, and her perspective never felt forced in the way a lot of political commentary can be. She clashed with you Nate in profound ways, never afraid to back down from a point, but also never in a way to try and destroy your own credibility. It was kind, not always nice.
I really miss it, but I'm so glad you all get back together for podcasts.
Yeah, I always loved Clare's writing. It always had a very distinctive "voice". Honestly, her articles were probably my favorite part of the site (well, I preferred Nate, but he wrote very few articles, especially as time went on. Clare was a frequent and consistently good read).
Admittedly, she wasn't the most "data" in a "data journalism" outlet (usually speaking more in terms of anecdata), but it added color to the quant insights brought by the rest of the crew.
I was very surprised to hear that she'd been fired. And after her departure, I'd often remember something I'd read in one of her articles and then do a quick Google to see what she was up to. Super glad to see she landed in The New Yorker, which seems like a great fit for her, even though I unfortunately don't get to read her articles, since I don't subscribe to it. Thankfully we still get to see the old crew in these live shows.
Clare was always better on the podcast than in print. The most remarkable thing about fivethirtyeight is how few voices it cultivated beyond Nate. Perry Bacon Jr. was legitimately good. Harry Enten was competent. But very few non Nate articles were worth reading.
Maybe you're only referring to politics? Neil Paine is great, Walt Hickey, I loved Benjamin Morris (he stopped writing after FTE)... I would read just about every article. It had the best data journalism on the internet (though Bloomberg had a good group too) and definitely inspired me as a statistician.
Awful. I've been using the Flint Michigan article to teach my Rutgers students about investigative journalism, data, public policy and public trust for 9 years. If you can provide me a link to wherever it lives, I'll save it to a word document.
I was a very loyal consumer of FiveThirtyEight and rode this rollercoaster thru numerous iterations. Thanks mucho Nate for raising the curtain on some long hidden machinations to first ruin, then murder a great place for information.
That said we now see Nate as a survivor and are fortunate he thrives again here with SB.
Please consider a new podcast with some of the FiveThirtyEight alumni. I rarely missed an episode, especially during election season. There's still a dearth of neutral analytical political podcasts.
Risky Business was not the same. Maria just... wasn't my favorite.
I would like to add that whoever did the visual data representation was a true genius. Once FiveThirtyEight became an ABC news extension I realized how good the graphs and charts during those were and I hope whoever worked on those landed on their feet.
It’s ironic because around the time they first purchased both IPs they were on a roll and it seemed like they couldn’t miss. I thought Star Wars was going to get the treatment Marvel was getting and would be great (I mean, they’ve definitely put out some solid Star Wars titles, but it’s been disjointedly hit-or-miss overall).
Disney's decisions regarding FiveThirtyEight make no sense. They had a gem in their hands and they tossed it in the garbage. How could they be worried about the Disney bandwidth when bandwidth is cheap and all they needed to do is keep the sports and data nerds in charge and put up a paywall? Maybe it was a case that they thought FiveThirtyEight distracted from ESPN and siphoned off some users. Or they were too stupid to know what they had.
Regardless, I think their destruction of a priceless internet icon is in the same realm of when the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
FWIW Grantland archives are still live, one of the top stories is about a fledgling interim NFL coach named Dan Campbell, wonder if it ever worked out for that guy...
Poor Fivey Fox 😭
Rest in power, Fivey
Start a gofundme to buy the rights to him.
As suggested by my post elsewhere, if Nate isn’t getting any revenue from Fivey, I am ready to be a pirate.
This was a wonderful read, thank you. As someone very much inspired by FiveThirtyEight and an avid follower, this confirmed a lot of what I knew.
Specifically, I really enjoyed the call outs for Clare Malone. She got hosed, and she is/was SUCH a powerful voice. She changed my mind on issues multiple times, and her perspective never felt forced in the way a lot of political commentary can be. She clashed with you Nate in profound ways, never afraid to back down from a point, but also never in a way to try and destroy your own credibility. It was kind, not always nice.
I really miss it, but I'm so glad you all get back together for podcasts.
Yeah, I always loved Clare's writing. It always had a very distinctive "voice". Honestly, her articles were probably my favorite part of the site (well, I preferred Nate, but he wrote very few articles, especially as time went on. Clare was a frequent and consistently good read).
Admittedly, she wasn't the most "data" in a "data journalism" outlet (usually speaking more in terms of anecdata), but it added color to the quant insights brought by the rest of the crew.
I was very surprised to hear that she'd been fired. And after her departure, I'd often remember something I'd read in one of her articles and then do a quick Google to see what she was up to. Super glad to see she landed in The New Yorker, which seems like a great fit for her, even though I unfortunately don't get to read her articles, since I don't subscribe to it. Thankfully we still get to see the old crew in these live shows.
FYI, check with your library. Mine lets you get the New Yorker electronically through Libby for free.
Clare was always better on the podcast than in print. The most remarkable thing about fivethirtyeight is how few voices it cultivated beyond Nate. Perry Bacon Jr. was legitimately good. Harry Enten was competent. But very few non Nate articles were worth reading.
I loved the honey-and-gravel voiced Joey Avirgan.
Maybe you're only referring to politics? Neil Paine is great, Walt Hickey, I loved Benjamin Morris (he stopped writing after FTE)... I would read just about every article. It had the best data journalism on the internet (though Bloomberg had a good group too) and definitely inspired me as a statistician.
I’m not commenting on sports, I only read the Nate sports articles
Julia Azari is also great (and has a book out this year!).
Awful. I've been using the Flint Michigan article to teach my Rutgers students about investigative journalism, data, public policy and public trust for 9 years. If you can provide me a link to wherever it lives, I'll save it to a word document.
The Internet Archive Wayback machine has it cached for now. If you put the old link in there, you can get it and save it.
Thank you. Got it.
I have the exclusive rights to natanielthirtyeight.com if u want to negotiate
You must post a picture of the 'Nataniel' plaque.
That Fivey Fox erasure gif is super bleak lol
That last nugget, truly a silber lining that ties a bow on the whole thing.
I've been reading religiously since the DKos days, and I'd have been happy to pay for it since day one, even on a grad student's stipend. RIP, Fivey.
I was a very loyal consumer of FiveThirtyEight and rode this rollercoaster thru numerous iterations. Thanks mucho Nate for raising the curtain on some long hidden machinations to first ruin, then murder a great place for information.
That said we now see Nate as a survivor and are fortunate he thrives again here with SB.
Please consider a new podcast with some of the FiveThirtyEight alumni. I rarely missed an episode, especially during election season. There's still a dearth of neutral analytical political podcasts.
Risky Business was not the same. Maria just... wasn't my favorite.
Galen Druke, the former host, has his own podcast that Nate and other alumni have been on.
Check out GD Politics, hosted by Galen Druke. It's great
I thought Maria was great and insightful. But totally different kind of show to the old 538 podcast, I also miss it.
I would like to add that whoever did the visual data representation was a true genius. Once FiveThirtyEight became an ABC news extension I realized how good the graphs and charts during those were and I hope whoever worked on those landed on their feet.
Nate, my heart goes out to you. I am so terribly sorry - all your early amazing work, makes me want to weep.
I guess if Disney will burn something like Star Wars to the ground, we shouldn’t find it that shocking when they do it to FiveThirtyEight.
It’s ironic because around the time they first purchased both IPs they were on a roll and it seemed like they couldn’t miss. I thought Star Wars was going to get the treatment Marvel was getting and would be great (I mean, they’ve definitely put out some solid Star Wars titles, but it’s been disjointedly hit-or-miss overall).
Disney's decisions regarding FiveThirtyEight make no sense. They had a gem in their hands and they tossed it in the garbage. How could they be worried about the Disney bandwidth when bandwidth is cheap and all they needed to do is keep the sports and data nerds in charge and put up a paywall? Maybe it was a case that they thought FiveThirtyEight distracted from ESPN and siphoned off some users. Or they were too stupid to know what they had.
Regardless, I think their destruction of a priceless internet icon is in the same realm of when the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
FWIW Grantland archives are still live, one of the top stories is about a fledgling interim NFL coach named Dan Campbell, wonder if it ever worked out for that guy...
My face when I read that Grantland was killed off MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO...
That Nataniel bit is too funny
So, who owns Fivey Fox and will be coming after me when I make new shirts (to replace my worn out ones)?