Misunderstanding or misrepresentation?
You know how we hate controversy at Skate and Annoy. That’s why I am reinstating Daddy Yo… Just kidding! (maybe not…) Steve Berra launched an online directory of skateshops. He’s got a video about explaining how it’s just core shops, etc… He neglects to mention you have to pay to be on the listing, something like 5k a year. I guess the controversy is in the fact that the site is pitched as an independent and unbiased resource when in fact it’s nothing more than paid advertising, like the Yellow Pages. There has been some bickering back and forth on Twitter and the Slap boards, it’s real Interwebs skateboarding drama that brings to mind this picture, as seen at the Gay Ocean. You can get a more detailed accounting over at Haveaboard.com. They’ve got all the pertinent links too.
Need more bitchy gossip? Ryan Scheckler’s business manager reportedly embezzled 365 grand. Perez Hilton has the skinny.
- Thanks to Bobcat for the tip.
Posted by: kilwag on November 20th, 2009
More posts by kilwag
Categories: Industry Crap, Skate
Tags: , Steve Berra
i used to work for a snow/skate/surf company in seattle and they claimed they couldn’t even afford to pay $9 an hour salaries, so they would never be able to afford advertising….plus in their words “skate doesn’t make money”
Berra seems to be looking to monetize his site because of bandwidth issues…selling out never looked so shady
Ah, sweet irony…
It’s haveboard.com not have A board. No A in the middle. A lot of people are afraid to speak on the subject for fear of backlash from the skate industry folks. I would like to reiterate that a paid shop listing is just fine in my book. It’s the use of the terms “help” and “important skateshops” when in fact you have to pay for the help and be considered important.
I’m not against a paid advertising business model, it’s the shady pitch that has rubbed people the wrong way.
That shirt should say “Fuck your messageboard drama”
Never trust a Scientologist.
maybe if the listing cost was something like say $50 a year as opposed to 5 THOUSAND, it wouldn’t be so bad?
Thanks for the heads up. I think it’s important to keep informed on this stuff, we don’t want what’s left of skateboarding to follow the rest of the country’s business model. Fortunately in PDX we’ve got some cool shit going on.
you guys are bunch of retards. take a look at those prices and eat dick. its 50 bucks for 3 months for christs sake. randy, why are you condoning whining of some idiot who cries that he would have to pay 5000 bucks a year for banner appearing in the whole us just about couple hundrets tousand times a month, therefore pretty good advertisement of his most core shop in the world on one of the most popular website in skate world? i dont even wanna know what kind of prices you charge on this site?
The point is that Steve “the Bono of Skateboarding” Berra comes across like he really REALLY cares about all the dwindling skate shops across the country. If he hadn’t made his “State of the Union” address so disingenuous and had just made a press release saying “Hey, if you want some ad space on a popular website we’re taking checks NOW” nobody would care. Nobody.
Skaters seem to be able to smell bullshit better than other people and they rightfully are calling Steve out on his obvious ploy to make himself more money.
Yeah it’s a good idea. Deluxe, Blackbox and Girl/Chocolate offer the same service. The difference is that they do it for FREE.
ive yet to see anyone whos actually taking advantage of this deal complain…
wanna really argue? start a shop….and dont use theberrics as advertisement…
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i completely agree.
pretty awesome how my comment is deleted because of how i disagree with what you have to say.
good job on being biased.
awesome.
HMM – Your comment wasn’t deleted, for some reason the spam filter held it for moderation. I haven’t checked the web site or email since Thursday because I’ve been ill. As you can see, it’s showing up now.