Jayski & other "Rumor Story sites" gets slammed

Though the popular "Jayski Silly Season Site" was never mentioned by name, it was easy to see it was the main target of this article, just read the last few stories on Jayski and you'll see this editor was tired of the lies.

Tired of seeing sites rack in money off of false statements (Web sites use their number of hits to draw sponsors, just like television does for ratings), Jayski is known for taking information deemed reliable (even if it comes from a crew member who thinks he'll be first to break a story, or a UPS delivery guy who spots a Company logo inside a team building, or driver seen playing golf with a rival team owner, and so on). The stories are posted to bring hits to the site, like Danica to Nascar? Khane to Toyota? or RCR to scale back to 2 teams? he then follows up with DENIED with an official response from a team or marketing manager. Now usually where there's smoke there's fire, so Danica does have Nascar as a possibility if the money on the table is large enough, and RPM is looking at other options for next season since Dodge continues to struggle, and RCR did confirm that sponsors Shell & Jack Daniel's haven't renewed thier deals yet. (Far cry from the headlines Jayski posts). Some of the stories even are foreseeable, like Truex to leave EGR? Everyone that follows Nascar knows he was leaving after his contract was up. Truex to Waltrip? That was easy to see also, since Ty Norris went to MWR and he's the one that got Truex a deal at DEI.

But is it fair to fans to post partially true headlines just to get more "clicks" to increase your viewership? Jayski has a monopoly on the rumor site and fans love to get information so he'll continue business as usual. Although, Jayski has gotten behind on his information latley (too busy counting his checks from ESPN), since information can be found all over the web before Jayski even has a clue.

It's a interesting article and fun to read, by the way: Robby Gordon to field 4 teams in 2010?

Read the article here:
http://www.thenascarinsiders.com/2009/06/22/what-in-the-expletive-i...

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Permalink Reply by zach on June 23, 2009 at 3:21pm

not true.... nothing get posted without contacting the teams. try it. email him something untrye that you made up and see if it gets on. jayski@jayski.net

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Permalink Reply by RGDirt on June 26, 2009 at 11:33am

Jayski had a few blurbs from Mike Mulhearn articles on Monday which accounted for the whoppers. Mike is well known for winding yarns. I take his comments with a grain of salt and wait for the press conference to confirm what he's spinning.

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on June 23, 2009 at 3:23pm

I dont think the Insiders were making Jayski their target for this article. Read it closer and they talk about the Internet Writers. Jayski does not write the rumors you see on his website. He just searches and re-posts what he finds. Actually Jayski is become so big most PR reps forward stuff directly to Jayski now. At the end of each rumor or article Jayski posts where it originated from.

Almost every single news report that the Insiders talked about in this article was originally written by Mike Mulhern and was originally posted on mikemulhern.net.

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on June 23, 2009 at 3:52pm

Jayski is the big fish so they might look like the most logical place to start pointing the finger, but it was Jayski that made people aware of the Nascar Insiders after they reported the MWR financial woes. Jayski just re-posted what the Insiders were claiming to know.

Here is a part of what the Insiders wrote that makes me think they are talking more about the writers then Jayski. And you could lump Jayski in the big traffic numbers, but Jayski is getting payed by ESPN now and not by internet sponsors.

So, now that we know the world isn’t ending, can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on? Maybe we are part of the problem (feel free to say if we are), but I feel like a lot of these Internet Writers are trying to either fabricate a silly season or scare people out of their minds.

Comparing the last few years, this season has been pretty light on free agent rumblings (sans Martin Truex Jr.), and the economy continues to be a major factor in the future of many teams, but these “almost” stories are crazy. I understand that some of these sites depend on big traffic numbers, but creating a story where there is no story seems wrong.

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Permalink Reply by kurt kern on June 23, 2009 at 4:13pm

Actually is it right there the front page: "NASCAR® News, Rumors, Info and Stats".
Can't see why anyone is mad. He not claiming to be anything else. Read it with "a grain of salt."
I personally like the site and go there several times per day, as well as the Planet. I enjoy opinion and news. I even enjoy a opinion shoot out, which I get here.......don't care for it when it gets personal, but maybe it is the price of admission.

TOG, I really appreciate what you have build here. Since discovering the Planet I've lost interest in other drivers and NASCAR in general. I've been always A Robby fan, but your site has enhanced my enjoyment of NASCAR and the rest of Robby's exploits. However what really makes your site so great is really the input from all the planet members....it is the secret sauce! it is this dynamic which makes this site better than Jayski.

To all Planet members: you all are great to listen to! (let's all get along)

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Permalink Reply by Matt on June 23, 2009 at 4:24pm

Jayski has posted some of the rumors I have reported to him, mostly before ESPN bought in though. Describing your source helps, as does a track record of being right.

Since being bought by ESPN, the amount of info has decreased, as has the quality. I remember last year he actually posted a blurb about MWR buying a new CNC machine...

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Permalink Reply by Lance on June 23, 2009 at 4:39pm

Here is the deal. There are some nuggets of truth on jayski's page. The main problem is that he posts things from Mike Mulhern who is an idiot (or a genius) who has accurate info about 10% of the time. I don't believe that RCR will be two teams next year and I don't believe that Kahne will run a Toyota while his team mates are in Dodges. It's ludicrous.

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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on June 23, 2009 at 5:13pm

By the way, I look at jayski daily too. I do think he checks his sources, however the "source" can be a company employee or team employee and they might not have accurate details. I also think jayski tries to get too creative with his headlines at times, but I also think he deserves alot of credit for his ground breaking site. If you followed jayski from the start he was just a fan reporting opinions and gossip about his driver, when other found out about the site he started getting info about everyone from reliable sources, it soon grew into the Nascar tabloid. Drivers actually went to jayksi to find out what their current status was with a team, or saw they were in trouble at his site first.

Biggest problem is a story written on the net today is deemed a reliable source and it's mostly inaccurate (again mostly, parts are correct but not the entire story-RCR to 2 teams is an example).

Jayksi has fallen behind laley. I find out more about RGM & Robby here than jayski ever will. Other driver sites also have info that breaks to their fans first before landing in jayski's inbox.

Just posting the story...thought it was an interesting view. Loved how he ended with Robby Gordon to 4 teams in 2010? Don't laugh...Richard Petty was facing closing his doors to part owner of a 4 car team, and Ganassi went from almost folding to part-owner of 2 drivers within Chase range. It can happen.

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on June 23, 2009 at 7:51pm

The Nascar Insiders site is actually very good. Thier stuff is much more detailed, insightful, and interesting than what's on Jayski. Of course Jayski never claimed to be a source of original journalism, and that's just fine. Read the Insiders article again - he's only saying that the drama of the articles he's reading is overinflated, and he's not singleing out Jayski at all.

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on June 23, 2009 at 8:12pm

No, not a jayski type site. The NASCAR Insiders are two anonymous writers who have an inside scoop on a lot of what goes on in the garage. One is a journalist, the other is a tire changer on a cup team. The keep thier identity secret, and report on a lot of different topics. Usualy just one a day. They aren't privy to everything that goes on, but the have a lot of info that others do not. The article in question on the NASCAR Insiders site today was mostly an opinion piece on the general gloom-and-doom attitude of much of the stories being written today, and how this attitude is often over-inflated. They never mention Jayski, but the topics they cite were almost all of the headlines on Jayski this morning.

I didn't mean to equate thier site and Jayski, and I appologize if that's how what I wrote was interpreted.

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Permalink Reply by NIKAL on June 24, 2009 at 12:37am

Thank you Alan for explaining this to the people who did not know about the Nascar Insiders and explaining how they are different then Jayski. Like I said Jayski just cuts and paste what he finds from other sites and jurnalists.

And Mike, You have not been on the Nascar Insiders site? I thought you read the article posted above? Becaue the responces to what I was saying, I figured you knew who the Nascar Insiders were and what Jayski was!