ATL Readers: "Handsome, Clever, and Rich"
We just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who took our Above the Law reader survey (which is now closed). We obtained some interesting demographic data about the ATL audience, which you can access if you're curious in our media kit (PDF). You also provided us with helpful feedback and suggestions.
In terms of the demographic data, here are some highlights:
Region: 97 percent of you live in the U.S. and Canada, 16 percent in New York City, and 14 percent in Washington, DC. Quelle surprise.Median Age: 29. No Metamucil ads here!
Average annual household income: $99,000. Darn, guys, we just missed six figures! You law students and law clerks are draggin' us down (but we love you anyway).
By the way, the conventional wisdom still holds true: If money is your main motivation, you're better off in finance than in law. The annual HHI of readers of our big brother blog, DealBreaker, is $206,000 (higher than the salary of every federal judge save the Chief Justice).
Education: DealBreaker readers may be richer; but you guys are smarter. Ninety-eight percent of you have a bachelor's degree or higher, and 72 percent of you have a master's, JD, or PhD. (The comparable figures for DB: 94 percent and 39 percent, respectively.)
Consumer Habits: You people are lushes -- in the past 7 days, 81 percent of you have consumed an alcoholic beverage. And you don't go to the gym enough: only 49 percent have been in the past week.
(The Wall Streeters over at DB are in better shape: 68 percent have been to the gym in the past 7 days. But they also drink more: 90 percent have had a tipple in the past week.)
As for your reader feedback, we've collected some of the more interesting comments, which we reproduce after the jump.
For those of you who missed the survey, we'd still like to hear from you. Please treat this post as an open thread for your random rants or raves about ATL. Such information helps us do our job better. Thanks!
Some of you submitted some very nice compliments, which we deeply appreciate. We won't reproduce them here, so as not to toot our own horn; but please know that we're grateful.
Most of the time, people email us or post comments simply to complain about, or take issue with, something we've written. This isn't that suprising, considering that blog reading is just like any other consumer experience. When you have a nice meal at a restaurant, you rarely send in a rave letter; but if you have a horrible one, you fire off letters to the restaurant, the Better Business Bureau, and Eliot Spitzer (or you walk out without paying). It is, nevertheless, nice to know that many of you are enjoying this site and appreciate our efforts.
Here are the selected reader comments:
1. What is the point of this stupid survey???2. This is a weird survey.
3. Great site... interesting quiz.
4. Love it. More gossip about firms (especially in DC) please!!
5. More Yale Law School gossip, please.
6. Does the West Coast exist? Have you heard of this place called L.A.? They have lawyers out there too.
7. Please provide some original content and stop asking readers for contributions. It's gauche.
8. Such a GREAT outlet for lawyer-wonks. Keep the juicy details of the BigLaw people coming for those of us struggling out here on our lonseome trying to build the next Jacoby & Myers... including info on those lucky bastards who "got out" and now run the odd internet food delivery / romance novel business. P.S. Any info on PR for small firms would be happily devoured.
9. Your blog is more fun than Crim Pro.
10. Can you please make the ad on the left smaller? It gets in the way of my ATL. Oh, and are you purposefully staying away from making Outkast jokes about the ATLiens, etc.? I guess that could get old fast.
11. I realize the small firm life is not terribly exciting or glamorous, but do you foresee having any commentary on the plight of small or boutique law firms?
12. Tell this to your advertisers: I don't have much earning potential right now, but in five semesters I'll be a hot ticket.
13. Can you change the font you're using to something bigger and more readable?
We always welcome your views, good or bad; they help us do our job. So, as we said before, feel free to treat this post as an open thread, in which you can share your reactions to ATL: what you like, what you dislike, what you'd like to see more of, and what you'd like to see less of.
Once again, thank you!
Comments
Disagree w/#5: This blog is already very Yale/Harvard-centric. It doesn't need to be more so.
Agree w/#13: Font should be bigger or clearer.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 10, 2006 07:03 PM
For #13, you do realize that you can adjust the font-size settings in your own browser if the default size is too small for you, right?
Posted by: Technologically Literate | October 10, 2006 07:05 PM
Yes. But it's a matter of proportion. If I enlarge the text for ATL, then click over to another site, the text of that site looks gigantic.
Overall I enjoy this blog a lot. These are minor things.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 10, 2006 07:13 PM
Less random political/ideological commentary. If it's supposed to be a commercial legal gossip/news site, you shouldn't be driving away readers that don't worship Scalia and Kozinski. (I can take the occasional aside, as you're certainly entitled to your own opinions, but when you're making entire posts dedicated to rebutting Dahlia Lithwick and insisting that the bestest judges are all conservative, I lose interest. There are plenty of conservative legal commentary blogs out there; I don't read them and started reading this because it seemed entertaining. If that changes, I'll probably stop reading.)
Posted by: Harvey Birdman | October 10, 2006 07:15 PM
The site is too cluttered and not aesthetically appealing - too busy. Re content -- too specific and not literate or witty enough. Snarkiness isn't quite enough to carry the day. There is too an undertow of littleness which is shown in clear relief in the posts about Breyer et al. Real life jurists (shortcomings notwithstanding) make Lat and the whole enterprise seem diminished and petty. No one will care 25 years from now about ATL's pronouncements - they'll care about Breyer and the other judges who have actually accomplished something with their lives. Too bad.
Posted by: Christopher Columbus Langdell | October 10, 2006 07:31 PM
Langdell: Your critique is a bit like what Jon Stewart talked about.
One could say that, 25 years from now, people won't be watching reruns of "The Daily Show." They'll be reading in the history books about George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, and other protagonists of political life. They'll be reading about people "who have actually accomplished something with their lives" -- not the commentators on the sidelines.
But to say that is to miss the point of ATL, The Daily Show, etc. There is a place in the world for gossip, entertainment, and satire. If you want substantive legal or political analysis, don't look to ATL or The Daily Show.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 10, 2006 07:42 PM
I don't understand why so many readers of this site seem to dislike it so much (at least based on the snarky reader comments). It's like there's some weird masochism going on. If I don't enjoy a certain newspaper, magazine, or blog, I don't read it. Life is too short.
Posted by: Reader | October 10, 2006 07:55 PM
I think a lot of us are trying the blog on for size - it's still new and it certainly had a lot of promise and an interesting pedigree and corporate backing. What's happening I think, is that it's not living up to the potential and readers will flee in droves if they haven't done so already (nothing masochistic in that). Where's the sitemeter on this thing?
Posted by: Christopher Columbus Langdell | October 10, 2006 08:12 PM
Agree with the comments about cooling it with the right-wing rhetoric. It's a massive turnoff. It's your site and your prerogative, but at some point you need to decide whether this is a site about conservative jurisprudence for a conservative audience, or whether it's geared toward a broader readership. This ultimately drove me away from UTR -- and I even like Kozinski.
Posted by: CN | October 10, 2006 10:20 PM
All I can say is I hope you don't let the endless onslaught of negativity from grumpy, sad little uptight people get you down. I know it can't be easy.
Whatever they might say--and however many of their cruel barbs might hit home-- I hope you know at least some people out here appreciate the fact that you're doing your own thing in your own time...in your own, fabulous way. What could be better than that?
So here's to you...cheers!
Posted by: Schopenhauerian | October 11, 2006 05:53 AM
What happened to the profiles for the OT 2006 clerks? I submitted random tidbits on UTR and have been awaiting their posting for a long time.
Posted by: anon | September 7, 2007 10:21 AM