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I looked at the bad wlw website and for fun removed all the duplicate articles and recycled content from the landing page
Here's what it looks like before:
Here's what it looks like before:
And after:
I suspect some of the advice columns are yrs old as well because one I scrolled through reffed Mitchfest as if it were a thing that was still happening. But there weren't any comments below to give an the apx age (someone has been doctoring or removing the dates by the bylines)
AE vs Autostraddle (2019)
They also seem to have started a column to leech off the reputation of a ex-writer who hates what the site has become ( @lez_dish) https://web.archive.org/web/20191207035803/https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/574371-lez-dish-it-out-12-6-19
Today on the bad wlw website, after four days without any new articles, two re-runs of years old pieces and a #lwordgenerationq recap that pretends none of the trans characters on the show exist
Truly a website with a vision
At this point the bad wlw website is 50% re-runs of years old articles. This is easier to spot from the landing page because they now completely scrub publication dates from articles be writers who have abandoned the site. So there a lot of links like this:
However dates are still being doctored for articles by active contributors. Take this advice column from the 23rd of March which somehow has a 2+ year old comment: https://web.archive.org/web/20200417213903/https://www.afterellen.com/lifestyle/advice-column/555877-lesbianing-ae-survive-taking-slow-want-speed
Playing around with the wayback machine, and while I wouldn't say the bad wlw site was in a good way prior to the Butch Genocide piece Grace, Danny and co discuss in the linked conversation, it was waaaaay healthier than it is now https://grace.substack.com/p/is-shane-actually-butch-and-other
The backlash to that article nearly completely ruined them and good riddance
Five days with no articles posted. One week with no new articles posted https://web.archive.org/web/20200420072755/https://www.afterellen.com/
The "Preserving Herstory" piece is dated by comments older than the publication date. The wayback machine says the "Lesbianing With" column is from 2018
https://web.archive.org/web/20200420073307/https://www.afterellen.com/lifestyle/advice-column/558171-lesbianing-ae-bad-relationship-great-sex
https://web.archive.org/web/20200420073307/https://www.afterellen.com/lifestyle/advice-column/558171-lesbianing-ae-bad-relationship-great-sex
I was wrong to assume that the author of the "Lesbianing With" columns is still an active writer for the site. Here's what running all her columns published "this year" (as per the date by the byline) through Wayback shows. Every one of these was originally published in 2017/18
@lindseydanis are you aware of this?
With this article the "published Feb 26 2012" version makes substantial alterations, omitting entirely the pictured question and it's answer (link directs to original version) https://web.archive.org/web/20170131201516/http://www.afterellen.com/columns/530349-lesbianing-ae-week-dealing-breakup-boundaries-finding-lesbian-porn
Another example of the current owners fucking about with articles after publication https://twitter.com/ElaineAtwell/status/812408580771024898
This is interesting. It seems like TERFS like the *idea* of After Ellen - a lesbian and bisexual women's news site with a big following that takes a trans exclusionary line - but don't engage with the website much at all https://twitter.com/DavidPaisley/status/1223960137951522818
The @DavidPaisley thread this is from does an excellent job illustrating how obsessively single issue and visionless TERFy LG activism is https://twitter.com/DavidPaisley/status/1222999786749558789
The editor-in-chief of the bad wlw website everyone
No wonder her website is struggling
And interesting that one of the only times someone has chosen to label a reposted article *as a repost* is for one of her pieces 
https://web.archive.org/web/20200424004734/https://www.afterellen.com/books/565457-w-collection-20-years-after-debuting-as-the-first-lesbian-comic-strip
https://web.archive.org/web/20200424004734/https://www.afterellen.com/books/565457-w-collection-20-years-after-debuting-as-the-first-lesbian-comic-strip
AEs twitter when they posts something negative about trans people vs when they post a link to a new article
I notice that these thousands of thankful lesbians haven't translated into new writers for the site. There seem to be only two people "regularly" producing new content at this point
AE is a website that creeps like this like to gesture towards but don't actually read or care about when it isn't posting content about trans people https://twitter.com/ThisMariaHutch/status/1199479576209944577
So since lesbian visibility day they've been doing this a lot less. They've brought on two more freelancers and launched the podcast. But the scheduling of new articles is still erratic and I wouldn't be surprised to see the podcast fall by the wayside https://twitter.com/ThisMariaHutch/status/1252153459190534147
The new authors don't have author bios for some reason
If you pay attention to the site you start picking up a lot of small details like this. I can't stress enough how poorly managed it is. https://twitter.com/ThisMariaHutch/status/1267926305502146562
Trash human. Trash site https://twitter.com/BradLoekle/status/1269821135148814336
For those wondering, the deleted tweet linked here was some kind of soft herd immunity nonsense https://twitter.com/jourdayen/status/1267168400859594753
The bad EIC of the bad wlw website has stepped down
But tell me more about how you made your website thrive. Because *gestures upthread* ALL THAT kinda suggests it isn't.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200609021542/https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/577129-a-farewell-from-your-editor-in-chief-and-heres-to-new-beginnings
But tell me more about how you made your website thrive. Because *gestures upthread* ALL THAT kinda suggests it isn't.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200609021542/https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/577129-a-farewell-from-your-editor-in-chief-and-heres-to-new-beginnings
Thriving so much that you only post 3 new articles and 2 reruns in the fortnight before the EIC retirement feature. Thriving so much you're in danger of turning into a single writer's glorified review blog.
This is... odd. For a good while this person was writing one or two articles a week for a publication (AE) with a hypothetical twitter reach of 100,000+ followers. Even factoring in an unengaged readership, this is strange. https://twitter.com/alaraemonts/status/1270183165685096448
"Effective today, I am resigning as Editor in Chief" is also a rather weird way to open a moving on and farewell post https://twitter.com/ThisMariaHutch/status/1270178976992882688
What are the odds she was fired? https://mobile.twitter.com/WendyCrossArt/status/1272729665837375490
Co-owner, so maybe not fired. Probably some kind of coup
So under the new EIC the bad wlw site isn’t as reliant on reheated content as it was under Memoree “Out for Trump” Joelle though is still willing to engage in some slightly shady SEO shenanigans
https://web.archive.org/web/20200722125219/https://www.afterellen.com/movies/455249-30-lesbian-themed-movies-can-watch-netflix-right-now
https://web.archive.org/web/20200729063249/https://www.afterellen.com/movies/515143-13-movies-lesbian-bi-women-stream-amazon-prime
https://web.archive.org/web/20200722125219/https://www.afterellen.com/movies/455249-30-lesbian-themed-movies-can-watch-netflix-right-now
https://web.archive.org/web/20200729063249/https://www.afterellen.com/movies/515143-13-movies-lesbian-bi-women-stream-amazon-prime
1/2 Looking at the public domain readership data it seems that the site has a spike in viewers whenever JK hits the news then hemorrhages them again...
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/afterellen.com
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/afterellen.com
2/2 ... because the site has cultivated a following of non-readers that want to consume nothing but bad news about trans people and does not care for creative work by or about lesbian or bisexual women
For some more goss about the bad wlw site I recommend this medium post by @AmyDyess https://medium.com/@amydyess83/prodigal-butch-7f0d2e00f693
So Bindel's piece her explicitly calls out Memoree Joelle, AEs former EiC who took a hard right turn and also ran the site really badly
Claire is willing to co-sign this now but there wasn't a public peep during MJs tenure
Claire is willing to co-sign this now but there wasn't a public peep during MJs tenure
Claire's articles were the main thing keeping the site alive during that period
That bad wlw site... still bad https://mobile.twitter.com/alaraemonts/status/1321576930030899202
Laughs bitterly and bleakly at this recent like
Also, on the "Everything's Fine, Nothing To See Here, Our Website Isn't Doing Badly At All" front they've gotten rid of the article comment sections that no one ever uses
Is the bad wlw site OK? It's showing up as this with increasing frequency. Is it stable? Are the bills paid?
So the bad wlw site has been down for a week and people are starting to notice https://twitter.com/theheatherhogan/status/1334199284808503296
Searched "Afterellen" to see how people are taking it. Universal celebration. Not a single TERF expressing sadness that the site is down or support for their ongoing podcast or new mailing list.
