Neowin Interview: David Gorman, Creator of ModBlog & DeskMod

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In mid-December, David Gorman announced that his ModBlog blogging service had not only gone completely ad-free, but they were also including all previous pay features into all new and current free accounts.

We caught up with David to talk to him at length about ModBlog's decision to go completely free, competing against such service as Microsoft's "Spaces" and LiveJournal, the ressurection of DeskMod and much more.

View: Neowin Interview with David Gorman

Cont...

Whereas EA's Madden NFL series is unquestionably the dominant American football franchise in the US, despite strong competition from Take-Two/SEGA's budget-priced ESPN Videogames efforts this year, EA's NBA Live series doesn't enjoy the same degree of domination with strong competition from ESPN NBA, NBA Ballers and 989's basketball games on various formats, says IGN.

The effect of EA's deal with the NFL is still being felt this week, as rival sports publishers now find themselves not only worrying about EA's relative marketing power, but its newfound ability to pull the rug out from under them completely when forced to react to any genuine threat to its own sales.

As such, this rejection - if indeed it did happen - will be encouraging for EA's rivals, but perhaps only in the short term. If the NBA has rejected an initial offer, it's worth considering that a second, larger offer might find the organisation more agreeable. Only time will tell; EA and the NBA are unlikely to comment one way or the other until one or both parties become either contractually bound or intractably averse to the proposal.

Last week publishers, including Take-Two, voiced their concern over lack of choice for the consumer in light of the NFL deal, and Midway boldly announced that it will release an unlicensed, more brutal American football game called Blitz: Playmakers in 2005 despite the arrangement, which will effectively sew up any official statistics and data until some way into the next cycle of console hardware.

(4 replies) #1 imtoomuch on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:21

Bring back Deskmod. I seriously don't see why they focused on Modblog and let Deskmod die...yet again!
Trolling and swearing edited out

Last edited by 3035 on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:27

#1.1 gorman on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:26

Thanks for the support

If you actually read the interview, you'd know that DeskMod is coming back very soon. ModBlog had absolutely no impact on DeskMod's closing.

#1.2 imtoomuch on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:41

I did read over the interview and I did see that Deskmod is coming back which is awesome. I don't see how focusing on ModBlog didn't affect ModBlog, though.

As for WishX editing my post: I censored the swearing myself and I was not trolling. I was merely stating my opinion. I didn't know that stating an opinion now means trolling.

#1.3 gorman on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:43

DeskMod closed because it used a tremendous amount of bandwidth, and at the time, we could not afford it. ModBlog used very little bandwidth in comparison, which allowed us to keep it online. Even if ModBlog had never come into existence, DeskMod still would have closed. Trust me, if there was any possible way we could have avoided closing DeskMod, we would have. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't be bringing it back.

#1.4 iMike on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:44

To clarify:

What gorman said

#2 mohennessey on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:24

nice interview.

(3 replies) #3 iMike on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:39

OMG I LOST MY MODBLOG IN MY PANTALOONS

#3.1 WishX on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:42

In case anyone is wondering who this random nut is, iMike is Mike Pacific, the other Co-Founder of ModBlog.

#3.2 SquareSoft0 on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:52

So that makes it Ok? Fine, BE that way

#3.3 Solarix on 28 Dec 2004 - 21:27

random nut i like how u put that

#4 Mx² on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:45

Very cool.

#5 creamhackered on 28 Dec 2004 - 19:50

Ohh, nice

#6 phend-one on 28 Dec 2004 - 20:14

YAY! Deskmod... how I've missed you so...

#7 lardiop on 28 Dec 2004 - 20:52

Very Nice Derek!!!

(4 replies) #8 womble68 on 28 Dec 2004 - 21:25

Muhahaha, another Dave Gorman exists in the world! Hehe (Anyone from the UK'll understand what I'm on about)

#8.1 theyarecomingforyou on 28 Dec 2004 - 21:51

lol... I was expecting another crazy adventure like the Googlewhack but, alas, it is just a name-a-like.

#8.2 Chicane-UK on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:35

Wonder if Dave Gorman met this guy on his 'Are you Dave Gorman?' adventure?

#8.3 WishX on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:39

David Gorman (of ModBlog) said he talked to that guy once, but it was already after the TV show.

#8.4 Monkey Man on 29 Dec 2004 - 11:22

meh i thought it was the REAL Dave Gorman, hes bloody hilarious!!

#9 KoL on 28 Dec 2004 - 21:34

great cant wait to see Deskmod back

(2 replies) #10 bangbang023 on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:31

It's cool to see three of my suggested questions made the interview. It's a great read and Gorman is definitely a class act. I can't wait for Deskmod to come back as it really did have a great community feel to it, especially when I was just getting started with things like photoshop and members provided intelligent feedback and constructive criticisms. As for Modblog, it's an amazing service and, while I do have my own personl webspace for my blog, I recommend Modblog to any of my friends who come looking for a blogging service.

Last edited by 1798 on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:46

#10.1 weenur on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:43

Careful, bangbang023. If Gorman turns a corner too quickly, you'll break your nose.

(j/k)

#10.2 bangbang023 on 28 Dec 2004 - 22:45

LMAO, you ass. I seriously do love Deskmod, though. It's a shame most of my uploads are written works and, besides my blog, um other "art" sites are the only place to upload and the community there is nothing like Deskmod was. It was sort of my home before Neowin. I wouldn't comment much but I looked through so many uploads a day it was nuts.

(1 reply) #11 rezza on 28 Dec 2004 - 23:03

DeskMod rocked my world. It was the first online community I really got involved in, and I still fondly remember my time spent discussing all sorts of stuff in the forums, and just idly chatting with peeps in the chatbox. IRC is fun, and I like the people on there, too, but it's just not the same without the old crew.

I really, really miss DeskMod. *sniff*

Oh, and ModBlog's pretty nice, too

#11.1 insurektion on 29 Dec 2004 - 22:56

ditto that. Deskmod will come back soon* and i can't wait.

*whatever that means

(1 reply) #12 WishX on 28 Dec 2004 - 23:06

Why do I get the feeling I should tie David Gorman down and beat him until he relents to an interview about DeskMod too?

#12.1 Colin-uk on 29 Dec 2004 - 00:36

Good idea

Cool interview

#13 adonai on 29 Dec 2004 - 01:01

wow gorman, does this mean we can finally get that second urinal in the employee bathroom now?

#14 Astral on 29 Dec 2004 - 01:09

Very good news! Great interview too, its fun to hear Dave wax business about these sorts of things. So, I guess I should maybe contact you guys sometime soon?

#15 AthleticTrainer1981 on 29 Dec 2004 - 02:09

It will be nice to see deskmod come back

(1 reply) #16 pctuk on 29 Dec 2004 - 09:17

What is Deskmod?

#16.1 bangbang023 on 29 Dec 2004 - 19:47

Back in the day, it was one of the premier communities to find all the latest skins and various other customizations.

#17 McG on 29 Dec 2004 - 19:26

nice interview, neowin!

#18 antsy on 29 Dec 2004 - 23:00

Another David Gorman!

#19 fiz on 29 Dec 2004 - 23:47

YAY for Deskmod's return!

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