Jobs: Vadim Yelistratov - editor in chief of DTF

"Categorical attracts more than balanced position"

- How long ago did you begin to write about movies and games?

- The desire to write I had in the days when the Internet started up on cards by the hour. At about the ninth grade, I started to buy PC Gamer magazine, which is published in Russia under license: Partly - with translations, partially - with its lyrics.

I liked that the authors talked about the games through personal experience and the experience, rather than on a standard template - sound, story, picture. This approach me hooked, because the texts appeared always interesting, even if it was not close to my genres.

It had not yet been social networksSo I went to the magazine forum and found a small community. Readers go to the new movie, game and immediately shared their reviews. It was there that I wrote my first texts. Later, we began to interact with the editors and that even several times the user has published materials in the printed version. It seems to be a trifle, but nice. I think at this moment it started.

- After school you went to learn from a journalist?

- Everything is telling me that this thing to life not earn, so I started to look for a "normal" profession. I went to study at the University ITMO to "Automation and Control", from where I have for several years tried to make the engineer. This profession is very similar to journalism: do not give a ready-made set of knowledge, and learn to understand the problems, search for information and analyze it.

Periodically, the program encountered objects that I use so far - for example, the inventive theory. We were told about the methods of thinking that you can create something new or to look at the well-known problem from a different angle. The result of course was an attempt to apply for patentBut I coped with it, not many.

- In parallel with studies you continued to write about games and movies?

- I switched on LiveJournal. He at that time was still relevant. There I was in a thematic community, where he regularly wrote about the movie. Because of the military department, which I missed, I had a day off every Thursday, so I went to the cinema and watched all the news again for a student discount, and then let out a short review in LJ. Well, then came "VKontakte", where I first wrote to friends and acquaintances, but gradually unwound - it was easier to become noticeable than on any other platform at the time.

Over time, the blog has become for me the most important university. Studies I liked half: vapor about electric cars, I was dying of boredom, and all that was associated with the processing and retrieval of information, I was, on the contrary, to get involved. After studying I went home and wrote to the night about everything that happened during the day: News, Reviews movies, Games and TV shows. Sometimes on weekends I was doing a blog from morning to night, because I was just in a rush - liked the audience reaction.

- How quickly increased the number of subscribers?

- Employees of "VKontakte" actively supported me and are often added to my profile in the "Recommended", so that the increase in the number of subscribers could not be called clear or predictable. Sometimes to me "accumulates" a few thousand people, but then leveled off speaker. I do not really paid attention to it. There was a time when I was happy and wrote hundreds of likes for 2000 people. Now there are 40 thousand, but I do not feel a significant difference.

I did not immediately realize it, but his first audience I attracted to the way it once did Wylsacom and other popular bloggers. When he appeared on YouTube, he talked about the iPhone like a pro is the best phone in the world, eliminating any doubts. Because categorical often attracts people more than balanced position. It makes you more visible in social networks.

In my case, categorical concerned not only Apple, but other popular themes for online war - for example, in competition Marvel DC and I have always clearly standing on the side of the first. Of course, I sometimes go too far, but he did it sincerely - say about Apple, I wrote a lot because really enjoyed and admired their technology.

But the categorical has its drawbacks: Many people perceive your attacks, made solely for the sake of trolling, too seriously, and you will inevitably appear Hayter army. Therefore, the same Wylsacom is now often criticized Apple and praises smartphones Samsung, as I possible do try to avoid these "wars."

- But now you almost do not write in "Vkontakte". Why?

- I got the feeling that the platform is stationary. For me, as a producer of content, in purely technical terms, a few years did not do anything really useful. "Lights" and other ways to work with the authors seemed to me not very effective, and I moved to Twitter - in it a live audience. Besides the incredible involvement of here - you can run a successful trade, and collect a few thousand subscribers.

I no longer have time for long positions in the social networks, and Twitter can occasionally throw a short thoughts, test hypotheses, and to follow the news. If I feel that I have an idea for the long post, I'd rather convert it into a full article on the DTF.

- Even before the DTF you served as the chief editor TJ. As of the social networks you're in a major publication?

- I did not have friends in this area, and even after a few years of doing their popular blog does not appear. But there was a feeling that the journalist get-together - it's a big village where everyone knows each other and you want to get a pass.

It was a typical situation the format "no experience and no job to get experience." Therefore, in my last year of university I opened a job and tried to find a job in journalism. So I came to the site of the magazine "Your Leisure" St. Petersburg analogue "Posters". For three months I worked there as a music section editor - wrote about concerts, Made news.

So in the workbook had the first recording of the work in this area. As a result, "Your Leisure" I did not come in handy, and now all my friends are constantly joking about the fact that it was booklet with prostitutes, but I at least once in his life looked at the way people create a real printing magazine. There is in this something special.

After university, my good friend threw me another job - in the Russian version of the magazine Variety. His printed copies were distributed among the industry leaders on a subscription and a web-version at that time almost no one did. I worked on the site, along with an excellent film critic Denis Ruzaev and quickly realized that to us nobody cares. Everything that I was asked to - to create the appearance of activity, so I just pumped my English and I wrote about what is interesting to me, at the same time forcing the readers to your blog site.

Formally, the editor in chief was Catherine Mtsituridze - movie expert on the First Channel and the head of "Roskino," but I got the impression that for her it was all a sort of status toy. I have received instructions from it only in those moments when I was asked to write about her appearance at some important festival. Soon Variety closed - and the website and the magazine.

- What do you got in TJ?

- Game Informer magazine has released a great article with the first details on GTA V. I quickly gathered the main theses and published them in his blog. After that, I was approached by Nikita Likhachev, chief editor TJ, and asked him to reprint the squeeze on the site under my name. Even though it was only a translation and I was very pleased. format of the site seemed interesting, so I started to follow him closely.

Around this time there was a restart at TJ, and part of it was transferred to the State vc.ru, which we later merged into one publishing house "the Committee". I asked Nikita, if they have any vacancies, and he invited me to work for them week in a test mode. But then I happened interview Vlad Tsyplukhin, the current director of the product "the Committee". And this man seems to have liked what I taught.

The first months were given to me in TJ easy. Before that, I wrote the lyrics mostly "the mood", and then learned that a release rate. I quickly explained that bad or quiet days does not happen - is not enough creative editor.

Around the same time of Lenta.ru TJ came in Sultan Suleymanov, who became chief editor. He and Nikita were my mentors. What is important, Sultan actively shared with us their experiences with their previous work, which at that time was almost the best school of journalism.

When Suleymanov went to the Meduza, I took his place, though perhaps not quite to that was ready.

"My working day is like on weekdays alligator"

- Why did you leave TJ and moved to the DTF?

- In TJ me all arranged until I felt rested in the ceiling. The position of chief editor of the site was fairly conventional, and now it even abolished. All processes still managed Nikita. Most of the time I had no one with whom to practice leadership - we have worked with other senior editors on equal terms.

In addition, TJ limits me in the themes. For many years I wrote about the games and movie and tried to bring it all to the site, but I usually do not support. According to Vlad and Nikita, TJ more about the real phenomenon, and not ephemeral. News about the train in Canada is always appreciated more than the news about movies.

From time to time I wrote Vlad about what needs to be done analogue TJ, but about entertainment. He felt insecure in these areas, so rightly afraid to go to the territory. But over time, people around you still convinced him that to make a website about the game is worth. And there was a DTF.

First, the project worked in the alpha version and it worked Oleg Chimde, former editor in chief of "gambling." While I was finishing with TJ, he formed a strong team of authors and started manufacturing longridov. When I came to the site, my main task was to organize news release, which I mostly worked on the previous post. Then the news written one or two people, and now these texts are prepared for five to seven authors.

- How does the revision DTF?

- We created a horizontal structure in which every employee is engaged in most of the time that he likes. This is one of the main features of DTF edition. If somebody comes to me newsmen, who is fond of, say, eSports, Then I will give him the opportunity to write about, from what he kicks. After all, the audience is always felt. This is the case with all processes.

Oleg formally listed as my deputy, but in fact we had the two hemispheres of the brain: he often thinks in images, and I was increasingly subordinated to the logic. In the first months, we, of course, there were problems, but now seems to be formed a strong alliance - everyone does what he is interested.

Technically, I have no need to write long texts and news, but I like to do it, be on a par with the authors, so I write daily, taking in parallel various important solutions. Oleg is closer in spirit to some global organizational issues, work with longridami and creation in the wording of a positive working atmosphere.

In short, we with Oleg as husband and wife, who have long been in married and clearly understand their area of ​​responsibility. This comfortable feeling.

- How realistic is it to get into your team?

- Speaking of the state, it get to us is becoming more difficult with each passing year. But authors almost always longridov need. Especially if they know about the games or some complex topics for which we do not have the time themselves.

People who make texts about the movieWe have enough. Everyone wants to write about it. The most popular letter on my mail: "Hi, I want to go to predpokazy, watching movies and writing for you!" You open it and see that the main interest of a person - to go to predpokazy and not write lyrics, so think about it at once, whether it is necessary you.

Normally, many things become clear on the topics for articles that the author offers. If he keeps abreast of, he understands that it is interesting, and texts in order, he will also write good.

- What is your job is now?

- I'm trying to track trends and to be all-seeing eye, which indicates what edition you should pay attention. This requires constant monitoring, so that the work I start with the first change of newsmen, at nine in the morning and ends with the last - 23 pm. If a in the evening I look at the site and understand that we have covered the most important thing, I can sleep peacefully. We - a rapid response team, so that usually focus on one day.

I survive with such a schedule because of the problem I have is more analytical: watch, so we did not miss the most important infopovody. My working day is like on weekdays alligator, which is basking in the sun and then abruptly enough prey, when it appears next. This rhythm can save power and does not burn in the long run.

Every week we unload statistics and make great reports, which look at why the text gone, and another - no. At the same time we are trying to understand where traffic has come, and at the same time determine the topics that will pay more attention in the near future.

- What publications do you consider your competitors?

- By default, I believe all the competitors. If any of the news came out in the Meduza and it reads a large part of our audience, it is an occasion for us to hurry up.

We were among the first in our field began to write "Breaking," which amends after publication, and do mobile fluffy. Many readers will make fun of us because of this, but the logic here is simple. For example, if there was a new trailer for "Spider-Man"That our direct competitors - not other media, and Public, which immediately placed the video on social networks. Such materials can not write a half-hour.

At the same time, "Breaking" 10-15 minutes are transformed into full-fledged materials, which read slightly less active users. So once we kill two birds with one stone.

To keep track of the competition, we have a separate channel Slack, where specially trained robot collects the publication of books with similar themes - "Kanobu", "gambling" and even "games Mail.ru». Here we have added TJ, Meduza and other media, with whom we have a crossing. If some news has already appeared at the competition, it is logical to write it in the shortest possible time. And if we ran into a non-obvious infopovod theme can lie still for an hour, because it is unlikely someone will intercept.

If we did not have time to release the news, it can make a big text and add additional value - for example, the analyst, which will expand the story and will immerse the audience in the problem.

Write news faster than anyone is physically impossible, so we need to think not just about speed but also about making the audience gets a complete picture of the day.

- What will happen in the future DTF?

- About a year ago we officially decided for themselves that "the Committee" - is not only a publishing house, but also a technology company. we invest huge amounts of money in the "core" - a unified platform on which to built TJ, vc.ru and DTF.

Thanks to the "basis" if TJ editors will ask some new feature, it will immediately appear in all three editions. We used to write the text, manually placing tags, and now we have a user-friendly editor that allows you to only think about the content.

Our global plan - to reduce dependence on social networks and aggregators, making the publication the "Committee" a full-fledged social platform that will attract direct calls. Moreover, we want our work processes existed within this platform.

Other interest - UGC. User-generated content - it's one of the ways of growth and full assistance to editors. The audience often brings on the theme site, we'd do not pay attention, and this completes the picture of the day. Well, if users start a story the whole process for us, it means that we are not working.

DTF, because he has no closed comment, Was the most "social" site "the Committee". We have a very large depth of view: people do not just go read a piece of news, and the transition from one article to another, skip to the comments highlighted in the "Live Now", and so on.

We are much closer to social networks, where each user individually appeared tape and the ability to block tags. This allows you to turn in the DTF website about all the movies, but "Star Wars", for example.

- What was your biggest mistake at the helm?

- Home - reputation. I missed the moment when the audience no longer share my shitposting in social networks and my work. Twitter I mostly conducted in order to test some hypotheses in a safe environment or trite to let off steam, as an individual, but the larger the project, which you do, The less your face becomes private.

Last year, I do not think very well, succumbed to multiple provocations, responding to people in the same language in which they wrote to me, and as a result, of course, regretted it. This caused damage not only to me but also to my team.

For this reason I had a detox on social networks for a few months at the beginning of the year, and came back with the new settings. People who came to the comments for the purpose of pull my nerves or outrageI just silently ignore or bath, not sinking to their level.

I am by nature always liked to conflicts and disputes in the last word for me, and in this respect I had to change. Because from the abyss, which will be infinitely out of the context of your phrase and turn your argument on its head, to communicate simply useless. Better to go to work.

- What process is adjusted in the wording of the best, but with some more problems?

- Probably the most problems with long-term planning. As I said, we like to react quickly, and prepare texts for two weeks ahead - not very.

Another problem - decentralization. Our people work in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. On the one hand, it helps each maintain a comfortable working environment, but on the other - we can not get together on a Friday night and start to stream, as do colleagues from TJ. Plus I pretty difficult to interact with videootdelom, and I would like to be more involved in the development of this direction, because the future belongs to them. Hopefully, the central office will be over time, where we can work.

Our greatest achievement, I believe that the DTF turned. Took place. When I retired from TJ, I dreamed nightmares. It was very disturbing to move from a large popular project to the new site, which no one really heard. Start a movement from the ground up - a big responsibility. There were periods when the growth stopped, and we discussed a few months a new strategy to increase the number of users on the site. As a result, we changed the approach to the material, steel or else work with the audience and growth resumed.

I've never worked on a project from scratch, even more so - in a managerial position, so I'm still surprised that DTF a few years ago there was nothing, a vague idea, and after thousands of small and large decisions become something - the fact that people learn and discuss.

"Any activity away from your computer - it's ok"

- Many of your life seems almost perfect - looks Kintz passes toys and writes about it. It really so?

- Of course not. Life is almost completely lost relaxed watching movies and going through gamesBecause you never turn off the analytical part of the brain. Even if you are watching a movie not to work, it is to figure out whether it is possible to draw from this a text or make a video. It is the same with the games: sometimes you go through them not for fun, but a little choking in time to release a review.

For most people the movie and TV series - are forms of recreation, but if you write about them, that on weekdays you almost never rests. You continue to work after work.

- How much time per day do you spend at the computer?

- behind a computer all day is not because there is the iPad. On it is most convenient to monitor the news, handing out assignments, copy fragments of articles and fold links. And if you want to write the text, sit down at a laptop.

- Your workplace like kids desks with Twitch or you for minimalism and portability?

- On the table is a laptop, iPad and mobile phone. There is still a computer game, which I used to work, but now gradually moved on MacBook - he was the last link in my Apple ecosystem. Now there was a feeling that the chain has become isolated: I write a note on the iPhone, and fine-tuned it to the MacBook. All processes have become much more convenient.

More close by are three consoles: PlayStation 4 Pro, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X. In case you need to quickly take a screenshot or something to check out.

- How do you plan on time - you use the techniques of time management?

- I almost never used by planners, because I have a good memory: usually manage to keep in mind all the important information. With regard to the texts that I write myself, usually they are born spontaneously during the day. This, plus my position and work as a whole: if I caught the interesting idea, I can immediately begin to implement, without explaining anything to anyone.

Rigid planning is included in the period of game shows - during last E3 I almost died. There was so much work that in turn went to the energy sector. However, I basically do not like the idea of ​​playing shows, because the publishers once dumped a bunch of information, and its audience in such numbers still can not learn. Therefore, some companies have refused to participate in such events. This is an outdated method of communication with the players.

- What are the applications you use to simplify your life?

- One of the most popular - Tweetbot. This is the only way not to miss tweets, because here they are arranged in chronological order, and applications on any device remembers where you stopped. it is very important for me because I used to jump from a smartphone to a tablet or vice versa. I pray that this program has not disappeared, because the official Twitter application that shuffles tweets as he pleases, for no good.

But on the desktop in Twitter is a wonderful TweetDeckWhich I actively use. In it you can configure itself five or six speakers news updated in real time and monitor the disturbances in the system, as do the characters "matrix».

Workplace communication, we implement in Slack and apparently will remain there until you make your counterpart. In it can be convenient to divide all the discussions on thematic channels, which greatly simplifies the work of dozens of people.

If we talk about e-mail applications that I use on iOS classroom program Airmail, Which is configured almost every pixel. It costs about 400 rubles, and well worth the money.

Instead, we use the Skype service appear.in - with its help you can call up directly through the browser, the interlocutor dropping a reference to "room". As soon as we opened the application, forget about Skype immediately. There's a limit to the number of people, but our phoned usually take place in the company of three or four people, and this is enough. For local stories is very handy thing.

For TV series good service MyShows - it allows you to figure out which episodes are already out, mark the ones you have already seen, and read the comments. Not a bad thing, but it is not very popular in Russia.

Of the latter, favorite applications - "Purse». The children created a program in which you can score almost all their loyalty card and carry them with you. Moreover, the application is constantly gaining momentum. First there was the possibility to issue cards of some stores in one click, and then track the news on points in real time.

- How do you spend your free time?

- During the period leave I try to go somewhere - in the near future are going with a girl in Paris. This, of course, trite, but I was only there for work, but she did not go there has never, so extirpate ourselves for the week. It is a pity that Notre Dame was burned, but there without something to do.

On weekdays, I have almost no hobbies because all the free time devouring work. Sometimes I go to the gym in the morning, but most of it remains on the weekend: get up at 6 am for the training schedule with my hard. But you still need to move: Due to sedentary work before I even had a problem - for example, dizziness.

As for the weekend, I usually just want to be away from your computer. Now I do not have any clearly defined interests, because it is essentially a Job. So in his spare time with a girl we usually either looking for interesting places in the city, or simply walk or meet with friends, or, if the weather is bad, watch movies. Weekend for me in every sense of the weekend: they failed, if I do not have anything at all.

Layfhakerstvo by Vadim Elistratova

books

Fiction I almost did not read because of the professional deformation: do not enjoy the text, and to quickly find it in nature and run further. Therefore, I read mostly non-fikshen. Suggest something original can not, but the new people on the job usually recommend starting with "Write, reduces». Not all ideas Ilyahova close to us, but some illnesses book relieves immediately. Now I read "The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies"- a book about the Hollywood activities, partially written according to the data of" sinks »Sony Pictures documents.

Movies

If you specifically need to catch a journalist, you should see The Newsroom on HBO. The series greatly romanticized the profession, but there are many valid points. Inspire and motivate me usually Fincher and Soderbergh - favorite directors, cold-blooded and intelligent. They just can see the remarkable series Mindhunter and The Knick.

Video

YouTube I use mainly to quickly obtain information on the areas on which I do not have much time. Therefore, about smartphones and techniques I regularly watch videos on MKBHD. Marquez is generally ideal videobloger - says everything is dry and to the point, is not pumping drama from scratch.

sites

I do not think that I am following someone will be useful. Hundreds of them, and I can not single out one thing. So read TJ, DTF and vc.ru!

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