Anyone who knows me will know that I am a serious fan of Austin Petersen. That is NOT what I am talking about here. Rather, I am talking about his website, The Libertarian Republic. For such an incredible presidential candidate, Austin's website is leaning towards "major suckage" on the website scale. I would rate my own website higher than his, and I am just one person with a two-bit opinion.
Speaking of my two-bit opinion, I have one here: I think The Libertarian Republic could be an awesome news source. For independents and libertarians (both "big L" and "little L" varieties), this could be the news source we have needed for a long time. There is serious potential that just seems wasted. Back to the review...
When you first open up The Libertarian Republic, there is an almost Tumblr-like page with all the latest posts from the various sections, which are shown along the top: Headline News, Free Style, Abuse of Authority, Political Opinion, and Community. The organization of this website is scattershot.
From what I can gather from all of it, everything is opinion pieces in this website. So why is there a "Headline News" category? For opinion pieces about current events, of course! No, that is just wrong. If you are going to have a Headline News category, why not do some kind of headline news reporting? Even a Drudge-like page would be a good idea. But if all you are doing is opinion pieces, this category needs to be dropped.
"Abuse of Authority" should be under "Political Opinion". While I am sure Austin would define abuse of authority as a separate category unto itself (God bless him!), it really does come under "Political Opinion". One man's abuse is another man's justice. I'm not suggesting abuse is a good thing, or even a right thing. But it needs to be labeled as opinion to separate it from news stories.
The subheadings are a complete mess. For example, under Headline News, there is a subheading "Right to Bear Arms". But what if someone was just doing a Political Opinion piece on the right to bear arms? You won't find it under Political Opinion. The subheadings look like they made it up as they went along.
Let's not forget the last category, "Community". This is the category for most every subheading on the website. The last post here was two weeks ago.
That fact is intriguing since the website's "About" shows 21 people with various responsibilities around the website. By the way, today is June 30th, and the last post of any kind is dated June 29th. It may only be 8:43 am EST, but really? Among 21 of you people, not one of you has anything to say by now? I have already done 4 posts this morning, and 21 of you can't write one thing?
If that isn't lame enough, check out this "Contact Us" page:
CONTACT USIgnoring the HTML glitch at the top, the only way to contact The Libertarian Republic is by snail mail or phone. How 20th century! Guys, have you heard about this new thing called "email". I'd tell you to google it, but you might not know what I meant...
[contact-form-7 id=”23740″ title=”Contact Us”]
Mail to:
19615 S. State Rt. J
Peculiar, MO 64078
Phone
(202)903-9113
Fortunately, they do have Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts, so they aren't entirely stuck in the 20th century.
Remember the name for the cast of Saturday Night Live? They were the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players". That would also be an apt description of The Libertarian Republic. I love you Austin, but your website needs a serious overhaul.
UPDATE: A response from Austin Petersen:
As always, Mr. Petersen is a class act. I look forward to seeing the upgrade.@1EMcGon1 Concerns all noted! We are currently in the middle of an upgrade. Look for a new improved UX in summer. Now I have time for it. ;)— Austin Petersen (@AP4LP) June 30, 2016
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