by Danielle Zarcaro

Created on: July 22, 2009

TheSpoof.com seems to do a somewhat decent job of pulling off satire. With competitors such as The Onion, The Spoof seems to have its work cut out for it. The actual design of the website is a bit irritating; it seems to be very busy with no easy-to-follow organization or navigation. It's as if they try to shove as much as possible on the home (or landing) page because they're afraid visitors won't stay long enough or navigate through their other pages.

...Not that it would be an easy task even if the visitors did decide to stay. There is an unfortunately-placed Google ad on the left side which I see as a bit of an insult. By trying to weave their ads into the site to make it seem like their own content so people will click on it, they are saying they care more about making money than they do about creating a beneficial experience for those visiting the site. The option to sign up for their mailing list shows up twice on the home page alone (telling me they're more interested in getting numbers than providing quality work) - I was afraid of how many others I'd find throughout the site.

Some of the content is funny and some is lacking (more often lacking than not). Some obvious jokes are made, but the humor is lacking on so many other levels that it makes me cringe to read the articles. Every once in a while I found something that seemed to be of some type of quality, but I got tired of looking for them. I could only sort articles by most recent, most popular, and best rated. The search bar is somewhat hidden, and it took me longer than I would've liked to find it. (Top right corner next to "writer's login.") The fact that the search bar is connected to the writer's login and that the writer's login is first gives the impression that the website is more interested in servicing their writers than they are with benefiting their readers.

All in all, I am thoroughly disappointed in TheSpoof.com. I like variety, and I hoped this website would be my alternative option to The Onion, but this website seems to be in need of a heavy-duty makeover; it's lacking in a number of different areas. Perhaps it should consider its user's needs at some point. If you plan on trying to write for this website, it might do your image better to look for a different writing gig.

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