Ask HN: What happened to theregister.com?
Hello, I'm Chris Williams, the editor of The Register. Maybe I can answer some of these Qs.> what caused this transformation?All things have to evolve and move with the times. As you've said, we were known, for example, for "intentionally-obscure headlines." Guess what, that works for some people - and it was fun - but it was holding us back reaching many more people, not just from the headline tone but also aggregation and sharing. And I want our original, technical, and best coverage seen by as many folks as possible.The Reg has been going for 20+ years. We have to keep up with what people want. And yes, some people liked the 2010s era, some missed the 2000s era, but also many more thought we weren't taking journalism seriously. We do take it seriously (we don't take ourselves too seriously) and I'd hate for headlines to hold that back.What's really changed is that we've styled the main headlines to be more accessible in every way, and still keep our sardonic, informed voice in stories and sub-headlines. We have a mix of core IT stories; software and open source; where life meets tech; science; and more, written in a way that gives our tech readers a voice.If you haven't read us in a while, then yes, we've changed visibly. If you've been reading us for more than a year or two, the change will have been fairly gradual as we tune our headlines to match what people expect from an irreverent technical title.> Has it been acquired by a conglomerate?No, it's still independently owned, with owners who give editorial free rein. It's documented in UK Companies House.> its original Chief Editor left in May 2019No, you're thinking of an executive editor who left around then, who wasn't in a management position (think editor-at-large).C.