For this assignment, I have analyzed one of my favorite websites and applied Tollett's CARP principles to it. Barstool Sports, a Boston based satirical blog, has grown tremendously over the years and has attracted quite the following. Controversy and politics aside, the website does a great job of utilizing the CARP principles to make a usable and appealing blog.
The site design of Barstool Sports is rather methodical and organized. The site that I linked to is the "Superblog" -- a combination of the website's four city blogs: Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and The U. Each blog follows the same format and content is the only difference between the blogs, which displays successful use of Repetition by giving the user a familiar format to navigate. Another way the site uses repetition is in the blog posts themselves. Each post starts with a picture/video followed by an article/story from another source, and then the blogger writes his satirical view on the story. Every post follows this guideline and the comments are below the blogger's write-up. Daily posts like "Guess That Ass" and "Wake-up with ..." are other examples of repetition within the blog, because they are posted everyday in the same format.
When speaking on the Contrast part of CARP, the site does a stand-out job. There are not too many advertisements or distracting pop-ups. Pictures and video are used in every blog post. There is a sidebar filled with Viral Videos and galleries of attractive co-eds. The bloggers will frequently use bold or italics to emphasize their point while writing, another great use of contrast. The Alignment of the site is also very strong. The posts are displayed in chronological order and are never scattered around the page. The organization of the site makes it very usable. When it comes to Proximity, no pages are cluttered and most images have borders. It is hard to find any rhetorical flaws within the site using the CARP system, but this is no surprise, because the website is essentially the heart of the business.
The audience of the website is clear. Each blog is directed towards a different city, so posts on the sites will be concerning the local sports team. Although it is safe to say the target demographic is males, because things like "Smokeshow of the Day" and "Guess that Ass", it has been noted women view the site as well. A relevant argument that can be brought up is that sections like these may deflect potential female readers from the site. Each blog has a number of different writers with one head blogger, who does the majority of the posting. The name or alias of the blogger is at the bottom of each post. And although these names are pseudonyms, like Elpresidente and KFC, the bloggers make no effort to conceal their identities. In fact, they frequently post humorous picture or videos of themselves, which I see as a great way to build Pathos within the blog, because of the personal attachment it creates with the reader. The main style and stance of the blog is satirical. While sarcasm is often difficult to detect in text, the bloggers will often take an absurd stance on an issue in order to make a point or demonstrate the ridiculousness of an argument. The comedic nature of the blog is often stressed and the writers insist nothing on the blog should be taken too seriously.
In conclusion, Barstool Sports has masterfully created an example of Rhetoric within an online writing environment. Aside from nailing all the CARP principles, they know their audience and know what they want. Its ability to stick to its satirical nature allows it maintain its readership as it grows.
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