I’m really excited to see what Vulture looks like when it re-launches tomorrow. It’s been six months and change since I left my perch there, so I’m especially excited to see how the redesign has changed in that time. I wish those brosephs nothing but the best, and they have clearly gotten along just fine without me.

That said! I really hate this new “Talk” feature that they launched today. While I have little doubt that the feature will be successful — over the course of my tenure there, we worked VERY hard at building/engaging a loyal commenter base — I really don’t like what it stands for. Vulture, to me, has always been a valuable site because of high standards of writing that they hold themselves to. All of the editors/recappers/reporters on-board are smart, witty and thoughtful, which is why you see so many great conversations popping up on the site.

But this feature? It scares me because it cuts a primary ingredient out of the mix: the editor. Rather than setting up a discussion by presenting a well thought-out point of view over the course of a paragraph or two (or more!), these Talk posts are just a glorified version of all of the horrible method in which EW.com ends all of their posts (“Hey PopWatchers!”), only sans any actual opinion. I’m all for innovation, but this seems to me to be a devolving step that puts Vulture one step closer towards becoming a high-gloss message board. Blergh!

(Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, I still love Vulture! It’s the best at what it does, and I’m super psyched that my old Defamer hire, Kyle Buchanan, is starting there tomorrow. I’m just a concerned bystander, that’s all!)