DK Pittsburgh Sports...lots of turnover in employees...

[Realist]

Ok...DK lost another employee this week. Is he hard to work for? Is it just bad luck?

Lots of turnover so far.

Thoughts? I'm not the biggest fan of his political views that sneak into his writing from time to time (i.e. Tomlin haters have racist elements, etc), but overall the site is good.

I do know (and have email evidence) that he has a HUGE ego. My friend (a subscriber), was debating a point on one of his articles in the comments section. DK emailed him (with the email that he registered on the site with), to continue the discussion and basically told my bud he's an idiot. Very strange thing to do....

[pensfan16]

I would not pay a penny to read anything on his website. I think he is overrated and not worth the time.

[Defence21]

Ok...DK lost another employee this week. Is he hard to work for? Is it just bad luck?

Lots of turnover so far.

Thoughts? I'm not the biggest fan of his political views that sneak into his writing from time to time (i.e. Tomlin haters have racist elements, etc), but overall the site is good.

I do know (and have email evidence) that he has a HUGE ego. My friend (a subscriber), was debating a point on one of his articles in the comments section. DK emailed him (with the email that he registered on the site with), to continue the discussion and basically told my bud he's an idiot. Very strange thing to do....

One, it's still relatively new in terms of businesses, and with start-up companies, turnover is high. Two, you have to look at the reasoning behind some people leaving. Rorabaugh left the business all together, and Welch, I believe, did the same. Both cited personal reasons and hours worked as being too much. That's the case with any print journalism publication. It just so happens that DK is open about departures, and so his readers know what is going on.

On the flip side, look at his strong base of reporters: Yohe and Gajtka have been around from the start of his expanded staff. Snyder and Lysowski have been around for a good while. Kaboly and Dopirak are relatively new, but the fact that DK has maintained his biggest reporters (Mackey, being the lone exception I can remember...and he was absolutely zero loss, IMO) and attracted established, reputable reporters to join speaks volumes.

You're never going to agree with everyone anyone writes, and I agree that I could do without some of the, I guess you can call it political, stuff. I also agree that he has a huge ego, but at the end of the day, the man knows his stuff, and his stories flow. I enjoy reading his columns immensely and love the work of Yohe, Gajtka, and Kaboly.

If you like his site, subscribe. If not, don't. But at the end of the day, it's difficult to argue that the quality of coverage isn't better than that of the local papers.

[saveourpens]

I remember reading his Q&As for the Post Gazette when I was like 14 years old. I was so pumped when he chose my question one week. I respect him the most out of all reporters in the sports world.

[ShipHockey7]

I only subscribe for Yohe.

[Realist]

I love DK's article this morning explaining how he was right all along about his predictions for the Pens/Caps series, even though he didn't specifically state those specific things.

The man has an ego a mile wide...

[Brad McEachern]

I love DK's article this morning explaining how he was right all along about his predictions for the Pens/Caps series, even though he didn't specifically state those specific things.

The man has an ego a mile wide...

That's clear as glass every time he throws a fit on twitter when someone's disagrees with his columns always throwing out the "Did you even read the column?" line.

Good journalist but like many in his profession always think there above criticism.

[penny lane]

For this type of business to succeed, everyone has to be all in. 24/7! To be on all social media to market the site.
He has built it ground up with him and his wife. It is successful and as informative as print-screen media.

[dagny]

I don't always agree with him, but I've always had a favorable opinion of his work.

[Southern Fan]

Eddie used dumoulin and too fancy in the same sentence

[peterleefan]

I am a former subscriber. I liked the give and take of the comments section but when DK doesn’t like your take, he will troll you until you either say something out of line or just give up because at the end of the day, it’s his site – he rules it like the Kremlin.

His ego is ridiculous and cares not how he treats people. He fired Alan Saunders in May 2016 via text – about as unprofessional as you can get.

This story sums him up for anyone that does not know about him – In the spring of 2014, he wrote a Trib column about James Neal. I emailed him through his Trib email account and asked him if Neal was really a hard guy to deal with as the rumor mill suggested – I was not expecting a reply. He did reply and told me that Neal was very difficult to deal with and gave me a few examples of how Neal was rude to front-office personnel as well . Fast forward a few months to the Neal trade to Nashville. DK tweeted out to Neal that it was a pleasure covering him that he was one of the good guys. I called BS and emailed him back and asked him why he tweeted that to Neal when he himself told me Neal was a bad guy. I expected a reply to say that he was just playing the political game – that you never know when he might need to cover Neal again and just wanted to blow smoke up his rear to stay on his good side – which I would have accepted as doing what he needed to do. The reply went another direction – he asked me why I would be concerned with this and called me a liar – which made me send him the original email and he then criticized me for not deleting our conversation in the first place. I wouldn’t read his stuff if someone game me a gift subscription.

[pens2005]

I love me some morning java!

[FLPensFan]

I've been a big DK fan over the years, when he was with the PG and the Trib. While I have subscribed the last 2 years, and probably will again this year, his true colors seem to mesh with the generalization I hear.....that he can be a real jack@ss and a control freak.

You can't deny the success he has had with his site. It seems to be a really good model if you have a pre-existing base of followers. But he seems to have a very big my way or the highway type of attitude towards his employees, and will spin some major **** to make him look good. Some examples:

--From what I recall, one of his first photographers, Dave DiCello, left because DK wanted complete control and ownership of his photos. Not sure if that is common, or what the full story is, but DiCello has his own studio and sells a lot of his other works. That seemed to conflict with what DK wanted. Dave has since returned in a limited photographer role to DK's site.

--Jason Mackey has always covered hockey to the best of my knowledge. When he left the Trib to DK's site, he covered hockey. IIRC, Yohe didn't come until after Mackey was already there......and then came a DK spin after Yohe arrived that Mackey was shifting to his "true passion," Steelers football. DK always liked and wanted Yohe, and was quick to push Mackey aside once Yohe was on board. Mackey left DK's site to go back to hockey @ the PG. While Mackey has said he had no hard feelings, I believe he left rather abruptly which didn't sit well with DK.

--Dustin Dopriak, to the best of my knowledge, was hired to cover Steelers football after Mackey left. But then, along came Mark Kaboly, who again, seems to be DK's buddies or favorites.....so Dopriak got pushed off onto Pirates coverage.

--Matt Gajtka was hired as a stats guy and a baseball guy. But, Kaboly comes in, Dopriak shifts to baseball....and a tweet tonight from Gajtka seems to indicate he will be doing more hockey than baseball moving forward.

--I really like Yohe. I know he is going through a rough divorce (has commented on it once or twice in Q&A), and not sure how long things in his personal life have been not well. But for as much as I like the guys reporting, he always seemed to be late to the game (figuratively and literally). I called DK out on this one time, who during Pens training camp Molinari, Mackey, and Bombulie are all tweeting out lineups, vids of practice, drills going on.......and dead silence from DK site. He ranted about how Twitter isn't where the money is at, and I fired back that he needed to have some method to report on this stuff. They started doing the morning skate/camp reports, but they aren't true live blogs and are dreadfully slow to update.

I've also been unhappy with the amount of times things like the Friday Insider and Tuesday Takes (the more off-the-record stuff) just disappears, because with a staff of 20 they feel too busy to bother.

I still think it is the best site for Penguins content right now, but I also see enough issues with how DK runs things that I can't commit to giving the guy a 3 year or lifetime subscription.

[Sigwolf]

I've been a big DK fan over the years, when he was with the PG and the Trib. While I have subscribed the last 2 years, and probably will again this year, his true colors seem to mesh with the generalization I hear.....that he can be a real jack@ss and a control freak.

You can't deny the success he has had with his site. It seems to be a really good model if you have a pre-existing base of followers. But he seems to have a very big my way or the highway type of attitude towards his employees, and will spin some major **** to make him look good. Some examples:

--From what I recall, one of his first photographers, Dave DiCello, left because DK wanted complete control and ownership of his photos. Not sure if that is common, or what the full story is, but DiCello has his own studio and sells a lot of his other works. That seemed to conflict with what DK wanted. Dave has since returned in a limited photographer role to DK's site.

--Jason Mackey has always covered hockey to the best of my knowledge. When he left the Trib to DK's site, he covered hockey. IIRC, Yohe didn't come until after Mackey was already there......and then came a DK spin after Yohe arrived that Mackey was shifting to his "true passion," Steelers football. DK always liked and wanted Yohe, and was quick to push Mackey aside once Yohe was on board. Mackey left DK's site to go back to hockey @ the PG. While Mackey has said he had no hard feelings, I believe he left rather abruptly which didn't sit well with DK.

--Dustin Dopriak, to the best of my knowledge, was hired to cover Steelers football after Mackey left. But then, along came Mark Kaboly, who again, seems to be DK's buddies or favorites.....so Dopriak got pushed off onto Pirates coverage.

--Matt Gajtka was hired as a stats guy and a baseball guy. But, Kaboly comes in, Dopriak shifts to baseball....and a tweet tonight from Gajtka seems to indicate he will be doing more hockey than baseball moving forward.

--I really like Yohe. I know he is going through a rough divorce (has commented on it once or twice in Q&A), and not sure how long things in his personal life have been not well. But for as much as I like the guys reporting, he always seemed to be late to the game (figuratively and literally). I called DK out on this one time, who during Pens training camp Molinari, Mackey, and Bombulie are all tweeting out lineups, vids of practice, drills going on.......and dead silence from DK site. He ranted about how Twitter isn't where the money is at, and I fired back that he needed to have some method to report on this stuff. They started doing the morning skate/camp reports, but they aren't true live blogs and are dreadfully slow to update.

I've also been unhappy with the amount of times things like the Friday Insider and Tuesday Takes (the more off-the-record stuff) just disappears, because with a staff of 20 they feel too busy to bother.

I still think it is the best site for Penguins content right now, but I also see enough issues with how DK runs things that I can't commit to giving the guy a 3 year or lifetime subscription.

I don't understand people that say the are DK fans, or Madden fans. Even "fans" acknowledge these guys are complete tools, and list the reasons why, yet profess to be fans? Pay money for it? Best source in Pittsburgh? There's a thing called the internet that can get you all the information you desire without paying these self-serving tools. Stop supporting these parasites and they will crawl back under the floorboards where they belong.

[FLPensFan]

I've been a big DK fan over the years, when he was with the PG and the Trib. While I have subscribed the last 2 years, and probably will again this year, his true colors seem to mesh with the generalization I hear.....that he can be a real jack@ss and a control freak.

You can't deny the success he has had with his site. It seems to be a really good model if you have a pre-existing base of followers. But he seems to have a very big my way or the highway type of attitude towards his employees, and will spin some major **** to make him look good. Some examples:

--From what I recall, one of his first photographers, Dave DiCello, left because DK wanted complete control and ownership of his photos. Not sure if that is common, or what the full story is, but DiCello has his own studio and sells a lot of his other works. That seemed to conflict with what DK wanted. Dave has since returned in a limited photographer role to DK's site.

--Jason Mackey has always covered hockey to the best of my knowledge. When he left the Trib to DK's site, he covered hockey. IIRC, Yohe didn't come until after Mackey was already there......and then came a DK spin after Yohe arrived that Mackey was shifting to his "true passion," Steelers football. DK always liked and wanted Yohe, and was quick to push Mackey aside once Yohe was on board. Mackey left DK's site to go back to hockey @ the PG. While Mackey has said he had no hard feelings, I believe he left rather abruptly which didn't sit well with DK.

--Dustin Dopriak, to the best of my knowledge, was hired to cover Steelers football after Mackey left. But then, along came Mark Kaboly, who again, seems to be DK's buddies or favorites.....so Dopriak got pushed off onto Pirates coverage.

--Matt Gajtka was hired as a stats guy and a baseball guy. But, Kaboly comes in, Dopriak shifts to baseball....and a tweet tonight from Gajtka seems to indicate he will be doing more hockey than baseball moving forward.

--I really like Yohe. I know he is going through a rough divorce (has commented on it once or twice in Q&A), and not sure how long things in his personal life have been not well. But for as much as I like the guys reporting, he always seemed to be late to the game (figuratively and literally). I called DK out on this one time, who during Pens training camp Molinari, Mackey, and Bombulie are all tweeting out lineups, vids of practice, drills going on.......and dead silence from DK site. He ranted about how Twitter isn't where the money is at, and I fired back that he needed to have some method to report on this stuff. They started doing the morning skate/camp reports, but they aren't true live blogs and are dreadfully slow to update.

I've also been unhappy with the amount of times things like the Friday Insider and Tuesday Takes (the more off-the-record stuff) just disappears, because with a staff of 20 they feel too busy to bother.

I still think it is the best site for Penguins content right now, but I also see enough issues with how DK runs things that I can't commit to giving the guy a 3 year or lifetime subscription.

I don't understand people that say the are DK fans, or Madden fans. Even "fans" acknowledge these guys are complete tools, and list the reasons why, yet profess to be fans? Pay money for it? Best source in Pittsburgh? There's a thing called the internet that can get you all the information you desire without paying these self-serving tools. Stop supporting these parasites and they will crawl back under the floorboards where they belong.

I think maybe you are taking the word fan a bit too literally. I enjoy their work and their point of view. I tend to agree with their opinions on things they write, although DK lately seems to be taking more of a stir the pot route lately.

I like what I get from a reporting aspect from Yohe, for example, over what Rob Rossi is going to write.

And yes, if you want the level of information I want about the team, whether it is DK or the PG, you are going to ha e to pay for it.

[Defence21]

I've been a big DK fan over the years, when he was with the PG and the Trib. While I have subscribed the last 2 years, and probably will again this year, his true colors seem to mesh with the generalization I hear.....that he can be a real jack@ss and a control freak.

You can't deny the success he has had with his site. It seems to be a really good model if you have a pre-existing base of followers. But he seems to have a very big my way or the highway type of attitude towards his employees, and will spin some major **** to make him look good. Some examples:

--From what I recall, one of his first photographers, Dave DiCello, left because DK wanted complete control and ownership of his photos. Not sure if that is common, or what the full story is, but DiCello has his own studio and sells a lot of his other works. That seemed to conflict with what DK wanted. Dave has since returned in a limited photographer role to DK's site.

--Jason Mackey has always covered hockey to the best of my knowledge. When he left the Trib to DK's site, he covered hockey. IIRC, Yohe didn't come until after Mackey was already there......and then came a DK spin after Yohe arrived that Mackey was shifting to his "true passion," Steelers football. DK always liked and wanted Yohe, and was quick to push Mackey aside once Yohe was on board. Mackey left DK's site to go back to hockey @ the PG. While Mackey has said he had no hard feelings, I believe he left rather abruptly which didn't sit well with DK.

--Dustin Dopriak, to the best of my knowledge, was hired to cover Steelers football after Mackey left. But then, along came Mark Kaboly, who again, seems to be DK's buddies or favorites.....so Dopriak got pushed off onto Pirates coverage.

--Matt Gajtka was hired as a stats guy and a baseball guy. But, Kaboly comes in, Dopriak shifts to baseball....and a tweet tonight from Gajtka seems to indicate he will be doing more hockey than baseball moving forward.

--I really like Yohe. I know he is going through a rough divorce (has commented on it once or twice in Q&A), and not sure how long things in his personal life have been not well. But for as much as I like the guys reporting, he always seemed to be late to the game (figuratively and literally). I called DK out on this one time, who during Pens training camp Molinari, Mackey, and Bombulie are all tweeting out lineups, vids of practice, drills going on.......and dead silence from DK site. He ranted about how Twitter isn't where the money is at, and I fired back that he needed to have some method to report on this stuff. They started doing the morning skate/camp reports, but they aren't true live blogs and are dreadfully slow to update.

I've also been unhappy with the amount of times things like the Friday Insider and Tuesday Takes (the more off-the-record stuff) just disappears, because with a staff of 20 they feel too busy to bother.

I still think it is the best site for Penguins content right now, but I also see enough issues with how DK runs things that I can't commit to giving the guy a 3 year or lifetime subscription.

My memory tells me that Yohe was DK's first hire and that Mackey came later.

[netwolf]

Yeah, Josh Yohe was their first full-time hire:
https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2015 ... -reporter/

That was the beginning of things ramping up from being a one-man show of sorts to the staff of ~20 he has now.

[FLPensFan]

Yeah, Josh Yohe was their first full-time hire:
https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2015 ... -reporter/

That was the beginning of things ramping up from being a one-man show of sorts to the staff of ~20 he has now.

The things Yohe posted about the Trib the other day in his Q&A, when someone asked how bad it was there.....man oh man did that guy put up with a lot of crap.

[PensOnDVD]

Kaboly sucked at the Trib, and he sucks now. He's why I no longer subscribe. If he blocks me on Twitter for criticizing his work? I'm not paying to read him.

Yohe is too much of a Sid fanboy IMO. Again, I paid to read DK's site to avoid reading the scrubs from the Trib and PG. So why would I pay to read them now at DK's site?

You're right. If I was Dustin I'd be pissed. Left covering Tennessee football and then get moved to covering the Pirates because they hired Kaboly? I'd be steaming mad.

[Realist]

Here's some observations:

1) They claim to be hardened reporters, yet have Bobble Heads/Fanboy stuff decorating their office?
2) They dress like they are going to a Volleyball game when they do their reports.
3) Taylor Haase is hot.
4) We would LOVE to know the details of why Mackey and others left.

[PensOnDVD]

Reading between the lines Dustin is leaving.

[Realist]

And now they hired a Pirates Beat Writer with as much experience at writing baseball as me....LOL.

[Realist]

And now they hired a Pirates Beat Writer with as much experience at writing baseball as me....LOL.

And now I see she is getting into twitter wars since she retweets a lot of anti-Trump stuff. Will she last a year on this beat? Lol

[Realist]

And now they hired a Pirates Beat Writer with as much experience at writing baseball as me....LOL.

And now I see she is getting into twitter wars since she retweets a lot of anti-Trump stuff. Will she last a year on this beat? Lol

[Realist]

And now...the girl is NOT on the Pirates beat...lol. Makes me want to get a subscription!!