Good -- But Not Great

Going local this time -- DCist is a pretty good, if not great, Web site focusing on just local stuff. The problem is, that "stuff" can seem like flotsam and jetsam -- it's awfully random and perhaps for that reason difficult to organize/categorize. DCist is part of the "-Ist" empire: one of 13 city-centric sites, 10 U.S. and three foreign. The outfit is clearly going after the Creative Loafing/__ City Paper market and might be having an effect, as the other is now in Chapter 11. DCist mostly has a genuine, local, "insider" feel, with many photos snapped, it seems, by young residents just walking by something in their neighborhood. Real local familiarity is also evident in the articles (more accurately, "just" blog postings). Again, though, it can be mighty random. Are the writers kept on message by any editors? Who assigns stories? The product seems more like organic submissions based on little more than whim. Also, why push the other -Ists? Monday morning's homepage had a roundup of the other -Ists, with the lede story and photo series about a cat surviving a 26-story fall -- in Manhattan. What's that gotta do with DC?