We knew the blog’s rankings were in the toilet, but we didn’t know that editor Sommer Mathis would actually climb into the pot with them! Today she linked to several NSFW work images of black men having sex, and she didn’t initially warn her readers, nor did she really explain why the link was necessary. Initial reports indicate that several people got in trouble at their workplaces as a result.

Earlier: DCist Reporting Scandal!

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Commenters on the DCist blog are saying that editor Sommer Mathis has cooked a story, and those involved with the story are backing up the claims.

Mathis recently reported that The Flats at Dupont Circle condo development had evicted an unsuspecting tenant. She presented photographic evidence of a few boxes strewn on the street as proof, but she didn’t ask the condo’s owners whether there had actually been an eviction. Read more…

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Here’s a best of the best from the tip box:

Um, so, DCist is currently leading with an item about the future Georgetown Apple store. This story was in the Washington Business Journal on Friday. I guess Sommer Mathis is too busy to blog in a fashion so that her news is actually new and timely. What’s the point??? And she gets paid for this???? Can’t wait for the next DCist “breaking” news.

Thanks, and keep your tips coming! After all, how do you think Big Head DC always manages to remain relevant?

Related: DCist Doesn’t Want You to Be Their Guest

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From the tipbox:

More comment fascism from DCist… I guess Sommer Mathis can’t handle criticism. Maybe she should chose a new profession instead of stifling free speech!

Indeed, Mathis says within the post that guest comments are often insulting and/or obnoxious — thus, the site is limiting them. She adds that the DCist site will “probably” do away with guest comments altogether in the future.

And guest commenters are furious. For instance:

i am done reading dcist. way to go sommer! go back to writing drivel about how cops are the bad guys, and how cool shaw is.

and: Read more…

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She’s suffering through a midlife crisis, kids. And it’s scary!

Figuring out how to manage to have someone spend the night with you for the first time in one of those thin, weird twin mattresses is a right of passage in this great country of ours. Kids these days are soft enough as it is without schools choosing to coddle them into believing they deserve to sleep comfortably. This is an outrage of the first order.

Wow! Who’s she sleeping with now???

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The Wall Street Journal has figured out that many of DC’s most down-homiest bloggers are actually quite “elite” in the way they present themselves. Elite, as in exclusive, snotty and just as cliquey as any high school you ever attended? Yeah, that pretty much sums up our experiences with them. Still, they wear jeans to work, live in cramped group houses, and are trying to help “young writers overcome the ‘Ivy League cabal’ that dominated Washington political writing.” (Yet Matthew Yglesias, one of the profiled bloggers, went to Harvard.) Plus, we hear that if you have sex with one of them, a little part of you becomes elite, too. At least until you shower!

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One of the biggest problems in journalism occurs when people who practice the craft do it for free. This phenomenon makes reporting and writing a much less valued profession in general, and everyone, especially younger freelancers, end up having to lower their rates. Can you imagine a doctor — even a young one — offering his or her services for free?

But, apparently, the DCist blog (we don’t read it, but someone insists on tipping us off about their scandalous ways…hi, Mom!) doesn’t have a problem with the ludicrous practice. Yes, editor Sommer Mathis just put out this call for free writers:

It’s back to school time, and that means we’re once again recruiting new writers to become part of our growing team of city bloggers. As you know, we aren’t able to pay our contributors — so please don’t apply unless you’re ready to do it for the love of exploring D.C., engaging in important debates about the direction of the city, or are just the kind of person who’s happy enough to see your name in big letters on the intertubes.

Sheesh, you’d think she’d know better considering that she recently became the first paid editor of the struggling blog….. after informing her boss Jake Dobkin that she couldn’t make the gig work without a few pennies thrown her way. Boycott DCist!

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Let’s just say it: Sommer Mathis used to write about a lot more interesting things on her personal blog. Now, however, she just talks about horses. And! She talks to The Washingtonian’s Garrett Graff (who kind of looks like a horse, now that we think of it). In a wide ranging interview, on stands now, she shares some golden nuggets:

Last year she became the first paid editor of DCist. (No wonder Mike Grass got the hell out of there.)

She loves to sit by the big fountain outside the Hirshhorn Museum to snag the Smithsonian’s free wireless Internet . (No one ever said DCist paid well.)

Her favorite book is Lolita. (If you read her old blog, you’ll know why!)

And, finally, she heads to the Outer Banks every Memorial Day. (Now you can schedule around that.)

Earlier: Should DCist Editor Sommer Mathis Be Fired?

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Finally, something to agree with Sommer Mathis on: Gawker Media, which publishes Wonkette, has no idea what it’s doing when it comes to Washington.

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“Shoot!” you say.

Yes, we hear you!

But fear not. One of Mathis’ fondest underlings at DCist, Jason Linkins (aka the writer of the DCeiver, a Big Head DC-supported blog), wrote up a glowing summary of her flashy foray for The Huffington Post today.

And if you want to catch a repeat performance, we hear that the DCist editor is often found lurking in the darkest and dingiest spots around town. In fact, you might try checking the bat nests under the Metro tonight!

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