I don’t get the problem so many people have with [Barton's] praise [of Eteri].
There's no reason for DL to trash Ted Barton for the way he conducted the interview with Eteri. But seriously, there's a difference between being polite, respectful and somewhat pandering to an interviewee whom you ultimately wish to please so you can get more interviews in the future, vs coming across as obsequious. Barton laid it on pretty thick at tiimes, to the point where his fawning was extremely overdone. Plenty of people noticed and commented on that fact in the Barton/Eteri interview thread in GSD. The interview was conducted to the point where it became fairly useless, aside from inducing some jaw-dropping, head-scratching, and even a bit of entertaining review commentaries. IOW, the commentary about the interview in the cited thread is more informative and interesting than the interview itself, notwithstanding DL's TSL piling on.
I do understand what you mean though about being confronted with an interview subject and trying to be on your Ps and Qs, and not wanting to offend because you realize they have more expertise, information, and experience on a subject which you would like to elicit sparkling insights about (regardless of what you think about the interviewee personally).
I give Barton a pass to a degree, because he's a very kind and knowledgeable contributor to the sport of figure skating. Barton has done a tremendous amount for fans which we should all be grateful for. He's also generally a good commentator, but the Eteri interview did not show him in his best light. He could have laid off on a bit of the excess praise. And I agree with everyone who had a taken aback reaction when Barton made that silly comment about Eteri's skaters not having injuries (or words to that effect). To give Barton the benefit of the doubt, maybe he was trying to bring up the subject of injuries and he ended up doing it awkwardly and misspoke, expecting Eteri to elaborate. Who knows though what Barton was intending. He has to know as a skating observer, that Eteri's skaters have suffered a number of injuries. Still, I think a lot of people give Eteri enormous credit and praise for her success (even snarky DL), while also being able to recognize and challenge the weaknesses and failings in her training methods.
Meanwhile, I credit you and
@mysticchic for doing an excellent job with Skate Talk Online (with one reservation I have about something in one episode which I can discuss with you privately). For the most part, you guys are killing it, and I'm stoked about the contribution you are making to figure skating coverage. While Jackie Wong and especially Nick McCarvel can be rather predictable and status quo, I think Wong tends to do a good job of being polite and respectful while also contributing good insights and asking good questions (in addition to all of his wonderful contributions he's made with his blog, Rocker Skating). Wong managed to conduct a nice interview recently with Brian Orser, even though it was obvious Wong was being careful not to offend, and he asked a number of fawning, softball questions. Still it didn't cross the line into useless, overdone praise.
For fans, it's rather easy on skating forums to do stream-of-conscious complaining and ranting. I'm guilty of that. But in order to write fair, concise and informative reviews for the wider public (like
@clairecloutier does in such great fashion), one has to take a step back and try to be more respectful, while walking a fine line betwixt useless pandering, hype, snarky critiques, disappointed whining (e.g. about the judging which is where I'm at for sure!
) and thoughtful observations/ queries that can lead to constructive, enlightening insights.
i am surprised David L. is not "telling the full Buianova/Tutberidze/man" story, claiming he fears of getting sued, and only learned of it now. It's been in the russian press since the 90's, and mentioned on forums "in full".. 
The most real thing Eteri relaxed and opened up about to Barton was how upsetting and distracting her mother's illness and subsequent death was for her during the recent Olympics.
