Pros
Some of its sites have become go-to sources of information and engagement for their towns. In those places Patch is much appreciated and highly trafficked, and the editors usually have a sense that they are doing something important for their communities. Employee benefits are very good.
Cons
Quality of content has declined drastically from when Patch launched, due to continued staff cuts. People are seriously overworked. Salaries are lousy—especially in areas of the country where cost of living is higher. New content management system roll-out was a disaster—full of bugs and glitches that made editors' work more difficult. Emphasis that was once on original reporting has shifted partially to "aggregation"—linking to stories from other news outlets—and user-generated content (asking users to post blogs, articles and photos for no pay). No consistency of quality across sites—a hodge-podge. Company is losing the faith and trust of users.