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21 Nov 2009 16:40

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Politics: STLToday’s Kurt Greenbaum: First class bad word we can’t repeat here.

  • First rule of journalism: Don’t make yourself part of the story. Guess which rule the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s social media editor broke? As the so-called internet hate machine closes in on a guy who cost another guy his job for a pretty petty reason, we think there are a few things to learn from the whole ordeal.
  • one Don’t make yourself part of the story. The second Greenbaum decided to look up a reader’s IP address and took matters into his own hands, the story stopped being about the comment and started being about the admitted narc. Bad move, buddy.
  • two Don’t violate your readers’ trust. People go to your site with the belief that they won’t get screwed over. In fact, the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s own privacy policy promises this. When you decide to be the morality police, you violate a reader’s trust.
  • three Expect a swift, painful response. Not long after our boy Kurt did this, he felt retribution from all corners of the interweb, including Reddit and Digg. And honestly, he should lose his job. He turned a minor issue into a policy-breaking debacle. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

22 Oct 2009 08:23

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Politics: “I took my son to Hooters, and now my blog’s flooded with comments”

  • My 11 year boy has reached the age where girls at school are showing interest in him but he is not ready to reciprocate with equal interest in them. The trip to Hooters, I saw, as an opportunity to see how he conducts himself around women.
  • “Daddy blogger” Bob Elston • Describing his reasoning behind taking his 11-year-old kid to Hooters on his blog. The post, complete with photo of kids next to Hooters girl, created a lot of controversy due to the fact that, uh, some might consider it an “unorthodox” approach to parenting. We disagree. We suggest every 11-year-old go to Hooters specifically to annoy overly puritanical human beings. Have you ever been to Hooters? It’s no worse than an episode of “Beavis and Butthead.” • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2009 12:00

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About: Feedback wanted: A special query from site founder Ernie Smith

What do you guys want? I (not we, I) love doing this site. But I want to encourage its long-term future. I have a lot of things in the can for the site. But I want to get some thoughts from my readers on how to proceed. Here's a few things on my mind:
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Adding new voices As some of you might know through my usage of bad puns, dirty jokes and left-field explanations, (I think) I’m a funny guy. But I feel like more variety – and more writers – could strengthen the site. (And yes, I’m asking for resumes.) How would you handle writing news in short bites? Think you could do it on a regular schedule? Think about it.
  • Building focus Over the last 10 months, the site’s content has been defined by its everything-gets-in atmosphere. It largely focuses on a soft approach to hard news, but the subject matter is very broad otherwise. I’m debating whether it might make sense to have a tighter focus – less sports and music, more hard news and tech. What do you think?
  • Adding new voices As some of you might know through my usage of bad puns, dirty jokes and left-field explanations, (I think) I’m a funny guy. But I feel like more variety – and more writers – could strengthen the site. (And yes, I’m asking for resumes.) How would you handle writing news in short bites? Think you could do it on a regular schedule? Think about it.
  • Time vs. quality It’s probably obvious, but I spend much of my day trying to make this site happen. It’s lots of work. It’s fun work and I love it. But, I already have a full-time job. And this takes up too much of my life right now. Is it a matter of working smarter vs. working harder? I want to find the right balance. Do you guys have any ideas? Leave a comment.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 20 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2009 00:00

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Tech: Reddit got screwedit by a very ugly Javascript exploit

If you were thinking of visiting the aggregator, you should probably avoid it. The exploit, which fills comments with gunk like this, is that dangerous. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jun 2009 22:41

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U.S., World: Ready guys? Obama finally has something to say about Iran

  • I can’t state definitively what happened one way or another with respect to the election. But what I can say is there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy, who now feel betrayed.
  • President Barack Obama • Finally speaking out on the Iranian election which has gripped large portions of the world and the Twittersphere so tightly that it’s unavoidable in some circles (unless you’re CNN). • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2009 11:13

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Culture, Politics: David Letterman pisses off Sarah Palin, gets smacked down

  • Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.
  • David Letterman • In an apology about a series of jokes he made about Sarah Palin’s daughter, which Palin did not take kindly to. Palin said, regarding the jokes, “it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands.” To those looking to defend Dave: Well, he did make sexual jokes about her 14-year-old daughter. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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