Arthur Germain › Comments

Jeremiah, this apology was more genuine than the other jacka** at CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/stories... - Arthur Germain

I'm not sure he realized he was being a prick. He seemed to have complete contempt for the folks waiting in line, as if they were a different species or something. - Tad

That guy is a dipshit and KTLA should be ashamed of itself. - Sam Whitmore

I think it was funny- both his dumb question, and the guy calling him out for asking a dumb question. Funny on both fronts. I love the newscaster clapping when the guy in line called him out. - I mean, come on techies (I have an iphone) we need to have a little self-effacing humor here. - anna sauce

Anna, we wouldn't be laughing if the same reporter had asked a bunch of Asians why they couldn't drive or if they could teach him to eat with chopsticks... - Tad

I think its important that we make a big stink about this for a couple of reasons: 1) Its fun 2) Standing in line for an awesome product is not unique to the tech crowd. Would Eric have insulted movie goers, roller coaster enthusiasts or Starbucks fans waiting in line? 3) We're obviously not the pimple faced dorks some people make us out to be. The man he harassed was smart, quick-witter and well spoken. - Bukola

I don't get the big deal. I waited 5 hours - so what? People wait outside for days for concerts, movies, video games, etc. Why can't I wait for a phone with out being harassed? At least Triumph the comic insult dog was funny with the star wars fans - and even then it felt awkward. The reporter was a) rude b) condescending c) not funny d) was a wimp which all equal a total FAIL. Let us wait in peace - and tell him to go find some real news, if he knows what that means. - Morgan

If this was just an isolated incident it wouldn't matter. But TV news tries to exert a huge social force for conformity. If you're different, they ridicule you and slap you down. - Mitch Wagner

It's not just TV news Mitch - it's society in general. Look at Best Buy's Geek Squad - that's a disgusting stereotype. It's still funny to make fun of the nerd wearing the lab coat or reading a book, etc etc - Tad

Hmm... I actually like the Geek Squad, I think they have the opposite effect -- wearing nerdiness as a badge of honor. YMMV though. - Mitch Wagner

Their advertising has things like "They can't get dates, but they CAN fix your computer." That's disgusting. - Tad

+1 for the guy he interviewed. Is he on friendfeed? :) - Yolanda

It was a real jackass question to ask. TV News particularly in LA is so desperate for ratings they'll do just about anything as this clips hows. It's amazing the difference in quality of reporting elsewhere to LA. I find it sad that TV news has gone sensationalist. Sadly unbiased unsensationalist news a la Walter Cronkite is forever gone I dread. - Jim Goldstein

KTLA's morning news doesn't pretend to be Cronkite, and in fact is more of the happy/entertainment news. But this wasn't happy or entertaining, as I noted in my comment at the original post. - Ontario Emperor

@Ontario Emperor like all morning shows... I know what you mean, but none the less no morning show I used to watch in LA or NY would pull this type of stunt. It was excessively desperate. Funny for a puppet dog, but not for a person to do. - Jim Goldstein

I would agree with that, Slippy, to some extent. Though, I think Warren Ellis is a damn fine blogger. - Phil G

So is Mathew Ingram IMHO - Brian Sullivan

Heather on Dooce is a great writer, i think. - edythe

Not all of us, but it is true that copy editing is not easy under serious time pressure. I no not what your talking abut. - Dan Kaplan

Edythe - Wasn't Dooce a blogger before she was a writer though? - Phil G

I disagree. Write like you talk. Most normal people toss in sentence fragments or end thoughts with a preposition when speaking. I'll take something that is *clear*, *conversational* and easy-to-read any day over stuffy, too-formal-sounding copy. - Rob Neville

Rob, if you have a minute please read the latest post on my blog and tell me if you think it is stuffy or fairly clear: http://www.scribkin.com/2008... If you don't like it that's fine. I'd just like your opinion. - Phil G

Bloggers are terrible *copyeditors*, not terrible writers. Regular writers turn in gnarled English, too; that's why magazines and newspapers employ copyeditors. - Brent Newhall

I spent a dozen years in publishing. Without copyeditors reading behind your copy, even the best writers and editors make grammar and spelling mistakes. Does this matter? Yes, if it impedes the readability of your copy. Conversational doesn't mean sloppy and unreadable. - Arthur Germain

+1 Slippy and Brent - Pat Hawks

Absolutely agree....you can't make distracting mistakes in spelling or odd grammatical constructions that cause the reader to stop and read something twice or three times in an effort to understand what the writer is trying to say. So, yes, I guess what I was saying that as long as it's readable, it's good. - Rob Neville

J. Phil, I read that article...have to admit that I didn't like it :( for the reasons I just quoted...many sentences I had to read and re-read to make sure I got it. It *felt* like an essay you'd turn in to your high school English teacher - definitely not conversational. That being said, I understand what you were trying to achieve with the writing style....but ummm...wasn't diggin' it. Just one man's opinion though! - Rob Neville

Lol no problem, Rob. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Luckily for both of us, It's not my normal writing style. Although I do have a weakness for the 50-cent words. - Phil G

Discovery, absolutely - Soulhuntre from twhirl

It's a 50/50 split for me. - Mike Fruchter

I want the signal in a feed, and I want the discovery in a field. Does that make sense? - Phil G

@Adam - thanks. Sounds like a short order cook barking at you. - Hutch Carpenter

I'm probably more on the signalist side than I think, but I've been slowly migrating toward the discoverer camp as I get used to FriendFeed. I'm becoming more open to subscribing to people than I was before. - Hutch Carpenter

@J. Phil - maybe a little more context for "discovery in a field"? - Hutch Carpenter

I posted this on Hutch's blog: I'm a discoverer according to Hutch's table, but I don't necessarily want to wade thru tons of stuff to discover, at least not all the time. It would be nice to have a discovery filter, though I don't know how that would work. I like the new "best of" filters. But I also think we have to be careful to not equate relevance with popularity (if that's how the... more... - Tom Landini

@Tom - you bring up an interesting point. People with large subscriber bases will exercise a large amount of control over each person's "best of" listing. There's a good argument to be made that people with large followings know what they're doing, and thus are good sources for determining "best of". But good content that misses the attention of those with large followings may suffer. - Hutch Carpenter

How bout have both, Hutch? Setup 2 FF accts. One where you are very narrow with your subscriptions limited only to feeds you are interested in, and also use it for primary communications, and then set up another where you just add like 1000+ of random interesting, or just whatever so that you can poll the spectrum of friends of the feed while still remaining more narrow than the "everyone" tab so you can actually catch content - - Anthony

Sorry Hutch. If I compare it to radio it suddenly becomes a very simple analogy: Signal is signal, and discovery is the entire AM/FM range of wavelengths.. all I need is a tool to find what I like, and the signal comes through. - Phil G

just reposted Hutch's chart in this post - Why Online Noise is Good For You http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive... thanks for the useful visual Hutch! - Marshall Kirkpatrick

No no no lads and lasses! This is far too civilised a discussion for a bitchmeme. - Matt Harwood from fftogo

@Anthony - that's an interesting idea. I find myself not using the "best of" features a whole lot yet. But maybe setting up something with people that fall outside my current subscriptions would be interesting. I know Colin Walker was contemplating something like this as well. - Hutch Carpenter

@Hutch. Thanks. I had the idea one day, and found out FF makes it really easy to do that if you start subscribing to people at once when FF offers you the option at setup. I started just hitting subscribe on all the people with the most services added, then just started going for everyone that posts in English, lol. Also a good idea to set up a daily poller, or discussion generator account that people can watch for the best of one type of news...even tho FF offers you that option now... - Anthony

@Marshall - great post (and not just because my chart's in there). "Why Online "Noise" is Good For You" really does a good job outlining the "why" and joy of discovery. And you're speaking Robert Scoble's language! - Hutch Carpenter

@Matt - LOL! Someone's got to thrown down the absolute POV in here. - Hutch Carpenter

@J. Phil I like your radio analogy; we need tools to find what we like and it'll come to us. And we all want that. But it's the stuff I might not know I like until I'm exposed to it that I don't want to miss. - Tom Landini

del.icio.us recomends that I tag the blog post 'noise' - Ashton

If I hang out with the same folks all the time don't I just learn the same things over and over. I love friend of a friend - just wish it were easier to track bios - MaryAnn Chick Whiteside

@Ashton - Ha! Really? Well, the recommendations come from whoever previously bookmarked it. Guess that's the category for it. - Hutch Carpenter

Hutch: re your Definition of Noise, I think that in addition to Signal, Discovery, and Noise you should also consider another factor - Too Much Signal. I think this could easily have the same effect on the user as Noise, but in this situation it's harder for a user to (a) realize this is happening, and (b) feel the need to do something about it in order to allow for more Discovery or exposure to other Signals of interest. - Aviv

@Aviv - that's a really good thought. When do you need to stand up and get away from the signal? Marshall Kirkpatrick's post http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive... has some perspective along those lines. - Hutch Carpenter

Hutch: great points in your post - I like the "Discovery" idea. Reminds me of the pie wedges: Things I know; Things I don't know; Things I don't know that I don't know. It's what bothers me about twitter -- so hard to catch the signal due to the noise. - Arthur Germain

Very cool Melanie. I'd be interested in other categories you (and your students) would come up with. - Hutch Carpenter