Comments on: Seth Finkelstein nails why TechCrunch sucks in one line

By: Michael Walsh

Michael Walsh — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:19:58 +0000

Seth has been banging on about this for ages. It's a bit disconcerting to see the voices of reason being drowned out by the linkbaiters.

How do you re-introduce the editorial process into a system where the means of production, and publishing, have been decentralised? Should the production tools include an “editorial-checker”? Could published blogs be rated as “untrustworthy” until they get other online verification? Is it just a matter of education for the reader to learn the art of editorialising? Somebody's going to get a hard lesson in the libel otherwise. This may be the only solution – the sacrificial lamb.

By: chrisphin

chrisphin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:49:45 +0000

My internal memory and external memory (aka Google) have failed me on this, but I remember reading a very good piece from Steven Frank about the three ways to 'win' when developing software. You could write the first app, the best app, or – I think – the free app, and you'd get the lion's share of the market.

I think he's absolutely right when it comes to software, but it looks like the analogy doesn't hold water for news; 'first' is the most reliable way, though outside of 'proper' news, sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon look to have an ameliorating, meritocratic* effect.

* Of course, your view of merit may not match teh interwebs'.