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photography from Guatemala, Maryland, Italy and elsewhere by Doug Terry |
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VISIT DC? AN ESSAY ON WHY EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN SHOULD VISIT |
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News, analysis, commentary, social trends, culture, politics, government, books, movies, travel, cycling and other stuff |
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T H E T E R R Y R E P O R T 2012 |
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Facts first, logic always, truth before everything |
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The NY Times has changed its comment section so that reader’s comments are shown only in the first couple of sentences. The online viewer would then need to click on a comment to read the entire section. What follows is an open letter to the editors of the Times about this change. |
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As most people there probably know, I am a frequent contributor to the comment section. Very frequent. I have put in a great deal of effort and time trying to make a small contribution to the public debate on many important issues, and some not so important. Your new format essentially ruins the comment section. It means that the writer has to find some really catchy phrase to attract attention or no one is going to read what is said. No one. Instead of scrolling down through the comments, one will scroll through the headings and keep going. It means, quite simply, that it is not worth it to bother to comment, unless one simply doesn't care whether anything is being read or not. I was interested in your comment section in the first place because, obviously, you are in NY and an influential paper. The other point is that you had the best comment section available anywhere on the Internet. It is very sad to see you ruin it in the name of improvement or change. I don't know if I can continue participating, but I certainly can't put the effort previously. Given the number of times I have been "highlighted" and gotten hundreds of votes (yesterday I got 1,300+), I hope you will regret this and change back to what was working just fine. Knowing the way corporations work these days, I assume you will not return to the other format. Perhaps one reason is that you, the editors, have decided that you don’t like giving so much attention to “random” comments from around the world. From reading the comments of others, I can tell you, beyond a doubt, that it will be your loss and that of your readers, much more than of the commentators. Until now, the NY Times online has attracted some of the most articulate, well thought out comments anywhere in a public forum. Naturally, this is something that must be destroyed. Something that is working well can always be made worse, right? Doug Terry, 12.1.11 |
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SCROLL DOWN FOR TOP NEWS HEADLINES (home page only) |
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