I don't want to tell CM community members what they can and can't post, and it's clear to me that some of our group like to share interesting college-related news bits they find. Others clearly don't like it.
I got an email from Terry P. earlier who said he posted and then took down a linked article because a well-meaning reader asked him to provide context for why he linked the article about a college professor who had taken up body-building."
"I posted it for 2 reasons. Most of my proffie friends are kind of frumpy. To think that proffies our age can remake their bodies and thrive in professional body building - and still do our sedentary job! - amazed me. I also posted it because nothing had been posted all day. I thought something new to read would be useful, but if the majority of the readers just want a completely empty day with no material, then so be it. Am I fighting this fight alone?"
I didn't see the piece or the comment when they were up, but can see the comment through my own administrator login. It was polite, and the community member who complained certainly has others on the site who agree.
But I like linked articles. I don't scour national news for stories on college proffies, and I probably get 2-3 articles from community members every single day. I try to judiciously choose one every once in a while, and - like Terry - post them on especially slow days when there are no other posts to read.
I hate to think of this as a moratorium on posting linked articles, because in the end I'd like community members to post what they want, but you can offer your point of view below in the comments.
Fab
PS: Hey, and I accomplished getting a Sunday post up.
The comment was this: "Hi, y'all: When links are shared here, might the posters consider including their own commentary on the content? At the very least, a little something to tell us why they thought the link in question would be of general interest?"
ReplyDeleteFine. I took no offense. I just have heard these complaints before, and I think the idea of why the link would be of general interest is just too obtuse for words.
It's a comical news story about a blogging professor. What the fuck kind of contextual map do you need to figure that one out?
If I had a dollar every time some CMmer posted their own writing that made me wonder, "Why is THAT of general interest?" I wouldn't have to be in summer school right now.
If something is posted that doesn't interest me, I skip it. Whatever gets decided is cool by me. But make it a rule if it's really a rule NOT to link articles.
I'm not bothered by linked articles, because very often the comments are as interesting or more so than the article itself. I assume people post a link because they want it to be a springboard to discussion, and it often is.
ReplyDeleteIf the headline doesn't grab me, meh, I no click. But same can be said for member generated posts. There seems to be enough variety here (bloggy posts, vidshizzles, links) to keep it interesting.
But the explanation offered above (re-pasting below) IS interesting. I read tons of blogs, and I have no prob with shared links; it just seems that the most interesting ones offer some commentary on shared links. I suppose that makes it a little different from FB: There, presumably, we know a little something about the poster that gives context. I don't know Terry P. Was he impressed, sneering, laughing at the self-proclaimed feminist intent of the proctor in question?
ReplyDeleteSo, yeah. That's the kind of "fuck[ing] contextual map" that actually makes the blog better. The tiniest bit of original commentary is helpful to your readers.
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"I posted it for 2 reasons. Most of my proffie friends are kind of frumpy. To think that proffies our age can remake their bodies and thrive in professional body building - and still do our sedentary job! - amazed me. I also posted it because nothing had been posted all day. I thought something new to read would be useful, but if the majority of the readers just want a completely empty day with no material, then so be it. Am I fighting this fight alone?"
I like linked articles. I also like a funny title that tells me why the poster linked it.
ReplyDeleteI also like the linked articles, and hope they continue, but will also go on record as preferring a bit of commentary from the linker.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the "back channel", or as I call it "the secret world of College Misery email." That secret space where people who have little or nothing to do with the site complained constantly about me and certain other people back when this was a fledgeling site still constantly referring to the late great RYS. Well I say fuck those people, the horses they rode in on, their mothers, the houses they grew up in, their hobbies, their uncles named "Fred" or "Clevon" or even "Shlomo", their first cars, their first bikes, their first sexual experiences, their children (if any), the political parties they belong to, the states they live in, and the Wehrmacht from 1940 on.
ReplyDeleteAll the emails I'm referring to are from CM community members. I often get email from members about how the site runs, ideas for posts, suggested links, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is very little email from people who aren't regulars on the page.
I like the linked articles. I do not always have time to read the higher education websites and the New York papers, so College Misery is a great aggregator for me. For example, I knew who “Tiger Mom” was, way before she hit the national news because of College Misery.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great links.
"All the emails I'm referring to are from CM community members. I often get email from members about how the site runs, ideas for posts, suggested links, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere is very little email from people who aren't regulars on the page."
Well I stepped on that landmine.... I never take down my crap, even if I've crammed my foot in my mouth, and oh brother...
I wasn't interested in the body-building story but then I just didn't read it. No worries. No one has to read EVERY post on Cm (except for the Mods of course).
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I did not like about the body-building story was that the other posts then dropped off the front page. That wasn't the OP's fault. Can the blog setting be changed to allow a few more of the older stories to remain on the front page a tad longer??
Another vote for keeping the links. If you don't like them, don't click on them. How is that hard? I also agree that a clever title or a couple sentences of commentary would also be welcome, though.
ReplyDeleteOK, link haters - come out, come out wherever you are. This one-sided comment thread is boring.
I also like the linked articles, and I don't care whether the poster adds commentary or not. When I see an article I'm not interested in, I just don't follow the link.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't follow the links, but I don't get why people get their panties in a wad over them. If anyone needs any extra drama, I invite them to join one of my two summer online classes where they will be in good company!
ReplyDeleteJeez, this reminds me of grad student days and departmental email listservs, where someone might post something, with a clearly described subject line and text which wasn't about graduate student issues (e.g. "I've defended and I'm off, couch and futon for sale!"), which would then result in some yahoo angrily firing off about not wanting their time wasted reading irrelevant emails. Blissfully, there was a take-no-shit PhD student who ALWAYS responded back "what, did the 'd' key on your keyboard not work to delete the email? Do you realize you've spent far, far more time writing that email then would have been 'wasted' by taking 1.2 seconds to read the subject line and delete the email?" That was lovely.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, if you don't care for the linked article, don't read it. What's so hard about that? Is the post with a link somehow polluting the otherwise pristine and sacred canvas of the CM webpage, filling you with grief and angst?
OK, so wait a sec. Are all y'all taking about the direct complaints that Fab receives privately, and refers to in general terms--or my response on Terry's post, which was a broad suggestion, not a complaint? Writing "When links are shared here, might the posters consider including their own commentary on the content?" is a polite suggestion, not a complaint (especially coming from me).
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I don't see what the big deal is. I haven't seen anyone come out OPENLY against links (including the original commenter, aka me), or suggest that it's a waste of time to read them (like the morons on listservs everywhere do).
What I HAVE seen (and participated in, openly, not through "back channels") is some discourse questioning whether it might be better if we do a touch more than just aggregate links.
It's not a question of it being easy to skip/ignore a link. It's also not a question of BANNING links (which would be fraktarded). It's a reasonable question to raise: as readers and contributors, would it make sense to include something original when reposting content from elsewhere--even, as Merely Academic notes above, just a funny title?
@Dr. Snarky, nope I wasn't talking about your post, which was just a suggestion. I was talking about how Fab is sayin' he keeps getting complaints via e-mail. As Poopie head said, it takes more time to write the dang e-mail than it does to just scroll past it.
ReplyDeleteWell, judging from the Real Goddamn Mail feature above, I think some people are suggesting, in their whiniest tones, banning links.
ReplyDeleteFuck them. Especially for the way they waste Fab's time.
However, since the brand of this page is supposed to be somewhat subversive humour, a quick joke in the title line shouldn't be beyond the powers of the posters.
I don't understand why linked articles are such a BFD. I don't read all of the regular original postings because some interest me and some don't. Same with the linked articles. If I'm not interested, I skip them. Is it REALLY that hard to keep scrolling???
ReplyDeleteIf this blog is to serve the needs of a wide group (ALL miserable academics), it needs the variety that is provided by linked articles and entries by everyone who feels the need to complain about whatever. Limiting the number of linked articles or the topics that are covered seems silly, especially when we have days when there are no original postings.
I like the idea of having SOME commentary (contextual, or otherwise) that explains why a poster found a linked article interesting, even if that does just show up in the headline.
Commentary on articles is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteNot required or anything, but I do procrastinate and come across these articles in multiple places. Adding commentary piques my interest in an article I may have already come across and starts a conversation.
I love me the CM conversations. But don't stop linking. It's a good way to fill up a slow day and to keep us apprised of edu-news.
I'm calling this a generational thing. Aggregated news and posted link-and-runs are a feature of the contemporary way to exchange info and basically all that our students are becoming capable of. If you can't get why the link is there and/or hate the link, you should worry because you are a Luddite that will soon explode with rage when acceptable undergrad papers become a series of wikipedia links and youtube videos.
ReplyDeleteI like the links most when there's associated snark, either in the title or the body of the post. Presumably people post links because they think people will be interested and/or they are looking for discussion. I'm cool with it.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a few days when there have been several link posts in a row, which is maybe not so awesome, but it doesn't happen that often.
I think I'm already on record as liking linked articles and the discussion they generate, but preferring a fairly high snark/commentary/question (in the title and/or body of the post) to excerpt ratio.
ReplyDeleteIf most of the complainers are also posters (and keeping in mind that anybody can post by sending something in to Fab), it seems to me that there's a very simple solution to link-heavy and/or slow days: write something original for the page and post it (or send it to Fab, instead of sending a complaint about there being nothing/nothing original up).
@Cassandra: Since the people in question have proven without a shadow of a doubt that they lack even the tiniest shred of self-awareness or sense of humour, your fine and logical suggestion will never be acted upon by any of them.
ReplyDelete