Gossip filter?

January 21, 2002 2:25 AM

Metaquette: What do you do if you know a piece of wonderfully juicy news (and substantiated with the appropriate sources), but the news is yet to break world-wide (say, two/three days away) and there is no link? Can you make a FPP? Should you be linking news at all? Huh? HUH?
posted by Neale to etiquette/policy at 2:25 AM (27 comments total)

Is this a thought experiment, or do you actually have somethin' heavy with The Juice?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:44 AM on January 21, 2002

So to speak.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:45 AM on January 21, 2002

Yes, I have something. Something that'll impact the course of news-postings on Mefi, even. But I must hear the discourse first!
posted by Neale at 2:57 AM on January 21, 2002

Perhaps you could write the news nugget with links to some background material?
posted by owillis at 3:06 AM on January 21, 2002

And perhaps include an article, from one of the good journalism web sites, on why some stories take longer to break than others. I find the whole question of how the Internet(and specially weblogs)are better at breaking certain kinds of stories to be absolutely fascinating.

And it's under-discussed too. This would be a great opportunity - even if the story is not exactly ground-breaking - to get the MeFi tongues wagging.

We could then track the news sites' efforts to come up with their own versions of your story. Which would be nice...

Mouth-watering stuff, IMO!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 3:34 AM on January 21, 2002

My interest, she is pi-qued.

But my stavro-sense is tingling. Is there tomfoolery in the wind?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:40 AM on January 21, 2002

So, if it hasn't been reported, what are you going to LINK to? Huh? HUH? I'd say, if you're giving breaking news that has a chance of having some interest to most people on Metafilter, it's ok.
posted by crunchland at 6:14 AM on January 21, 2002

I was going to say post it, but I suddenly remembered all the other breaking "news" from around september with links to cnn.com with crap like "Osama's goat found! Map to Nazi gold in its belly!"
posted by skallas at 6:23 AM on January 21, 2002

So what ever happened to the Nazi gold anyway?
posted by skallas at 6:23 AM on January 21, 2002

I posted an FPP two weeks ago on the death of Esquivel. When I posted it, the news hadn't broken yet in the media, so I had no link other than I short bio of Esquivel that'd been up on the web for a year or so. However, I had some inside info from a mailing list that I belong to and quoted that in the comments in order to substantiate it. Seemed to work out just fine.

Oddly enough, a producer from NPR contacted me via e-mail shortly thereafter and grilled me about my sources. No, it wasn't [sigh] Snigda Prakash.
posted by MrBaliHai at 6:32 AM on January 21, 2002

It it's that explosive, post it, and no one will sanction you.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:37 AM on January 21, 2002

It's Segway, isn't it?
posted by rushmc at 7:02 AM on January 21, 2002

Tell us what the Segway is. I want to know!
posted by panopticon at 7:14 AM on January 21, 2002

hehee!
posted by kv at 7:19 AM on January 21, 2002

Is there some kind of embargo on the story, or has it simply not shown up on the world-wide news radar screen yet?
posted by transient at 7:27 AM on January 21, 2002

Guerilla PR at it's...well, not best....
posted by ParisParamus at 7:46 AM on January 21, 2002

Just email mathowie with the proposed post. If he says, Go for it, then go for it, and in the first comment of the thread say, mathowie said, Go for it. (Or, better yet, ask him to comment in the thread, if he has time.)
posted by mattpfeff at 7:52 AM on January 21, 2002

i get the feeling that one day they'll build cities around breaking news like this...
posted by boogah at 10:53 AM on January 21, 2002

shouldn't it be "metiquette"?
posted by signal at 10:58 AM on January 21, 2002

mathowie's so busy, you know, does he have time to vet every post someone fears may be inappropriate? really, I feel for the guy, so Neale, I think you should send your scoop to me. ;)
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:38 AM on January 21, 2002

Uhh, I for one would be in the "don't post news if you can help it" category, but it's just one hero's opinion.
posted by Hildago at 12:24 PM on January 21, 2002

The guidelines (remember those?) say, "Make sure you're linking to something on the web." That seems straightforward enough.

Frankly, I'm surprised this is even a question. This is a weblog -- it's for discussion of things found on the web. It's not a current events discussion board.
posted by webmutant at 12:48 PM on January 21, 2002

Of course there is nothing stopping you from posting it in MetaTalk.
posted by Apoch at 2:12 PM on January 21, 2002

It's not a current events discussion board.

Thank the maker!
posted by majick at 4:30 PM on January 21, 2002

When the Seattle earthquake hit, I posted a note about it on Metafilter. There was no link, because the news services hadn't reported it yet and there was nothing to link to. I clearly violated at least one and possibly two rules by posting it, but people seemed to think it was cool anyway. It's up to you to judge - is the news you want to post impressive enough to overwhelm people's criticism of your style?

-Mars

p.s. hmm, on checking out the earthquake post there is a link on it which I don't remember having seen before. Either my memory is faulty or someone added it after the fact. Either way, it's apparently a good idea to come up with some link, even if it's only loosely connected to whatever it is you're announcing.
posted by Mars Saxman at 6:17 PM on January 21, 2002

I'd challenge the claim that the news has yet to break, or, rather, that it's not available on the Internet. If you get me the news before 1200 GMT 22 January 2002, I bet I can find it on the Internet.
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:47 PM on January 21, 2002

Gulf War II. Knock yourself out...
posted by xiffix at 5:34 PM on January 22, 2002