links for 2009-09-28

"There is an additional problem with the Daily Mail system, in that the comments tend to be published in large batches several hours apart. As the best/worst rating is based simply on volume of votes, this means that any comment which appears in the first round of published comments is much more likely to dominate the ratings". I disagree with Mark on one element in his article here - I think the times that the comments flow against the grain of a Mail article isn't mainly to do with drive-by commentators, but more to do with the very rare occasions that the Mail misjudges their audience.

"But this case is not fundamentally about taste. It is really about the freedom of the Press". Yes, Stephen, because the one thing that is going to save the free press in the digital era more than anything is the ability to take pictures of people where there is no conceivable public interest or even a story...

"The Guardian’s assistant editor and esteemed political pundit Michael White was spotted taking a well-timed, and no doubt well-earned, nap during the opening proceedings of the Labour party conference in Brighton today". I can only sympathise with him at the moment.

"Pause for a moment to consider the type of mind that considers it a necessary and proportionate use of resources to employ 'random surveillance' to ensure that a mother isn't surreptitiously looking after her best friend's daughter as well as her own. And then consider that this vital surveillance work is to be carried out at public expense."

"[Your blog] has to be more than reporting news and events; it has to give the reader more insights and different angels to the story, just like good journalism."

This otherwise excellent set of slides suggests I should only be negative about things once a week. That's rubbish.