currybetdotnet Daily Mail archive

'Sorry - this page cannot be found': How newspapers handle 404 errors - Part 1
A comment when I started my recent 'Newspaper Site Search Smackdown' series of posts prompted me to go and have a look at which British newspapers use sitemap.xml files. As it turned out, it was only the Daily Mail and The Scotsman which did (well, and The Telegraph and The Mirror and Metro), which meant that I got to have a close look at the 404 error pages generated by the others. I thought it might be worth running through...

Read the full post - Published May 5, 2008 in Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Newspapers, The Guardian

7 things I like about the Daily Mail Beta
Regular readers may have noticed that I find it very easy to write article after article moaning "Well, I wouldn't have done it like that" about newspaper websites, so I thought I'd try a different tack for a change. Instead of the usual currybetdotnet "Here is where I think they went wrong" article - here are seven things I like about the Daily Mail's new beta design. Click through today in pictures People like pictures on the web - well,...

Read the full post - Published April 28, 2008 in Daily Mail

Wikipedia users respond to Tom Utley's criticism in the Daily Mail
I bookmarked this piece by Tom Utley in the Daily Mail today - "Abortion and why, since my boy fiddled my Wikipedia entry, I've feared the sinister power of the internet" - with the comment that: "I'm willing to wager Tom Utley will have an expanded Wikipedia entry pretty soon after publishing this article which seems to pin the decline of Western civilisation on his son's ability to vandalise Wikipedia, the BBC and Google's stance on advertising" In fact, I...

Read the full post - Published April 12, 2008 in Daily Mail, Web

Newspaper "Site Search Smackdown": Round 1 - The Daily Mail vs The Sun
The other week I wrote about the potential threat to newspaper revenue from Google's new 'Search in search' feature. Links to the article appeared on a few blogs, and Kevin Anderson made the point that Google was doing search better than most newspapers: "Where I might disagree is Martin's argument that it negatively impacts user experience. He says that Google's position is that they can provide search better than the news sites. Well, the sad truth is that whether...

Read the full post - Published April 8, 2008 in Daily Mail, Newspapers, Search, The Sun

Game for a laugh - Anne Diamond on games in the Daily Mail
I still haven't had a chance to read the recent "Safer Children in a Digital World" Byron Report in full, although from what I've skimmed through so far I'm still sticking by my original opinion when I bookmarked it - that I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't framed in the hysterical tabloid tone that usually accompanies any debate about child safety and new media. The analogies about how we teach our children to swim and cross the road despite...

Read the full post - Published April 5, 2008 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail

Google hijacks traffic from newspaper site search
There has been a controversy over the last couple of weeks about Google's introduction of 'Search in search' boxes. For some large web properties who appear at #1 for their brand name, Google has been adding a search box underneath their listing, allowing users to refine their search to get results for just the one domain. Amazon and Flickr are a couple of examples of where this has been introduced, although Amazon seem to have got the feature squashed. I...

Read the full post - Published March 31, 2008 in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Google, Newspapers, Popular, The Guardian, The Sun, The Times

Who's deceiving who? The Daily Mail on Jools Holland's Hootenanny
"The Hootenanny is an idealised New Year's Eve party with a line-up that would surely be impossible to deliver on 31 December. The stellar cast and audience are, therefore, assembled to record the show in mid-December. The show is recorded 'as live', with a midnight countdown led by Jools." And with those words in early December, the BBC's Press Office launched the Corporation's cunning plan to deceive viewers about whether Jools Holland's annual knees-up was a live show... ...well, at...

Read the full post - Published January 6, 2008 in BBC, Daily Mail

Biblical Christian names still out-number Mohammed for Britain's boys
The tabloids have been spluttering their outrage at the news that Mohammed is now the second most popular boys name in the UK. Well, provided you massage the figures of course, I mean, why let facts get in the way of your editorial line that 'the fuzzy-wuzzies are taking over our country'. To get that result, you have to add up all the variations on Muhammed, whilst steadfastly refusing to aggregate any other names - I noticed both Jake and...

Read the full post - Published December 21, 2007 in Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Newspapers, The Sun

I'm not convinced online voting shows Rhydian was robbed on X-Factor
"In years to come when someone asks the question Where were you at 10:35 on 15th December 2007? most people will instantly know." Well, I'm not entirely sure about that, but there has certainly been a furore over the result of the X-Factor voting at the weekend. I always loved these spats - I remember well disgruntled Fame Academy and Strictly Come Dancing fans having it out with each other on the BBC's Points Of View message board with the...

Read the full post - Published December 17, 2007 in Blogging, Daily Mail, Television, Voting

Trust me, the Child Benefit data loss risk to children isn't from paedophiles
One thing I noticed in the press coverage of the British Government's abject but predictable failure to protect personal data was this preposterous line of argument in an editorial in the Daily Mail: "The missing discs contain the names, addresses and dates of birth of every child in the country...Wouldn't fraudsters and child abusers give anything to get their hands on them?" Seriously, what are child abusers going to do with this information? Surely, and call me old-fashioned, if paedophiles...

Read the full post - Published November 25, 2007 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Web, eGovernment

How accessible are Britain's online newspapers? Part 2 - Daily Mail

Published November 7, 2007 in Accessibility, Daily Mail, Newspapers, Product review, Web

The Daily Mail falls for internet myths about left-handed people

Published September 18, 2007 in Daily Mail

Truth isn't just a Casualty at the BBC, Richard

Published August 21, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail

Alt tags reveal what is on the Daily Mail's mind about child sex offenders

Published August 13, 2007 in Accessibility, Daily Mail

'Faked' Bargain Hunt the final straw

Published August 8, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail, Television

Having the internet at Scout camps isn't just for the home-sick

Published August 5, 2007 in Daily Mail, Web

A very moral gambling u-turn - Daily Mail pulls gambling site?

Published July 16, 2007 in Daily Mail

What tickled me in the Daily Mail this week

Published July 6, 2007 in Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers

The Daily Mail's hypocrisy over Eastern European immigration is crinimal [sic]

Published June 26, 2007 in Daily Mail

Too much Big Brother nipple for the Daily Mail

Published June 2, 2007 in Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Television

Who benefits financially from the Madeleine McCann publicity juggernaut?

Published June 1, 2007 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Media, Newspapers, Search, The Times

Daily Mail survey asseses how "Web 2.0" their readers are

Published May 29, 2007 in Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Web

Peter from Spalding is not impressed by the BBC Trust's iPlayer approval

Published April 30, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Television, iPlayer

Newspapers 2.0: How Web 2.0 is The Daily Mail?

Published April 30, 2007 in Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Web

Bob Woolmer's wife rules out / doesn't rule out* murder [Delete as applicable]

Published March 22, 2007 in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Newspapers

Gaza strip kidnapped by BBC Journalist according to the Daily Mail

Published March 12, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, Politics

Now the Daily Mail is twisting MY words about ChildLine

Published February 27, 2007 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Media

The Daily Mail distorts Childline's report on youth mental health in the UK

Published February 26, 2007 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Media

Paul Dacre's claim that, due to the BBC, commercial radio is "ailing"

Published February 3, 2007 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media, Radio

Christmas cards and rewriting history from the Daily Mail

Published December 9, 2006 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media

The Daily Mail's flip-flops over EU driving standards

Published December 5, 2006 in Daily Mail, Europe, Media

The compassionate heart of Middle England

Published November 30, 2006 in Daily Mail, Media, Politics

Writing headlines to whip up a frenzy of comments about kids

Published October 27, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Media

Exposing children in the press to protect them from online harm

Published September 24, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Media, Web

ID Cards making the net a more dangerous place for kids

Published August 4, 2006 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, ID cards, Web

Searching The Daily Mail

Published June 29, 2006 in Daily Mail, Media, Product review, Search

No Becks Please - We're The Daily Mail

Published August 31, 2005 in Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers

London phone numbers change again, according to the Daily Mail

Published May 21, 2005 in Daily Mail, OFCOM

How The F.A. Cup lost lustre (Part XXIV)

Published February 7, 2005 in Daily Mail, Football

Never over-estimate the understanding of your audience

Published October 6, 2004 in Daily Mail, Europe

Can you be right wing, pro-hunt AND pro-violent protest?

Published September 15, 2004 in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Politics

Murder by Playstation?

Published July 29, 2004 in Children and Teenagers, Daily Mail, Sony

London Phone Codes "Change"

Published July 14, 2004 in BBC, Daily Mail, Media, Newspapers, OFCOM, The Guardian, The Independent

The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Published March 27, 2004 in BBC, Daily Mail, Politics

Our boys not equipped to face Iraq's WMDs

Published January 15, 2004 in Daily Mail, Politics