I try not to complain, but...
I generally try not to complain, but this time it sort of peripherally effects me, so I'm going to take a moment to toss out a post.
Yesterday, I linked to an AP story about a woman who was reportedly visited by a PI in the employ of the NM Republican Party. I clicked the little box for my post to appear in the Muckraker sidebar, where it went after the first recommendation and then I left it alone.
Apparently this morning, the main Muckraker column posted more information about the situation, including a lot more quotes than the AP initially reported and that's all well and good, there's nothing wrong with shining a brighter light on the subject because that's the reason, I originally submitted my post.
What "bothers" me is that the main Muckraker story cites reports of "minority voters in New Mexico" to TPMMuckraker as the impetus for their investigation and they credit a local freepaper for first reporting the story, while I cited a short wire service article which appeared several hours before the timestamp on the freepaper and my post had been in the Muckraker sidebar, since it went online.
Again, all well and good, a brighter light is definitely needed and my insinuation about "Swift Boat" funding was only based on a circumstantial tie, but this isn't the first time that I've seen something posted to the Cafe and then reported by one of the main TPM columns, hours or days later, without any attribution or acknowledgement going to the original poster. This time the main article includes a lot more information, but that's not always the case, especially when it's something as simple as a Cafe member linking to a straight-up video, then Josh or somebody linking to the same thing two or three days later because someone had reportedly tipped them via email.
I realize that there's a lot of "talking to ourslves" going on in the Cafe, plus quite a bit of repetition and some posters lack historiical context, but you'd think that the paid staffers could at least pretend to read our posts, especially when something appears in the "Most Recommended" list. Sure, they have a lot of irons in the fire and all that, so I can understand that not everyone can read every post, but I don't really think that it's good customer relations, when apparently everything we write is being ignored or when an unaltered video is posted to the main site, days after it first appeared in the Cafe
And, maybe my deal about the potential for voter suppression in New Mexico isn't the best example because the Muckraker column does include direct quotes and it puts it into context with the ACORN story, but something similar seems to happen several times a week and though there's better example from myself and others, I thought it was time to throw something into the air.
(End Rant)
And conversely, posters should check the TPM pages to see if a story has already been posted before posting the story. Today's example is the story of the Pittsburgh hoax posted on the front page an hour or so before a poster put it up on reader posts.
October 24, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Though I have to admit that I tend to only visit the main pages, once or twice a day because I put no more value in their opinions than those in the reader forum, but I do recognize their power of amplification and as far as I'm aware, I've never posted anything after it has appeared on the main page.
I guess that I might be a little more forgiving of the reader submissions because I have occasionally made reference to repetitious posts by linking to my previous comment, but I kind of think that the paid staffers should at least pretend.
And, though I didn't include it in my main rant, but I also have to say that some of the most frustrating examples are when someone posts to the lefthand column, something that had been done to death on the right. I don't know how many times I've wanted to say; "As I commented yesterday to a plethora of posts..."
October 24, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I find the front page to be a very useful source of election news. I don't go their specifically for opinions but find most expressed there to be interesting.
You also might send a note to TPM when you come upon a news story you haven't seen reported at the site. It was TPM reader tips which enabled the TPM staff to flesh out the national magnitude of the US Attorney firings and McCain robo calling. Both stories which were subsequently picked up by the traditional media.
October 24, 2008 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's the original reporting that does prompt me to view the mainpage, a couple of times a day and I've found that if a story has legs, I'll usually see a link from somewhere else and that'll increase my visitation to those mainpages. (Note: If Josh would take comments, I might be apt to view it more than once or twice a day, but I'm not a big fan of one way communication.)
I'll also remember your hint about "tipping", but there's really too many stories with a nationally political angle that doesn't appear on the mainpages, so if I were to "tip" with every overlooked item from all of the papers that I read on a regular basis, he'd be overwhelmed by his mailbox. That's why I figured posting something to the forum was as good as a tip; It allows me to flesh out (or in this case, link to a report about extraordinary state fundraising) and if it makes it onto a "recommended" list, it should theoretically act as a tipbox.
I mean, if they can't even bother to read their own forums, then why would I assume that they read their mail? I don't know the realities of TPMMuckraker, but I assume that it's a bunch of stringers and that whomever brought the story to its mainpage actually read it in the NM publication, first.
October 24, 2008 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink