Suggestions for AI the news page
So apparently the AI main page is being updated again. I'm not sure how much input we have into what's going to happen there, but I have some suggestions anyway.
I think the days of the rumor "scoop" are over. This is how MOSR and the old AI seemed to work - "inside sources tell us that in March Apple will release a PDA..." Even back in the good old days, I'm pretty sure most of the scoops were from trolls.
I think a rumor-oriented news page is the way to go.
Maybe info about developer builds of software, news that Panasonic has released a slot-load SuperDrive, news focused on IBM's MPF announcements, reports that machines are EOL'd, etc. That, combined with reasoned speculation, pitched as such, would be preferable IMO. The absurd speculation can be left to the forums.
The "scoop" style is just wrong so often that it quickly becomes a joke. Everyone knows there are no more scoops, so let's just stick to legit or semi-legit news that is relevant to future Apple products, along with some humble speculation based on credible reasoning and facts.
Let's have some credibility for the AI main page!!
I think the days of the rumor "scoop" are over. This is how MOSR and the old AI seemed to work - "inside sources tell us that in March Apple will release a PDA..." Even back in the good old days, I'm pretty sure most of the scoops were from trolls.
I think a rumor-oriented news page is the way to go.
Maybe info about developer builds of software, news that Panasonic has released a slot-load SuperDrive, news focused on IBM's MPF announcements, reports that machines are EOL'd, etc. That, combined with reasoned speculation, pitched as such, would be preferable IMO. The absurd speculation can be left to the forums.
The "scoop" style is just wrong so often that it quickly becomes a joke. Everyone knows there are no more scoops, so let's just stick to legit or semi-legit news that is relevant to future Apple products, along with some humble speculation based on credible reasoning and facts.
Let's have some credibility for the AI main page!!
Comments
ThinkSecret seems to get a good amount of scoops.
ATAT has gotten a good amount of scoops
CNET gets scoops all the time
Macworld UK gets scoops all the time
If they are wrong most of the time so be it.... I don't really care... it's all entertainment.... a mix of both would be good though
<strong>So apparently the AI main page is being updated again. I'm not sure how much input we have into what's going to happen there, but I have some suggestions anyway.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Since I can't remember a time when we ever had input into what happens on the main page (except that the writers kept an eye on the boards in search of real insiders), you've got the right spirit.
[quote]<strong>I think the days of the rumor "scoop" are over.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well, there are two ways to do rumors. One is the tabloid "scoop," where you print everything that comes down the pike, trading absolute accuracy for the possibility that you published a real nugget of info first. The other is closer to actual journalism - you gather information, attempt to corroborate it with other sources (and preferably against some form of technical expertise, in the case of computer rumors), and when you think you're on to something then you publish it. AI has always attempted the latter, and so has Matt Rothenberg in his various guises. AtAT takes the interesting tack of mentioning other sites that have published things that vegan goat entrail substitutes have told them about, but that wouldn't really work for us.
[quote]<strong>This is how MOSR and the old AI seemed to work - "inside sources tell us that in March Apple will release a PDA..." Even back in the good old days, I'm pretty sure most of the scoops were from trolls.</strong><hr></blockquote>
MOSR has traditionally used the tabloid approach.
[quote]<strong>I think a rumor-oriented news page is the way to go.
[snip various publicly-known announcements that tie in to Apple rumors]
</strong><hr></blockquote>
AI could do that - at the very least, they could update the page frequently then, which wouldn't hurt just in terms of getting people to load the page regularly - but just because it's public information doesn't mean it's reliable from a rumormonger POV. After all, there's a lot of whizbang technology out there, and Apple simultaneously keeps a lot of possibilities open and chooses the technologies that it does finally adopt very carefully. So unless the information to be published was selected on the basis of whether or not it actually tied into rumored developments at Apple (and AI has noted such things in their articles, as bolstering evidence) then it's just a different kind of tabloid, buckshot approach to publishing. "Hey, I could see Apple using this. Run it!"
Just a few things to think about.