ok the dangerous teenage hug epidemic - another important new york times trend piece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Heffernan

Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.

http://2009.sxsw.com/files/u13/VirginiaHeffernan.jpg

dumb AND cute!

i'd check her facts.

Que is thinking of Alessandra Stanley, isn't he?

I don't know if this qualifies as bogus-trend "reporting" cause it was in Heffernan's column in the magazine, which is very much not "reported."

Que is thinking of Alessandra Stanley, isn't he?

Yes. Both have written about TV for the Times.

which also BTW is way less cringy than I'd ever have imagined when it started! I think I've actually enjoyed a few weeks

huh, i had always figured her for being a good bit older than 40.

I think it must be the name. I first read her in Slate, so she didn't seem terribly old.

Que is thinking of Alessandra Stanley, isn't he?

CORRECTION

A post on Monday afternoon incorrectly named Virginia Heffernan as having her own personal fact checker on the New York Times. It is Alessandra Stanley who was the fact-checker, not Heffernan.

who has

haha

- Heffernan began her career as a fact-checker with The New Yorker magazine.
- It is Alessandra Stanley who was the fact-checker, not Heffernan.

hahaha

so confused

It doesn't surprise me too much that people in Heffernan's age cohort have mixed feelings about Facebook. They're a group that definitely has a big Facebook presence (as opposed to the generation above them), but they've only really joined the site within the last year or two, and the notion of living online is not as second-nature to them as it is to their Gen Y counterparts. Of course, Heffernan's article never considers this.

i would totally agree with that

My friend Alex joined four years ago at the suggestion of “the coolest guy on the planet,” she told me in an e-mail message. For a while, they cultivated a cool-planet online gang. But then Scrabulous was shut down, someone told her she was too old for Facebook, her teenage stepson seemed to be losing his life to it and she found the whole site crawling with mercenaries trying to sell books and movies. “If I am going to waste my time on the Internet,” she concluded, “it will be playing in online backgammon tournaments.”

Blech

haha dude, man, is there something specific in that you're calling our attention to, or is it just the noise?

Another thought the scene had turned desperate.

This ain't a scene it's a login.

Just the whole thing. How could someone write a paragraph like that and not think "I am the world's biggest douchebag"?

because of writing declarative sentences about somebody else?

don't get me wrong, I prefer serial commas too, but it's a newspaper, whatchagonnado

For a while, they cultivated a cool-planet online gang.

this is crucial

Well he was "the coolest guy on the planet" according to her friend Alex's email message.

how DARE the INTERNET try to sell us (shudder) BOOKS AND MOVIES~!!!!!@!?????!!!

yeah I mean I can get finding the piece thin or useless, but that paragraph is just relaying someone's story as told to the writer, so ... eh?

i agree with you though Alex--paragraphs like that, what can you say about them except? Blech. I mean, it's just horrible journalism. Or should I say "journalism." It's like third rate blog writing.

Que it's a column

Well he was "the coolest guy on the planet" according to her friend Alex's email message.

― Alex in SF, Monday, August 31, 2009 11:03 PM (56 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

when the dude from the Dos Equis commercial says join facebook, you join facebook

so they had problems with ads for books and movies and not for teeth whiteners, weight loss, and dating sites?

it may be a column, it still has no place in the New York Times. I used to love reading my hometown average guy suburban type columns when I was in high school. that paragraph is just bullshit piled on top of heresay on top of nonsense.

...wrapped in an enigma.

with a dollop of sour cream on top

i could go for some potato skins round about now how about you guys?

Ten minutes to the end of the workday, I'm with you.

Ian don't try to sell me stuff on the web.

they cultivated a cool-planet online gang.

this makes these people seem extremely lame ... and like they still have some inadequacies carried over from the 7th grade lunch table.

Shit I have bacon and cheddar cheese at home. This could lead to something good....

I think everyone here needs to compare/contrast with this week's back-end Lives, which if I remember correctly was about a white guy teaching English in Japan who slowly realized that when Japanese women told him he'd gained wait it wasn't an insult and was actually somewhat playful

(as in like I'm curious which piece people would prefer)

He'd gained what?

My friend Alex joined four years ago at the suggestion of “the coolest guy on the planet,” she told me in an e-mail message. For a while, they cultivated a cool-planet online gang.

i have absolutely no idea what this means. what is a "cool-planet online gang"? she says these things like normal people are supposed to understand them. who was the guy and why was he so cool? are we just supposed to take virginia heffernan's friend alex at his word?

But then Scrabulous was shut down,

wasn't this because they were infringing on a copyright? was facebook only worth it if you could play word games over a period of weeks?

someone told her she was too old for Facebook,

why smash a dumb sterotype when you can accept it?

she found the whole site crawling with mercenaries trying to sell books and movies.

i have been on facebook essentially since it started and have no idea what she's talking about.

“If I am going to waste my time on the Internet,” she concluded, “it will be playing in online backgammon tournaments.”

ok at least that's otm.

she found the whole site crawling with mercenaries

http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/MyWebFilms/Oorlog/ApocalypseWillardModder.jpg

xp - and aren't there like a dozen faux-scrabble facebook games anyway?

He'd gained where?

xp Yeah, but that was the most copywrite infringing so. . .

he'd gained. . . wait! that wasn't an insult!

that lives piece was fine iirc. i mean "lives" is basically for goofy shit like that (or sad shit about like parents with alzheimer's)

at least it tells a story and is not just like "hey this is what my friend said and this is what my other friend said"

the great thing is i don't have to pick which one i'd prefer--i still think this one is stupid

xp alex - but it isn't like they were suddenly unable to play internet scrabble ...

if no scrabulous was really a deal breaker i guess that's fine, i mean i don't know.....