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I Am Deleting the Blog

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Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#411

Post by jahaja »

matt_f wrote: post #36

If you're pissed off by this, as I am, here's how the author politely suggests that you direct your support: > There is no comments section for this post. The appropriate comments section is the feedback page of the New York Times. You may also want to email the New York Times technology editor Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@nytimes.com, contact her on Twitter at @puiwingtam, or phone the New York Times at 844-NYTNEWS…

Do you guys really feel that you're on the right side of history by harassing an investigative journalist?

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#412

Post by bhaak »

ve55 wrote: post #3
perditus wrote: post #2

This was in a piece specifically about the blog that was going to be positive, which makes this all the more inexplicable.

A lot of political extremists hate people like Scott, and it has caused him a lot of trouble in the past. This is why anonymity is more important now than ever, because just writing a scientific blog about interesting topics can make you the target of witch hunts designed to ruin your life and kill you. It's hard to describe how bad these things can get out of nowhere without having been through some of it or seeing…

It doesn't even need to be about political stuff.

I'm a moderator on Reddit for a gaming related television-show-turned-into-internet-streaming company with various shows and format.

The related circle jerk subreddit is very vocal and after some minor discussions about normal moderator actions of removing insulting posts, it kind of spiraled out of control and all of a sudden, lots of postings on the circle jerk appear, targeting me.

Somewhat amusing in the beginning but some of those posts were somewhat disturbing enough to let me actually consider for the first time how much information is out there for identifying me or persons in my personal circle.

My real name is easy enough to find out (I never tried to hide it) but it is kind of generic enough to have lots of hits so you can't go from there to where I live or work. But for other people which might even have different personas on the internet, this can be much more difficult.

Was certainly a chilling moment and this only on the topic of something completely apolitical.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#413

Post by 1stcity3rdcoast »

npstr wrote: post #111

Similar effect when reading the news on a topic that one is an expert in - they usually get it incredibly wrong. And then you turn the page and read the next article completely forgetting how bad the reporting actually is - there is no reason to assume they do a better job on topics that one is not an expert in! I think this bias had a name but I can't remember it.

The bias is Gell-Mann Amnesia.

Edit: looks like this was already answered by @the-dude

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#414

Post by ragazzina »

johan_larson wrote: post #237

I'm sorry Scott has decided to shut down his blog. He posted many interesting things over the years, and the community of commenters that clustered in the blog's open threads was usually a joy to deal with. I was part of that for years. I'm sorry to see it go. That said, this decision to shut down the blog looks like an overreaction to me. Scott seems to think that he should be able to be both a prominent online pund…

>I was part of that for years. >If you're someone who matters, people are going to want to know who you are.

Have you ever felt the need of knowing his full name?

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#415

Post by projektfu »

nvr219 wrote: post #379
Uhrheber wrote: post #75

I stopped trusting reporters about 35 years ago, when I personally witnessed an occurrence, where a reporter was at the scene, and later read what he had written about it in the newspaper. It had practically nothing to do with what really happened, but was written in a way that most of their readers would most likely expect and endorse. I was still very young then, but it opened my eyes, and from then on, I mostly st…

How do you get the news? Who do you trust?

For me, it’s difficult to “trust”. I assume I know next to nothing about India vs Pakistan or the Mexican drug war and that Journalism isn’t going to change that. At best it’s a source of stories like any novel, at worst it’s trying to mislead.

In the case of Mexico’s drug war, most Americans are probably very misguided as to how dangerous it is for tourists and also how much of it is seen by the average Mexican on a given day. I feel I’ve learned infinitely more in one conversation on Tandem with someone who lives in Mexico than I ever will from a newspaper.

If I read about riots in my city, I know there was something going on but I can’t really trust that the news correctly identified the place, people, or motive. I may have the desire to learn more and so I will reach out to someone who was there our lives in that neighborhood.

I had a waking up moment in 2003 during the Iraq war protests. I learned that the NYT, which was my favorite because each issue was a literary work that could be read from front to back, reported as though they’d never been to NYC. If they couldn’t get basic details right when the story was literally on the same street (Broadway) then I don’t know what they’re actually capable of reporting.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#416

Post by jka »

There's quite a lot of scope for interpretation of this statement:

> Unfortunately, he told me he had discovered my real name and would reveal it in the article, ie doxx me.

It's not clear from the post whether there was any conversation with the journalist about this aspect of the planned article, and/or whether there were any requests not to include the person's full name.

I think most of us agree that staying well-informed is useful and important, and I'd argue that news organizations contribute effectively to that.

Blogging and tweeting are useful additional mediums, but they can't always achieve the same results as publications that have research teams, archives, experienced investigative reporters, and legal teams to defend them when they encounter powerful opposition.

It could be worth taking a pause and waiting for more details before attributing all of the blame to the NYT (or even more wildly, journalism as a whole) here.

Edit (append-only): as noted elsewhere (see child comments) there had been some two-way conversation with the journalist regarding publication of the author's name.

It could be useful to learn more about what the nature of NYT's policy on publishing real names is, and the intent and reasoning behind that.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#417

Post by projektfu »

syshum wrote: post #405
luckylion wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The anti-out-of-context-quote-hit-piece-insurance that Sam Harris went to in his recent podcast on police violence etc was insane. I fully understand why, he's been burned by the Twitter mob before, but it's eye-opening to the media-induced reasonable paranoia some "public" people will go through when there's basically three paragraphs of "I'm not saying this is the one and only truth, I believe in equality, justice.…

it has the feel of the religious witch hunt because that is exactly what is has become. Many of these groups no longer look at data or science or any empirical evidence for the basis of their positions or policy, it is pure emotional dogma at this point. They are non-theistic religions

Scott’s “Meditations on Moloch” is a good summary of the underlying issue. It’s too bad I can’t provide a link.

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#418

Post by artsyca »

gringoDan wrote: post #394

Reading this made me think of two essays I've recently revisited. 1. The Sound of Silence, by Jessica Livingston Three years ago she argued that the smartest people are silencing themselves because the downside risk of being attacked for (misinterpretations of) their opinions are too high. People are wary of sharing useful information outside of trusted circles, which serves to consolidate power with insiders – those…

I'd say this forum is exactly this. How often have I self censored because I just don't want the downvotes?

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#419

Post by hombre_fatal »

wolfgke wrote: post #350
npstr wrote: post #111

Similar effect when reading the news on a topic that one is an expert in - they usually get it incredibly wrong. And then you turn the page and read the next article completely forgetting how bad the reporting actually is - there is no reason to assume they do a better job on topics that one is not an expert in! I think this bias had a name but I can't remember it.

> Similar effect when reading the news on a topic that one is an expert in - they usually get it incredibly wrong. This is the argument behind the Gell-Mann amnesia effect: https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/

We really need to retire "Gell-Mann amnesia effect" and relegate it to a /glossary on HN along with the various philosophical razors, "Dunning-Kruger effect", "X fallacy", "gaslighting", and other intellectual placeholders like that.

As soon as I read the grandparent comment, I knew there was going to be a flood of people arriving to supply us with some wiki link.

This way we can just cut to the chase with "Ah, I smell a case of /glossary#4 going on!".

Re: I Am Deleting the Blog

#420

Post by zozbot234 »

jka wrote: post #416

There's quite a lot of scope for interpretation of this statement: > Unfortunately, he told me he had discovered my real name and would reveal it in the article, ie doxx me. It's not clear from the post whether there was any conversation with the journalist about this aspect of the planned article, and/or whether there were any requests not to include the person's full name. I think most of us agree that staying well…

> It's not clear from the post whether there was any conversation with the journalist about this aspect of the planned article, and/or whether there were any requests not to include the person's full name.

There were; this has been made clear elsewhere. The reporter was also made aware that the blog would be shut down if it came to that, and still refused to redact OP's real name from their article.

(Allegedly, it seems that NYT general policy can allow a person to be anonymous if warranted, but it's less clear that pseudonimity is contemplated.)

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