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AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

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Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#131

Post by harryh »

jessaustin wrote: post #108
rayiner wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re lowering the bar here. If he actually did those things, he should be in jail. I didn’t say he should be in jail. Writing those things , which he undoubtedly did, is an indicator of being a misogynistic asshat. Which isn’t enough for jail, but surely enough to warrant our contempt and distance. (I’m also not saying we should censor him. That’s different than giving him a platform.)

I appreciate your protective feeling for HN, but you're simply wrong about Taibbi. We could lose 90% of our journalists, those whose efforts are primarily focused toward sticking to their assigned scripts, and we would be both better-off and better-informed. Taibbi is not among that 90%. HN is also not about sticking to the script.

In addition to all of rayiner's points (which I agree with), I think you vastly overrate Taibbi's journalism. Just because he attacks a lot of things you happen to be against, it doesn't make him a good journalist. He routinely exaggerates the facts, gets his economics wrong, and is otherwise misleading in his writing.

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#132

Post by deciplex »

rayiner wrote: post #88
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So moral purity is a requirement for notable achievement now?

Not being a misogynistic isn’t “moral purity” it’s the minimum standard of decency. And nobody is saying Taibbi hasn’t had notable achievements. I’m saying I have no interest in seeing someone like him do an AMA on HN. And as an audience member, I certainly don’t want my friends knowing I have an account and post to a site that’d let someone like Taibbi do an AMA. He can go be notable somewhere else.

> I certainly don’t want my friends knowing I have an account and post to a site that’d let someone like Taibbi do an AMA.

Well then delete your account. I've been reading Taibbi for years and I think it's awesome that he's doing an AMA here. Based on your downvotes here it's pretty clear I'm not alone. Meanwhile you and your constant negativity and obstinate combativeness are two reasons I don't engage with this site to the same degree I used to - I'd take Taibbi's posts in this thread alone over your large and ever-growing body of bad posts accumulated here over the last decade.

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#133

Post by jessaustin »

harryh wrote: post #131
jessaustin wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your protective feeling for HN, but you're simply wrong about Taibbi. We could lose 90% of our journalists, those whose efforts are primarily focused toward sticking to their assigned scripts, and we would be both better-off and better-informed. Taibbi is not among that 90%. HN is also not about sticking to the script.

In addition to all of rayiner's points (which I agree with), I think you vastly overrate Taibbi's journalism. Just because he attacks a lot of things you happen to be against, it doesn't make him a good journalist. He routinely exaggerates the facts, gets his economics wrong, and is otherwise misleading in his writing.

Wow, if only there were some forum in which these issues might be addressed, where you could write precisely the problems you've found with his reporting rather than blanket smears that mean nothing to anyone without all the background you're imagining we have. Perhaps it would be a forum in which Taibbi himself would be likely to see those specific complaints, and could if he chose respond in some fashion that might be educational for all of us...

Or, I guess we could use the opportunity to police his literary style.

ps. I'm giggling now because I'm thinking of all the journalists whose economics have been "right", and the number of days over which that has been the case...

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#134

Post by slikts »

cjbest wrote: post #125
styfle wrote: post #124

This is the first I’ve heard of Substack. I thought I recognized that name and then I remembered....there’s a developer[0] who has written many packages on npm[1] with the same name: substack I’ll have to check this out just because of the name :) [0]: https://github.com/substack [1]: https://www.npmjs.com/~substack

Just to avoid any confusion: we are not affiliated with James Halliday, the developer who uses the Github/Twitter handle substack. (Though now that I look at it, I definitely respect his work, especially minimist)

Are you going to add this disclaimer to everything you do now, or is the idea to just take the name over with your capital? It's their name that they've established by being a prolific, well-respected developer; it was also the only search result for it before you appeared, because it's a unique name without an another established meaning. There's no explanation for why you'd choose it outside of not doing due dilligence or just lack of morals.

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#135

Post by theodorewiles »

Guys,

Great idea. I would focus on specialty media. Think things like banking regulations, utility work, law reviews, etc. I think there is pretty strong willingness to pay in those markets and the credibility of the individual authors may carry more weight than magazine brands. Giving those writers a bigger cut might also attract them to the platform. Clearly you need to think about an advertising model here but those are the types of markets I would try to compete in - not serialized fiction.

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#136

Post by eli »

slikts wrote: post #134
cjbest wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to avoid any confusion: we are not affiliated with James Halliday, the developer who uses the Github/Twitter handle substack. (Though now that I look at it, I definitely respect his work, especially minimist)

Are you going to add this disclaimer to everything you do now, or is the idea to just take the name over with your capital? It's their name that they've established by being a prolific, well-respected developer; it was also the only search result for it before you appeared, because it's a unique name without an another established meaning. There's no explanation for why you'd choose it outside of not doing due dillig…

That's ridiculous. A new platform for journalism can't share a name with a popular Node developer? Even actual trademarks only apply across a category of similar products.

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#138

Post by mirimir »

cjbest wrote: post #123
mirimir wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are excellent arguments. That's how I read fiction. Whenever an author I like publishes a book, I buy it. But that's not how I read journalism. Many years ago, I subscribed to the local paper, The NY Times, and a few magazines. Now I browse forums and Google stuff. I like many writers. So many that I can't imagine committing $x per week to each of them. As you say, paying per article leads to clickbait. But som…

I buy that. I think some people will subscribe to an individual journalist that they really like, or covers something especially important to them, but others may need some kind of federation/bundling in the long run. I'd prefer to see a world where that happens bottom up -- writers choose to band together with other writers they trust. But we'll see :)

> I'd prefer to see a world where that happens bottom up -- writers choose to band together with other writers they trust.

I love that idea!

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#139

Post by mirimir »

eli wrote: post #136
slikts wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you going to add this disclaimer to everything you do now, or is the idea to just take the name over with your capital? It's their name that they've established by being a prolific, well-respected developer; it was also the only search result for it before you appeared, because it's a unique name without an another established meaning. There's no explanation for why you'd choose it outside of not doing due dillig…

That's ridiculous. A new platform for journalism can't share a name with a popular Node developer? Even actual trademarks only apply across a category of similar products.

So, for example, "Ruby fibers" are not chromium-doped alumina abrasives. And indeed, one might see both on HN :)

Re: AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism

#140

Post by rayiner »

kbenson wrote: post #110
rayiner wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re lowering the bar here. If he actually did those things, he should be in jail. I didn’t say he should be in jail. Writing those things , which he undoubtedly did, is an indicator of being a misogynistic asshat. Which isn’t enough for jail, but surely enough to warrant our contempt and distance. (I’m also not saying we should censor him. That’s different than giving him a platform.)

> Writing those things, which he undoubtedly did, is an indicator of being a misogynistic asshat. That depends entirely on context and intent, doesn't it? As called out in one of the articles on this very subject, as the creators of South Park misogynistic asshats for writing characters that behave in this way, when it's done as satire and to lampoon those that actually act in that manner? That's what the defenders a…

I simply don’t find Taibbi’s post-facto rationalizations credible. Consider, for example, his gendered attacks on female journalists who called him out: https://www.thelily.com/vices-edgy-culture-created-a-place-f...

Is that dedication to staying in character? Or is it an attempt to whitewash conduct that was acceptable in that time and place, but is considered unacceptable today, in an attempt to avoid damaging one’s reputation? I can’t see it as anything but the latter.

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