4 ms·

Betteridge's Law of Headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_h

by brm 11y ago

Betteridge's Law of Headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

eric_h 11y ago
Except in this case the answer seems to be 'yes' (or at least 'quite possibly').
- brm 11y ago
  How many of these stories get written this way? Treasure at Oak Island... The reporter's father killed The Black Dahlia... D.B. Cooper is alive etc... They're written mainly to sell papers. Until the men are uncovered, the answer is most probably: No.
dang 11y ago
Mr. Betteridge has retired.
- brm 11y ago
  1.) No he hasn't: https://twitter.com/ianbetteridge https://twitter.com/ianbetteridge 2.) You seem to be a moderator here(?) and in your comment history you often call out comments that don't advance the discourse on HN but then you go and make a comment like this. What gives?
  - reitanqild 11y ago
    Not that dang need anyone to defend him but I think dangs point is thats the Betteridge meme is a bit tiring in the long run. After all, this isn't reddit - or slashdot.
    - brm 11y ago
      If this were reddit, there'd be someone here in the comments explaining the other side of this investigation and the ways that it probably isn't true.
      - LordKano 11y ago
        If this were Slashdot(Well, the late 90s Slashdot that I knew, loved and dearly miss), there'd be people talking about Petrified Natalie Portman, Hot Grits and a Beowulf cluster of Octogenarian Alcatraz escapees. I get your point and I don't disagree. Until there is more compelling proof, one way or the other, this story kind of comes across as premature. There is another motivation behind releasing the story now. The word getting out that these guys may have lived could be enough to spark someone's memory. As an example, someone who just assumed that those guys died in the bay might not have paid a second thought to the two hitchhikers s/he encountered around the time it happened. Fundamentally, it's a mystery story. Just relax and try to enjoy it.
  - dang 11y ago
    Sorry, what I meant is that the trope long ago became overused, is often wrong, and people bring it up as a reflex. This comes up so often that I thought I could maybe get away with a cryptic reference to it. What was I thinking!
    - thieving_magpie 11y ago
      >What was I thinking! Don't be that guy. I'm that guy - it's terrible. Don't be me.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]

by brm 11y ago

eric_h 11y ago

Except in this case the answer seems to be 'yes' (or at least 'quite possibly').

brm 11y ago
How many of these stories get written this way? Treasure at Oak Island... The reporter's father killed The Black Dahlia... D.B. Cooper is alive etc... They're written mainly to sell papers. Until the men are uncovered, the answer is most probably: No.

dang 11y ago

Mr. Betteridge has retired.

brm 11y ago
1.) No he hasn't: https://twitter.com/ianbetteridge https://twitter.com/ianbetteridge 2.) You seem to be a moderator here(?) and in your comment history you often call out comments that don't advance the discourse on HN but then you go and make a comment like this. What gives?
- reitanqild 11y ago
  Not that dang need anyone to defend him but I think dangs point is thats the Betteridge meme is a bit tiring in the long run. After all, this isn't reddit - or slashdot.
  - brm 11y ago
    If this were reddit, there'd be someone here in the comments explaining the other side of this investigation and the ways that it probably isn't true.
    - LordKano 11y ago
      If this were Slashdot(Well, the late 90s Slashdot that I knew, loved and dearly miss), there'd be people talking about Petrified Natalie Portman, Hot Grits and a Beowulf cluster of Octogenarian Alcatraz escapees. I get your point and I don't disagree. Until there is more compelling proof, one way or the other, this story kind of comes across as premature. There is another motivation behind releasing the story now. The word getting out that these guys may have lived could be enough to spark someone's memory. As an example, someone who just assumed that those guys died in the bay might not have paid a second thought to the two hitchhikers s/he encountered around the time it happened. Fundamentally, it's a mystery story. Just relax and try to enjoy it.
- dang 11y ago
  Sorry, what I meant is that the trope long ago became overused, is often wrong, and people bring it up as a reflex. This comes up so often that I thought I could maybe get away with a cryptic reference to it. What was I thinking!
  - thieving_magpie 11y ago
    >What was I thinking! Don't be that guy. I'm that guy - it's terrible. Don't be me.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]