7 ms·

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

by matt_f 6y ago

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 > (please be polite – I don’t know if Ms. Tam was personally involved in this decision, and whoever is stuck answering feedback forms definitely wasn’t. Remember that you are representing me and the SSC community, and I will be very sad if you are a jerk to anybody. Please just explain the situation and ask them to stop doxxing random bloggers for clicks.)

davesque 6y ago
Note that the author also requests that people be polite in doing so. Everyone please model the behavior you want to see in this reporter. Update: Thanks OP for updating to include a note about this.
iagovar 6y ago
Sorry for the unrelated question, but I'm not from the US and I'm curious, what does this mean? 844-NYTNEWS Do landlines phones have letters in the US? Is it pressing a number several times? And also mentioning that I'm grateful for SSC to exist. I rarely comment but it's a refreshing community.
- tschwimmer 6y ago
  You may find this relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#Letter_mapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#Letter_mappin...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- alias_neo 6y ago
  You press the number on the dial pad which also has the letter in question. Just once. This is just a popular (in the US?) way to make numbers easier to remember.
  - iagovar 6y ago
    I see, so it's not like in the old mobile phones where you have to press a bunch of times to get a letter, just once. It's a clever custom.
    - Arnavion 6y ago
      It's not a "custom". The reason keypads have letters is precisely because the letters are mnemonics for the real number. This usage predates mobile phones, and is not US-specific. They were originally used for area codes (Wikipedia lists a UK example of 0AY6, ie 0296, for Aylesbury), then later for mnemonic numbers like the one from the article. Mobile phones inherited the lettered keypad from landlines and also started using it for typing text messages.
      - gpvos 6y ago
        It is definitely a custom limited to some particular countries. Wikipedia: The use of alphanumeric codes for exchanges was abandoned in Europe when international direct dialing was introduced in the 1960s, because, for example, dialing VIC 8900 on a Danish telephone would result in a different number to dialling it on a British telephone. At the same time letters were no longer placed on the dials of new telephones.
        Arnavion 6y ago
        (The very next paragraph after the one you quoted talks about how letters for European mobile phones were reintroduced some time later, now standardized so as to not have that problem.) At any rate, the presence of lettered keypads doesn't mean people * had * to make mnemonic phone numbers with them, and it does look like (in Europe) only the UK had such numbers. Apart from the US and UK, they might be popular in some Commonwealth countries too. I grew up in one and remember having them.
- arrrg 6y ago
  This refers to the letters that are on phone keypads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#/media/File:Telephone_keys.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#/media/File:T...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- kuschku 6y ago
  1 | 2 | 3 | ABC | DEF -----|-----|----- 4 | 5 | 6 GHI | JKL | MNO -----|-----|----- 7 | 8 | 9 PQRS | TUV | WXYZ -----|-----|----- * | 0 | # | + | Now 0800-INFO becomes 0800-4636 — you just press the key corresponding to the letter once.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - kd5bjo 6y ago
    Your chart isn’t quite right— Q and Z aren’t (or weren’t) generally present: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_number#/media/File%3ATelephone-annees-60-p1010020.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_number#/media/File...
    - eythian 6y ago
      Depends, I used to have one of these: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=114839 https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=114... Though the chart is still wrong according to that, however it (the chart) does match what my Android phone's dialer looks like.
    - dredmorbius 6y ago
      the Q & Z assignments shown are typical. That said, few text-based phone numbers include these characters, for the obvious reason.
    - kps 6y ago
      You're correct, which appropriately enough is why you're downvoted. The letters were placed on telephone dials when telephone ‘numbers’ used a mnemonic exchange+digits format¹, so there was no requirement to include the entire alphabet. Advertising mnemonics like the one in the grandparent comment came later, and entering arbitrary text such as names, which actually requires the whole alphabet, much later. ¹ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- thinkingemote 6y ago
  mobile phones have letters on their dial pads also.
jahaja 6y ago
Do you guys really feel that you're on the right side of history by harassing an investigative journalist?
- SuoDuanDao 6y ago
  Yes. Doxxing people whose only crime is producing good but complex content for the world to enjoy is cyberbullying. If bullies are on the right side of history I have no interest in the metric.
  - jahaja 6y ago
    Doxxing, what? What do you think journalism is? It's very common for controversial authors with a very wide reach to be "revealed" and investigated? How do you know that this is "cyber bullying" after just reading one side of the story? People seem have lost all sense of objectivity due to some sort of idolatry.
    - Smaug123 6y ago
      Scott is widely known for his impeccable mental honesty, even-handedness, and general niceness. There's a strong prior that what he says is, to the best of his knowledge, both true and presented in such a way as to reflect reality.
      - jahaja 6y ago
        Dear. Oh. Dear.
    - SuoDuanDao 6y ago
      Well, now this 'controversial' author has been silenced; given that it reduced the number of places with better writing than the NYT, I would bet it will be permanent. Is that what you wanted?
      - jahaja 6y ago

by matt_f 6y ago

davesque 6y ago

Note that the author also requests that people be polite in doing so. Everyone please model the behavior you want to see in this reporter. Update: Thanks OP for updating to include a note about this.

iagovar 6y ago

Sorry for the unrelated question, but I'm not from the US and I'm curious, what does this mean? 844-NYTNEWS Do landlines phones have letters in the US? Is it pressing a number several times? And also mentioning that I'm grateful for SSC to exist. I rarely comment but it's a refreshing community.

tschwimmer 6y ago
You may find this relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#Letter_mapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#Letter_mappin...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
alias_neo 6y ago
You press the number on the dial pad which also has the letter in question. Just once. This is just a popular (in the US?) way to make numbers easier to remember.
- iagovar 6y ago
  I see, so it's not like in the old mobile phones where you have to press a bunch of times to get a letter, just once. It's a clever custom.
  - Arnavion 6y ago
    It's not a "custom". The reason keypads have letters is precisely because the letters are mnemonics for the real number. This usage predates mobile phones, and is not US-specific. They were originally used for area codes (Wikipedia lists a UK example of 0AY6, ie 0296, for Aylesbury), then later for mnemonic numbers like the one from the article. Mobile phones inherited the lettered keypad from landlines and also started using it for typing text messages.
    - gpvos 6y ago
      It is definitely a custom limited to some particular countries. Wikipedia: The use of alphanumeric codes for exchanges was abandoned in Europe when international direct dialing was introduced in the 1960s, because, for example, dialing VIC 8900 on a Danish telephone would result in a different number to dialling it on a British telephone. At the same time letters were no longer placed on the dials of new telephones.
      - Arnavion 6y ago
        (The very next paragraph after the one you quoted talks about how letters for European mobile phones were reintroduced some time later, now standardized so as to not have that problem.) At any rate, the presence of lettered keypads doesn't mean people * had * to make mnemonic phone numbers with them, and it does look like (in Europe) only the UK had such numbers. Apart from the US and UK, they might be popular in some Commonwealth countries too. I grew up in one and remember having them.
arrrg 6y ago
This refers to the letters that are on phone keypads: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#/media/File:Telephone_keys.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#/media/File:T...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
kuschku 6y ago
1 | 2 | 3 | ABC | DEF -----|-----|----- 4 | 5 | 6 GHI | JKL | MNO -----|-----|----- 7 | 8 | 9 PQRS | TUV | WXYZ -----|-----|----- * | 0 | # | + | Now 0800-INFO becomes 0800-4636 — you just press the key corresponding to the letter once.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- kd5bjo 6y ago
  Your chart isn’t quite right— Q and Z aren’t (or weren’t) generally present: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_number#/media/File%3ATelephone-annees-60-p1010020.jpg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_number#/media/File...
  - eythian 6y ago
    Depends, I used to have one of these: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=114839 https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=114... Though the chart is still wrong according to that, however it (the chart) does match what my Android phone's dialer looks like.
  - dredmorbius 6y ago
    the Q & Z assignments shown are typical. That said, few text-based phone numbers include these characters, for the obvious reason.
  - kps 6y ago
    You're correct, which appropriately enough is why you're downvoted. The letters were placed on telephone dials when telephone ‘numbers’ used a mnemonic exchange+digits format¹, so there was no requirement to include the entire alphabet. Advertising mnemonics like the one in the grandparent comment came later, and entering arbitrary text such as names, which actually requires the whole alphabet, much later. ¹ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange_names
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
thinkingemote 6y ago
mobile phones have letters on their dial pads also.

jahaja 6y ago

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

SuoDuanDao 6y ago
Yes. Doxxing people whose only crime is producing good but complex content for the world to enjoy is cyberbullying. If bullies are on the right side of history I have no interest in the metric.
- jahaja 6y ago
  Doxxing, what? What do you think journalism is? It's very common for controversial authors with a very wide reach to be "revealed" and investigated? How do you know that this is "cyber bullying" after just reading one side of the story? People seem have lost all sense of objectivity due to some sort of idolatry.
  - Smaug123 6y ago
    Scott is widely known for his impeccable mental honesty, even-handedness, and general niceness. There's a strong prior that what he says is, to the best of his knowledge, both true and presented in such a way as to reflect reality.
    - jahaja 6y ago
      Dear. Oh. Dear.
  - SuoDuanDao 6y ago
    Well, now this 'controversial' author has been silenced; given that it reduced the number of places with better writing than the NYT, I would bet it will be permanent. Is that what you wanted?
    - jahaja 6y ago