4 ms·

For all of El Reg's tongue-in-cheek reporting style, they do a tip-top job on obituaries. https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/24/in_memoriam_stephen_wilhite_jo

For all of El Reg's tongue-in-cheek reporting style, they do a tip-top job on obituaries. https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/24/in_memoriam_stephen_wilhite_john_roach/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/24/in_memoriam_stephen_w... https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/sir_clive_sinclair_obituary/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/sir_clive_sinclair_ob... and so on...

Angostura 4y ago
That unique style is pretty much dead, sadly.
- hashim 4y ago
  If you're talking about the tongue-in-cheek, it couldn't die quicker as far as I'm concerned. Even as a proud Brit (from the North, so that may be a factor), I find the tongue-in-cheek style and excessive puns nauseating when I'm just trying to scan articles to catch up on news, to the point that I keep telling myself I need to unsubscribe from their newsletter. The only reason I'm still subscribed at all is because I know of no good equivalent for UK-specific tech news. Then again, the writing style is not the worst part of The Register - it's the comments section that's overrun with boomers and their predictably bitter takes when it comes to news involving Big Tech, Silicon Valley or pretty much anything that doesn't have the effect of transporting them back to their nostalgic heyday.
  - mongrol-smush 4y ago
    The Register might not be to your taste, but some of us find it a refreshingly irreverent and amusing read. Anyway they are getting some stick for becoming too corporate and bland at the moment which just goes to show how difficult it is to make people happy.
lproven 4y ago
FWIW, I wrote this piece. I am very glad to hear that you like it, and I am delighted to see it doing so well. I think it's only the 2nd or 3rd obit I've done for the Reg and I did not get a style guide; I just read some previous ones. It was fascinating to write this. I did a lot of reading and research, and the more I learned, the more interesting and impressive her and her husband's work become to me. In the end my editor was really chasing me to file my piece, so I am happy that it proved worth the time investment. He too is surprised how well it's done. It may be my single most-tweeted story yet, in a year full-time at El Reg. FWIW, some background context: Kathleen Booth got her BSc from the same college I got mine. J D Bernal's mentor, W L Bragg, was the son of perhaps the most famous graduate of my secondary school, King William's College: W H Bragg. They are tenuous connections but both pleased me.
- DrBazza 4y ago
  I think everyone on here appreciates obits for tech pioneers, particularly those that are less well known. Frankly there's not a lot of websites, if any, that publish obituaries for anyone other than people like Steve Jobs. It's educational and interesting to learn how some tech was due to someone we've pretty much never heard of.
  - lproven 4y ago
    Sadly, there are too many to write. We discuss them when they happen but all too often it's someone who was hugely important in one particular tiny community or specialism or something, and who the rest of the world has mostly never heard of. If there isn't a writer who knows that area or that field, then it's hard to cover and explain adequately. A few have come up in my time on the Reg who are worthy of coverage but none of the available team really has relevant expertise. :-(

Angostura 4y ago

That unique style is pretty much dead, sadly.

hashim 4y ago
If you're talking about the tongue-in-cheek, it couldn't die quicker as far as I'm concerned. Even as a proud Brit (from the North, so that may be a factor), I find the tongue-in-cheek style and excessive puns nauseating when I'm just trying to scan articles to catch up on news, to the point that I keep telling myself I need to unsubscribe from their newsletter. The only reason I'm still subscribed at all is because I know of no good equivalent for UK-specific tech news. Then again, the writing style is not the worst part of The Register - it's the comments section that's overrun with boomers and their predictably bitter takes when it comes to news involving Big Tech, Silicon Valley or pretty much anything that doesn't have the effect of transporting them back to their nostalgic heyday.
- mongrol-smush 4y ago
  The Register might not be to your taste, but some of us find it a refreshingly irreverent and amusing read. Anyway they are getting some stick for becoming too corporate and bland at the moment which just goes to show how difficult it is to make people happy.

lproven 4y ago

FWIW, I wrote this piece. I am very glad to hear that you like it, and I am delighted to see it doing so well. I think it's only the 2nd or 3rd obit I've done for the Reg and I did not get a style guide; I just read some previous ones. It was fascinating to write this. I did a lot of reading and research, and the more I learned, the more interesting and impressive her and her husband's work become to me. In the end my editor was really chasing me to file my piece, so I am happy that it proved worth the time investment. He too is surprised how well it's done. It may be my single most-tweeted story yet, in a year full-time at El Reg. FWIW, some background context: Kathleen Booth got her BSc from the same college I got mine. J D Bernal's mentor, W L Bragg, was the son of perhaps the most famous graduate of my secondary school, King William's College: W H Bragg. They are tenuous connections but both pleased me.

DrBazza 4y ago
I think everyone on here appreciates obits for tech pioneers, particularly those that are less well known. Frankly there's not a lot of websites, if any, that publish obituaries for anyone other than people like Steve Jobs. It's educational and interesting to learn how some tech was due to someone we've pretty much never heard of.
- lproven 4y ago
  Sadly, there are too many to write. We discuss them when they happen but all too often it's someone who was hugely important in one particular tiny community or specialism or something, and who the rest of the world has mostly never heard of. If there isn't a writer who knows that area or that field, then it's hard to cover and explain adequately. A few have come up in my time on the Reg who are worthy of coverage but none of the available team really has relevant expertise. :-(