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This is a very strange perspective, demanding a five-sentence summary and details on the technical aspects of the cheating, rather than this a well-written clos

by themgt 14y ago

This is a very strange perspective, demanding a five-sentence summary and details on the technical aspects of the cheating, rather than this a well-written close-lens narrative of a fascinating person and his bizarre, borderline-inexplicable behavior This isn't being presented as "news", whatever that even means. I think you should reflect on what you're looking for from the world - I would consider this kind of work a form of art, and one I very much appreciate. You don't have to appreciate it, but you're asking it to be some other thing you'd rather have - raw facts and data, summarized into as few words as possible Some of us would rather the world still have some art

yaakov34 14y ago
This was a piece of reporting that simply never took off. The reporter was not able to get the subject of the story to open up, and the whole article contains nothing that was not found in the endless discussions on the forum that he referenced. The result is a meandering and repetitive article which seems bloated and full of fluff. I don't see any really compelling or three-dimensional characters in it. Mark Singer should have had the guts to say "I didn't get the story. The guy wouldn't open up, I've got nothing interesting to say about him". Instead, he holds the reader's attention with every trick in the book, leaving us with nothing at the end of all the buildup. I do appreciate literature, but this just isn't literature, and it's bad reporting.
- opminion 14y ago
  A failed story but not bad reporting. I learned a lot about marathon races and how are they managed. Only the end is disappointing.
  - nacker 14y ago
    I enjoyed the article, and found the end disappointing and surprising in equal measure. It certainly confounds the readers expectation of "closure". It made me think of that classic Rumsfeld line: "There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact." http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_rumsfeld_4.html http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_rumsfeld_...

by themgt 14y ago

yaakov34 14y ago

This was a piece of reporting that simply never took off. The reporter was not able to get the subject of the story to open up, and the whole article contains nothing that was not found in the endless discussions on the forum that he referenced. The result is a meandering and repetitive article which seems bloated and full of fluff. I don't see any really compelling or three-dimensional characters in it. Mark Singer should have had the guts to say "I didn't get the story. The guy wouldn't open up, I've got nothing interesting to say about him". Instead, he holds the reader's attention with every trick in the book, leaving us with nothing at the end of all the buildup. I do appreciate literature, but this just isn't literature, and it's bad reporting.

opminion 14y ago
A failed story but not bad reporting. I learned a lot about marathon races and how are they managed. Only the end is disappointing.
- nacker 14y ago
  I enjoyed the article, and found the end disappointing and surprising in equal measure. It certainly confounds the readers expectation of "closure". It made me think of that classic Rumsfeld line: "There are a lot of people who lie and get away with it, and that's just a fact." http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_rumsfeld_4.html http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_rumsfeld_...