6 ms·
This is a terrific story. Not terrific for any parties involved, but a well-written and well-told _story_. For any of you that just skimmed it - it's worth goin
by nlh 14y ago
This is a terrific story. Not terrific for any parties involved, but a well-written and well-told _story_. For any of you that just skimmed it - it's worth going back and reading the whole thing.
With lots of journalism these days it's terribly easy to give up on the storytelling part and stick to dry facts. Sometimes the case calls for that, but other times the weaving of the tale can be the best part.
Here, the reader is brought along for the ride - we're led to believe one version, then learn some dramatic differences that arose during the trial. Fun and worthwhile.
- eli 14y agoIf you like this kind of thing, you may enjoy http://www.longform.org/ http://www.longform.org/ or one of the other similar sites that highlight long form journalism.
- saturdayplace 14y agoYou might also like the Fiddler in the Subway, a collection of articles by Gene Weingarten
- lostlogin 14y agoOr http://thefeature.net http://thefeature.net. - formerly Givemesomethingtoread. This is Marco's, or is associated with him somehow. It has great stories, and they tend to be the right length for the evening situation where lights are out, but I want to read before I sleep.
- zaidrahman 14y agoYou might also like TheBrowser.com which is a collection of great reads sorted by topics.
- naner 14y agoAnother: http://www.aldaily.com/ http://www.aldaily.com/
- triplesec 14y agoOddly enough it reminds me of the better articles in Vanity Fair. Sadly, they're still mostly offline, but their less fluffy serious and political pieces are well worth it.
- ahoyhere 14y agoAgreed, this is the best thing I've read on a newspaper site in as long as I can remember. What a story. True journalism at work.
- sylvinus 14y agoI'm also amazed by the work done by the journalist into this article over a quite long period of time, the interviews, the fact-checking, ... It's a bit sad that content on most blogs or even respected papers is written several orders of magnitudes faster.
- 205guy 14y agoThis was definitely well-written, and very enjoyable to read. But I don't think it was true journalism. The story was manipulated to show first one side, then the other, then to leave the reader hanging in the balance. I can appreciate the writing skill to do that, but I'm still left wondering whether some information was sacrificed to achieve it. HN commenters have come up with some probable scenarios (my favorite is that he knew there were drugs but really thought Denise was real [1]), and I would think a more journalistic piece would explore those. Obviously, the writer can't put in all the details from months of research, but can give scenarios that seem plausible given those details. Finally, I'm surprised there was no research into who the con men were. Maybe it's dangerous to investigate that, but it still seems like a totally one-sided story if he was conned, but nobody is trying to figure out who did it. So in the end, I think the entertainment value was higher than the news value or even the investigative reporting value. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5344496 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5344496
- jonahx 14y ago>> The story was manipulated to show first one side, then the other, then to leave the reader hanging in the balance. This is true, but this is always true. The idea of pure journalism, imo, of a story presented without artifice or bias, is an illusion. A dry style with a linear presentation of facts shorn of judgement and opinion is itself an artifice. It just happens to be an artifice that has, by cultural convention, branded itself as "true" and "objective." I don't think recasting this story in such a style would have provided much new information or left me with a clearer picture of what had actually happened. But I think quite a bit would be lost.
- tobinfricke 14y agoAgreed! Amazingly the "twist" doesn't appear until after around 4300 words -- which were themselves captivating even without yet encountering the twist!
- Androsynth 14y agoI think twist is inaccurate. More like it veers you from strongly believing one side, back to feeling uncertain about which side to believe.
- ap0rnnstar 14y ago20 minutes later still sitting in my shower robe =)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Tichy 14y agoI must admit I don't get the appeal. What is there to learn from it? Seems like a pretty standard scenario (internet lure)?
- schiffern 14y agoNot every piece of writing is an instruction manual.
- Tichy 14y agoOn HN it tends to be, though. I think it is kind of implied by "news" which are things one didn't know before reading about them.
- firefoxman1 14y agoDon't watch the "news" on TV then. It's the same stuff your grandparents watched when they were young.
- Tichy 14y agoI don't
- njharman 14y agoNo, but the best are (even/esp fiction). Retelling a tired, old, heard a million times plot requires superlative writing or at least something knew to be entertaining. (or I guess bad memory on reader's part).
- npsimons 14y agoYeah, I felt the same. I can appreciate good writing, but from the first paragraph this screamed to me a story about how someone actually fell for one of those scams. Maybe I should be happy that it's so rare that people fall for them that it's noteworthy when someone does.
- 14y ago
- drawkbox 14y agoGreat story but also captivating title, I was hooked the moment I read the title and the idea of it. This is writing.