7 ms·

Dilbert on news aggregators

43 points by trs81 17y ago

philk 17y ago
This was more sad than funny. I like Dilbert but Scott Adams seems unpleasantly wed to the past.
ciscoriordan 17y ago
It made me laugh, but it's too broad of a generalization. Some news aggregators really add value. They drive traffic and stimulate interesting discussion. They make it easier to get opposing viewpoints on the same topic. I wonder if Scott Adams has a chip on his shoulder because of the effect aggregators have on old media, his bread-and-butter. I find it hard to imagine XKCD labeling all news aggregators as parasites.
- KWD 17y ago
  I think this was really more a joke about Rupert Murdoch than his personal view, especially since Murdoch's 'parasites' comment has been discussed a lot recently. Edit: adding link to show a reference http://www.mediaite.com/online/google-rupert-murdoch-decries-exploits-web-aggregation/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/google-rupert-murdoch-decries...
sharkbrainguy 17y ago
http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-11-17/ http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-11-17/ A link to the minimal version of the site (no flash etc.)
83457 17y ago
It wou- ld have been funni- er with- out break- ing words
- unalone 17y ago
  Hyphenation improves readability tremendously. It's a time-honored practice whose results have been proven repeatedly.
- JacobAldridge 17y ago
  Yes, there is a certain irony in words being broken only because they need to fit within the rigid printing parameters of the newspaper medium he's trying to defend.
- Poiesis 17y ago
  Are you kidding me? I thought it was part of the joke. Nice pun, there.
iamelgringo 17y ago
I'm showing my personal bias, of course. I just launched a business/economic social news site called http://newsley.com http://newsley.com. But, far from being parasites, social news sites expose readers to a much greater cross section of news than a local newspaper ever could. And, a well moderated social news site like Hacker News or a heavily filtered reddit is much more useful than an editor could ever be. There's still a whole lot of room for news aggregation/content crap filtration online. Social News is just getting started. But then, I'm probably preaching to the choir here on HN. :)
- bonecandy 17y ago
  On newsley, I don't think making the description a link is a good idea. Digg does this too and I find it very annoying as I'll accidentally click it sometimes (for example, if I want to copy and paste it). I'd also suggest making the description text a lighter color so the titles stand out a bit more.
  - iamelgringo 17y ago
    Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on making some design changes to the site. Changing the color of the description text is a good idea. And, thanks for the input on changing the description text to make it unclickable. I'll have to think that one through a bit.

43 points by trs81 17y ago

philk 17y ago

This was more sad than funny. I like Dilbert but Scott Adams seems unpleasantly wed to the past.

It made me laugh, but it's too broad of a generalization. Some news aggregators really add value. They drive traffic and stimulate interesting discussion. They make it easier to get opposing viewpoints on the same topic. I wonder if Scott Adams has a chip on his shoulder because of the effect aggregators have on old media, his bread-and-butter. I find it hard to imagine XKCD labeling all news aggregators as parasites.

KWD 17y ago
I think this was really more a joke about Rupert Murdoch than his personal view, especially since Murdoch's 'parasites' comment has been discussed a lot recently. Edit: adding link to show a reference http://www.mediaite.com/online/google-rupert-murdoch-decries-exploits-web-aggregation/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/google-rupert-murdoch-decries...

sharkbrainguy 17y ago

http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-11-17/ http://www.dilbert.com/fast/2009-11-17/ A link to the minimal version of the site (no flash etc.)

83457 17y ago

It wou- ld have been funni- er with- out break- ing words

unalone 17y ago
Hyphenation improves readability tremendously. It's a time-honored practice whose results have been proven repeatedly.
JacobAldridge 17y ago
Yes, there is a certain irony in words being broken only because they need to fit within the rigid printing parameters of the newspaper medium he's trying to defend.
Poiesis 17y ago
Are you kidding me? I thought it was part of the joke. Nice pun, there.

iamelgringo 17y ago

I'm showing my personal bias, of course. I just launched a business/economic social news site called http://newsley.com http://newsley.com. But, far from being parasites, social news sites expose readers to a much greater cross section of news than a local newspaper ever could. And, a well moderated social news site like Hacker News or a heavily filtered reddit is much more useful than an editor could ever be. There's still a whole lot of room for news aggregation/content crap filtration online. Social News is just getting started. But then, I'm probably preaching to the choir here on HN. :)

bonecandy 17y ago
On newsley, I don't think making the description a link is a good idea. Digg does this too and I find it very annoying as I'll accidentally click it sometimes (for example, if I want to copy and paste it). I'd also suggest making the description text a lighter color so the titles stand out a bit more.
- iamelgringo 17y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on making some design changes to the site. Changing the color of the description text is a good idea. And, thanks for the input on changing the description text to make it unclickable. I'll have to think that one through a bit.