Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by VonGallifrey 2177 days ago
This is the "You are holding it wrong" opinion I guess.

If A-heads are entertainment then why does it say A-head and not Entertainment? I am not at fault here if I don't know what the hell A-head is supposed to mean and just think that this news site is kinda garbage.

What exactly about the presentation of this article was I supposed to pick up on and see that it is entertainment. It is the exact same presentation than their "U.S. Seeks to Seize Iranian Fuel Bound for Venezuela" article. Is that one news or is it also entertainment?

1 comments

This is a very literal approach. I assume that when you watch network TV you assume everything is coming at you with the same purpose and intent (news, talking head show, some documentary like 60 minutes.) Just because you want everything you read online to be "hard news" doesn't mean it will be. It takes a bit of work to understand the context of what you are seeing. So yes, you are holding it wrong.
What are you talking about? NO, I do not assume everything on the TV has the same intent. I never said anything even remotely close to that. I do however assume that if I am watching the news that I get the news.

I also don't want to be everything online to be "hard news", but when I go to a newspaper site I expect it to be news if it isn't otherwise noted. No the cryptic "A-Head" does not count. I am not a news insider and I think it is completely inappropriate to demand from the consumer to learn such cryptic jargon.

You said this:

> one still needs to try and understand the context of the publication and how the article is presented.

The context of the publication is that it is an article on the Wall Street Journal which is a business focused Newspaper and the Presentation of the article is exactly the same as the rest.

How is it my error then that I think an article like this is just garbage. (Hint: If your customers think your product is garbage then you need to do something about it and not just say "You are holding it wrong".)