Week 5

I have been using computers for years now, typically writing for school, or internet research. The article by Virginia Heffernan “Google’s War on Nonsense” was actually pretty interesting. I never really thought that some articles would actually be printed as garbage just to make money for AOL. I understand there is a lot of crap on the internet, but to pay writers to much make up stuff just to get the advertising money…that’s just pathetic. I guess I shouldn’t be all that shocked, because I have noticed that even local newspaper companies don’t really seem to write their own stories anymore. I can see that if it is national news, then a local branch wouldn’t have access to a lot of what happened. But what happens when the story source is wrong? Now you have local papers looking like fools, because they didn’t investigate the truth. Even the local papers are more or less following suit with this idea, ‘let’s fill our paper with trivial stuff, and then get most of our money on ad space.’ So is what AOL doing, any different than what local newspapers are doing?

I have never used AOL, only because all I have ever heard about them is once you join, good luck canceling. I typically use Google for my search engine, but even then, it’s the internet, some days finding what you’re truly looking for is like finding a needle in a haystack. Google needs money from advertisers; they might just go about it in a different way.

I really liked how a couple of the articles discussed how anonymity can create this sense that people who comment to articles feel that they actually know what they are talking about. Funny how the internet can make Einstein's out of everyone! I have read numerous comments from people posting to articles on Bozeman Chronicle, MSN News, etc. Some of the comments are flat out fabricated lies, which the poster has tried to make sound like facts. Doug Gross talks about how some places have thought about requiring the commenter’s real names, but then that would prevent people from posting. I agree that most comments from people are just a huge waste of hot air. I did think the idea of having a select group only commenting on an article was cool. The only drawback to that, are they going to make sure the comments are totally unbiased? They could easily pick people who will only say certain things, just to help sell the story/publication.  Either way, until they figure out a great way to filter out the crap, I guess people will continue to blame Obama because the weather forecast shows it will rain.