August 03, 2004

I'm not sure how I feel about this. (via buzzmachine) On one hand it's his site and he can do whatever he wants but somehow something doesn't feel right about not disclosing this to the readers.
  • I am shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that people still read Fark.
  • Ha! Drew banned me over a year ago for acusing him of just this. What a twat.
  • actually, i didn't know about this. however, i'm not surprised. so my tv lies to me, my newspaper lies to me and now fark lies to me. oh the humanity!
  • FARK was my first exposure to grouplogs, so I've always held out a certain sort of patient affection for them, conservative politics and all. BUT. Not noting the distinction between paid for posts and those submitted by readers is really pretty weak and denotes a severe imbalance of ethics and a lack of respect for your reader's intelligence. Not so cool.
  • I think the number of Askmen.com links that got greenlighted for awhile is testament that either: a) this is true; or b) admins knew that everyone hated the Askmen.com links and posted them just to piss everyone off. I think a) is a bit more likely.
  • Wow. Great post. I wonder if we can always see the paid for articles in newspapers and magazines? I know women's magazines do this sort of thing when they promote particular products, and they don't announce it either, which I always thought was pretty shoddy. Wonder where else it's done?
  • Actually, Drew paid me for this post.
  • Holy jumpin' Jesus! Things are all farked up! Bad kitty!! * This link was already submitted on 2004-08-02 13:49:07 (US/Eastern Time) ... and was not listed
  • I was under the impression that the banner ads and the subscription fees were supposed to pay for Fark. Someone post this article to MeFi. Please. It will never show up on Fark and the readers most likely will not know.
  • This needs an obvious tag.
  • This needs an obvious tag. How about: FAAAAAARRRK! /William Shatner
  • FARK has always been marketed towards the immature and arrogant; this only explains why.
  • There's certain things we won't do. We don't run pop-ups; we won't sell links—that kind of stuff. Normally I wouldn't care, really. I mean, c'mon, it's FARK. But to hear the webmaster flat-out lie about the situation and then stomp out discussion when the secret gets out, well, that gets to me.
  • Hmm, well, that was odd. Let me try again: Normally I wouldn't care, really. I mean, hey, it's FARK. But there appears to be at least some deliberate deception: "There's certain things we won't do. We don't run pop-ups; we won't sell links—that kind of stuff." And then to see the webmaster stomp out discussion, well, that part irks me.
  • For what it's worth, Drew Curtis says this isn't true.
  • SomethingAwful's The Automatic Drew Curtis' Fark.com Machine! Old, but still funny.
  • I wonder if we can always see the paid for articles in newspapers and magazines? the concept of "advertorials" is subject of an ongoing debate in print journalism. in mainstream newspapers, content supplied by and paid for should always be labeled "advertisement," generally at the top of the page. but of course the type size for that word is shrinking and shrinking. it's a topic than deeply concerns professional journalists. it's important for readers to know when they're reading independent reporting and when they're reading PR.
  • For what it's worth, Drew Curtis says this isn't true. Actually, unless I am misreading, he doesn't actually say anything about selling stories. He says the guy doesn't work for Fark, that they don't do pop-ups and that they are thinking about selling NSFW links. I read it twice and do not see where he says "We don't sell links to stories."
  • For what it's worth, Drew Curtis says this isn't true. dang, jccalhoun beat me to it. Uh . ditto. Fark was great until I got "used" to it. The only thing I really go there for now is the Photoshop threads. If there's one thing I wish MoFi had, it's Photoshop threads. Not that I need to kill that much time, just - they can sometimes be pretty !#@$ funny.
  • This got me so angry that I needed to go grab a cool, refreshing Coke. Man, that did the trick!
  • You know, I'm not surprized, but I don't care because: 1) Hey, it's FARK. 2) I am a girl and don't really go to the 'boobies' links very often ALSO - having read Drew's comments linked to above, this sounds like just the kind of bullcrap that Calacanis tried to play with Jake over at Gothamist. Jake posted some commentary about Calacanis's new blog, and Calacanis totally went apeshite (was in the comments, but since deleted). He acted like a whiny, spoiled child and I was amazing that someone could be so petty and manipulative. Jake was a class act, was totally contrite (even if he didn't do anything wrong), and issued an apology. I really wish you guys could see those comments, they really showed Calacanis to be a nasty little moron. This thing of posting something publically like this to people without giving them the full story, and by using info he got from supordinates without going to the person in charge like a man - it seems to be his MO.
  • Calacanis is an asshat, but Drew Curtis deserves him. There's a new meme spreading: "Jumped the Fark".
  • nicola: They also have weiners links. Although they're mostly crap.
  • SideDish: One paper I worked for had totally whored itself to the point the ad staff would ring companies and promise editorial space for ad dollars. And this was a broadsheet, not a "community" paper. Of course, it was a Murdoch broadsheet.
  • Was this in New Zealand - Has Murdoch colonised the Antipodes as well? There goes my image of NZ as an untouched paradise. : ( I'm being silly, and know this is of course not so. But it was nice to imagine
  • Hey, Murdoch papers are fantastic. When you move, you can wrap your dishes in them, and they won't break!
  • Murdoch colonised the Antipodes as well? Where do you think he comes from? Hint ... where I live, he owns the national, the state, and the local newspaper.
  • Yeah, but I thought you guys kicked him out - boy, was I wrong. NZ seems to have escaped his evil machinations - and he owns no Canadian papers, though he does have Harper Collins Canada. I think I always forget what he owns, and what Conrad Black used to own, which is sort of like mistaking a minor demon for Beelzebub himself. So does Antipodes always both include Aust. and NZ? In which case it's a very useful word.
  • 1/ Murdoch's withdrawn form the New Zealand newspaper market, having flogged them off to Australia's Fairfax group. Sadly, none of the editors he appointed have been replaced yet. So we're left with editorial that veers between the merely repulsive and outright bullshit. Unfortunately the main opposition is not exactly alternative in a meaningful sense. He still owns the only pay-for TV provider. 2/ Antipodes is commonly used for both, along with Australasia.