Did you like

[Christiern]

This, from the Washington Post online site, struck me as being in poor taste. What do you think?

[Chuck Nessa]

If there was supposed to be a link, it didn't work for me.

[Bright Moments]

or for me

[jeffcrom]

Not trying to speak for Chris, but I don't think a link was intended. It's a screenshot showing the absurd juxtaposition of "You might like" and "Jill Clayburgh dies."

Correct me if I'm wrong, Chris.

[Christiern]

You got it, Jeff!

Do you agree that it shows poor judgement?

[Larry Kart]

You got it, Jeff!

Do you agree that it shows poor judgement?

I agree, totally.

[papsrus]

More likely, the "You Might Also Like" header sits atop a slot on the web page that automatically sweeps up stories with similar/related content. The header "You Might Also Like" was almost certainly not written specifically for the Clayburgh obit, but is more likely a standing, catch-all header for that particular slot on the web page.

The header could use more neutral language, such as: "You Might Also Be Interested In." But they probably focus-grouped the whole website and know that more folks will click through a category with the word "like" attached to it than than they will a category with the words "interested in" attached to it.

In an increasingly automated world, these things will happen from time to time.

Just a (somewhat educated) guess.

[Christiern]

You might also like...

Cholera death toll rises in Haiti

Thousands of unemployed will lose compensation

etc., etc.

Actually, the heading covers 3 or 4 stories, but, automation or not, someone with a real brain ought to at lest cast a cursory glance on each page.

[papsrus]

... automation or not, someone with a real brain ought to at lest cast a cursory glance on each page.

Why pay actual people salaries and benefits when you can just get some software to automatically assemble and cross-link content on your website 24-7?

They probably should change the wording in the header, but I doubt it even really registers with most readers. They see the word "like" and it attracts their attention, and they click, which after all is what you want.

To be clear, I'm not defending it, I'm just saying that these things are set up with templates and the whole process of linking similar or related content is somewhat automated, and becoming increasingly so all the time.

Eventually there will be one sleeping security guard at FOX News charged with overseeing the entire news flow onto the internets.

Edited November 18, 2010 by papsrus

[Van Basten II]

This is what happens when you try to sell news items like a brand of yogurt...

[Dan Gould]

Reminds me of Ernie Anastos doing teaser headlines for the 11 PM news on Channel 7 in New York.

(Read with smarmy grin and pukey announcer voice)

"Harlem fire, five dead, film at 11."

[neveronfriday]

You might also like...

Cholera death toll rises in Haiti

Thousands of unemployed will lose compensation

etc., etc.

Actually, the heading covers 3 or 4 stories, but, automation or not, someone with a real brain ought to at lest cast a cursory glance on each page.

If you knew the workings of PHP (programming language often used for these kinds of automated processes) you'd know that that is simply not possible.

With hundreds of news items (if not thousands), scripts do not have the option of "don't put that single one there if it doesn't fit". They could be programmed that way, sure, but that would add a rat's tail of programming routines to cover all cases (if any editor or even just one had the possibility of editing this kind of stuff (I'm not saying there shouldn't be), the site would probably need thousands of lines of extra code (and be more buggy because of it).

Yes, it's dumb, but isn't automation altogether, in many cases?

Edited November 18, 2010 by neveronfriday

[Christiern]

I think Anastos is long gone, at least I hope so, but we are still getting human tragedy stories with a smile—and almost a wink.

One of my favorite exchanges involves an inappropriate response from a NYPD detective. A child playing in a Harlem playground was hot and killed.

Reporter: Do you think they aimed specifically at the boy?

NYPD guy: No, just lucky, I guess.

[Shawn]

Yes, it's dumb, but isn't automation altogether, in many cases?

Yep. Especially when the whole shebang crashes at some point and we realize that nothing works without it.

[papsrus]

Yes, it's dumb, but isn't automation altogether, in many cases?

Yep. Especially when the whole shebang crashes at some point and we realize that nothing works without it.

And then we'll all be summoned to IBM for body cavity searches to make sure it never happens again.

(and given pamphlets upon exiting that suggest: "You May Also Like")

[Spontooneous]

Clearly you all have not learned the difference between "like" and "like-like."

[Jazzmoose]

I'll put this on my list of things to get upset about. However, I should warn you, given it's position at no. 4,345,321, it's not going to get a lot of attention...