

Reddit transforms into real-time news source for Aurora shooting - jimmyjim
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/20/reddit-aurora-shooting/?grcc=33333Z98ZtrendingZ0Z0Z0Z0Z0&grcc2=1048c049ea0f4ee089797053f8418184~1342945261087~fca4fa8af1286d8a77f26033fdeed202~23860bcc289b5226143ecb490875550f~1342869910162~98~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~9~3~

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jgrahamc
I'm going to be the grumpy old man and say I think this is a step backwards,
not forwards. Detailed, minute by minute, updates on 'breaking news' like this
are just an extension of the ridiculous 24 hour news cycle that I imagine many
redditors dislike.

Personally I think that sampling the news at most daily is quite enough.

~~~
pretzel
I think there is very much a difference.

24 hour news is banal not because of its immediacy, but because, since it is
always on, it needs to fill itself with lower quality items. Frequent and
recent updates on a current event on a ad-hoc basis is different in that it
doesn't have the imperative to fill up the gaps.

Also, due to the ranking of posts, the compelling stuff rises. Compellingness,
while not always correlating with quality, is at least an indicator. If
quality posts rise and are then being used to then shape the discourse at an
early stage, this flows through and directs the thoughts of those presenting
more measured and considered pieces, thus making the whole eco-system better.

Sampling the news daily is quite enough for most people, but surely if you are
wrapped up the event and need urgent news this format is a good thing. Also,
if it improves the news that you then get at a daily rate, this is also good.

~~~
zcid
I fail to see the need for up-to-date stats on who has died and where. It
fills the exact same need for an dopamine rush that traditional news does.
"Compellingness" is just another way of saying it satisfies the mind's desire
for more little chemical hits.

Anyone that has a direct need for the information (family, friends) can get it
through the usual channels. For everyone else, it's just morbid fascination no
matter how you attempt to justify it.

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mikeknoop
I've been following integ3r's coverage since he started. The most recent
updates are here:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/wyi5s/comprehensive_ti...](http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/wyi5s/comprehensive_timeline_part_11_aurora_massacre/)

There's certainly something good to be said about an up-to-the-minute,
continually updated, sourced, short form, _curated_ , stream of news.

~~~
AdamTReineke
And completely free of speculation. He's been really good about avoiding that.
EDIT: And free of sensationalism.

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antonioevans
I believe Reddit is the sleeping (not so sleeping actually) giant of social
networking. With it's subreddits it's not like digg. I am not saying it's
monetizable currently but it probably the biggest website your mother doesn't
know about.

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mibbitier
Is this particularly news worthy? I'd bet people discussed it on Facebook,
IRC, IM... maybe even G+.

~~~
mikeknoop
The part that is particularly noteworthy is not that "Reddit" discussed the
event, rather, Reddit enabled a single user named integ3r to offer a more
succinct, comprehensive, unbiased, unsensationalized story than anywhere else
in the media surrounding the event.

~~~
graupel
I was about to write a long reply, but your single sentence summed up my exact
thoughts in a very elegant way, thanks!

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benatkin
Flagged. I think this is just an excuse to get the story about the shooting,
which normally wouldn't be appropriate, on to HN. This type of behavior on
reddit is also not new. Self posts have been very popular there.
<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

~~~
EvilTerran
Er...

 _"Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate
for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to
its page and clicking on the "flag" link. If you flag something, please don't
also comment that you did."_

~~~
raldi
I also think it's a little disgusting how he's assuming bad faith on the part
of his fellow HNer.

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DrJokepu
The times are really changing. When Steve Jobs passed away, I've learned about
it on HN and Twitter about half an hour before mainstream news picked up the
story.

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mcmire
Oh, this is super cool, nice find. Yay for the internet!

