
I’m An Article About The Internet That You Repost On The Internet - dwynings
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2012/05/14/120514sh_shouts_wayne
======
lionhearted
It used to be that the vast majority of media was controlled and shaped by
very few people.

The internet is gradually changing that.

It's a pretty big deal. The internet is simultaneously an incredibly powerful
publishing/distribution platform, and an incredibly powerful consumption
channel.

So, take the title:

> I’m an Article About the Internet That You Repost on the Internet

It could be said, "I’m an Article About [Internet Consumption] That's
[Published and Distributed on the Internet]"

Which suddenly comes across a lot less witty and clever.

Yeah, the internet is a big deal. People are going to keep talking about it.
And the trivial noise? That was around before the internet; it's just no
longer in the hands of a select few publishers/distributors.

~~~
laconian
It's not critical about publishing on the Internet. The article is about
Internet publishers' obsessive infatuation about the meta aspects of Internet
publishing. I think your reply is a good exhibit on that subject.

~~~
dmckeon
Old media discovers internet feedback, becomes introspective, publishes
introspection.

Perhaps the self-referential pieces begin to reach past introspection? Here
are some others:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-
scientist/2010/sep...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-
scientist/2010/sep/24/1) This is a news website article about a scientific
finding

<http://faultline.org/index.php/site/item/incendiary/> This is the title of a
typical incendiary blog post

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGSXMuWMR4> How To Report The News

------
spinchange
Here's the _real_ meta/synecdoche subtext:

>oh, Jesus, I once had dreams of being a Pulitzer-winning series about Congo.
How did I end up on the bullshit-tech-story beat?

------
joejohnson
I wonder if Teddy Wayne could have requested that this article be posted
without all of the Tweet/Like/etc at the top. The inclusion of these buttons
both hurts the point that he's making while ironically explaining why online
media has become such a vacuous echo chamber.

~~~
FuzzyDunlop
How many people will have read it and decided _not_ to use those buttons for
some fear of proving the article's point?

> _Just post me and pretend like you personally did something good. When’s the
> last time you volunteered or even gave money to a homeless person_

Ideally, this would be a really cynical comment. Sadly, it is not.

------
narrator
I really like that the low brow look-at-my-cute-cat culture is taking over.
You see, culture should travel up too.

All this "hi-brow" stuff is just manipulation or rehashed manipulation and
narrative control coming down from the even "higher brow" newspapers, research
institutes and political organizations. Most people wouldn't give a crap about
most of it if it wasn't for their petite bourgeouis, keeping up with the
"smart" people desire for acceptance or "what should I worry about today that
has absolutely no effect on my life?" news junkie syndrome.

------
dsr_
This is the title of this story, which is also found several times in the
story itself.

<http://consc.net/misc/moser.html>

(It's been said before.)

~~~
dredmorbius
This is a sentence. That fragments. Useful device.

------
Tossrock
I am reminded of a comment tree I participated in back on Reddit several years
ago [1]. I guess at a certain size all organizations have to have a meta
discussion about themselves.

[1]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/9j8vh/i_was_at_work_the...](http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/9j8vh/i_was_at_work_the_other_night_when_i_ran_across/c0czm9m)

------
jballanc
I can't help but feel that the author could've saved himself the time and
effort and just posted a link to the Wikipedia page for the "Tragedy of the
Commons" instead.

Here, I'll help: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons>

------
MrMan
If HN understood this article they would have buried it by now.

------
ruedaminute
hee. I do wonder just how much innovation is being stifled in terms of time-
wasting and demoralization by the hype-machine. I don't mind articles about
apps or new techs, but I'm about getting my fill of the incessant stream of
news about funding, VCs, i.e. the "business" of startups...and that's not to
mention the umpteenth post about how your startup isn't lean enough if you
don't validate your idea or do A/B testing.

------
frasertimo
I don't think we need to get all defensive about this. Yes we overtweet,
share, retweet, 'like', etc, and we love how self-aware we all are. Good
point, Teddy Wayne. Now, what suggestion do you have as an alternative to
offer?

Ah, I thought so.

------
jchrisa
I was hoping this was written by machine.

~~~
dredmorbius
Wait ... is that in reference to the article ... or your own post ;-)

------
mekazu
May 14, 2012? Am I in the future now?

~~~
klez
I think it's the date of the printed edition of the magazine.

------
anigbrowl
I can't upvote this enough.

------
ktizo
And so here's a comment on the internet about the article on the internet that
is about the articles on the internet that are reposted on the internet that
was reposted on the internet.

 _this post has been brought to you by the court of King Caracticus and the
letter 'j'_

------
thespin
I'm a Journalist Trying To Come To Grips With Technology That Is Making My
Profession Irrelevant

~~~
tatsuke95
Technology is making good journalism irrelevant only to those who have no
attention span or don't read.

The internet crushed distribution, but nowhere has it eliminated the demand
for great writing. If anything, that need is greater now than ever.

~~~
Tsagadai
I can't agree with you more than I do. Good writing and journalism is more
important than ever but it is completely missing. Blogs are mostly crap,
successful online news generally consists of fluff pieces and most actual news
is repeated and retold to the point of being a muffled meme.

Page view driven journalism is taking us down a dark path. I would not be
surprised if George Takei and Ashton Kutcher are the premier sources of online
information for most people in 5 years. Good writing is not required for a
large number of page views.

~~~
tatsuke95
> _"Blogs are mostly crap"_

Most of my friends and family can't distinguish between a real website/blog
and an SEO, ad-driven site with computer generated text.

