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November 19, 2004
This is not a STET
Eric Zorn writes a fun and robust blog at the Chicago Tribune (he's the Trib's first blogger), but I wish it were, well, more blog-like.
Reader comments aren't tied directly to individual posts; they herded to a central comment corral and restricted to 300 characters. There's no RSS feed.
Perhaps those are limitations to the Trib's online publishing system or perhaps it's an Old Media editorial decision -- I tried posting a comment to the blog to find out but I'm not sure it took -- the system kept clearing my comments.
Whatever the case, it's a dismissive approach to reader involvement. It's very un-open source and indicative of the relationship too many newspapers maintain with their customer-readers.
(Fun fact: STET is the copywriting symbol editors use indicating "Let it stand.")
UPDATE: The Trib is inching forward. On Feb. 10, 2005, it abandoned the clunky corralled display for a more spacious, blog-like appearance. But the blogs are sans trackbacks and comments. Better, but still emasculated.
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With blogging, I've been saying for a year and a half that it's the early days of the Web. We're going through all the same things, with a few improvements.
While we've done a better job sorta standardizing on a few things (RSS Feeds, basic format, 100 things, etc.), we're also starting to experience the "Welcome, My Name is: Big Business" phenomenon. I joked about this back in 95-96 when biz was finally starting to catch on, but they had to do everything like print, or some completely different way.
I think we are destined to make the same mistakes our parents did, no matter how much they protest. This blog, like many corporate blogs show that to be true. In some ways, we just have to pat them on the head and let them work through their issues. When they've made a big mess, then they'll come back. The smart ones will ask for help up front.
I suppose you're right, Jake. I'd just like the Trib to try harder. It's my hometown newspaper, after all, and I'd like to brag about it!
I know...I know...
But, you know, the design and all that isn't up to me.
Thanks for the mention!
Eric, if there's anything we can do to help the cause, let us know!
