Does anyone actually look at these postings?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| notbob May 13, 2014 5:31 PM EDT |
I'm getting real tired of these self-serving Jim Lynch postings that direct me to his site, only to discover he hasn't written spit, only linked to someone else's work. Yeah, I wanna learn more about AV Linux. Lo and behold, Jim finally admits, "I haven't used AV Linux. but....". Say wha....!!?? Oh, someone other than Jim has written an AV Linux review. One Jack M. Germain, it appears. Did Jim say Jack had written a review? Why no, he didn't. The headline Reads: AV Linux review: A distro packed with audio and visual applications ...and the byline reads, "by Jim Lynch". Is this how online journalism works. Take credit for someone else's work and post it yourself on a newsfeed like LXer? Dang, I best get up a bogus website, tout de suite, and start posting MY articles on LXer. ;) |
| Ridcully May 13, 2014 6:03 PM EDT |
For the record "notbob", the editors are very aware of Jim's postings and they check him out each time. I've struck situations where he has posted about five articles with three line tutorials in each and all of them taken from a single master article by some other author......Naturally, it is the "other author's" single article that is posted, not Jim's five little "takes". However it's difficult to walk the line between dumping and keeping when what Jim has posted is in effect a "roundup" with links to the articles he is summarising. Such an article can actually be useful for someone who wants a quick brief on several "happenings" in the Linux world. I think we've had this discussion before. |
| flufferbeer May 13, 2014 6:17 PM EDT |
@notbob You ask >> Does anyone actually look at these postings? VERY infrequently for me, mostly for your reasons. @Ridicully, >> However it's difficult to walk the line between dumping and keeping when what Jim has posted is in effect a "roundup" with links to the articles he is summarising. Such an article can actually be useful for someone who wants a quick brief on several "happenings" in the Linux world. I think we've had this discussion before. No, seems to me rather that Jim's post headlines are nothing more than CLICKBAIT to be avoided at all costs! My 2c |
| notbob May 13, 2014 7:09 PM EDT |
> Such an article can actually be useful.... You mean like when I hafta search around on the "full story" page only to discover no such review actually exists, then try every link on the page trying to locate said review? No, I don't find that useful. I find it incredibly annoying and a time consuming waste. I come to LXer for the "roundup", not for a link to yet another roundup. |
| tuxchick May 13, 2014 8:25 PM EDT |
An easy solution is don't read them. The technical term is "self-service filtering so you can choose for yourself what to read." |
| gary_newell May 14, 2014 3:45 AM EDT |
I think you are doing a disservice to Jim Lynch. On the ITWorld site he mainly writes roundup articles and yes I do find them useful as quite often he has picked articles I haven't spotted elsewhere and so it gives me a chance to read them. Jim also writes on the eyeonlinux blog where he expresses his opinions on a number of different subjects. His articles about Apple vs Android are very good. Jim also has a desktop linux review site (desktoplinuxreviews.com). I think Tuxchick has the right approach. If you know you aren't going to like the roundups then don't read them. There are articles on here that don't particularly interest me (the constant stream of patent wars for instance) but I'm sure that my articles aren't always of interest either. Each person has to pick and choose the articles they think are going to be worthwhile to them. |
| mbaehrlxer May 14, 2014 3:49 AM EDT |
one can hardly fault jim lynch for those articles. if someone follows his site directly, they are no worse than finding those same articles here on lxer. the articles referenced in jim's post should be posted here. what is irritiating is to get articles about articles (si have seen that 3 levels deep, where someone posted an article on lxer which was on an lxer style weblog, referencing another article, which was also an lxer style log which finally references the original article. instead of allowing those to be posted a better solution is to post the individual articles referenced directly on lxer and then have this one removed as redundant. so yeah, jim, thanks for pointing us to three interesting articles that i hope will soon show up directly in the lxer newswire. greetings, eMBee. |
| gary_newell May 14, 2014 6:25 AM EDT |
actually a trend I see happening as a developer is that when you search for an issue using Google there are a number of sites with a solution to the problem. On top of those sites are sites listing the problem and then linking to the solution thereby borrowing the traffic from those sites. The Big Resource is the worst one. I hate that site. |
| Ridcully May 14, 2014 9:18 AM EDT |
One man's meat is another man's poison. Mountains out of molehills. Storm in a teacup. Much ado about nothing. They all came to mind when I read down the above thread. To misquote Blaise Pascal slightly: I have made this comment a little longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. LOL. But I do agree with Tuxchick's comment on "self service", or to put it another way: the LXer editors put out the "dishes on the buffet"; it's up to the diners to select the ones that appeal to their palates. By all means tell us if you don't like some of the flavours, but then....you see...the problem is that others do. I don't think we'd be human if we didn't have a bit of a rant about something at various times......I know I get passionate about some things I find unpleasant - and say it loudly. So.....notbob....to use the words of Evelyn Beatrice Hall: "I may not support the context of your statement, but by golly, I will support to the death your right to say it." :-) |
| number6x May 14, 2014 11:36 AM EDT |
I've seen Jim Lynch's picture, but I always imagine My uncle Jim. My Dad's youngest brother, just a hair shy of turning 80. He's one of my few aunts and uncles that use a computer. Of course uncle Jim uses it to send out about 20 or 30 chain emails a day. (can't just direct them to the spam filter because now and then he sends a real message) I could get my uncle Jim to add your email address to his list and then you'd get a whole bunch of really useless stuff from a Jim Lynch! I did forward a link to Jim Lynch's blog to Uncle Jim and he's now a regular reader. Uncle Jim Lynch has no idea what Jim Lynch is talking about most of the time, and he doesn't care! He just likes to see his name on-line. |
| TxtEdMacs May 14, 2014 11:55 AM EDT |
Addressed to Unknown Six The envy you arose in me ... if only I had an uncle Jim. What a play, for the ages no less. A fitting end to this thread. YBT |
| flufferbeer May 14, 2014 1:49 PM EDT |
@notbob, >> I find it incredibly annoying and a time consuming waste. I come to LXer for the "roundup", not for a link to yet another roundup. +2 @tuxchic, >> An easy solution is don't read them. The technical term is "self-service filtering so you can choose for yourself what to read." Seems to me that this should be easy enough in theory. But this so-called "self-service filtering" is tough in practice when Lynch keeps FLOODING the postin' waves with one "roundup" after another (or more LINKS to more roundups) non-stop! These absolutely REMAIN Clickbait; yuk. My addition'l $0.02 here |
| jdixon May 14, 2014 2:03 PM EDT |
> ....if only I had an uncle Jim. Well, how much does the position pay? :) |
| TxtEdMacs May 14, 2014 5:29 PM EDT |
jd, First we have to determine if you qualify. Ok? Answer honestly: Are you a Nut Case? If so P.M. me and we will talk salary. YBT |
| gus3 May 14, 2014 5:31 PM EDT |
I'm a nut case! At least, that's what the little purple men tell me. |
| Ridcully May 14, 2014 6:12 PM EDT |
@TxtEd.......is the offer restricted to "jd"......huh ? Threads like this have little green men popping out all over the place in my study, and my book shelves are infested with wookies. :-) |
| TxtEdMacs May 14, 2014 7:51 PM EDT |
General Informative Message for those seeking remunerative employment pertaining to various and sundry nefarious projects must be certifiable. Otherwise if it became necessary to albeit reluctantly put you down to protect the guilty colorful folks saying you are would not suffice. Sorry to all that think they qualify by the latter route, that just won't cut it. As always, YBT |
| DrGeoffrey May 14, 2014 9:24 PM EDT |
My BW says I'm a C.P.A. Will that work? |
| jdixon May 14, 2014 10:55 PM EDT |
> Answer honestly: Are you a Nut Case? If so P.M. me and we will talk salary. I work in IT, Txt. What does that tell you? And the j in jdixon is for James, so.... |
| jimlynch May 16, 2014 9:22 AM EDT |
Wow, I had no idea I'd become so controversial here on Lxer. What a thread to wake up to this morning as I sit sipping my coffee. Ouch! The open source roundup articles I do for ITworld are geared toward providing what I hope are interesting articles from a variety of sources each day. Some of the sources are large and well known, while others are much smaller blogs that ITworld readers might not have ever visited or heard of. I've tried to use a good mix of sites so that the roundups have helpful or unique stuff. Most people seem to enjoy the roundups and there are usually three or four links back to each of the original sites, so I think that's a good thing since ITworld is a pretty big site and sometimes its readers might not know about the smaller blogs and off-the-beaten-path articles that I sometimes include in the roundups. We make sure we are noting the original source and providing prominent links back so our readers can visit the original site. That's certainly good for the original site's traffic. I also try to add some value by adding a bit of commentary and additional useful links here and there in the roundups. I was doing a LOT of commentary but we decided to chop that back since roundups really aren't the place for long-form commentary, but a few sentences seem to work well without turning the roundups into opinion columns. Notbob, regarding your comment about the AV Linux review roundup. I use the first story topic as the title of the article as it would not be possible to stick "In Today's Open Source Roundup" in the title of the article. That goes in the dek instead, and I think people understand once they come to the page that it's a roundup of article snippets. I'm sure that Linux Insider probably didn't mind the influx of traffic from ITworld readers from that roundup, and I also included links to the AV Linux site for those who wanted more information about that distribution. Also Notbob, I am not sure how you could have missed the links to the AV Linux review. There are four links to it: The "according to" and the "more at" and the "image credit" and the image itself. And those links are all in a bright blue quote box that appears right after the introductory paragraph of the roundup. I use that same format for every roundup so if you've seen one, you know exactly where to find the links to each original article. I agree with Carla about skipping articles you don't like or otherwise have no interest in. I do that all the time and I look through a lot of different sites each day. It's the whole "different strokes for different folks" thing. Some stuff just doesn't appeal to certain people and that's perfectly fine. I love the amazing variety of articles that are available about open source, so I never have trouble finding something that interests me each day. Thanks so much for your support, Gary. I've actually closed my Eye On Linux blog and moved the posts and comments over to http://jimlynch.com as it made more sense to keep all my commentary on one blog instead of spreading it out between two of them. So do check out http://jimlynch.com for future open source commentary. Desktop Linux Reviews will continue though as it is. Tips are also curated from many different sites for ITworld readers, and those articles usually also include three or four links back to the original site in a prominent blue quote box that usually includes a clickable image too, which as I noted earlier is great for ITworld sending traffic to smaller sites that its readers might otherwise have never known about. I have never gotten a complaint from a single site about curating their tips on ITworld, I suspect a lot of the smaller sites are happy to have a steady flow of ITworld readers visiting them. It seems though that my submissions here have ticked off too many people, and I'm quite sorry to see that. I'll refrain from submitting any more as I certainly don't want to be considered some sort of spammer. If anybody wants to catch the open source roundups each day you can find them on this page at ITworld: http://www.itworld.com/open-source Now, I must finish my coffee and get ready to do today's roundup. Have a great weekend everybody! :) |
| jdixon May 16, 2014 9:37 AM EDT |
> It seems though that my submissions here have ticked off too many people I doubt that's true, Jim. Most people who aren't interested just skip them. It' s just that none of the regulars here are very shy about voicing our opinions. :) Check with Scott and see what he thinks before you stop submitting your articles. |
| gary_newell May 16, 2014 10:48 AM EDT |
I found the two articles that I really liked about Android vs Apple and Windows vs Linux http://jimlynch.com/mobile/ios-versus-android-will-everybody... http://jimlynch.com/linux-articles/who-cares-about-windows-v... Two very interesting articles. |
| Ridcully May 16, 2014 6:42 PM EDT |
I don't know what Scott thinks, but I personally would most definitely not like to see Jim stop submitting articles. I've just posted in the "future queue" what I think is a great editorial by Jim on DRM in Firefox. Heaven's to Murgatroyd, as I said above, "one man's meat is another man's poison" and if there are those who don't like Jim's items, there are plenty more who do. One of my favourite authors has written a book which I simply can't stand.....but that doesn't mean the rest of his work isn't excellent......I just don't own the book I don't like. Same goes here on LXer.....Read what you are interested in, skip what you are not. Reader's choice. Minor update: Jim's take on Firefox and DRM is still a darn good editorial, but this problem situation is not yet played out and I get the sneaking feeling Mozilla may rue the day it took this step,. |
| mbaehrlxer May 20, 2014 4:55 AM EDT |
there is a difference between roundups and genuine articles. as i said above the roundups are good and appropriate for the site where they are posted, but here on lxer i'd rather see each individual article posted. for genuine articles however, not posting them here would be a loss for lxer. that said, posting the roundups is still better than not posting them. it's not like they dominate lxer content. greetings, eMBee. |
| tuxchick May 20, 2014 1:39 PM EDT |
Jim, please keep submitting your stuff. We're grownups here and can deal with it :) |
| gus3 May 20, 2014 1:44 PM EDT |
Here's an idea: a submission type of "roundup" or "aggregate", to go along with "editorial" and "tutorial" and "interview" and that bunch. My $0.07 (inflation, you know). |
| tuxchick May 20, 2014 2:59 PM EDT |
There is a roundups story type, gus3. Like on this story :) |
| jimlynch May 20, 2014 4:30 PM EDT |
Will do, Carla. :) |
| gus3 May 20, 2014 5:20 PM EDT |
@tc: I guess that answers the thread topic, then, at least for my part. |
| Scott_Ruecker May 21, 2014 9:17 AM EDT |
I am neither here nor there in regards to Jim's articles. I do not post every single article he submits to the newswire for the reason stated above in that not all of them I believe are of interest to our readers. And as all of you know it is my own counsel I keep in that determination. There isn't a single author that I have accepted every single submission from, that I do know. No one should take insult in not having everything they write on the LXer Newswire. I happen to like Jim's articles but to say I liked everything he writes? I love Frank Herbert but even I don't like everything he wrote. ;-) Scott |
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