Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Referencing Random Folk, Probably From Twitter

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Referencing Random Folk, Probably From Twitter

    Not everyone has a fucking clue as to half the folk being referred to in various political posts. Please try and let us halfwits know who the fuck that you're talking about.

    #2
    Thanks. I assumed it was just me because I don't live in the UK.

    Comment


      #3
      Same. I wish people linking to Twitter would, if possible, ensure the link opens in a new window. I guess such links are here to stay, but don't they shut out from the discussion people who are not on Twitter?

      Comment


        #4
        Interesting

        I don't believe that posters can control whether links open in a new window. I am used to that being controlled by the browser settings of the person clicking on the link.

        I am also missing something on the exclusion point. One doesn't need a Twitter account to open the links (unlike Facebook or Instagram links, which often lock non-users out). I can obviously only speak for myself, bit when I post a Tweet here it is precisely because I think it can add to the discussion here, away from Twitter.

        What am I missing?

        Comment


          #5
          For me sometimes the tweets open in a new window, sometimes they don't.
          I haven't studied it in detail, but anecdotally noticed that if the linked tweet appears in its full form on otf then it seems to open in a new window, if it doesn't then it also doesn't open a new window when you click on it. It's most frustrating for me when I close the link and expect to be back on the otf page, and am not. Based on my observations it doesn't appear to be related to the person posting the links, but, as I said, I haven't studied it in detail.
          I don't have a twitter account and have been able to open all the twitter links, though it can get frustrating if this then takes you to a link to a pay-walled newspaper (or whatever) article, and I find twitter something of a pain to navigate within.

          Comment


            #6
            Yes, same for me - the tweet sometimes opens in a new window and others in the same one. Because I am an old person the latter often results in me closing that window, forgetting I should have gone back to OTF. I have always had a Twitter account, so just assumed you needed one to read tweets. I stand corrected on that point.

            I have no broad objection to Twitter links. I've found some interesting accounts to follow because of such links from Nefertiti, Ursus and others.

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks for the input.

              I'm equally clueless on the new tab/window point.

              The paywall point is also interesting to me, because one of the reasons why I started posting Twitter links as opposed to just urls was that some paywalled publications take the wall down for links from Twitter (or at least they did at one point). Paywalls strike me as a difficult problem, and I have on occasion just copy and pasted entire articles when there was no alternative. Though I'm not inclined to do that often lest the site (and I) get picked up by the paywall police.

              Comment


                #8
                When i click on the "x people are tweeting about this" a new window always opens for me.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Is the idea of the paywall police an exaggeration or do newspapers use special companies or whatever to check for free use of their material?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    There is an entire industry devoted to just that.

                    While they currently expend more effort on music and video, a number of print outlets have also used their services.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      With reference to the OP, maybe Gangster Octopus can give us some examples.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Look at the Brexit thread

                        Comment


                          #13
                          So referring more to journalists than politicians.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Just the most recent example

                            As an aside, I think "journalist" is a stretch for Cole

                            Comment


                              #15
                              In terms of the opening in a new window or not, the tweet has to fully load (i.e be formatted with author and text) before it will open in a new tab. I've noticed recently that loading is slow or not happening - I suspect Twitter have recently changed something as they've rolled out conversations and quote tweets and that has had a performance impact.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re links to paywalled sites: I think that the poster should provide a brief synopsis of the content therein.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  It's a fair shout, but there's paywalled and paywalled (people use "paywalled" to mean "requires registration" or even "requires registration to read more than x articles per month", for example). And sites don't behave consistently anyway. So when linking, I don't know whether you'll be able to see the content or not tbh.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    I don't think this refutes my idea. Registration is often a drag when you want to read the linked-to article quickly.
                                    Last edited by Sporting; 15-09-2020, 08:53.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      If I registered on some site ages ago and I get to it directly and immediately without having to log in, which is how many of them operate, again I don't know if you can see it or not - I don't have a list to hand of which sites I can read easily because I'm registered and which I can read easily because they are open.

                                      The guardian has an in-between thing on some pages now and again now, which says "please register, or click this link if you don't want to". That's new, and puts some people off.

                                      And on a site which lets you have four free articles and then you need to register, I've got no way of knowing if you've read four this month. I don't know if I have, and I've registered so it isn't giving me any grief, or if it doesn't have a registration system.

                                      I think it makes sense to give an idea of what a link is about - I often do, but not always. Best practice, for me, is a link plus a headline and maybe one short paragraph quoted. But then people often react to that without reading the article linked, even if it's a site like the BBC that everyone knows isn't "paywalled".

                                      But generally, I don't know if you can read a link or not.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        I have had to reconsider which articles I assign in classes because a site can become paywalled between my assigning it and the due date. It means my students lose access to some high quality investigative journalism. OTOH I think our university library has some access routes.

                                        Comment

                                        Working...
                                        X