This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Kilyle: It seems to me that old media is, to some degree, doing a wise thing here (in some cases). They're not jumping on the bandwagon, but waiting for the things to sort themselves out as notable or not. After all, things sprout, grow, wither, and die with such great speed online that it's reasonable to hold back your support until you're sure they're worth even mentioning.
I mean, back at the start, who could have predicted the success of:
- World Of Warcraft? I mean, as opposed to any number of other candidates that could've taken the lion's share of players, and in the face of the way people sneer at the Heroic Fantasy setting these days....
- You Tube? (Videos? No subscription? No intrusive ads? People can load their own home movies and clips from 30-year-old commercials??)
- Wikipedia? (An encyclopedia edited by every crackpot who drops by?? nobody's gonna rely on something like that.) Wikis in general?
- Webcomics? Freely available, all the back issues at your fingertips, no subscription, no sign-up... how is it that some of these artists even make money?
- I Can Has Cheezburger? (I mean, kittens are cute, and cats are quite appealing, but c'mon... and what's with all these spelling errors?)
- Fanfiction?
- The Free Software movement? Are they nuts?! Since when do you sign away your legal rights to future versions of the program you made?
- eBay? Amazon.com? Google, for that matter? BitTorrent? Personal blog sites and personal opinion newsletters?
- Print-on-demand sites such as Lulu.com, Zazzle.com, and CafePress.com?
- Not to mention the adjustments we're in the process of with regard to new media vs. the concept of "stealing" and the affects (both positive and negative) that downloading has on the artists and associated companies. And iTunes and personalized internet radios?
- How about the very real chance for an individual with no venture capital or connections to self-promote online and via word-of-mouth advertising (and sometimes viral videos) skyrocket to unexpected stardom within a matter of weeks, days, even minutes in some cases? If you have the desire and the energy to do so, it's easier than ever to bypass the need for a large, powerful company to promote you and back you up.
...so, in general, as much as we'd like to laugh at them, I think Old Media actually has some smart policies going. Not that they couldn't chime in a little sooner than they're doing, but....
blackcat Should there be examples on the main page? Other than the one in the text?
Random Surfer: Older Than They Think. Newspapers used to print multiple editions of the paper a day, and - for example - during baseball season they'd print the current scores (as of the last they'd heard when the printing started), such as "Yankees 5, Red Sox 4, Bottom of the 5th." Then came radio...
