Business Week article

[+EraSeek]

Just a quick note. Saw a nice little article in the new edition of Business Week on Geocaching. Brian Snat, was the you?

 

 

"See the wonderous works of Providence! The uncertainty of human things!" Geo.Washington

[+briansnat]

They were at my house last month taking photos, so I guess it was me. Haven't seen it yet though.

 

Update:

Tried to look at the story online, but I guess you have to subscribe. Bummer.

 

"You can't make a man by standig a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

 

[This message was edited by BrianSnat on August 24, 2003 at 04:26 AM.]

[+EraSeek]

They managed to get the URL wrong "geocache.com". So who is the lady-cacher from California that they spoke to?

[Jeremy]

Ugg. Also, I did a search on their web site. The title is "Hunting Buried Treasure by GPS"

 

Anyone know the contact address to have them add a correction for their next magazine? How about a little fact checking, folks.

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location

[+briansnat]

Sheesh, when I was interviewed I emphasized that caches aren't buried and I'm sure the other geocachers who were interviewed said the same thing.

 

These reporters, sheesh! OK, the idea of searching for buried treasure sounds good, but its not what we are about. What we get is a reporter who has pre-conceived notions about this sport and they publish those and disregard the facts.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[+yummykaz]

http://www.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_35/b3847109_mz025.htm?mz

 

Thought the article was lame. To short. To sound bite.

 

Jeremy: write them a letter to editor to run a correction. I get the magazine and feel like I ave seen them run corrections.

[magellan315]

Have to agree with Team Kaz, the article was more like a sound bite. Just a series of short descriptive sentences, could have been done as bullet points.

[VistaCrewzers]

Way to short. Some of those bullets sould have been topics like travel bugs, caching games and competitions and meets, and of course getting my lazy butt out of the chair.

[Dinoprophet]

"Be sure to get a battery life of 20 hours"

 

Good advice.

 

Well the mountain was so beautiful that this guy built a mall and a pizza shack

Yeah he built an ugly city because he wanted the mountain to love him back -- Dar Williams

[+Maxine&Me]

"The most popular is www.geocache.com"

Sounds like another correction is necessary.

 

[This message was edited by Maxine&Me on August 25, 2003 at 01:33 PM.]

[+briansnat]

They spelled the name of this website wrong and worse than that...THEY SPELLED MY NAME WRONG! That is unforgivable.

 

Yeah, and what's the deal with 20 hour battery life? Maybe in a basic model. BTW, that's my trusty Vista on the page.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[+Stunod]

quote:

---

Enthusiasts, known as cachers, recommend the Magellan and Garmin (GRMN ) (GRMN ) brands <SNIP>

---

 

I guess they like Garmin more than Magellan, at least for the stock ticker name.

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

Eamus Catuli AC145895

[+EraSeek]

The online version does not include the nice picture of Brian Snat (much better looking than his former avatar would suggest )

 

Yes, the article has flaws and is short, but despite the title they do mention that cache are in stumps and under bushes. Worst offense is the URL being wrong.

[+yummykaz]

Not to bash reporters....but..

I have been interviewed twice by local TV station...once about why I don't fly on airplanes, and second about the meningitis outbreak in our area. Both times I felt like I was talking through the reporter. The reporter had a specific "take" on how she wanted the story to slant. For example, I was trying to tell her how I stopped flying quite a while ago and how I love taking trains. Her spin was how everyone should stop flying ( it was right after 9-11) and didn't I think so. Well, no I don't think that! But that is what she tried to keep getting me to say.

So beware in being interviewed unless it is live, they will spin you to their POV.

[+Team DEMP]

The BW Online Contact Info is at http://www.businessweek.com/info/mastheads/bwolmast.htm

 

Definitely not well written, but hopefully it would spark some additional interest and the folks will take the time to find the most appropriate Geocaching site.

 

For folks that might do interviews in the future, I always ask to review the article prior to release and they typically comply with the request.

[Zoboomafoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DavidL:

 

For folks that might do interviews in the future, I always ask to review the article prior to release and they typically comply with the request.

---

 

That's surprising. I never let people review my articles before they're published.

[+Markwell]

Interesting. I spoke to Kate Murphy many months ago. She seemed to think this was going to be a big article.

 

I guess she got edited. I must have mentioned "NOT BURIED" about 15-20 times in a forty-five minute conversation.

 

Out of the four or five instances with reporters, I've had good experiences with 3 I think.

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

[+Doc-Dean]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BrianSnat:

They spelled the name of this website wrong and worse than that...THEY SPELLED MY NAME WRONG! That is unforgivable.

---

Who can pronounce your name, much less spell it!?!

 

---------------------------------------------------

Free your mind and the rest will follow

[+MissJenn]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Markwell:

I spoke to Kate Murphy many months ago. She seemed to think this was going to be a big article.

---

By the time she spoke to me, which was also a few months back but I guess it was sometime after your chat, she had some inclination that this would be one of the shorter stories that get inserted as space allows ... I was really hoping for much more than this.

 

-- I've found 58% of the caches in the country! How are your numbers? ;-)

[+Team DEMP]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zoboomafoo:

[That's surprising. I never let people review my articles before they're published.

---

I'm been in a bunch of different trade magazines and the person doing the article always honored my request to review it.

 

Good thing too since there were times I would correct what was written based on their interpretation of what I meant.

 

Especially if someone isn't familiar with a specific topic, having someone knowledgeable review it is beneficial.

 

So maybe you ought to consider that next time. Or do you write for the National Enquirer?

[enfanta]

quote:

---

A handful of Web sites list the latitude and longitude coordinates of stashes.

---

 

Really?? There's a handful of sites!? I'd like to see some of them!

 

Ode to a Pigeon: Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, You Lookin' at Me? YOU LOOKIN' AT ME?! (b. katt, 7/14/03)

[Zoboomafoo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DavidL:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zoboomafoo:

[That's surprising. I never let people review my articles before they're published.

---

I'm been in a bunch of different trade magazines and the person doing the article always honored my request to review it.

 

Good thing too since there were times I would correct what was written based on their interpretation of what I meant.

 

Especially if someone isn't familiar with a specific topic, having someone knowledgeable review it is beneficial.

 

So maybe you ought to consider that next time. Or do you write for the National Enquirer?

---

 

I'm one of those rare breeds of reporters who actually do their homework before starting an article in which I may not know as much about the topic as I should.

 

And I can proudly say I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to write a correction this year (twice for minor errors).

[+briansnat]

quote:

---

I'm one of those rare breeds of reporters who actually do their homework before starting an article in which I may not know as much about the topic as I should.

 

And I can proudly say I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to write a correction this year (twice for minor errors).

---

 

If you ever meet Kate Murphy at a convention, or wherever, could you kindly give her a big wedgie, or noogie, or smack her? How can a reporter for a major magazine make so many mistakes? www.geocache.com?????

 

And to add to the errors, my grandmother now thinks I'm Jewish.

 

"You can't make a man by standing a sheep on his hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position, you can make a crowd of men" - Max Beerbohm

[+Team DEMP]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BrianSnat:

And to add to the errors, my grandmother now thinks I'm Jewish.

---

You know, when I saw you that time by your Lame Roadside Cache #2, I thought you were Jewish!

[georapper]

can't someone who has a subscription to BW just copy the text of the article and post it on this

DB? i just want text, but then again, it may not be worth the 1 minute to read, it may be one minute of my life i'll never get back, the article sounds really stupid anyway. so who cares?

 

Creativity Within The Bounds Of Conformity

[+Stunod]

quote:

---

Originally posted by georapper:

can't someone who has a subscription to BW just copy the text of the article and post it on this

DB? i just want text, but then again, it may not be worth the 1 minute to read, it may be one minute of my life i'll never get back, the article sounds really stupid anyway. so who cares?

 

Creativity Within The Bounds Of Conformity

---

Read Team Kaz's post above for a link.

 

"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

Eamus Catuli AC145895

[+Criminal]

It works out better when a geocacher writes the article.

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

[+woodsters]

It's BrianSnat's fault. He did it on purpose....

 

Brian

 

As long as you're going to think anyway, think big. -Donald Trump

[BassoonPilot]

quote:

---

Originally posted by DavidL:

You know, when I saw you that time by your Lame Roadside Cache #2, I thought you _were_ Jewish!

---

 

When testing various headwear for the "Do you wear a hat?" thread, I discovered that yarmulkes are not effective for keeping ticks out of one's hair.

 

One hopes the article was not indicative of the general quality of fact-checking at Business Week.

[+Team DEMP]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

When testing various headwear for the "Do you wear a hat?" thread, I discovered that yarmulkes are not effective for keeping ticks out of one's hair.

---

That's just too funny!!!!! Maybe we can get one with geocaching.com on it for Brian! We can send one to him AND his grandmother. LOL!

[ArtMan]

Don't blame the reporter for the headline. Except maybe on the smallest papers, copy editors write headlines, not the reporter. She doesn't mentioned 'buried treasure' in her piece.

 

Having defended my fellow journalist, I stand with other news consumers in agreeing that there is no excuse for misspelling the name of someone you interview or getting the URL wrong.