Scripting News: We fact check your ass

Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

We fact check your ass

I don't know what Scoble is up to, but he's my friend, not just the business kind of friend. So it's my job to help him get back on track, or find out why I'm wrong, so I can get back on track.

The title of this piece \"We fact check your ass\" was a synthesis from the early days of blogging. There are a few key ideas about blogging in that short phrase.

1. There are many of us.

2. We care about the truth.

3. We use colorful language. ";->"

So this leads to a bunch of good blogger behavior, stuff Scoble knows about, stuff Scoble has evangelized. A person who puts his ideas out there takes the risk of putting out incorrect ideas, but that's not a problem if there are lots of people fact checking his or her ass.

So here's what you should do when you say something that's incorrect. As soon as you realize it, correct it. Maybe offer an explanation, but that seems optional. But first and foremost, fix the bug.

Everyone is telling him this, but he's not getting the message. Simply say "I made a mistake" and every piece from this point on won't have to guess what happened.

PS: TwitterGram explaining this in my own voice.

PPS: Wired piece posted late yesterday.

Last update: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 4:01:31 PM

~About the Author~

Dave Winer, 55, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

Mail: scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

Jul Sep