Mere Musings

posted on 7.1.12 Let’s wrap this up. Now.

I truly appreciate the flood of support messages for my outlet and my decision on last night’s happenings. It means a lot to us. But for those that do not know the whole story, and are just wanting to start more shit, you’re really just as bad as that original offender. Know what you’re talking about first. Please.

I understand why some are upset, but our staff at Destructoid is made up of some of the kindest, warmest, most passionate people you’ll meet. I consider them both friends and family, and I don’t know what I would do without any of them. That’s why the heated, senseless attacks directed toward my team turns my stomach. Attackers: If you ever met any of these people you’d feel bad for what you’ve said. Vent your feelings, but don’t bring my other people into this.

As for us cutting off “freedom of speech” with these actions, well…have you read Destructoid before? Our people are free to express their feelings at any time, and they all regularly do. But none of our people are free to attack another person, industry figurehead (and fantastic person!) or no. In fact, the very first and most important rule in our company policies clearly outlines what we expect when it comes to accountability over public ramblings. Put clearly, attacks are unacceptable.

Despite what you’ve heard about past incidents from our long and bumpy history, as long as I’m in charge I will not stand for this kind of behavior.

So there’s that. And we’re done with this. Can we go back to talking about corgis now?

Boom.

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posted on 2.5.12

christr:

Times when I love the internet:

Right now

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posted on 4.18.11 Artist Credit, A Rant.

indieandyy:

Let’s get this out of the way up front: I know, I know. ”It’s (just) the internet (dude/man/bro).”

While I originally found Alfred Hitchcock’s “Angry Birds” via The Atlantic, whomever they reblogged it from got it from historicLOLs - an icanhascheezburger site - who added their ugly URL banner to the bottom of the image (because, ironically, they care about credit) and the source they list is someone else’s Tumblr who — god only knows where they found it, no links at all. But a quick Google search led me to the original artist’s flickr, the third link listed (the first is actually a different take on the idea, and the second is a post that credits the artist). So instead of reblogging from The Atlantic (which I think is a great presence here on Tumblr, for the record), I reposted it with the original work and artist credit.

I know, I know. “It’s a silly joke picture. About a 99 cent video game! Parodying a famous film!” But this isn’t about that image, specifically, it’s about the whole culture of aggregation for profit.

It has become clear to me over time that mega-site aggregators tend not to give a fuck about the creators of the things they aggregate. They just want your traffic. Because your clicks make them money. Money that they — almost assuredly — do not share with the artists, photographers, videomakers whose works they’ve used to get (not earn) cash.

Sure, many have ways to send them proper credit information, but it’s an after thought. It can’t be that hard to task someone to find such important info before it goes live. If they have the time to add their banner to someone else’s work, they have the time to research at least the name of person who made it, if not links. These sites can actually act like legitimate sources of art, culture, humor - but it comes back to the clicks. To the traffic. To the money.

I know, I know. ”It’s (just) the internet (dude/man/bro).”But it shouldn’t be. And it really doesn’t have to.

_{*To my knowledge, I have no connection to the artist of the work mentioned above; it was simply something that prompted this long-festering rant on the issue to be written. Some of you will agree with me, some of you won’t. It’s an opinion piece, not a math equation.}

Bravo, sir. As they say, Links are the currency of the Internet.

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posted on 3.18.11 LivingSocial matching each $5 donation to Red Cross for Japan earthquake/tsunami relief

I know I haven’t posted on here in a while, guys — between PAX East last weekend and the insane amount of work before and afterward, I kinda forgot about Tumblr. (Still been tweeting, though!)

In any case, I remembered about my Tumblr when I decided I wanted to get the word out about this to as many people as possible. The title of this post pretty much says it all: until 1 PM EDT tomorrow (Saturday), LivingSocial will match each $5 donation through their site to the Red Cross.

The current total (including LivingSocial’s doubling) is approaching $1.85 million as I type this. Let’s get it to $2 million and beyond! Please reblog, if you’re so inclined, so we can do that.

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posted on 1.20.11 Five Emotions Invented By The Internet

I feel like this piercing piece from my friend and colleague Leigh Alexander will be used by sociologists in a post-apocalyptic future to explain to the remnants of humanity what life was like on the early-21st-century “Interweb.”

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posted on 12.23.10

Yup.

(Source: thesochillnetwork)

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posted on 11.27.10

thedailywhat:

Endless Origami.

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posted on 11.10.10

thedailywhat:

Endless Origami.

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posted on 11.10.10

“There are comments here are on all sorts of things: Politics, literature, movies, art, health, God, the universe. Most of the comments are useful and literate, and many are elegantly written. ‘The best comments you are likely to find anywhere on the web,’ I’ve heard it said.

But why are you writing them? Don’t you have anything else to do? Every day there are untold millions of comments, texts, and online interactions. Millions. And each one says, I am here and I extend my consciousness to there. There might have been a time when humans were content to sit and simply be, like the goat I saw yesterday sitting contently in a patch of sunshine at the Lincoln Park Zoo. That time was long ago. We want the news. We want to chatter and gossip. We want to say ‘I am alive’ in a billion billion different ways. And now here is internet, providing such an easy, easy way to do that.

***

The biological reason we fall in love may be to encourage reproduction. Yet why did nature provide homosexuality if that is the only purpose? Why do people marry with no prospects of children? Babies are not the only thing two people can create together. They can create a safe private world. They can create a reality that affirms their values. They can stand for something. They can find someone to laugh with, and confide in. Someone to hold them when they need to be held. A danger of the internet would be if we begin to meet those needs without feeling there has to be another person in the room.”

From: Roger Ebert, “All the lonely people”

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posted on 11.3.10

“We’re sorry for claiming Captain Kirk was in command of Captain Picard’s starship.”

From:

News.com.au made the sort of mistake you just don’t make, and was forced to print an article-length retraction.

[nca.]

(via thedailywhat)

Best part is the addendum: “We’re also sorry for any errors in this apology.”

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I’m Samit Sarkar, a 26-year-old reporter for Polygon. You may also know me from my four-plus years as an associate editor at Destructoid.

I’m a stickler for proper English — grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. — so if you see any mistakes in my writing, let me know. And if you see mistakes elsewhere, let me know, because I’ll want to point them out here and laugh (à la English Fail Blog). I might even put some on The Grammar Nazi, a Tumblr that I contribute to.

You can contact me at samit [dot] sarkar [at] gmail [dot] com, or on Twitter (see below). I’m also on Facebook.

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