I usually don't take the time to go off this heavy, but the backlash CAG has been receiving from the Blog Rumor Contest has me a little steamed. I apologize that I will be re-treading some firmly established ground here before going in-depth, but there is a foundation that needs to be firmly established:
First -- The "contest" was public. Whether or not it was decided in advance or impromptu on the show makes absolutely no difference in assigning "the blame" for whatever resulted. CheapyD and Wombat went on the record with this contest on one of the most highly listened-to video game podcasts in existence.
--Why this is important--
As a quick aside, this is important because even this level of plausible denial takes some of the edge against the act of disseminating misinformation. Public foreknowledge is the only reason why, even though the internet becomes unreadable on the first of April every year, the act is begrudgingly tolerated and not seen as bordering on the criminal.
But more important is that Kotaku, Engadget, Joystiq, and all those other "news sites" are dependent on having important news brought to them by the masses, many of whom heavily overlap with other sites. The inability of their methodology to provide them with the information that this contest was in place illuminates one of the staggering flaws in their strategy. Despite a goodly number of their sites' users were aware of the contest, no one cared to warn them it was coming, and they did not even garner a glimpse of forewarning necessary to place any breaking but dubious news stories from cheapassgamer with additional grains of salt for the immediate future.
One of the basic tenets of ANY industry is to be aware of what your competitors in the industry are doing. In any given week, someone from Target is going over the ads from Shopko. Editors at Time are reading Newsweek. Content directors at NBC are watching tapes and going over the Nielsen numbers of the top shows on Fox. It was mentioned on the CAGcast that Joystiq did not run the Xbox Pure rumor, possibly because people at Joystiq listen to the CAGcast. Congratulations to them for playing the game the way it should be played.
SECOND: The rumor was user-generated, in the forums.
--Why This is Important--
Kotaku took a swing at CAG's "credibility." They could have chosen to address CAG's or Cheapy's character, good standing, operations in good faith, or any number of moral hairs to split. And yet, credibility was their main volley. To extend the credibility of the whole of CheapAssGamer, or even just Cheapy himself, to any given forum poster's rumor and to BANK on that "Credibility" as adding weight or value to that rumor is as if to claim "we believe your posters are smarter, more connected, and more forthright than our posters (and those of other sites)." There's even a grain of truth to it, since the high standards CAG users have set for themselves are what kept Cheapy's (and their own) fears of the forums running amok with rumor spam from coming to pass. And yet, while other sites recognizing and extending to us this identity is a fine compliment, come on fellas -- that's no way to run a business.
And why in particular? Because CheapAssGamer, like EVERY OTHER SITE WITH A FORUM ON EARTH, contains nuggets (similarly worded in some fashion) like these, from the Terms of Use:
"The Site does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of any Content. You acknowledge that the Content cannot replace or substitute for the services of trained professionals in any field, including but not limited to, financial, medical, or legal matters. You further acknowledge that by accessing the Site, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will the Site or the Management be liable for Content, including but not limited to for any errors or omissions in Content or for loss or damage incurred as a result of the use of Content."
"You acknowledge that all content posted on the Site is the sole responsibility of the person posting such Content. This means that you, and not the Site, are entirely responsible for all Content that you post, email, transmit or otherwise make available via the Site. The Management does not control the Content posted by others and does not guarantee its accuracy, integrity or quality. You understand that by accessing the Site, you may be exposed to content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable."
The website is well within its rights to moderate content and punish or ban users for posting information that goes against terms of service, but with a public forum, the hosting website clearly has to (and does) distinguish its own beliefs, practices, opinions, and reporting from that of its users.
To run a story, even though marked as a rumor, on the hearsay of an anonymous forum poster is an invitation to error. The big boys of the "Real news" sites have emphasized for years the need to have a second, corroborating source for any rumor before running with it. It is a safety mechanism most internet sites choose to disregard for fear of losing the microsecond lead time with a scoop on the net. General policy is to shoot first and ask questions later, and this is what they get. If credible news is what they are after, then relying on such sources for information highlights the fundamental inadequacies of their information channels.
--Conclusion--
With no disregard to Shima, CheapyD has a very valid point in being annoyed with gamer blogs and "news sites" running with clearly B.S. rumors as their lead stories. And he is right to do so. Public opinion shapes policy, and sometimes the truth cannot withstand against the things people believe to be the truth. Political parties know this already, which is why they readily repeat rumors, and even will acknowledge them as such, knowing that the seeds of the idea, however erroneous, still take root. These bits of misinformation can unintentionally shape or guide a consumer's attitudes and their spending patterns, such as in causing buyers to hold off on buying a console because of a rumored price drop. For real world examples of the havoc rumors can cause, look to Nashville, Tennessee and their dry gas stations.
Brian Crecente and others who are angry with CAG need to come clean and admit that the REAL reason that they are annoyed with Cheapy and Wombat is because getting a blatantly unfounded rumor to the front page of their video game "news sites" was shooting fish in a
ing barrel, and CheapyD and Wombat knew it. They knew it would work, and that's why Cheapy hesitated in the first place. Because it was Too. Damn. Easy. It wasn't like suggesting that users hack the sites to make them look silly, which would have been both illegal and non-constructive, but it was merely exploiting the very nature of the beast that was already causing it to look silly, which was Cheapy's whole point to begin with.
So suck it up, Brian. Cheapy did you a favor. If you want to bank your following and page-views on rumors while keeping a modicum of respect, you are going to have to look at sites like macrumors.com that "do it for a living," and see how they rake over EVERY story from EVERY source, giving it the "sniff test" and considering the source and the history or success rate of the source before giving it even a page 2 slot, much less front page importance. You were exposed. Learn from it and make yourself better.
