Patterico's Pontifications

12/28/2011

If You Are Reading This Post, You Have Been Banned from Patterico

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:16 pm



OK, not really. In fact, the title above wasn’t even written by me. Just ignore it.

Um . . . I mean it it was written by me. I just didn’t mean to be talking about all of you.

The above fumbling and stuttering is my satiric attempt to mirror what the New York Times did to its subscribers today:

Did The New York Times just cancel home delivery of its newspaper to everyone, across the nation? An email apparently sent out to the entire user database appeared to suggest that. In fact, the Times even sent the email to people that don’t subscribe to the paper — a total of 8.6 million readers, rather than the 300 it intended to message, the company said.

“Dear home delivery subscriber, Our records indicate that you recently requested to cancel your home delivery subscription. Please keep in mind when your delivery service ends, you will no longer have unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. We do hope you’ll reconsider.”

Whose fault was it? Someone else’s! Uh, I mean, ours!

When former congressman Anthony Weiner’s embarrassing photos emerged in June, he promptly lied, dissembled, and did everything possible to cover up the story. The Times appears to have a similar strategy.

First the paper tweeted that users should simply ignore the email — like Weiner’s pictures, the email came from someone else.

“If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”

. . . .

After an hour of confusion, misinformation and mistakes, The New York Times’ corporate communication department offered a mea culpa. The email was, in fact, simply a mistake.

“An email was sent earlier today from The New York Times in error. This email should have been sent to a very small number of subscribers, but instead was sent to a vast distribution list made up of people who had previously provided their email address to The New York Times.”

“We regret this error and we regret our earlier communication.”

The New York Times‘s new motto: “Unable to Report Accurately about an Event That Occurred Right Under Our Nose.”

24 Responses to “If You Are Reading This Post, You Have Been Banned from Patterico”

  1. First!

    I mean if I’m banned, I might as well….

    Kevin M (563f77) — 12/28/2011 @ 6:25 pm

  2. For a moment there I experienced the thrill of being banned!

    felipe (2ec14c) — 12/28/2011 @ 6:27 pm

  3. Did that feeling just happen to run up your leg, felipe?

    Colonel Haiku (c26934) — 12/28/2011 @ 6:30 pm

  4. Actually, it was a test run by Darth Cheney on a new way to correct mistakes in the NYT, and the Times staff is covering it up.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:21 pm

  5. Out of the blue the back of my skull became painful as if hit with a hammer, a ban hammer.

    Must have been my imagination.

    East Bay Jay (19f566) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:22 pm

  6. The paper has been mismanaged for many years. It may go down as a Harvard case study of how to destroy a great franchise. Many use the term controversial to describe subjects that are really only political footballs and the times takes the liberal side so often that people have quit looking to them for the facts on the matter. Advertisers want everyone to see their ads, not just liberals. They do not want a niche publication. They are not selling political positions.

    dunce (15d7dc) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:28 pm

  7. FRom an earlier link, I understand that Carlos Slim has actually upped his investment

    narciso (87e966) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:31 pm

  8. Next it will be revealed that the NYT wants to have a three-way with the Chicago Tribune and the Dog Trainer.

    Icy (17f7a5) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:34 pm

  9. GW’s fault.

    sickofrinos (44de53) — 12/28/2011 @ 7:44 pm

  10. I got the first email titled something like an “Important Notice About Your Subscription.” Since I don’t have one, I immediately deleted it. When I got the second email apologizing for the first one sent in error, I immediately pulled the first one out of the trash folder smelling something good going on.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 12/28/2011 @ 8:10 pm

  11. must look at this , just clicks away with low price

    Reegeerline (4b5588) — 12/28/2011 @ 8:47 pm

  12. As they say in the prairies of west Texas whence I sprang:

    ‘Tain’t one of them New York Times boys what can find his butt with both hands and a road map anymore.

    Beldar (50ef62) — 12/28/2011 @ 8:52 pm

  13. I dumped both emails into the “Advertising” folder without opening them.

    htom (412a17) — 12/28/2011 @ 9:04 pm

  14. “If You Are Reading This Post, You Have Been Banned from Patterico”

    That sucks. I always kinda liked this site.

    Dave Surls (46b08c) — 12/28/2011 @ 9:06 pm

  15. Now, if they’d just have the same kind of accident with emails to their anonymous sources. As in:

    Dear Nancy Pelosi,

    Thank you for your most recent zip of NSA intercepts of Republican candidates phone calls and emails. We’ll leak some of them to the opposing Republicans (that stuff on Cain was wonderful btw), and some we’ll save to help the Master get re-elected. The really great stuff we’ll save for the show trials afterwards. Such fun. We voted however, that the nude photos of Newt had to be burned after several staffers took ill.

    Kevin M (563f77) — 12/28/2011 @ 9:17 pm

  16. Next it will be revealed Obama Mahmoud Abbas Carlos Slim and the jewish left wanted to have a 4 way with each other.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 12/28/2011 @ 9:22 pm

  17. The New York Times, America’s Paper of Record – and the record is dismal!

    AD-RtR/OS! (9dbe33) — 12/28/2011 @ 11:20 pm

  18. “Unable to Report Accurately about an Event That Occurred Right Under Our Nose.”

    Why apply the conditional at all?

    Just go with:
    “Unable to Report Accurately”

    Does the job well enough.

    Smock Puppet, Notor of the Incredibly Bleeding Obvious (411b2b) — 12/29/2011 @ 12:16 am

  19. I’m sort of proud to not be on the vast distribution list made up of people who had previously provided their email address to The New York Times.

    So it was a non-event for me, except for the part where I got banned from Patterico.
    That made my palms sweat.

    papertiger (e55ba0) — 12/29/2011 @ 2:59 am

  20. I’d rather tear out my brainstem carry it into the middle of the nearest 4 way intersection and skip rope with it than read the NY slimes.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0) — 12/29/2011 @ 5:48 am

  21. Well they keep working on their ‘more selective’ strategy, which failed lasttime with Timeselect

    narciso (87e966) — 12/29/2011 @ 5:50 am

  22. Just remember everything is a lie, coming from them

    http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/201529-greens-obama-has-no-choice-but-to-kill-keystone-pipeline

    narciso (87e966) — 12/29/2011 @ 6:07 am

  23. It reminds me of the time a few years ago when CNN reported BREAKING NEWS that a computer virus was sweeping New York City.
    It turned out to be just in their news room.

    MayBee (081489) — 12/29/2011 @ 11:36 am

  24. I bet they NYT blames they dog whenever they fart, too.

    CrustyB (d4da92) — 12/31/2011 @ 6:03 am


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