A public health service
November 22nd, 2012 at 4:00 pm by David FarrarSome of you may have noticed that Stuff recently decided to mix in the content from their staff (who have spent four years getting a degree and journalism school) with content from, well anyone at all. Now the only thing that distinguished an article from a 30 year veteran of the Dom Post and a story from an 18 year old about how when they were 13 a boy turned them down for a date is the little Stuff Nation logo.
They have the “best” of Stuff Nation proudly displayed near the top of their home page. Another recent highlight is how a mother hopes her 16 year old daughter will date her best friend when they are older.
Now of course we should all learn just not to click on the links. But the headlines are often tempting. So you click away, and then the neurones in your brain disintegrate as you read a few lines.
Anyway someone on Twitter pointed out that you can protect your health by deleting Stuff Nation from your Stuff homepage. Just click on the pencil icon for the Stuff Nation section and click on the word “Remove” which comes up.
Now this is not a total vaccination as Stuff have embedded some Stuff Nation content in their other sections. But it does help.
Maybe a smart reader can design some plugin which will delete every Stuff Nation article from appearing anywhere on the website? I think it would be popular!
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November 22nd, 2012 at 4:11 pm
I expend energy ensuring that I don’t click on a Stuff Nation link. I am hoping others are doing the same and the low demand will kill the supply.
I guess Stuff feel they need to keep up with the “X got Talent” and “X Idol” idea.
Let’s see them try for a paywall next – that might wake them up a little.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Add this to the end of your hosts file “127.0.0.1 http://www.stuff.co.nz”
Yes, it blocks the whole stuff website, but let’s be honest, do you really have to go there?
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Brilliant, I found myself hoping for just such a vaccination when reading something yesterday titled “my most embarrassing moment,” which turned out to be a girl asking a boy out on a date, him saying no, and her class laughing at her. I immediately reached for the ether after that.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
It’s part of social media and how content is created and distributed.
The stranglehold of the professional jurno is over. People will tell their stories, disinter-mediated.
This on the whole is good.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Yeah, but then we’d have to delete Whaleoil too, to be consistent.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:55 pm
I read Stuff on my phone every morning on the train.
Forget Stuff Nation – some of the “news” articles on the Stuff App are so illiterate, so inappropriately conversational in their tone, contain so many whole paragraphs that have been copied & pasted twice, and are just generally so far below where you’d expect the bar to be, that I sometimes catch myself groaning audibly, and not always in time!
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Hey, hey,hey! Wait a minute there! I smell pompous inflated-ego pseudo-intellectuals!
What’s all this about ‘blocking out’ a site, or this ‘vaccination’ carry-on then? Have we suddenly moved back in time to pre-enlightenment Soviet Russia or Mao’s China? Have the Taliban taken over cyber-space?
Listen guys, the beauty of cyber-space is the freedom it extends to everyone. And I do mean everyone.
Self-important would-be social or political commentators, dumb ‘rugby only’ afficienadoes (sp!!), out and out morons and every other Tom Dick or Harriet who wants to splash their interests – weird, banal or otherwise – out there for the World to see can go and do just that.
Its all part of the rich fabric of human interest and endeavour. Leave it alone!!
And, tell me someone, if you don’t like what Stuff Nation has served up, what do you think about some of the perverted material served up by those of a sewer related disposition that’s in there if you look hard enough?
Going to shut that down as well?
If only!! Live and let live!. A principal that has served me well for many a long year.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Oh Akaroa, if only there was a way to Stalin-style erase your shitty post from history.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Even simpler – don’t bother reding Stuff.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 5:50 pm
So I looked. And I wish I hadn’t. Really, I never would have known this crap existed if DPF hadn’t posted about it. I feel that the wasted 5 minutes of my life is therefore DPF’s fault. I’ll send an invoice.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Refutation by Youtube comments. QED.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Stuff used to be the news site id start with. now I simply don’t bother
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 8:59 pm
In agreement with Mark. I would go to Stuff first as they were generally faster at posting news items than the Herald. Like I did to John Campbell I have now switched channels.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Alan >The stranglehold of the professional jurno is over. People will tell their stories, disinter-mediated.
‘Stories’ being the key word.
But if you believe everything because someone unknown on the internet says it’s true, I think Viking has some bridges he’d like to sell you.
Akaroa>What’s all this about ‘blocking out’ a site, or this ‘vaccination’ carry-on then? Have we suddenly moved back in time to pre-enlightenment Soviet Russia or Mao’s China? Have the Taliban taken over cyber-space?
Ha ha.
Vote:You WERE taking the p, weren’t you??
I mean, if I go to a bookshop tomorrow and avoid the ‘sport’ aisles because I don’t want to read a sports-related book, you wouldn’t really think that made me a totalitarian. Would you?
November 22nd, 2012 at 9:28 pm
More importantly what happened to Stuff? For a while it actually had some news. Now its all chRist church moaning and the articles make the herald look like nationals in house newspaper
I
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Once upon a time I bought newspapers and threw out the advertising supplement without a glance. Once I realised I was throwing out the motoring section, the sport section, the real estate section etc. I stopped buying papers and used the stuff site.
That also needs sections thrown out including the new ‘Stuff nation’.
I choose to search out news – harder but definitely better than being force fed a diet of crap and suffering from a media induced diabetes – ie.e over fed a de-natured, refined carb, bloat food that makes you sick.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Can someone please recommend a better NZ news site? As others have said stuff used to be quite good, but not anymore. perhaps a poll on kiwiblog as to what news websites users recommend for NZ content?
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 9:48 pm
So….for me I read the Economist – for international news I reckon it’s about as good as it gets. For NZ news……Kiwiblog?
The real problem with this Stuff Nation stuff isn’t that it’s inane. It’s that it’s really badly written – worse than most blogs, and definitely worse than all the popular blogs. It has no point to it, it’s a stream of consciousness that just stopped. It’s like reading “I went to the toilet today. I went into the room, put down the seat, sat on it, wiped afterwards, then I flushed.” Not sure why it’s interesting.
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 9:52 pm
# Stuart.
https://news.google.co.nz/
Vote:November 22nd, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Thanks cha, will give it a go.
Vote:November 26th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Here is a script to hide all Stuff Nation content on stuff.co.nz: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/152974
Requires Firefox and Greasemonkey, or Chrome and Tampermonkey. Click on the “How do I use this?” link on the page for more info.
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