The post that got yanked
I don't know if anyone noticed, but I posted a story about Cindy Sheehan's visit home, and now it's gone. It was in draft mode when I realized I had gotten the key fact backwards and then deleted the draft. In fact, though, I hadn't deleted it, but posted it instead. I noticed 30 seconds later, and deleted it immediately, without thinking.
I regret that, because in that 30 seconds, it might have gotten onto my RSS feed. If it has, or if you saw the story during the short time it was up, I apologize.
First, the article in question got the facts right. Patrick Sheehan lives in Vacaville with the kids, and Cindy Sheehan is now living in Berkeley, about a five hour a forty minute** drive away. In my first (and second and third) read, I thought the article had gotten it backwards, and that was the gist of my post. On my fourth read, I saw my error and tried to kill the draft.
Second, I should not have deleted the story after it had made it to the blog, but rather corrected it. For a moment I thought I had time to remove the story from the blog as I had originally intended, but in retrospect, I shouldn't have even tried.
So this stands as the correction. Apologies to you, my readers, and to the Associated Press. And maybe a quick email to Moveable Type to implement a "Confirm" inquiry prior to committing posts to the blog.
Cheers everyone!
[** Double-checked with Mapblast and made the correction. Thanks to reader Not a Yank. I had done a check with Mapblast earlier, and must have mistyped one of the points of the trip. Not ever having been to California, I didn't know the value was unreasonable.]
Skew my story on Skewz.com
Rate political news for their bias, read related stories, and leave your own skewed commentary
Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords
Sphere presents related news articles and blog posts
Sphere It!
Comments
Dude,
I saw the post and tried to send you a quick heads-up but just got an error when I tried to respond.
No big thang, I'm sure
Posted by: Rob R at October 6, 2005 05:07 PM
Yet another cover-up by a corrupt Canadian!
IMPEACH ANGRY!
OT - sort of anyway, but vaguely amusing (excuse me if you've covered it):
http://www.stickittohim.com/
Posted by: Jay at October 6, 2005 05:24 PM
Don't worry about it. You live in Canada - the country of corruption!!! Until you manage to illegally acquire a sum well in excess of $350,000 nobody will even pay any attention.
Heck, if you play your cards right you might even be able to get a severance package from Paul Martin.
Posted by: ferrethouse at October 6, 2005 06:06 PM
I don't know. Isn't this the second (third?) time you've been wrong.
Maybe if you spent more time posting original thoughts instead of just looking for zingers to mock other writers you'd have better luck.
I sure hope there was going to be more meat to your post than the fact that they got the cities mixed up. Because otherwise it makes your Sheehan obsession look even more pathetic.
Posted by: Bob at October 6, 2005 06:25 PM
Second time.
Posted by: Angry in T.O. at October 6, 2005 06:33 PM
You know, Bob, Sheehan was a featured story on CNN today. The "Sheehan Saga" they called it. If anyone has a pathetic obsession with her, it is the leftist anti-war types who are ready to broadcast anything she says. If it's good enough for CNN to drool over, its good enough to be put straight in the blogosphere.
As for the mistakes, Angry...I don't care much. Your record is better than the NYT, and they have legions of cronies (supposedly) making sure they get stuff right. You're a heck of a lot more honest than they are when you goof, too.
Posted by: J-P at October 6, 2005 07:30 PM
Vacaville is less than 1.5 hrs by car from Berkeley. Driving 5 hrs from Berkeley gets you to Tahoe and some of the best skiing in the Western United States.
Posted by: Not a Yank at October 6, 2005 09:12 PM
Steven J
Since you've never been to California, and I have, and have realitives out there, I can save you the trip. Just buy a granola bar and you'll experience California, just a bunch of fruits and nuts and the rest is just serial.
It's overrated, self absorbed, and not worth wasting time on.
Posted by: Dave at October 6, 2005 09:33 PM
Angry,
I now live in CA. Everything is 'about 40 mins away', which really means between 40 mins and 4 hrs away - the traffic is just horrendous. On a recent trip, it took longer to drive to LAX than it did to fly from Pearson (TO) to Dorval (Montreal) ... I refuse to name that airport by its 'new' name. So you were not that far off on the time.
Posted by: Leonidas at October 7, 2005 05:57 PM
Gee, 2nd or 3rd mistake? Oh, my, the scandal. I'll never read this blog again, ever, you pathetically obsessed mocker of other writers, you.
*Ahem*
Adam Shostack at Emergent Chaos recently posted about the ethics of deleting inaccurate blog material. We all (well, most of us, anyway) publish something wrong. You took the direct and correct approach - 'You know that thing I said - I was wrong, sorry'. End of story. This is vastly superior to the Dan Rather/CBS (speaking of 2 or 3 mistakes) approach.
No matter, you did the honorable thing. Besides, when California falls into the Pacific Ocean, it'll be at least a 5-hour drive from Vacaville to anywhere.
Posted by: MarkT at October 8, 2005 02:04 AM
 
|
|
