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How do you respond to readers who think you hate their team?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Whatwhat, Mar 24, 2012.

  1. Whatwhat

    Whatwhat New Member

    I'm just thinking that might soothe the relationship between you and your readers. Oftentimes you see people like TheBigLead and various other writers come here when their stuff is discussed here and give us their side of things. It might be helpful.
     
  2. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    Anyone who criticizes me and posts with a username such as "Like_2_B_Onree" can eat dirt. I put my name on my stories. I think it only fair they put their name behind their criticism. Then we can talk and it would probably be cordial. In essence, this is an extension of how one should treat unsigned letters (throw 'em away) and anonymous phone calls (listen, hang up, disregard).
     
  3. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    In theory, sure. But I would bet it turns out badly about 99 percent of the time.

    And those aren't "your readers" that you need to be focusing on. Running to a board like that to defend/explain yourself will show you are thin-skinned and expose you to baiting and twisting of your words that you will not win. Some of the most rabid fans on those sites will go out of their way to make your life hell and will only be encouraged to do so because they know you are paying attention to them.
     
  4. armageddon

    armageddon Active Member

    Be grateful you don't work in a shop that "encourages" such dialogue. More and more of my time is spent in this manner.
     
  5. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Sort of like clicking on some threads here. ;D
     
  6. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    I used to speak calmly, on occasion, with callers who phoned in with ridiculous arguments, and of course listening, being courteous and explaining things only makes them self-immolate.

    Eventually, my editor told me to quit talking to such callers for so long and get back to work.

    It was good advice, but, ah, not as much fun.
     
  7. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    A handful of the Boston Bruins beat writers frequent their online board on HFBoards (which is, by far, the most trafficked), the Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont being one of them.

    KPD isn't the most universally-liked guy in Boston (what columnist is?) although he's a helluva writer. That said, he's engendered a LOT of goodwill among that online group for being willing to jump into discussions, defend himself and discuss what's covered and why. A few of the other beat writers also will show up there.

    That's probably the most obvious example.
     
  8. TyWebb

    TyWebb Well-Known Member

    I used to defend myself by citing articles and other things we have done for that school. I even went as far as listing every article we had done on a particular school in the past six months to a rabid e-mailer. It didn't help. The fact that I opted to cover a different team one night meant that I hated their team.

    So eventually, I just started saying "I'm sorry you feel that way. I can assure you that I don't care which team wins, as long as they are done quickly so I can make my deadline."

    Click.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I tell them I don't have the team, I hate the paranoid fans.
     
  10. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    Haters gonna hate.
     
  11. Tarheel316

    Tarheel316 Well-Known Member

    Ding ding. We have a winner.
     
  12. BillyT

    BillyT Active Member

    I was at Ledyard on a Wednesday night and several of the wrestling mothers surrounded me and asked my why I loved NFA so much and only wrote about NFA."

    And, yes, I was at NFA on the Saturday, and several mothers wanted to know why I was such a Ledyard homer.
     
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