Watch out deskers! (hope this isn't a d_b)

Bud_Bundy · Nov 22, 2009

I was reading the old Washington Star one Sunday and for several college football boxscores where the paper didn't use full boxes, there were such lines as "delete this shit" and "cut this crap" where the individual stats would normally go.

Moderator1 · Nov 22, 2009

Big Circus said:

canucklehead said:

About 15 years ago a friend/fellow sports writer was goofing around one night and typed up a hockey summary that included the names of everyone in our department as having scored a goal. Could never figure out how, but, it somehow got in. We both went home oblivious and when I came in the next afternoon knew immediately by the looks I was getting that something was wrong. No one in the seats of power ever said a word and no reader ever called. I was scared shitless the whole day that we were going to get called in and blasted.
It was the last time I every was involved in fucking around with type.
Click to expand...

Moddy can probably clarify this - and it's not the same thing at all - but didn't the T-D get a lacrosse call-in a few years back where the coach made up fake names to bash the refs? Collegiate or somebody like that? I think the coach actually got fired, but I could be misremembering.
Click to expand...

You are not. You are correct. School handled it the right way.

While I was SE, we had a volleyball coach call in a bogus box. His team lost in the last home game of the season and he called it in as a victory with a bunch of made-up stats for his seniors. Had a message waiting for me the next a.m. from the winning coach, who could not have been nicer. I told her to get me the correct box and we'd run it with a story the next day, which we did.
The school did NOT remove the coach, which infuriated me. You just don't do that shit. Most of those kids, that's the only time they'll ever be in the paper. It is a big deal to them. It is important that newspapers take it seriously and the coaches they rely on for the info take it just as seriously.

mustangj17 · Nov 23, 2009

Moderator1 said:

I saw a part-timer on the desk one night with a fake box on his screen. The "names" were all crass and nasty and definitely the types of things you didn't want in your newspaper.
So of course I flipped my lid.
Turns out, the guy who trained all our part-timers made up fake boxes for all the sports we took, with similar names.
I immediately issued an order to get them out of the system within 24 hours. Put xxxxxx in for names. We'd look stupid but a lot less so if that got in.
The guy who created the boxes simply didn't understand my reaction or all the fuss.

I was not the SE at the time, I was an assistant. The SE followed up my note with one that basically said: Don't think he's kidding. If there's anything left of you when he gets done, there won't be when I get done.

You have to be a remarkable dumbass to type anything into a work computer that you wouldn't want to see in your paper. And, yeah, while those names are a pain in the ass and stupid, people can spell their names any stupid way they please. Fred as Phreddz (silent z)? Bob as Bawbbb? Deal with it. Type it in without comment.
Click to expand...

I would have hated to be the stringer who screwed up and left one of the names in by mistake.

Log in or Sign up

Watch out deskers! (hope this isn't a d_b)

Bud_Bundy Well-Known Member

Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

mustangj17 Active Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Watch out deskers! (hope this isn't a d_b)

Bud_Bundy Well-Known Member

Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

mustangj17 Active Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches