Boston.com's most popular article?
April 20, 2008 3:04 AM Subscribe
Why has this article on a basement door (and some other readers' questions) spent so much time at the top of the boston.com "most emailed" list?
It's from October, and although it seems useful, there must be something going on that it's been emailed to others 10 times in the past hour (when I viewed the list early Sunday morning). It's at the top of that list all the time. Is it some secret underground meme or prank that I'm missing? Am I perpetuating the myth by drawing attention to it (I really hope not)?
It's from October, and although it seems useful, there must be something going on that it's been emailed to others 10 times in the past hour (when I viewed the list early Sunday morning). It's at the top of that list all the time. Is it some secret underground meme or prank that I'm missing? Am I perpetuating the myth by drawing attention to it (I really hope not)?
Even stranger when one considers that the answer given about the problem and how to fix it is absolutely wrong.
posted by jon1270 at 3:33 AM on April 20, 2008
posted by jon1270 at 3:33 AM on April 20, 2008
some secret underground meme or prank
Cellar door?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:10 AM on April 20, 2008
Cellar door?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:10 AM on April 20, 2008
Weirdness like this can also be the result of programmers messing around with test scripts, which can also do things like placing dummy orders for whatever product happens to be #12345.
(What was that business book which, thanks to some similar sort of "computer error", ended up appearing to be an incredible bestseller? It sat quietly for years until someone noticed the erroneous "sales" figures, then was reprinted, spawned numerous related books and a whole management fad, as I recall. But I can't remember what the title was...)
posted by dansdata at 4:16 AM on April 20, 2008
(What was that business book which, thanks to some similar sort of "computer error", ended up appearing to be an incredible bestseller? It sat quietly for years until someone noticed the erroneous "sales" figures, then was reprinted, spawned numerous related books and a whole management fad, as I recall. But I can't remember what the title was...)
posted by dansdata at 4:16 AM on April 20, 2008
dansdata - it was Who's Got the Monkey (link to TheDailyWTF) - but there's an update below from the publisher suggesting the story may not be so true.
posted by Gortuk at 5:47 AM on April 20, 2008
posted by Gortuk at 5:47 AM on April 20, 2008
uandt nailed it, it's the google rank of the page. I work for a news websites and there is a page that have been near the top of the Most Read list for 18 months because of its high ranking on a particular phrase. The sad part is it isn't even a very good hit for that query.
posted by meta_eli at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2008
posted by meta_eli at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2008
Hmm, but this isn't (or doesn't claim to be) most read. This is most emailed, and judging by the monthly view of most emailed pages ALL the other top pages are legitimately interesting. Well, you know what I mean. I can imagine people forwarding "Hawk attack at Fenway" and "Swan reunited with beloved paddleboat". This story? Not really.
And since there is an easily quantifiable action associated with "most forwarded" it seems unlikely that they would get it wrong.
I wonder if there is anything to do with the non-communicative title ("Basement"). When I read that title I thought it must have something to do with Filene's basement, and wondered why it was most forwarded. I didn't bother to click and read, but, of course, even if I had there's a difference between clicking on the link because I don't know what the article will contain, and actually forwarding it to my friends...
I hope there is an answer.
posted by dirtdirt at 5:05 PM on April 20, 2008
And since there is an easily quantifiable action associated with "most forwarded" it seems unlikely that they would get it wrong.
I wonder if there is anything to do with the non-communicative title ("Basement"). When I read that title I thought it must have something to do with Filene's basement, and wondered why it was most forwarded. I didn't bother to click and read, but, of course, even if I had there's a difference between clicking on the link because I don't know what the article will contain, and actually forwarding it to my friends...
I hope there is an answer.
posted by dirtdirt at 5:05 PM on April 20, 2008
Response by poster: I was thinking the same thing, dirtdirt, about why it was the most emailed. I mean 10 times before 6AM EST on a Sunday? Is basement warping that urgent a topic to email?
Also interestingly, it is no longer on the list at all. Huh?? Maybe a bug.
Thanks all.
posted by theredpen at 5:57 AM on April 21, 2008
Also interestingly, it is no longer on the list at all. Huh?? Maybe a bug.
Thanks all.
posted by theredpen at 5:57 AM on April 21, 2008
Response by poster: Oh wait, it's still way up there. Unimportant but very curious.
posted by theredpen at 5:58 AM on April 21, 2008
posted by theredpen at 5:58 AM on April 21, 2008
The link to the article (from the most-emailed list) doesn't even work. I've emailed the globies involved, let's see if they respond.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:44 AM on April 21, 2008
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:44 AM on April 21, 2008
Best answer: Peter Hotten (the columnist) said last week he thinks it's a "glitch in the system." (about halfway down that page)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:10 AM on April 21, 2008
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:10 AM on April 21, 2008
Response by poster: I emailed them, too:
"Thank you for writing to Boston.com. The broken "Basement" article you are referring to has been appearing in the Most E-mailed section due to a glitch that we're aware of and are looking into. We appreciate that you took the time to let us know about this, and we thank you for bearing with us as we work to address this issue. Due to the technical complexity of the problem, this process might take some time, but please be assured that we share your concerns about the Most E-mailed stories on the site."
I guess that makes me a conspiracy nut of a really, really minor type.
posted by theredpen at 8:37 AM on April 21, 2008
"Thank you for writing to Boston.com. The broken "Basement" article you are referring to has been appearing in the Most E-mailed section due to a glitch that we're aware of and are looking into. We appreciate that you took the time to let us know about this, and we thank you for bearing with us as we work to address this issue. Due to the technical complexity of the problem, this process might take some time, but please be assured that we share your concerns about the Most E-mailed stories on the site."
I guess that makes me a conspiracy nut of a really, really minor type.
posted by theredpen at 8:37 AM on April 21, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by uandt at 3:25 AM on April 20, 2008