Apparently my blog post (and a comment I’d left on Cadmium2 asking if they planned on citing a source for the rumour) resulted in Cadmium2 taking down their post about Chiwetel Ejiofor potentially playing the 11th Doctor. [Edit: Cadmium2 took down their post, "The Perils of Blogging", where they berate me for questioning their sources, so the preceding link no longer works. That's okay, though - most of it has been included here for reference anyway. So... woo.]
I just moderated a comment from someone who, as far as I can see, hasn’t commented on here before berating me rather sarcastically for not naming any sources and being misleading.
I was sarcastic? Really? I know I have a penchant for sarcasm but I’m pretty sure I was civil-ish. That’s the beauty of putting words up on the Intertron - without subtext, people tend to insert their own.
He (at least I assume it’s a he) goes on:
I typed my reply, which was basically along the lines of “I stressed at least twice that it’s only a rumour and if people are mislead by something clearly labelled as such then they deserve everything they get” but then I stopped typing. I was annoyed by this person who was taking issue with me over something so trivial and was about to start a comments war. But that isn’t what this blog is for. I want it to be fun and friendly and not aggressive or mean-spirited.
Hang on, no. My issue here wasn’t that they were saying, “It’s only a rumour” but rather that it’s a rumour I haven’t seen discussed anywhere else. In fact most of the buzz I’ve seen about the 11th Doctor today has surrounded speculation that Paterson Joseph will be taking over the role for Series Six, which Cadmium2 haven’t reported on at all. So where have these rumours come from?
So I have deleted the offending post (there are other people reporting this rumour and there will be plenty more to come I’m sure) to avoid any further upsets. However I won’t be deleting anything in future. If anyone doesn’t like what I write, go and read something else. I have no problem with people having opinions and debates on here but I won’t have it done in a deliberately provocative tone.
Hang on. No. There were no cries of “Take it down! Take it down, I say!”. Just the brief questioning of the source of the rumour (and, admittedly, a pretty bitter blog post on the subject). Apparently this was enough for the bods at C2 to take the news post down, which brings further dubiosity to the source of the rumour in the first place.
Look, I’m not writing about this to be a dick. I just pointed out some web “journalism” that, in my eyes, was of poor quality. There’s plenty of wonky journalism online (and offline too, if you happen to read any of the Red Tops or the Daily Fail) but this morning I saw a dodgy news post on Cadmium 2 - one of the few podcasts I actually follow - and felt the need to question the source of the rumour. I know that rumours, by their very nature, are unreliable, and rumours surrounding the casting of the incumbent Doctor doubly so. But saying “It’s just a rumour…” doesn’t give you a Get Out Of Fail Free card, especially when the rumour comes from, forgive my bluntness, a relatively small, unheard-of website such as Cadmium2.
In any case, I’m done. I hope we’ve all learnt something today. Especially me.