Ernie Smith

@ernie
161 Followers
92 Following
13K Posts
Hunting for the end of the long tail at Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet. (Seen on Motherboard, Atlas Obscura, and Neatorama.) I signed up for this network before it was cool.
Tediumhttps://tedium.co
MidRangehttps://midrange.tedium.co
Ernie SmithNov 1, 2022
Yeah, I think I need to move to another Mastodon server. Just slogging right now. Will give a shout when I figure out which one.
Ernie SmithNov 1, 2022
Over at #MidRange, I discuss the challenges of reporting in real time—and how that contributed to misinformation in the Paul Pelosi story. https://midrange.tedium.co/issues/paul-pelosi-misinformation-reporting-accuracy/
Misinformation: Why Lies Move Faster Than the Truth

The challenge of real-time reporting is that doing it well is really hard. But coming up with some made-up facts about the victim of a crime? That’s easy.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie SmithOct 31, 2022
One plus side of Mastodon is that people that you've known for a long time aren't coming on here and sacrificing long-standing friendships over petty arguments over the role of social media in society
Ernie SmithOct 31, 2022
Andrew (Television Executive)Oct 31, 2022

We're less than a week away from the full launch of #newellijayTV

I still have some work to do on our roku app before it will get approval, but everything else is going really well.

If you're a video maker, and you'd like to submit a video to this weird, anticapitalist, rural streaming television network, uhhhhh do?

Tell me about it. Let's get it on the air.

Show threadErnie SmithOct 31, 2022
“One gets the feeling that the man who bought one of the most public companies in history, a firm that exists in a literal fishbowl, is just kind of going for it.” https://midrange.tedium.co/issues/elon-musk-twitter-decisionmaking/
Musk and Twitter: The Public, Chaotic Decisionmaking Approach

Elon Musk appears to be taking a “let’s see what we can get away with” approach to running the large social network he just bought. Whiplash impending.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie SmithOct 31, 2022
Today on #MidRange, a piece about Elon Musk’s chaotic decision-making process with the social network he just bought.
https://midrange.tedium.co/issues/elon-musk-twitter-decisionmaking/
Musk and Twitter: The Public, Chaotic Decisionmaking Approach

Elon Musk appears to be taking a “let’s see what we can get away with” approach to running the large social network he just bought. Whiplash impending.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Show threadErnie SmithOct 31, 2022
Also, I should add: I have just under 20 years experience in media, starting in newspapers and moving into marketing, and I know a lot about that world and likely talk about it a lot—media criticism is one of my focuses as a writer. If you need a journalist’s eye on a topic on Mastodon, I’m your guy.
Ernie SmithOct 31, 2022

Since I haven’t done an #introduction on Mastodon in a while, here’s what I’ve got:

Hey, I’m Ernie. I’m a writer and journalist and I’m best known for starting the Tedium newsletter. (https://tedium.co). I also run a secondary newsletter called MidRange (https://midrange.tedium.co).

I have run in a lot of circles over the years, but my primary interests are history, obscurities, and tech. I will talk about #politics sometimes—I have a poli-sci degree—but my focus is offbeat stuff.

Tedium | An Offbeat Digital Newsletter

Tedium is a twice-weekly offbeat digital newsletter that mines the depths of the long tail in search of obscurities. Dig in.

Show threadErnie SmithOct 30, 2022
By comparison Sun SparcStations are selling on eBay for at least 5x this amount.
Ernie SmithOct 30, 2022

FYI: A couple of Sun SparcStations on ShopGoodwill right now for somewhat reasonable prices: https://shopgoodwill.com/item/153961833

and

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/153961828