#larry barry

[mystycalypso]

Episode 4 summarized:

[burndogturns-blog]

Larry Barry WINS!

Good Morning Burnfans! Exciting times here on Burndog Mountain...very exciting times!  i woke up this morning and noticed two things.  Thing number one...The Arsenal were fucking robbed!  Thing number two...Larry Barry has forced the Korea Times into “we’re so sorry” mode!  I’ll go over that article in full...but before I do...i should say that it’s totally unexpected...but at the same time...it was a perfect storm of Larry Barry, plagiarism and nutbaggary that did them in.

Anyways...let’s get to the letter from the editor...just to see what they’ve proposed... “ We want to explain to our readers three "incidents" regarding articles published on our editorial pages and share our thoughts about them.” It’s always nice to see an apology that starts by refusing to accept that these are really incidents...by calling them “incidents”.   “The three, in counter-chronological order, include a contributing article which an unidentified person submitted with the mug shot of a registered sex offender; a column with a touch of plagiarism; and a piece about East-West cultural differences. We don't identify them to prevent copycatting of the first case and to protect their privacy for the second and third cases.”

The incidents are highlighted here and it’s fascinating to see how they’ve catalogued them.  Larry Barry’s “contributing article” had a lot more to it than just a mug shot of a sex offender...the column with a “touch” of plagiarism is like someone being a little bit pregnant...and I have to admit that I didn’t see the East-West article because I don’t read the KT. They start by addressing Larry Barry.

“The bogus article was submitted to our paper's longest-running series of essays that are open with few restrictions to people of all walks of life. This triggered many inquiries and tips from readers, prompting us first to take the photo off our website and then the article after it was obvious beyond any doubt that it was a practical joke.”

The stunning admission here is that without “inquiries and tips from readers” this article, and the photo of the sex offender, may have never been noticed.  Ridiculous.  There are plenty of newspapers in the world that allow opinion pieces from members of the public...there are very few that have zero checks and balances about the actual author.  The fact that they clearly didn’t bother to do the most simple investigation into the original author (checking ID, running a reverse image search, using common sense on the content of the article) shows quite clearly how inept they were in this process.  It’s worth remembering that these people are journalists...the very people you would expect to be awake to these kinds of shenanigans.   “First, we concluded it was beyond an apology and is inexcusable so we intend to take this occasion as a bitter lesson. As a result, we will double our vetting process and, if necessary, consider resorting to law enforcement authorities if this kind of prank takes place again.”

They suggest that they will “double” the vetting process.  Double nothing is nothing.  The threat of legal action is amazing. I’m not sure what law they think Larry Barry broke.  Impersonating a sex offender?  Writing a joke?  If impersonating a journalist is a crime then they’d best lock the door to the newsroom!  Wa hey!   I’m going to skip a little bit here...because they just punch the clown for a while and throw their word cum up into the sky.

“About the article with parts plagiarized, the second case mentioned, we decided to maintain her columns because we found the parts in question were indeed taken from another person's work but it was a mistake. However, we respected her request to have it pulled off our website. We have made our decision, judging the author's integrity has been proven through the significant period during which she has written for us.” The fact that they consider a prank to be far less serious than plagiarism is amazing.  They actually decided to maintain the work because the plagiarism was a “mistake”?  How the fuck do you accidentally cut and paste the work of another person into your article?  How on Earth do the editors think that even after the plagiarism has been discovered, it’s up to the author to decide whether or not to keep the article on their site?  In the article in question, large sections were directly copied from another source.  It’s not an accident, and it’s not a mistake, and it’s not something that any august journal would do.  Plagiarism is a major problem, and something that we would expect a leading English language journal in Korea to attempt to steer clear of.  It’s shitful.

I’ll skip the rest...but...and this is brilliant...

“...The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. He can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].”

The chief editorial writer’s email address is “foolsdie”.  Who the fuck is trolling who???? So...all in all...I’m willing to admit that I may have underestimated the impact of Larry Barry’s troll.  Maybe it’s because when DIDO did their troll, there was no r/Korea to dig into things, call the editor, ask questions and make the KT suspicious...BUT...Larry Barry wins.  His troll was better.  It may well make the KT change their entire approach to what they do and don’t publish.  So...Larry Barry...you’re the top of the shit pile that is trolling the KT. I salute you. Now, Burnfans, it’s time for a serious chat.  This week has been fun and all...but I’m back to my regular schedule next week, so i probably won’t have time to do this shit again.  It’s hard to say good-bye...but this is good-bye again.  Most of the people that I used to follow on Tumblr (and who used to follow me) have disappeared (with some very nice exceptions!) and most of the point of this ranty rage blog has disappeared as well.  I only popped up this week because I saw Larry Barry’s article and a Burnfan Jon D shared the blog and i thought we could have a lovely ranty week of blog/KT related chit chat....and we did (well four days...so there might be a post tomorrow just to hit the week). I might start a serious discussion blog somewhere else.  I might come back and rage again.  I might just share wanky photos.  I dunno. What I do know is that I’ve had a good time blogging.  There have been some stressful times and weird times.  Having people try to extract cash out of me for telling the truth...having people hate me...having people slander me...they’ve all been weird.  However, these have been far outweighed by the fun and laughter I’ve had when I’ve engaged in “Blog Wars” and fights with punters.  I’ve always enjoyed that side of being Burndog.   Anyways...if this is good-bye I just want to thank some people in no particular order. Dragons - Eve, David Thiessen, Consoleboy, Orangeman, that other fuckhead from waygook, Pissy Clissy No Co, YouYou, NewYouYou and all the rest...thanks.  Without you there would have been very little blog.  Especially without YouYou.  Loved her. Burnfans/Burnchums - Ary, John F, Jon D, Hubba, Jimi, Marty, SheWhoMustNotBeNamed, INP, Roboseyo, Seahorseteacher, Larry Barry, Pissy Clissy No Co, and all of the rest.  The Burnfans make if Burnfun.  I’ll probably end up here again tomorrow just because I can always imagine how much you cunts enjoy it when I write something stupid.  This list has some of the first Burnfans (INP, Jimi, Hubba) and the last identified Burnfan (Larry Barry)...but you’re all Burnfans...and loyal Burnfans at that.

Until next time, it’s been a fucking blast.

Your chum Burndog.