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Adam Elman

@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite disagree? Go ask ten non-tech-savvy friends. (If you get different results I’ll be shocked.)

26 comments
Phillip Winn

@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite

I’m sorry, are you arguing that the New York Times should base it’s editorial choices about technical products on the words non-technical average people use? The companies that market things using bad labels win if they convince enough non-savvy people?

Amazing and sad.

Jared White replied to Phillip

@pwinn @aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty Seriously! This conversation is beginning to border on the ludicrous. In what other industry do industry terms get to be redefined by…like, whoever? Do average non-medical people get to define medical terms? Do average non-civil engineering people get to define civil engineering terms? Do the manufacturers of aerospace infrastructure get to have their terminology redefined by some (waves hands) mass group of people?

It's absurd.

Adam Elman replied to Jared

@jaredwhite @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty Um, yes, people redefine “medical” or “engineering” terms all the time, and popular definitions often vary from the true “technical” definition. Language evolves through usage.

Jared White replied to Adam

@aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty Not only do I disagree with this, it scares me. This is how we end up with "alt-facts" and conspiracy theories. Without some semblance of a shared reality where well-established terms actually mean something and they're hard to hijack by disingenuous parties, culture collapses.

Adam Elman replied to Jared

@jaredwhite @aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty I’m not saying this is necessarily a *good* thing in all cases. I’m just noting how language actually evolves in reality. And yes, this *is* one of the vectors that leads us to "alt-facts” and conspiracy theories.

That said, I think the ship has sailed on the definition of “podcast”. The ship has definitely *not* sailed on advocating against making podcasts exclusive.

Adam Elman replied to Phillip

@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite I’m arguing that it’s unreasonable to expect non-tech-savvy people, *or the people who write for them*, to split hairs about terms that have clearly accepted meanings among the masses. It comes off sounding like Kimberly-Clark calling people out for referring to generic tissue as “Kleenex” - it’s fine, and even legally sound, but it’s not going to change anything.

Phillip Winn

@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite

@davew is in this thread and co-invented podcasting. I wonder if he thinks the word should be used to describe DRMed data locked into a single proprietary client. Does his word matter more or less than the two companies attempting to profit from redefining it?

Phillip Winn replied to Phillip

@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite @davew

Please also note that I am not attempting to accost random non-savvy friends who don’t know better, but am instead responding to someone whose bio describes him as an editor for the New York Times. If a person I don’t know walks down the street talking about the “Joe Rogan podcast,” I feel no need or desire to correct them. If I see that phrase in America’s paper of record, I wonder if everything else in the paper is as poorly informed.

Adam Elman replied to Phillip

@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite @davew Having read many things in the NYT and other sources of generally-great journalism about things I know more about, I can say with confidence that you should never assume that any journalist is particularly well-informed about anything. 🤣 The good ones are trying hard, but they don’t know.

Phillip Winn replied to Adam

@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite @davew right, they don’t know, which is why it’s important to tell them.

This thread is ludicrous. Dave is right.

Dave Winer ☕️ replied to Phillip

@pwinn @aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite

ignore the cynics. they never did anything useful but they sure do try to get in the way.

Adam Elman replied to Dave Winer ☕️

@davew @pwinn @aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite FWIW, I’m not trying to get in the way, I just think that framing this as "you're using the word wrong” when most everyone else (and most dictionaries) use the word that way is a losing battle and is counter-productive. I *do* think it’s worth fighting the real fight, which is (as Dave said in another post): the web should belong to no-one.

Dave Winer ☕️ replied to Adam

@aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite

we have work to do here. you are definitely getting in the way.

podcasting is the same as the web.

what you all are saying is that just by grabbing it spotify now owns it.

1. you're wrong

2. and who cares

we have work to do. this is a pointless worthless time-wasting discussion.

Jared White replied to Adam

@aelman @davew @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty I mean, I'm happy to agree with you that

> framing this as "you're using the word wrong”

is a good point. However, my contention would be that that's not my original framing. My original framing was to call out **journalists in the news** for refraining from calling out corporations who are abusing the term for their own gain. Big difference there.

Adam Elman replied to Jared

@jaredwhite @davew my argument (and I swear this is my last comment on this, because I said I’d shut up) is that those corporations are not “abusing the term for their own gain” - they're using the term CORRECTLY as it is popularly understood, but they’re engaging in a business practice that we think violates the spirit of the web. Arguing the semantics feels like a losing strategy to win a critical battle here. But TBH I don’t have a better one, so I’ll shut up.

Patrick LaForge replied to Jared

@jaredwhite @aelman @davew @pwinn @davidtoddmccarty I think a podcast with a paywall is still a podcast, in English. Would I pay for a podcast service? I give money to MaxFun, Relay and others. I am glad they don’t twist my arm. But there are many ways to raise revenue to support content. They can all coexist. It is up to the users

Jared White replied to Patrick

@palafo @aelman @davew @pwinn @davidtoddmccarty Again, not the issue. I 100% agree with you that a podcast with a paywall is still a podcast…

…as long as that podcast is provided via a unique URL which serves an RSS feed which can be loaded into my player (Pocket Casts).

I actually subscribe to several membership podcasts behind a paywall, and this is exactly how it works! If exclusive shows from Apple, Spotify, and any others worked in this manner, there'd be no further debate necessary.

Patrick LaForge replied to Jared

@jaredwhite @aelman @davew @pwinn @davidtoddmccarty I prefer that as well and hope there is enough user pressure so that remains the standard. I do worry about fragmentation or companies breaking the open network. The ecosystem also seems overly reliant on the “free” Apple directory.

Patrick LaForge replied to Dave Winer ☕️

@davew @aelman @pwinn @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite I agree with Dave. I think the web can flourish regardless of what various corporations do. They can’t buy the whole market.

Dave Winer ☕️ replied to Adam

@aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite

Why it's so important to get clear on what podcasting is.

Because podcasting is like the web. And we're fighting for something much bigger than podcasting, something which *includes* podcasting, the ownership of the web itself.

Google has been acting like the owner of the web for a few years.

This is being covered up by the tech industry, but it is a fact and a public issue of the most importance.

The web belongs to no one.

Period.

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