Talk:The Register

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[edit] Older comments

Licence is a noun. License is a verb. Please remember this when reverting other people's changes. —Wereon 18:33, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The Register is a UK publication; "licenced" is an entirely acceptable form of the word. Reverting - David Gerard 19:00, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Nope. The above is the UK spelling rule. Americans just use 's' always. Morwen - Talk 19:06, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)
I looked up 'licenced' and found it as a valid form ... hmm. - David Gerard 19:09, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)
American dictionaries (particularly dictionary.com) do tend to give "licenced" as a British form, partly due to the American ignorance of the nuances of the English language. However, the OED or lesser British dictionaries will give you the correct form. —Wereon 11:13, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
e.g. "licenced premises" is common. But "licensed" is used also. I would strongly question deeming "licenced" always incorrect - David Gerard 11:31, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Google gives me 28 hits for 'licenced' in site:hmso.gov.uk and 3,500 for 'licensed'. 80.229.39.194 11:36, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Licence is as much a verb as practise is a noun. "Licenced" belongs to the same category of non-words as "vapourise", "humourous" and "offencive". —Wereon 14:33, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)

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Removed this as self-referential:

"The Register" has been known to occasionally publish a harsh opinion on Wikipedia, pointing out the latter's failings and errors. One then may ponder upon "The Register's" own veracity or reliability, seeing how their material depends on the judgement of a few individuals, who lack the experience and education of the countless thousands who read, review, and are allowed to correct the content of Wikipedia. Doubtlessly, the editorial staff of "The Register" possess as good credentials as any journalist, but one might assume that only mature individuals, who are confident in the nature of their fellow humans, would empower anyone to make contributions to a wikiwiki -- but this is obviously just one point of view. Because Wikipedia embraces a policy known as Neutral Point of View, it is obvious that no one in the Wikipedia community would express a harsh judgement upon individuals who are simply attempting to earn a living in the best manner they could find.

It reads like an editorial comment in the article, or material for a letter to the editor - David Gerard 22:50, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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It might be a good idea to add some info regarding what the controversy was over one of the founders leaving and founding The Inquirer. I don't know why he left, but maybe someone else does? The Belgain 02:32, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Im a long time reader of The Register, and would as well find information on that aspect of the site's history interesting.Dxco 04:03, 17 December 2005 (UTC)


[edit] In Jokes

I object to the following sentence in the article - I am studying at Cambridge and know plenty of very intelligent people who cannot communicate, regardless of their state of mind: "Many of these letters are left un-edited leaving in misspellings, grammatical errors and errors in logic that often show that the Internet encourages intelligent people to get angry and make mistakes or allow stupid people to get angry and communicate." - Fergus (frf21 at cam/ac/uk) 02:39, 28 May 2006 (BST)

I take it you don't enjoy The Register then. And a lot of the misspelled letters are from stupid and ignorant people. Stephen B Streater 18:58, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Attacks on Wikipedia

Is it appropriate to have a section devoted to the Register's repeated attacks [1] on Wikipedia? Nrbelex (talk) 17:21, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

That would be a bit self-refferential dont ya think? Agnte 17:55, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
Is there anything wrong with that if they seem to truly hold a grudge against Wikipedia? It would attest to their claiming to be a true news source yet only giving one side of the debate a voice. Nrbelex (talk) 23:43, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
In my opinion, many of The Register's criticisms are valid. It would be inappropriate to turn this article into a response to articles in The Reg. This would basically be original research. Instead of trying to rebut valid criticism, we should try to learn from it and improve WP accordingly. Claims that the debate is one sided are incorrect since most media coverage of WP is overwhelmingly positive. There's nothing wrong with having a vocal critic to keep WP honest. Pburka 00:21, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
It's fine the way it is then - carry on :P Nrbelex (talk) 03:10, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
Don't feed the troll.--Ezeu 14:29, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
I don't believe the article is complete without at least mentioning what amounts to a vendetta against Wikipedia. This is not the place to refute the accusations or defend Wikipedia, but the omission of any mention almost qualifies as censorship.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Rogerzilla (talk • contribs) 15:52, 20 December 2005
That is probably what the provocateurs want. I guess we will eventually yeild and endulge in petty pie casting. --Ezeu 15:25, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
The article seems complete without mentioning The Register's apparent vendetta against Itanium. What makes their criticisms of Wikipedia different? Pburka 00:21, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
I would not be amused by their reporting if I was on the Itanium design or marketing teams; however, you have to concede that they correctly predicted from the very start that Itanium would not be, shall we say, a runaway success sweeping all before it. -- Karada 03:22, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
Keep the section or remove it, but if if it's there a citation/reference is badly needed.--Outlyer 02:13, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
I've added an example link to a criticism. This is pretty complimentary though by their standards. Stephen B Streater 22:02, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
As a frequent reader and supporter of both The Register and Wikipedia, I was surprised by the presence of the paragraph remarking that The Register often criticizes Wikipedia. I found it more of a side comment than part of the main description of the purpose of The Register. Perhaps we could consider moving these remarks to a separate section, either a "The Register and Wikipedia" section, or even a bullet point under a "Trivia" section as with many other articles. --83.46.77.245 16:15, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Doing a little Original Research (i.e. noticing a trend and being too lazy to explore it), most or all of the more biased attacks seem to come from one Andrew Orlowski.[2] --Raijinili 08:03, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tabloid Journalism

I don't feel the tabloid nature of The Register is being stressed enough. There is a huge gap between "news" and what the The Register is actualy doing. Sarcasm aside, news typically implies unbiased (or more than just lip service to the attempt at it) facts. Alot of what The Register is running, especially as of late, is not factual, but running (as in liquid, more specifically drool) commentary on factual headlines. The headline being the only statement of fact.

It has also begun bandwagoning FUD against rival media outlets (Wikipedia as case an point) en masse, with articles to follow thier own articles, which were already opinion pieces of little to no factual substance.

I am a long time reader of The Register, and only an occasional user of Wikipedia. But with recent attacks on Wikipedia, each becoming increasingly more ad hominem, to claim it to be a news orgainization is a case and point mar on Wikipedia's accuracy.

It's the technology journalism equivalent of Private Eye; half satire, half serious news, half in-jokes. Their news reporting can easily be distinguished from their satirical content, if you are not gullible enough to ignore the rather wide hints provided (such as Otto's biography). -- Karada 03:20, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

All newspapers have a point of view and opinion pieces. I don't think the people who are claiming that The Register (or The Inquirer) are tabloid journalism really know the market and style that tabloid newspapers aim for. It is certainly sarcastic and opinionated at time, but then so is The Spectator, and no-one is accusing that of being a tabloid style. --192.25.22.11 11:26, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Does everything have to be categorized in a neat box? Calling it a tabloid, rumour factory or blog are all rather subjective. Stick to the facts and no one gets hurt ;) Riscy 04:53, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

It should be pointed out that The Register has called itself a tabloid on at least one occasion (here, at bottom of the page). WikiMarshall 19:22, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

How can it be Tabloid? Tabloid is a size of paper. Look it up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.232.65.170 (talk) 14:27, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Because 'tabloid' isn't *just* a size of paper? qv Tabloid#As_a_sensational.2C_gossip-filled_newspaper AKM (talk) 12:05, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


The "Tabloid" Reg: either Inappropriate or Not in Good Faith

The term "Tabloid Journalism" originated in the UK with the Murdoch "tabloid-sized" sized newspapers (as opposed to the quality "broadsheet-sized" newspapers) in the 1970's. Tabloid is now a recognised term for gutter journalism or celebrity chasing rumour mongering as we know it in all Commonwealth countries. That type of tabloid is probably more accurately called defamation or disinformation for the public.

I believe in the US, Tabloid refers to a type of magazine (usually purchased in a supermarket) which carries inane articles about UFO abductions or other freak-type stories. That type of "tabloid" is never intended to taken seriously by the public.

I'm not sure if (the unknown wiki editor) has the cultural background to understand the correct use of the term in it's British context, but refering to the Register as "tabloid" is at best highly inappropriate and at worst not in good faith or malicious (in a 8th grade kind of way).

Satirical is certainly a better description for the Register, especially with regards to its articles on wikipedia, facebook or other web 2.0 sites. Afterall a community that takes itself too seriously ends up being a ripe target for satire ;-) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.164.97.200 (talk) 10:26, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

"tech tabloid" was added during a surreptious edit 6 months ago. I'm reverting it back http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Register&oldid=139426087 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.164.97.200 (talk) 11:24, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

It is one. T.R. is celebrity drama- on the internet- without sex. It's a terrible resource even on purely technical issues. 125.239.192.44 (talk) 06:47, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] El Reg

I think it should be noted that not just "Staff Members" call The Regsiter "El Reg", but so do many of their readers.

[edit] What about this?

Notable, I would think? Given the recent storm, thought it best to discuss on talk page first. [3]

EJF (talk) 15:44, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

I see no reason to put a mention of it, since there is no mention about previous articles. Basically, whatever criticism El Reg writes about wikipedia represents a very little part of the articles, so there is little reason to mention it.
And of course, if anybody wants to ANSWER the criticism, it would be original research, NPOV, unencyclopedic and what else to put it on wikipedia. ^^ Ratfox (talk) 19:34, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "The first Register article was published on 1 August 1998."

No, it wasn't. Via archive.org, I found this edition from June 1997. So it clearly wasn't August 1998... but even that June 1997 edition is numbered 50. The back-issue links at bottom right don't work; can anyone find anything on the web (as opposed to email) from even earlier? 86.132.140.45 (talk) 17:47, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

If you read the publisher's statement on the audited server logs for 2005, it states that the register began in 1995 as an email newsletter, published its first web presence in January 1997 and became a daily news operation in May 1997. --TimTay (talk) 18:45, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
Today (18th April 2008), they are celebrating their 10th birthday. [4] CS Miller (talk) 16:50, 18 April 2008 (UTC)