DASFFS

I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of them sending something they considered a possible threat straight to Canberra!

if anyone says ''DASFFS'' about a news story again, they're banned ;)

Whats the point of this without a picture of the offending item?
Fuck M+N's news section is botch.
Always a mistake or lack of information

It was a fair overreaction from what is supposed to be the laid-back, rock'n'roll airline. It was 'virgin' on the ridiculous.''

HAHAHALOLOLOLOLGURGLE

so you've never seen a bullet guitar strap, phil?

Fuck off.... Do some real work

story should have had a Jet reference

missed a trick there

barmans thread was better and he had the offending strap first up.

true, but this isn't a thread it's a news piece. some of our readers -- and i know this might shock you -- don't actually frequent the boards.

ahhh treadin the boards. fair enough.

true, but this isn't a thread it's a news piece.

You do realise that regurgitating what you read in the newspaper is not actually journalism don't you. To be a real journalist you have to regurgitate what you get from a wire sevice or PR company.

barman's thread?

i spend my midnights trawling fairfax news sites to cut and paste whole articles into new threads and barmanget the credit!

no respect, i tells ya.

what percentage of comments on news pieces are sarky observations about the reporting rather than actually discussing what is in the story? it feels like about a 2:1 ratio. i realise that i am a serial offender.

do you sometimes regret having instituted a comments box josejones?

ooops..whoops. sorry nony. nony brings us the news. nony is a news hound. btw that strap aint no ordinary bullet strap. it aint one of dem crappy bullet straps. check out dem shells. that bullet strap is worth a fortune.

true, but this isn't a thread it's a news piece.

And yet the comments section looks like a thread!

I see what you did there.

Shakes page impressions counter, watches numbers spin

some of our readers -- and i know this might shock you -- don't actually frequent the boards.

Have you guys actually done any research on this? It would be interesting to know what percentage of people who visit m+n don't look at the boards.

also the lurker/poster split on the boards

Furry muff.

x-post, obviously.

here's the answer to it all

hah, took too long.

On a different note, I'm currently eating one of your hamthrax biscuits, de.foxus. Yum!

we were actually offered an interview with lucas yesterday, but what more could he have said?

Was that in the 6.25pm email, jones? No offence to the person who sent it, by the way.

I read this story in the paper at about 8.00am. I have Lucas' mobile number. But there is no way on earth I would have called him at 8.05- on the morning after he'd dealt with all this bullshit and then played a show- to discuss it.

And personally I tried to make this point, but everyone glossed over the actual strap. like I have said this strap, there is a story behind it, it is unusual, it is a very serious strap, I have never seen one with that size round. The age glossed over it. Here has glossed over it. Everyone laughs at the ole bullet strap in the bag vibe...BUT...People miss the point, that strap would freak someone. They are rounds from some sort of machine gun. not some 30/30 rounds from an 80's strap with small cartridges etc. I'd be very interested to hear the origin of the strap from Lucas. Also this would help balance the reporting on this case. I can imagine airport security going woah over that strap, maybe they are not retards, maybe they are, but like I said people aint dumb.

just sayin. I'm just sayin.

I was hoping for a vigorous debate on the extent to which Virgin's security policies appropriately balance the public interest in security matters and the costs (financial and non-financial) imposed on airline customers. What we received was a rambling debate on the merit of the M&N news function. I'm sure someone once said that the Internet promotes healthy public debate - it's just not on the relevant issues.

yawn

yawn indeed

it's still not to late to do the editorial btw. it's perfect timing now..basically after the heat of the incident, to work through all angles would take some time, so this peice is fine but maybe going out there now contacting lucas, and the airline and getting the whole story would be good.

just sayin.

see there is one more angle to this story...is this about someone tempting fate? knowing the strap is serious, knowing the vibe of airports, did Lucas know the strap would get him some attention? did he want it? was he looking for it? For press??? surely not..but??

We know this shit causes trouble..did Lucas tempt em? fucken give em the finger and airport just went fuck you dickhead? we'll have the three guitars? Was he being a fucking idiot? Did airport think..oh fucking arrogant wanker...did he back down fast to get his guitars back?

all this story..and nothing has been done to find out more

just sayin..just sayin..

I think there's snother uninvestigated angle here in Steve's conversion to Islam.

No-one's broiught that up.

I think he did that just so he could screw Virgin in the afterlife.

of course one would have to probe him about his choice of new romantics outfits.

and to change the topic -- i reckon annehelena should write more reviews- haven't read such insights since block hung up his reviews

I know yr taking the piss, but I'm gonna take that as a compliment.

What I object to is people expecting only the highest standard of reportage, instantly, all the time, provided for their entertainment, without giving much thought to how that content is generated.

I would be careful, if providing content, to be quick to criticise people expecting high standards. Content providers - no matter who they are - should be about high standards no matter how trivial the story, because crap is noticed as such, whether or not that sort of statement is fed back to you.

I don't know that it's a requirement of enjoying articles to have any idea of where they come from. Yes, people will be grateful for them (and even moreso when they're quality) but your comment - which I may be misinterpreting, I admit - seems to infer that there should be a universal ''well-done!'' as a result of posting something like this.

Most of the snarkiness from users in this thread seems to stem from the fact that in this case, a news story went up after it had been discussed to some length here, as happens with a bunch of news stories. I suspect the feeling of piggybacking off content generated during conversation creates a feeling of user suspicion, or at least of ''me-too!''.

The issue, I suppose, is timing, as Block points out. It'd been percolating away for some time before the news story appeared, and by that time it seemed that the horse had bolted.

And yeah, I agree that an editorial would probably be more interesting than the bare story, too; there's some interesting things to tease out in this sort of issue. It'd probably encourage some more considered posting, also. Though I guess that's not as valuable counterwise as quick-fire game-or-bitch threads.

I have it on good authority that Steve Lucas shoots blanks anyway.

all good info for a wik entry barman.

your comment [...] seems to infer that there should be a universal ''well-done!'' as a result of posting something like this.

Absolutely not, Fez! It's a news item, which should require no comment other than a discussion of the information contained within.

I like barmans comment and that aint in the story.