If it’s so important that these news sites get that Olympic news right on the front page, then why:
is Yahoo doing us the courtesy of electing to hide the Olympics results (thanks, Yahoo!)? Perhaps because they realized that this sort of thing pisses people off and there is a very simple solution that lets news-junkies get their results and everyone else remain happily spoiler-free?
Put. The. Results. Down. One. Level. Problem solved. Everybody happy.
Go to Salon.com - they keep results hidden behind generic wire headlines, like “US Women’s Gymnastics Results.”
The news sites put the latest most senstational news on the font page the same reason the newspapers do - It sells
Give Yahoo credit for recognizing the time delay between the event and TV coverage. They set up an option (notice that its an option NOT a default) to bury the sports headlines. But you also need to recognize that the reason the news web sites are so successful is that they bring the news to the public as fast as possible. And they put the most sought after and sensational news on the front page for a reason.
Do you realize that you are complaining about the feature of the web sites that are their main reason for success?
Tell me the latest news - but wait, not that stuff!
I’m not going to blame Yahoo for this, but I am sure as fuck going to lay into the NBColypmics.com site. The official website – not of the Olympic Games! – but of the televised coverage of those games.
Where do you look up the schedule for tonight’s Olympic TV coverage? You go to the NBC Olympics homepage. Why would you want to look up the coverage schedule? Because you want to watch it on TV! And what do they have on their front page starting around 4pm Eastern? SPOILERS for THAT EVENING’S COVERAGE. So when you go to watch it on TV, you already know the ending. I mean, think about it – that’s the equivalent of calling up Moviefone and hearing the guy say, “Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back: Luke Finds Out that Vader is His Father! Showtimes at 4:30, 5:00, 6:00, 6:30…”
Is there a way I can take the :mad: smiley and spell out the word “ASSHATS” in big red dots?
It is not the job of CNN and other web sites to keep big stories off the front page because NBC presents the USA with some of the worst Olympic coverage in the world. It is not the job of CNN and other news organizations to keep quiet and avoid announcing major news stories because NBC overproduced Olympic coverage. It isn’t CNN’s job to go to trouble to avoid telling the news so that your 9 PM show is a bit more dramatic.
If you want drama, get a satellite dish and watch the feed from a country with decent Olympic coverage. This is NBC’s fault, not CNN’s.
How often does the latest news concern tape-delayed material? Pretty much next to never. The Olympics are a special case and I think it would behoove these Web sites to treat it as such. We’re really not asking all that much.
I know you’re not being argumentative here, but really, why is it too much to ask these sites to bring us the latest news! now! but to put a generic headline and a link to the latest news! now! for people to select if they want to see the spoilers (as duffer has asked twice now)?
I mean, right now they have to click the link anyway if they want to get the details, right? For those 3 people who have to know the Olympic results right now and whose lazy asses can’t bother to click down one link and who would be offended if the news sites buried the spoilers, I ask that they throw us a bone, here.
Yeah this box was REALLY useful to me last night. Load my browser, Yahoo home page pops up, gives results of women’s all around gymnastics about half an inch above the box to check to hide Olympic results. Oh boy, I can hide the results now that I’ve seen them! Very useful!
A-fuckin’-men. CNN doesn’t give a shit about spoiling sporting events, nor should it.
I’m truly astonished that people are angry about this. The Olympics, for better or for worse, are always huge stories and news events. The idea of a news site- y’know, those places you go to hear about huge stories and news events- burying it somewhere inconspicuous is one of the more ridiculous ideas I’ve ever heard.
You’re astonished people are angry at being unintentionally spoiled? Wow.
Exactly!
I wasn’t aware that other media outlets were obliged, out of the goodness of their hearts, to help NBC hold a monopoly over Olympic results.
Growing up in Australia, part of life was having to stay up until the early hours of the morning to see international sporting events. I can’t count how many times i was in front of the TV at 3am watching the Olympics, or the Ashes cricket from England, or World Cup soccer, or whatever. There’s something really fun about staying up to watch those events live.
And if you can’t stay up all night, i’ve heard that they have these really amazing devices nowdays called VCRs. They allow you to time-shift your viewing schedule so you can record stuff that happens in the middle of the night and watch it the next day. And rumour has it that there are even digital recording machines that will do this also.
Finally, anyone who thinks that NBC presents delayed coverage out of simple concern for its viewers’ sleeping needs is deluding themselves. NBC delays the telecast for its own revenue purposes, and so it can more easily pick and choose which sports to show rather than giving us a taste of everything.
Fuck NBC.
Amen, brother!
Pit the NBC for not showing the Olympics live. I remember a certain Australian Prime Minister who, after an Australian yacht won the America’s cup in the middle of the night (Australian time) said that employers ought to understand their workers taking the following day off work. You Americans really need to get your priorities straight – what’s more important, watching sports on the other side of the world live, or turning up to work after a good night’s sleep?
The exact words were:
“I tell you what, any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum.”
Bob Hawke, Australian Prime Minister, September 27, 1983.
And he hadn’t even been drinking! 
I was in boarding school when that America’s Cup contest was on, and even we were allowed to stay up and watch the race. I’m not an especially big fan of yachting, but that comeback was pretty amazing.
I’m relatively certain that the option has been there since the beginning of the games, so the thing to do would be to click it ASAP, before the games you want to watch even start.
Right now, cnn.com has this headline regarding the results of Phelps’ latest swim: “Phelps Attacks Fifth Golden Opportunity.” The title’s subject is clear yet still unspoiled, CNN did NOT give the results of the race away, and latest news is plainly available to anyone who wants to click in and see the results. All right there on the front page!
That’s all I was asking for, and I hope they continue to do headlines of this nature. Thanks CNN!
I don’t see that "hide results’ option anywhere. Where exactly is it?
I remember a time in which NBC showed the men’s 100 meter dash in Seoul, live, at 11:58 pm Eastern Standard the day before.
No chance of that happening here.
I say damn the Greeks for not scheduling all the popular sports at 3am Greek time. In future all Olympic games should be held in Bumfuck Indiana.
If the Olympics won’t change, the all of NBC’s competition should of course not have anything to do with sports results for the next two weeks.
Geez, way to ruin my weekend! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
What browser are you using ? The option shows up in MS Internet Explorer but doesn’t show in Opera on my comp.
Opera or whichever browser you’re using probably doesn’t support the scripting their using.
I’m astonished that…
some people think that because one media outlet delayed their coverage, <i>every other media outlet available</i> should modify their coverage accordingly, and that
some people are so self-absorbed that they’re <i>angry</i> when every other media outlet available says “why the fuck should we care what NBC does” and carried on with their mission.