I no longer get the Ann Arbor News, but I still check the Mlive website from time to time.  They recently changed the address for the A2 news section from mlive.com/aanews to mlive.com/annarbornews.  That’s fine if they want to do that although changing to a longer url is kind of a dumb idea. However, it should be a no-brainer for whoever did this to at least change the links on the mlive page to go to the right place.  Instead clicking the AA News link from the main mlive page takes to an error page, stating that the address has changed.  If someone manually enters the old address, they should see this, but an internal link should just go to the right page.  Just another example of why they are doomed.

I recently wrote a post in response to an article Mike Ramsey wrote in the business section of the April 9, 2006 Ann Arbor News about a looming labor shortage. I took issue with the tone and content of Mr. Ramsey’s article. From all appearances Mr. Ramsey only spoke to some corporate managers and not to any skilled employees actually trying to find work in Michigan right now. I posted a full copy of my letter in that previous post. Yesterday the Ann Arbor News decided to publish the letter I wrote. However, they edited out all references to the writer or the original article. This change caused a fundamental change to the meaning of my letter, which was meant to not only challenge the assertions of the article, but also criticize the writer. Letters to the editor are supposed to reflect the opinions of the readers of a publication. The editors of a publication have their own space for expressing their opinions on that page. The letters are supposed to provide another view. If the editors are going to change the meaning or intent of letters, they shouldn’t even bother to take letters. This disregard for the readership and the common good is one of the main reasons people are abandoning newspapers.

The only reason I even still get the AA News is because I want some local news. As I have seen more and more of the content of the paper being taken straight off the wires and the pages of the NY Times and Washington Post verbatim, I see less and less reason to subscribe. Worse yet is that this re-purposed content is often published locally days or weeks after appearing elsewhere. Often it is also incoherently edited, to fit into the available page space in the local paper. Since the net is my primary news source, I have usually seen most of this content on the day it was initially published. Newsvine, digg, and the other sources in my blogroll provide me much more timely and complete content and allow me to contribute my feedback immediately rather than 2 weeks after the original publication. The immediacy of the net also allows for almost real-time conversation, although this also allows for abuse, it is a small price to pay for the benefit of true mass communication.

The site in the title of this post is not the official site of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The site design however is a perfect clone of the official site. I found it yesterday on the ann arbor is overrated site. The site was put together by someone who doesn’t agree with the actions of the school board. I don’t live in Ann Arbor but from reading about the chaos surrounding the construction of the new high school, and the district finances in the newspaper I can definitely sympathize with whoever put up the site. I am actually glad we don’t live in the AA district. In spite of getting at least $2000 per student per year more than Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor seems to be in much worse financial shape than Ypsi. They have also completely mishandled the construction of a new high school including being millions of dollars over budget and a year late.

Now they are having a hissy fit over this parody site. They have sent a cease and desist letter to Godaddy the company hosting the site. According to district spokeswoman Liz Margolis the letter claims infringement of the the districts intellectual property. What a pile of horse-shit. This a parody and a protest. Their is no IP to infringe here. Whoever put up the protest site has every right to do so and the district should be focusing on solving there real problems. If they do that, there would be no need for this site. Hey Ann Arbor get over yourself!!!