Monday News: Cormoran Strike-TV detective, doxxing debate, Tsu social network scheme, and a high impact proposal
JK Rowling ‘to collaborate’ with BBC on Cormoran Strike TV adaptation – The stories of Robert Galbraith, aka JK Rowling, will be adapted by the BBC to television in collaboration with the author. Television will definitely provide the opportunity to keep the stories going for a significant length of time. And Rowling has already indicated that she hopes to keep the Galbraith books going so that they exceed the number of Potter books published:
“One of the things I love about this genre is unlike Harry Potter, where there was a through line, where there was an overarching story, a beginning and end, you are talking about discreet stories. So while a detective lives, you can keep giving him cases.” –The Independent
Why I’m Okay with Doxing – A controversial piece by Rebecca Watson defending doxxing under specific circumstances. Watson argues that context counts and if her post does anything, it raises the question of what constitutes doxxing and under what circumstances information on someone can be presented publicly by someone other than the person to whom that identifying info belongs. There’s a discussion on Fail Fandom Anon as to whether what Watson is talking about is even doxxing. And while Watson doesn’t invoke the case, the post definitely reminded me of the violentacres controversy from a couple of years back, which prompted a couple of good posts, including one at Dear Author, about the ethics of doxxing.
A few months ago, people were very angry at me for “doxing” Dr. Eliza Sutton, a prolific troll who uses pseudonyms online to harass feminists. “Doxing,” or “doxxing,” is the act of publicizing otherwise secret personal details of someone online. In the case of Sutton, she released her own details on a public blog post and then I linked to the story at Pharyngula, so I can’t be said to have doxed her in any way.
That said, if I had somehow obtained her real name and occupation from a private source, I doubt I would have hesitated to publicize it the moment she libeled me and PZ by stating that he got an STD at my conference. –SkepChick
IS TSU A SCAM? 6 THINGS TO CONSIDER – So because there isn’t enough social networking going on, apparently there is a move by some authors to try to get other authors, bloggers, and readers to join something called Tsu, that promises to monetize your context in a way that strikes me at first glance to bear a passing resemblance to a pyramid scheme. Amanda Blain has done a good job of revealing the myriad red flags associated with Tsu (and she continues to provide updates, although comments have been closed), and once again I have to wonder how bad things are going to get before the pendulum slaps back and we end up with an almost complete social media purge.
According to the monetization terms on their website…. “As such, you will receive periodic deposits in your Ts? bank account, which are directly related to your usage of the Service.” The money goes into the Tsu bank, not yours. No bank information, paypal, check cashing, tax information for foreign countries, etc…. is included absolutely anywhere at any time in any of the legal information. I have no idea right now how people will ever get paid.
Honestly, You’d be lucky to make 5$ from their non published model. It will require a $100 to pay you(AGAIN according to their FAQ.) That is something you or the majority of people who use tsu will never actually earn because you are making fractions of a cent each day. Or say 1 cent a day… ( a number I’ve seen a few people saying they have earned) It will take 10,000 days Or roughly 28 Years to earn $100. Are you making less than a dollar a day? And how many hours are you putting in? Your pay rates here then are less than a newspaper route or data entry jobs listed online. –Amanda Blain
Dutch marriage proposal sees crane smash IJsselstein house – You may have already heard this story, but just in case you haven’t, or in case you haven’t seen the pictures (yowza!), check out this link. Thankfully, she said yes, but you would pretty much have to at that point, right?!
A Dutchman’s plan to propose to his girlfriend has ended with a mobile crane smashing the roof of a house and forcing the evacuation of two others. –BBC News
Didn’t realize tsu was a pyramid scheme; I thought it was just going to be as ineffective as hello (anyone remember that?)
FWIW, I’ve seen tsu promoted as a way to counteract the new Facebook and Google terms fellow authors and I are bracing ourselves for in the coming year. If FB really does crackdown it will be a relief; I finally won’t have a reason to be there!
Tsu’s a pretty classic pyramid, though they call it your “family tree”. As with other social media start-ups, a ton of authors joined to secure their names but, unlike some others, there seem to be other book-folk joining in.
As for the payment, I assume it’s either 1) a way to get people who aren’t businesses away from FB (“OMG, it’s just like Facebook BUT WE EARN MONEY JUST FOR SHARING”) that’ll never add up or 2) once everybody’s built up their platform and we’re all living our lives on Tsu, they’ll be like “Oh, you know we need everybody’s bank account and social security numbers to pay you, right?”. They can keep their $.04.
Whenever I read something like this So while a detective lives, you can keep giving him cases from on author I get very wary. Thanks alot, Karin Slaughter.
Gah, my html tags failed me. “So while a detective lives, you can keep giving him cases” should be in italics.
Damn autocorrect- that was ello, not hello
I didn’t think Comoran Strike was very interesting. The book I read was okay, but not something that would put Galbraith on my to-read list.
I think Rowling meant “discrete,” not “discreet.” Homophones strike again!
Discreet is the English spelling.
@Willa: “Discreet is the English spelling.”
Uh no. ‘Discrete’ means separate, and unconnected. ‘Discreet’ means careful, circumspect.
Two totally different and non-interchangeable words.
Oops – my bad! :D
All I could think when I saw that proposal story was that a Rich Dutch Doctor would never have muffed it up like that. Tsk.
I enjoyed both Cormoran Strike books. I can see them working well as a TV series. Strike reminds me of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie, another mystery series that works extremely well as a TV adaptation (‘Case Histories’).
“A controversial piece by Rebecca Watson defending doxxing under specific circumstances.”
I’m disgusted with her, not just for the post which I think is idiotic, but the lack of moderation in the comments which allowed Will Shetterly to run rampant (again – we’ve seen him in action before on DA of course), and for even the owner of STGRB to send her minions in to attack.
And on top of all that, my attempts to hold Shetterly accountable for the outing and doxxing he is still handwaving away, have been dismissed as a ‘silly little slapfight’.
I’m sure Watson would be amused to find the attacks on her over Elevatorgate thus described. It shows again how minimisation is the first and best defence men use when confronted with their own bad behaviour.
And we women enable it.
As for feminists who only support the women important to them….
Between this crap and the POC madly defending Requireshate in the face of proof of her abuse, all my heroines are falling off their perches and into the gutter this years :(
@Ann Somerville: Between this crap and the POC madly defending Requireshate in the face of proof of her abuse, all my heroines are falling off their perches and into the gutter this years :(
It’a probably a measure of my cynicism that I have no heroes/heroines. I joke with my BFF all the time that she gives everyone the benefit of the doubt until they disappoint her irretrievably, while I give no one the benefit of the doubt until they’ve damn well earned it. For both of us, the process is extended. With the result being that she’s far more trusting in and optimistic about people than I am, where I am disappointed far less often. Not sure which outlook is preferable.