IstyOsty and KittenBlock

April 25, 2011 10:53 PM

What's IstyOsty? Well suppose you want to look at an article in the Daily Mail...

Perhaps you're curious as to what percentage of a given article has been copied and pasted straight from a press release? Perhaps you just want to find out what today's cause of / cure for cancer is? IstyOsty provides a way to see and link to articles on the Daily Mail website without providing them with ad revenue or allying yourself with the likes of Melanie Phillips or Richard Littlejohn.

Of course some people believe that any attention paid to the Daily Mail only encourages it. If you are one of these people, you might wish to investigate Kittenblock, a browser extension which will automatically replace all links to the Daily Mail with a cup of tea and a kitten.

posted by the latin mouse (15 comments total)

Of relevance because the Daily Mail is currently the 'most read' English-language-newspaper site, with 39m hits in March vs. the New York Times at the no.1 slot with 61m.
(Link to clip from BBC Radio - may not be available to all)
It is unclear how much of this attention is due to 'disgust' linking, e.g. when a link goes round twitter with an increasing number of 'OMG? WTF - Daily FAIL at it again' comments attached.

Personally, I've found that kittenblock has been fantastic at preventing accidental click throughs from shortened links. Especially those to Liz Jones' column.
posted by AFII at 11:11 PM on April 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Augh, SECOND most read, obviously.
posted by AFII at 11:11 PM on April 25, 2011

Mail Online becomes the world's second most popular newspaper site, still way behind the New York Times. But pre-NYT paywall.

A good resource for understanding the UK's newspaper market is Roy Greenslade's Guardian blog.
posted by alasdair at 11:41 PM on April 25, 2011

While I disaprove of any devices that legitimise Daily Mail reading, that Kitten Block is pure genius, thanks!
posted by londonmark at 11:43 PM on April 25, 2011

Perhaps you just want to find out what today's cause of / cure for cancer is?

Also of note is the NHS Behind the Headlines site, which takes a closer look at health stories in the media. It's very good indeed, though a big flashing screen with the words "Nah, it's bollocks" would be cheaper.
posted by liquidindian at 1:34 AM on April 26, 2011 [3 favorites]

Here's the obligatory Daily Mail headline generator.
posted by TheAlarminglySwollenFinger at 1:46 AM on April 26, 2011

Well suppose you want to look at an article in the Daily Mail...

That's the point at which I check myself in for dementia treatment.
posted by Decani at 2:09 AM on April 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've been pleasantly surprised at the volte face on bariatric surgery as evidenced in this article. OK, so they started it as a "Battle" between two celebs who have both had the same operation but seem to be dealing with it differently, but the body of the article is factual and describes the benefits of bariatric surgery in terms of diabetes "remission" ( I know, I know, but when 78% are free of Type 2 diabetes after 2 years and never again need treatement for it, I'm calling it remission) among other things.
(Actually according to the latest UK stats that is 85.5%)

Gasp! Could this be, I dunno, the DM sea-change? Cynically I thought it was just a cut&paste jobbie from last weeks spectacular national bariatric registry data release but the data is older.
(Videos for improving performance through outcomes measurement in surgery here, for those interested)

It was the second positive article in a week when the normal attitude from the DM is spending NHS money on Fatties is stopping premmie neonatal pediatric units from being built & dog's rescue homes from.... oh never mind I'll just use the Headline generator above, it'll be more accurate!
posted by Wilder at 2:11 AM on April 26, 2011

Wilder, that story combines two of the DM's favourite topics - fat celebrities and miracle medical cures. I am definitely not an expert on Daily Mail editorial policy, but I am pretty sure it stipulates frequent u-turns on just about every issue, so I wouldn't take that article as evidence of a more reasoned approach. If the poster girl was a 20-stone benefit whore instead of Fern Britton you can be sure that article would have a decidedly different tone.
posted by londonmark at 2:34 AM on April 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

Little known fact: the Daily Mail was actually started by a half-Welsh, half-French Postman named Dai Jones, nicknamed Dai the Mail (or "Dai le Mail," by his wittier neighbours). The combination of hard-hitting Welsh journalism with a continental philosophical bent proved extremely popular, first in Aberystwyth, and then throughout the British Isles. Today, Dai's legacy is a first-rate journal of analysis and up-to-the-minute reportage. If you don't read the Daily Mail, you don't even understand the CONCEPT of "news", which is simultaneously a plurality of things which are "new" and a variable number (n) of ewes. The paper's arms are sable, a cock rampant spancelled in both legs with daffodils, bestriding the legend "BONJOUR ADOLF". News.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 2:59 AM on April 26, 2011 [7 favorites]

Could this be, I dunno, the DM sea-change?
No.

(This is also the answer to any Daily Mail headline that ends in a question. [eg: Does Metafilter cause cancer?]).
posted by bonaldi at 4:13 AM on April 26, 2011

frequent u-turns on just about every issue

Here's one in action from a couple of years ago: How the middle-class MMR refuseniks are putting every child at risk. Not: "How our scaremongering put children at risk" - no, it's the Guardianistas with their mung beans and children called 'Silas' who are quite clearly made up. Paul Dacre has also claimed that the DM's scaremongering around MMR was an 'urban myth'.

Yet a quick google search for "Daily Mail MMR" reveals an undated article claiming Scientists fear MMR link to autism. Don't kid yourself - there is no sea-change. Expect a 'Gastric Bands Are Evil' article before long. And then another saying they're actually quite good not long after that. And so on.
posted by liquidindian at 4:50 AM on April 26, 2011

point taken, however, when a readership that big actually gets some accurate medical statistics I'm happy. Even if the next week they gainsay the same stats.....it's got to lodge with a few surely?
posted by Wilder at 5:41 AM on April 26, 2011

"Illegal asylum seekers laughed at dying Princess Di as house prices plummeted".
posted by raygirvan at 2:40 PM on April 26, 2011

"How a white ram and 37 white ewes produced a flock of entirely BLACK lambs."
posted by iviken at 2:47 PM on April 26, 2011