Scientists have proven that the Times of India Web site has the lowest news-to-crap ratio in the world. Here’s the study abstract:
42 comments
on February 23, 2006 06:45 PM · Direct link
Thats friggin' awesome, somebody needs to bash it into their thick skulls to do something about it. I think you oughta also add in pix of the crappy "BollywoodOnDemand", "A1 Bollywood music" and "SmasHits" pop ups that scar your retinas eash time you visit toi.com.
on February 23, 2006 06:46 PM · Direct link
Popups? What are popups? I use Maxthon.
on February 23, 2006 06:49 PM · Direct link
The steaming pile of shit has me in tears.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA. Awsome.
on February 23, 2006 06:51 PM · Direct link
I use IE or Firefox - both of them apparently have popup blockers. Besides I have the Google toolbar, which is supposed to block popups as well. But those toi popups sneak thru. Will have to give Maxthon a try, although I hear Opera has better popup protection as well.
on February 23, 2006 07:01 PM · Direct link
I would have been outraged at you phoreners taking cheap shots at our media, but considering it's TOI, I'll let it go ;)
on February 23, 2006 07:08 PM · Direct link
if you really want to read the TOI, the full paper is available at epaper.timesofindia.com (requires an Indiatimes ID). This is an exact replica of the actual paper, so it's (relatively) crap-free.
on February 23, 2006 07:36 PM · Direct link
I had a former editor of ToI at my house a couple of months ago. He's apparently chums with my dad. Any ways, I was telling him how crappy the newspaper has gotten when he told me the suits at ToI told him before he left that they were will to sell the headline space if it would bring in more money. My dad has two friends that are former ToI editors and both of them say that ToI has been going downhill for a long time.
on February 23, 2006 07:51 PM · Direct link
Firefox users can use greasemonkey extension with TimesPagingRemover script to enhance news-to-crap ratio.
on February 23, 2006 08:13 PM · Direct link
Two FireFox extensions: Adblock. Flashblock. Both customisable (so you don't have to forego YouTube video flash etc). Job done. BoingBoing suddenly starts resembling like Google.
on February 23, 2006 08:24 PM · Direct link
Yup, the Old Lady of Boribunder is now the Old Whore of Boribunder. No one wants to invite her to kitty parties any longer. Or to pontificate upon incumbent matrimonial proposals.
on February 23, 2006 08:31 PM · Direct link
Popups? What are popups? I use Maxthon.
You shouldnt have revealed that. Now the ToI staff will get busy trying to make pop-ups work on Maxthon too. :-)
(I say this because for a while using FireFox didnt generate pop-ups at that website)
on February 23, 2006 08:35 PM · Direct link
True say... TOI is more crap than anything else. I used to check it out (or indiatimes.com same thing just differnt format) almost every second day but I noticed that everytime (EVERYTIME, no exaggeration) they had atleast 4 totally irrelevent headlines. 20 Hottest Spicy Girls... 20 girls that would make you go gaga... 20 girls to die for.. blah blah... and everytime they'd put a white girl's pic on the main page (thats the case 99% times i've been to indiatimes/timesofindia).
My suggestion : www.rediff.com
on February 23, 2006 08:49 PM · Direct link
...and everytime they'd put a white girl's pic on the main page (thats the case 99% times i've been to indiatimes/timesofindia).
True, and utterly shameful. Truth is, we have a lot of not-so-subtle racism and many people don't even realise that.
on February 23, 2006 09:00 PM · Direct link
That's not necessarily racism, that may just be the inverse of Icelanders' thing for brown people.
on February 23, 2006 09:04 PM · Direct link
That's not necessarily racism, that may just be the inverse of Icelanders' thing for brown people.
...is that a documented fact? Rejkjavik(?)here I come!
on February 23, 2006 09:08 PM · Direct link
I am lovin this. I cannot wait to find out who the editors@toiletpaper.com are and why they don't publish the names of reporters/authors next to the stories. The news/crap or signal/noise ratio aside, the difference between toilet news and a tabloid blurs. I want to run a RSS feed that reads "TOI news/crap ratio" so that it can run as a ticker to keep you informed.
The biggest gripe I have with the TOI turdburglars is with the shutdown of "mediaah", a blog by Pradyuman Maheshwari. The dingleberries at Bennett and Coleman (TOI) simply couldn't take criticism and decided to serve him a libel suit.
The entertainment value of the Toilet paper should not be underestimated. if you ever want to redefine contrast, you gotta read TOI. "Britney to wed K-Fed" or "Desired baby names of NRIs" will almost always be in bold and ahead of "Blast in Kashmir kills 30". The toilet paper also suffers from an identity crisis. It cannot figure out if it wants to be a tabloid or the garden variety paper. The toilet paper is akin to a pony-tailed Eureka Forbes salesman in a tie trying to sell a Vacuum Cleaner to Sushma Ben in Thane. It just doesn't work.
Grease Monkey option not withstanding, I want to charge 5 cents for providing links to a clean printable version of nonsense on the toilet paper. The probability that your computer will get raped by the scripts and popups on a visit to the toilet stands at 90%
later
//
on February 23, 2006 09:09 PM · Direct link
Well... from the looks of it, they are trying to break even on the expense of a web site and their business model is built totally around the coin generated by the adverts.
A slightly negative way to read this is that the paper is being run by bean counters and technologists with token management degrees - so much for the MBA's coming out of the much vaunted indian education system. Admittedly, profitability is a problem for the publishing industry anywhere and to the best of my knowledge there isnt a leakproof business model for the industry.
I was once told that all the big indian portals (rediff, naukri etc) need to be hosted out of server farms in the west because the infrastructure is horrible in india. If so, then these newspapers are incurring costs in $ while catering to an indian audience that pays in Rs. Therein lies the crunch, as the Cap'n would say. I guess I am sympathetic to their plight after all. That still doesnt excuse the lousy writing tho'. Off with their heads
on February 23, 2006 10:36 PM · Direct link
Any ways, I was telling him how crappy the newspaper has gotten when he told me the suits at ToI told him before he left that they were will to sell the headline space if it would bring in more money.
daycruz: The system is called MediaNet and is actually described nicely in the link DDA provided above!
on February 23, 2006 10:52 PM · Direct link
I can tolerate their pop-ups and stuff (read:get rid of their pop-ups) but I am reluctant to go through that pain if the reward is that kind of crappy articles and utter gibberish.
Pop-ups is just miniscal part of the problem. I think bigger issue here is degrading quality of writing which used to be a source of news in past.
on February 23, 2006 11:00 PM · Direct link
Yup, the Old Lady of Boribunder is now the Old Whore of Boribunder. No one wants to invite her to kitty parties any longer. Or to pontificate upon incumbent matrimonial proposals.holy shit... for those like I who'd skipped the link earlier - here's the summary.
- editorial columns are for sale to the highest bidder who wishes to promote their goods, services, IPO's, etc.
- the store value of the paper is artificially depressed to the extent that the sellers make more money selling the paper by weight to the wastemanagement people. This works in the publishers' favor because the direct bulk-sales straight to the waste paper guys boosts circulation.
Boggles the mind. I am alternately thrilled and disgusted by this. Thrilled because it takes some thinking and balls to pull this off... and disgusted because this isnt good business...
I read in some other newspaper - I think the telegraph link kxb had provided, some person hosted a "free-photo" day in Gujarat. Got 6000 different names and pictures out of the people. Used these photos to create sham bank accounts for stock trading. and pulled a scam of something like Rs 25 Crores by artificially boosting prices on an IPO. I'm just replaying from memory ... look up telegraph for the story ... but i hope you get the picture...Frig man... it must take some large cojones to do business in india. I dont think TOI set out to become a whore... it's probably business as usual in mumbai.
on February 23, 2006 11:04 PM · Direct link
Pop-ups is just miniscal part of the problem.My bad. Pop-ups is just *miniscule* part of the problem.
on February 23, 2006 11:07 PM · Direct link
there is a big divide between TOI's online and paper versions. I have read their paper versions before and it is quite tolerable. Checkout the link provided by Nanda Kishore www.epaper.timesofindia.com. Apparently Bush's given a full interview to TOI.
on February 23, 2006 11:14 PM · Direct link
O'YBBB,
It is true there is a big divide between paper copy and online version of TOI.
However, paper copy of TOI is not what it used to be - it more like a glam magazine.
In last 2-3 years, I have read it on my trips to India - the news content and analysis is getting thinner and thinner by the day. I knew everything about Amisha Patel, Pretty Zinta, Boris Becker's girlfriend just by reading paper copy of TOI but very little about what was happening in the world at that time. It wasn't that way.
on February 23, 2006 11:58 PM · Direct link
Haha! Brilliant!
The same goes for Hindustan Times which has a plethora of pop-up ads.
I nominate this for the greatest post ever for today.
on February 24, 2006 12:00 AM · Direct link
on February 24, 2006 01:11 AM · Direct link
So, if the American bean counters have their way, this could be a great business model to look to for increasing [web] profitability for Knight-Ridder.
on February 24, 2006 04:39 AM · Direct link
they really do suck
on February 24, 2006 06:56 AM · Direct link
Its just a passing phase - soon the number of "news" stories will be so less it will make no sense to compute a ratio! When folks at TOI - at least upper level management who are resposible for "strategy" - are clear they're no longer in the news business, why are we getting all hot and bothered about news to crap ratio?
on February 24, 2006 07:57 AM · Direct link
TOI has become one of the worst news, and become good at manipulating their site to profit from google adsense.
Google, its time to ban TOI !!!
on February 24, 2006 11:28 AM · Direct link
Yup, the Old Lady of Boribunder is now the Old Whore of Boribunder. No one wants to invite her to kitty parties any longer. Or to pontificate upon incumbent matrimonial proposals.holy shit... for those like I who'd skipped the link earlier
Here's that report from Mid-Day which DDiA's link above references, with hard facts and cases. The movie, Page 3, is also a pretty good portrayal of the media scene in general.
on February 24, 2006 12:43 PM · Direct link
Thank you! I've been saying this for ages. TOI Online is nothing but a tabloid. I remember waking up daily wanting to read the print version for the great news coverage. Now-a-days when I've trouble sleeping at night, I browse the TOI online version looking for pics of voluptuous desi beauties and blonde bombshells.
on February 24, 2006 06:34 PM · Direct link
Ha Ha!! That's a great one! That pile of shit is hilarious. Seeing a link to a TOI article makes me cringe for this very reason. By the way, what's Tintin doing on the SM banner?
on February 24, 2006 07:15 PM · Direct link
Hahahahahaha! nice.
on February 27, 2006 05:11 AM · Direct link
only difference between toi offline and toi online:
with toi offline(sic) you get to hold it in your hands
on February 27, 2006 03:20 PM · Direct link
TOI is utter crap..I dont know if Hindustantimes.com is following suit
Aamir khan is suing TOI for 21 crores for using his name in an advertisement and using false quote.
on March 1, 2006 11:09 AM · Direct link
One more thing I would like to ad about TOI (and other Indiatimes group of sites) is the absolute lack of concern for reader usability when it comes to the way an article is organised online - one has to wade through 3-4 pages even to read a small news report - why?? because they want to increase their pageviews. It doesn't matter if it frustrates the user no end !!
on March 18, 2006 07:34 AM · Direct link
The times of india is not a newspaper....what the heck....it is not even worthy of being a tabloid...they just try to appease the wannabe page3 crowd....which is sad in itself...the most superficial newspaper i have ever come across...they should really give up and diverge their "business" elsewhere where they would be more appreciated than colouring the perception of millions of impressionable souls
on April 27, 2006 09:42 PM · Direct link
Please read this. Can you please explain Y mandy moore would be upset (last line) if an australlian woman says a Japanese was not raped??
Volte-face: Japanese woman not raped, claims friend in Pushkar
[ Thursday, April 27, 2006 08:01:08 pmIANS ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
Jaipur: An Australian woman in Rajasthan has claimed that a Japanese tourist who cried rape earlier this month was lying, police officials said Thursday.
Australian professor Thimona's statement in a sessions court at Pushkar Wednesday has come as a reprieve for the five accused facing trial for rape.
Saying that she had stayed in the same hotel as the Japanese woman March 25 to April 2, Thimona asserted that she "would have known" if the victim has been raped and robbed on April 2, the officials said.
The victim had faxed a complaint to the superintendent of police, Ajmer, on April 19, alleging rape by Babloo, the 22-year-old son of the hotel's owner.
The complainant had also alleged that Rs.54,000 was taken from her by the accused.
The Australian witness told the court that the victim shared a "good relationship" with the accused. The money, too, she insisted had been loaned by the victim.
The local police have confirmed the Australian's presence in Pushkar - a Hindu pilgrim town on the edge of the Rajasthan desert - at the time of the incident.
Singer-actress Mandy Moore is horrified with the title given to her by Cosmopolitan.
on May 1, 2006 10:51 AM · Direct link
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mahim/toi/
Here's an interesting rant on TOI-let paper.
on May 1, 2006 11:02 AM · Direct link
Agreed ToI is bad - but there is a market for this. I now read Indian Express, The Hindu etc... thats all you need to do. Go to www.samachar.com.
on May 25, 2006 09:56 PM · Direct link
on May 5, 2007 12:33 AM · Direct link
Check their website now. I think those guys heard you and they changed it. I thought I'd never say this in my life..but now, I actually like their layout and accessibility now.
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