Bike thief gives advice on bike ownership

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I apologize for cross-posting if you've read this before somewhere else :) but I thought it was worth mentioning it here.

Recently the Somerville Patch interviewed Mathew  Berry (riding his bike in Davis Square) on "further reducing the cost of bike ownership". Two weeks later they ran a story about a bike thief named Mathew Berry who has been arrested for stealing bikes on Beacon Hill. Patch doesn't realize the connection until it's pointed out in the comments.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Thanks for posting this -- I was thinking of posting it here too. (Where else did you 'cross-post' it?)

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I meant, I cross-posted it from the Patch. Maybe I'm using the term wrong-I blame reddit.

[ron_newman]

I don't know anything about reddit, but "cross-posting" here usually means that you posted it both to DSLJ and to some other place on the web (perhaps another LJ community).

This is hilarious, and I added a couple more tags for you.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Cross-posting means making the exact same post in multiple places (either within the same site, e.g. one's personal LJ and a community on LJ, or across sites, e.g. on LJ and on Facebook). People sometimes point out they've done this because it can be annoying to start reading a full post only to realize you've already read it three paragraphs in, plus the time wasted with scanning to make sure it's actually the same thing. I suspect the apology format for such declarations developed because people didn't realize this was a problem until after someone complained, for which an apology is the proper response.

The term for posting something someone else posted elseweb is "reposting" (with variants such as "retweeting" (RT)); this is rarely apologized for, since declaring its origin immediately lets people know if they've read it already. If you're not actually quoting that other post outright, but instead provide links to it, that's "linking" or possibly "sharing", which is pretty much never apologized for because that's what the web is for.

Internet etiquette is a fascinating and observable example of unwritten social contracts forming and changing in real time, to me. I'm sorry for the long ramble if it's way less interesting to you ;).

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to say that this is a lovely and civilized explanatory comment, and I particularly liked the concluding bit.

There is a special place in my heart for people who politely explain this shit instead of telling people to Just Fucking Google It, Like Our Cave-Man Ancestors Did Whenever They Encountered Something Unfamiliar.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

i guess stealing is his preferred way of reducing his cost of bike ownership

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

It is certainly a logical solution, if not an ethical one!

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

sorry, i didn't notice that the joke was already made before I tried making it.

[ron_newman]

I found a couple of other arrests for this guy in the past year, at least one of which was also for bicycle theft. I posted a comment over at Patch and am also reposting it here:

Is he also perhaps the same "Matthew Berry, 30" arrested at 58 Simpson Ave. in Somerville on 12/21/10 for "larceny of item(s) valued over $250 by a single scheme" ?
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/police-log-eleven-arrests

and also the same "Matthew Berry, 29, of 47C Franklin St. in Somerville" arrested by Cambridge police on 8/16/10 for receiving stolen property (a bicycle stolen in Leominster)? At that time he also had two outstanding warrants for other larcenies.

http://www2.cambridgema.gov/CPD/News/newsDetail.cfm?story_id=2852

[smammy]

Patch-ian "Christopher Treacy" seemed a bit defensive when you pointed this out in the comments: "And so... Ron, Sir, would you like us to *do* something about this? What's done is done." Touchy, touchy!

[ron_newman]

Doesn't bother me, though I think Denise Taylor would have handled it more diplomatically.

[squirrelitude]

Looks like he misunderstood your tone. Ah well.

A later commenter had a good point about libel, though -- we don't know this is the same Matthew Berry.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I don't blame the Patch for missing this - it's a small news organization. I think they do a great job on reporting on various events in Somerville and this little hilarious irony doesn't detract from the quality of their journalism. It doesn't change the fact that this whole situation is still hilarious. I hope the Patch thinks so as well.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

yeah, i see no issue with them missing this--it's a funny coincidence and it becomes newsworthy on its own. It's not like they should retract the first article.

[ron_newman]

Agreed

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

"What's done is done"?

HEY MR. TREACY, LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME BASIC CONCEPTS OF JOURNALISM:

A) THE FOLLOW-UP STORY

B) THE RETRACTION

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

That's the beauty of Blogging.. All the pomp and circumstance of journalism with none of the responsibility!

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

well this brings the LOLs. I think I may have wet myself laughing.

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

is there a photo of this guy anywhere?

[smammy]

Preferably riding a stolen bike!

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

While being interviewed by the Patch.

[gee-tar.livejournal.com]

I wonder if he was the one who stole my bike 6 years ago.