I read my old diaries and it was weird - the parts that, at the time, I thought were great thoughts or trying hard to be someone else were embarrassing, but the parts I thought were lame when I was younger or when I was “ordinary and dumb” are in retrospect really quite charming and strong and endearing. I guess the…

I can’t remember what class it was, but I remember one of our readings was about how Van Gogh even knew, cruelly, in advance what would happen to him mentally. His brother (if memory serves) basically had the same condition, but was several years further along. Van Gogh could basically see what was going to happen to…

OMG I feel this article was meant for me because I just joked with my friends this weekend that I’m tempted to go back on OKC/Tinder just so I can put “My apartment and bed are full of Pokemon” as a selling point.

Jokes on them Pokemon GO players don’t have any money

Ignore him - he’s either a troll or someone who will #notallmen you to death. He responded to another thread about the Cosby rapes and no one believing them with “they should have been better reported, then”

I think it’s hard to conceptualize (because so often we’re told things are Right or they are Wrong) but everyone is right. Cho, Lin, Pegg, and Takei can all hold their own opinions about this large and overwhelming creative work that has taken a life of its own throughout multiple generations and they can all be…

As amazing as that book is, it’s not the same one that the Herzogs are funding

First Amendment really only protects you from the govt. Employment laws in this country are pretty bad in terms of protections for employees. If you are at-will employment, you can pretty much be fired anytime for anything.

I’ve had one (and therefore have had lots of trial and error experience), and you can keep them as a pet BUT you would have to change your life around quite a bit. They naturally roam a lot (especially at night), so keeping them in a tiny cage is not ideal. I used to let mine out a lot to run around the bathtub with…

Question: if Macy’s does this shit to you and charges your credit card, can you report it to your credit card company that the charges were fraudulent? In Moftah’s case, it was literally stolen from her and is an unauthorized charge. I wonder if Macy’s would either ignore the investigation (which I think if they don’t…

Oh my god if he does I would TOTALLY watch the elections

How do you decide what to leak? Is it mostly like celebrity “leaking” where they’re actually just finding a venue for publicity via journalism and it’s basically marketing, or is it like the movies where the reporter is like “aw give me something” and you’re like “alright” and it’s actually a big deal and they…

I had one more question (if I have not tried your patience too much already, haha). When journalists say something will be “off the record,” how do you know when or if to trust them? Is that contingent completely on personal relationship with said-journalist?

Thanks - this was very cool and also! I did not even know media outlets could basically have someone conduct a “post-mortem” on them.

Awesome answer. Some other commenter also said that the core wasn't what the verifications were or could have been, but it was the way Erdely presented the story as fact-checked truth.

Damn it, I wrote a response and then Kinja ate it and froze.

Oh, yeah there were some major avoidable fuck-ups in these piece. For. Sure. But I’m also wondering about other stories that may be similar, where the subject may be telling the truth, but also large organizations are not dumb. In college I lived within 5 minutes walking (or less) of 4 large frats and got to know them…

Thanks for answering! Follow-up question (kinda related to this case but also my own wondering): when you try to verify things, and say the person is very shady or evasive or immediately threatens legal action, when does that become an issue (or how do you get around it)?

Question for journalists out there: How do you verify or fact-check a story like this? I can come up with 1. hospital records 2. rape kits but given the appalling state of things in our country (all those “lost” rape kits, the fact that a lot of people don’t get the help they need or go to the authorities) it seems…

I think one of the most annoying parts of this case (as an UT Alumni) was fucking having to explain the CAP program to everyone.