Whatever, AdAge

Why am I reminded of the classic Scooby Doo line when reading this article? "I would've gotten away with it if it weren't for these MEDDLING KIDS!" Ad Age informs us that most folks responding to its poll about reading blogs at work were against the notion of people reading non-work-related blog material during business hours. That is, until Gawker "Gawkered" the poll. The tone this "story" takes is just dripping with 'Papa knows best' Old Guard bullshit. Lemme see if I've got this straight:

1) AdAge introduces a completely non-scientific poll to get reader opinions on the topic. 2) Gawker skews the results. 3) AdAge writes a story about how Gawker skewed the results.

Like the results weren't skewed to begin with? I would have missed the poll entirely because for some reason, unlike just about every other trade publication covering advertising and marketing, AdAge has apparently failed to recognize the existence of RSS. So who is still reading this stuff? The lack of an RSS feed is bad enough, but the coverage of interactive and emerging media? Please. As I type this, the last story they have posted on their website in the "Daily Breaking News - Interactive News" section is a story from last month about VW short films. I don't think too many people would dispute that AdAge seems to be the trade publication of record for advertising's Old Guard.

Not only does the AdAge story seem a bit condescending to me, but it's also coated with this silly faux-umbrage, reminiscent of the 8-year-old boy who gets kissed by a girl on the playground. Writing about how Gawker "plastered the top six inches of its home page with a headline and garphic [sic] warning: 'A Disaster Awaits at AdAge.com'" smacks of "Ewwwww...a GIRL kissed me!" Sort of like feigning disgust when that was what they wanted all along.

Whatever.