bylinemjf

Hey there, Don - The reason the story isn't "tagged" with Don Rockwell on Eater.com is that Eater uses tags to indicate what the story is about, not to credit who wrote it (that's done through linking and through brackets). If a story is about Tom Sietsema (his dining guide, etc.), for example, I might tag it with his name, but if you notice, the posts on Eater tag the article's subject matter. It's a fairly transparent system. My publication did a "limp-wristed" job of crediting your reporting because there was no source for your claim. You didn't write "Jon Mathieson has told me he has X new job" or say where the info came from (a worker within the restaurant, someone who randomly told you, etc.). You just stated it as fact, without indicating sources. With big-deal stories like that, I need to understand what kind of reporting goes on before I acknowledge it as reporting rather than the discussion of rumors (for the first part of the story, which was even more sensitive, I waited to credit someone who spelled out where the info came from, and also worked on the story myself to try to get a confirmed report). I credit when I directly get information from other sources very consistently (and there are several links to Don Rockwell on Eater), but I have to treat publications with different standards with more caution - that's, for example, why I will not aggregate a Prince of Petworth "scuttlebutt" post without doing my own reporting and acknowledging it as rumor rather than fact. You may disagree with this system, but there is a method to it. Additionally, I imagine that most journalists do not see every single post in your forum (I personally try to check it once a day, and will often catch something if it is sent out on Twitter, but I'm sure there is plenty I don't see). I don't expect everyone will read everything I write on Eater, either, which is one of many reasons I don't chase down other publications for credit. Your site's layout isn't very clear to read unless someone goes through every single restaurant thread constantly, and reporters usually are not sitting at their desks all day pouring over others' work. So sometimes they're not slighting you; they're just using their own sources to do their job, which is to report news, not publicize other media outlets. You are free to contact me directly to question any of Eater's policies or decisions, and your readers are welcome to do so as well. I have had several conversations with you via email about my company's procedures, and have always treated you with respect during those discussions. In fact, I encouraged you to send me a link when you had a particularly big scoop, which is a fairly common procedure for sites who want others to pick up their work. But the one time you did send me a list of stories that I had failed to credit, as you put it, you sent me a mix of aggregated items, reviews from users, very minor news items, items written from press releases, etc., which are not posts I would aggregate on Eater. I don't think it's professional for you to be swearing about your colleagues and accusing them of serious ethical violations in a public setting (you've done it about Eater as well in the past, though you've since deleted some of those posts), but it's your forum. I don't plan to engage with you on your site any further, as I don't think it's an appropriate place to do it, but your frequent public maligning of me and my fellow writers in the industry deserved a response. Take care. Missy Frederick Eater DC missy@eater.com

Another Cleveland-area native here - my name is Missy, and I've been intermittently following the board for a couple years now. I write about the business of restaurants and retail for a local publication, and I find that this is a great source to stay informed on what's happening - and to find out where I should be going for the best pupusas, to boot.