So when is this spirit of optimism going to hit the CityWeekly.net comment boards? Online commenters are more oversensitive, ornery and out of humor than Dick Cheney during a Preparation H shortage. Very pre-1/20. For instance, last week’s Holly Mullen editorial “Hail the Handoff” extolled the inauguration of President Barack Obama before segueing into praise and explanation of City Weekly’s new print format, as is every editor’s duty after a redesign.
nSome commenters seemed to be mortally offended that Mullen’s description of the estimated size of the inauguration crowd came from CNN, which differed from the National Park Service’s estimate. Others, unable to recover from the shock of the slight stumble that occurred during the presidential oath of office, were angrily disagreeing over whom, exactly, was to blame. On the other hand, “Laughing Gas” was oddly pissed off about Mullen’s appreciation for the redesign: Redesigned? Cleaner sharper? More emphasis on where stories are placed? That’s almost as funny as using the phrase “To wit.”
nI can’t tell whether Gas simply doesn’t like the redesign (de gustibus non est disputandum and all that) or forgot to pick up a copy of the paper (the exciting new Web redesign is still a few weeks away). In any case, the phrase “to wit” has never struck me as all that hilarious.