2007 WSOP, Day 7: Part Three -- On CardPlayer’s Mysteriously Changing Headlines

One last tidbit. Not to pick on CardPlayer overly, but I’ve been noticing something interesting going on with Allyn Jaffrey Shulman’s article from May 30th regarding the looming 270-day deadline for federal officials to send their instructions to “financial transaction providers” regarding enforcement of the UIGEA.

You might recall how the day after Shulman’s article appeared, I complained about the headline: “What Will Happen When the UIGE Act Goes into Effect.” My point was the headline was unnecessarily misleading -- the UIGEA was already “in effect,” it just hasn’t been enforced.

When I looked back at the article last night, I noticed the headline had been changed. Now it read “Time Ticking Down for Gov to Implement UIGE Rules.” More accurate, that. Almost as though CardPlayer heard my whining, though I’m sure someone else had pointed out to them the problem with the original header.

Looked back at the article again today and the headline had changed again! Today the same article (nothing of the body has been altered) is titled “AG Gonzales Not Sure How to Enforce UIGE Act.” I’m guessing this third headline responds in part to the iMEGA lawsuit from earlier this week (see my first post today).

Whatever CardPlayer’s reasons for constantly changing the headlines of its articles, journalistic ethics don’t really recommend that sort of thing. Here on Hard-Boiled Poker, I try to avoid the edit-after-the-fact, never changing content (other than to correct the odd “surface-level” error -- ’cos I’m a nit that way, dontcha know). And when I feel the need to add a note to a previously published piece, I always indicate I’ve done so, listing the date of the new material.

Seems more than a little out-of-bounds to keep switching the headline of an article in response to news of the day.

But like I said, I don’t want to pick on CardPlayer too much right now. They’ve got other things to worry about.

Go check out PokerNews’ live reporting from the WSOP for the latest.