I've never been at a crime scene per se, but I'm pretty sure that "body chalk" is the term they use. What else would they call it?
A writer at the Boston Globe has exposed himself to criticism by saying that maybe, just maybe, people shouldn't be allowed to leave comments on newspaper websites. The notion that journalistic integrity can be maintained when its articles and stories are attached to an open forum is completely ridiculous, and anyone who has spent more than an hour on the Internet knows that. It's a fundamental law of nature that people cannot be given anonymity and an audience.
Like the scientists in Jurassic Park, we have to be more responsible with the technology that's available to us. Just because we can have a completely free and open discussion where anonymous users can post messages directed toward one another on every website that exists doesn't make it a good fucking idea. Most people simply are not equipped to construct complex arguments in real-time. Then you have the people who present fully formed arguments, but clearly don't have an understanding of what they're talking about. They wind up sounding misleading, which is a nice way of calling them goddamn liars. Neither of these people should be able to spew their unbaked ideas into a comments box with the intent that other people read those words.
Look, I get it. Writing is hard. Crafting your words for the purposes of communication is not something that comes naturally. It takes time and patience, two things that seem to run counter to the very idea of the Internet. So I don't think it's totally out of line for organizations concerned with the gathering and distribution of news to deny their webspace, branding and gravitas to people who can't be bothered to type more than 200 words in one sitting.
My heart goes out to that writer. He's never going to get anywhere with his argument, despite the fact that he's right. What I don't get is how offended some people get at the very notion that he would broach the subject at all, and how often they talk about the First Amendment when they clearly misunderstand its purpose. It's just lazy writing, which bothers me to no end.
Also the phrase "sheeple." Man alive, do I ever hate that phrase.