Oops!.. We Did It Again
We clawed social media, we made it a story, and we wrote about cats.
Ever been on Corvallis Reddit? It’s that social media platform that holds a consistent ooze of anonymous negativity. The one that Nextdoor used to hold the title to.
We are on it. So are 19,000 plus other people in town. It’s actually the 7th most trafficked website on the internet.
Recently, on Corvallis Reddit, someone said the Gazette-Times is owned by a conservative billionaire… but you know what… their writers probably don’t care. They are probably just people who need a paying job in local journalism with limited options.
Someone also said The Corvallis Advocate uses AI in their writing, but you know what… they don’t… they have real human writing. The term “AI slop” and real writing are getting harder to distinguish by the day. And eventually, with new model releases, you won’t be able to tell the difference at all.
Someone also said that The Corvallis Inquirer scrapes social media to find stories. And you know what… they were right. We do. Some people aren’t on social media, and don’t like giving their data away to be resold to trillion-dollar tech companies.
Reddit makes over $130 million annually by licensing their user-generated data to these companies.
Now, what about the people who choose not to give that data? People who don’t use social media on a daily basis. People who don’t want the negativity and bullying.
Sometimes we write articles for those people. It’s a blurred line between news and gossip. Journalism and a blog. A magazine and newspaper. We don’t stake a single claim to any. We are all of those.
So speaking of gossip (and poor sources of news), in case you missed it, THE CORVALLIS FIRE DEPARTMENT recently posted on Facebook about an unusual call.
The fire department’s crews responded to a call on Monday. The call centered around a curious kitten who managed to get its head stuck in a piece of furniture.
(Photo: Corvallis Fire Department Facebook)
In their social media post, The Corvallis Fire Department wrote, “Fortunately, our Station 2 crew was available and not committed to an emergency call, so they were able to swing by and lend a hand.”
In all honesty, CFD, this was probably an emergency to the kitten. And the owner. But we get what you’re saying.
“After a little careful work and what we can only assume was some serious reconsideration of life choices by the kitten, crews were able to safely free our tiny patient. No injuries. No fire. No ladders required. Just another day at Corvallis Fire.”
Did the Corvallis Fire Department post a puff piece for themselves? Yes. Are we happy they posted it? Yes. Is it news? That depends on you.
No matter what you think, it’s a still story to some readers. And it’s a fun one with a happy ending. One that doesn’t happen every day. And we are honored that we have such a cool fire department to post something like this.
If they didn’t post it, the day would have been a little more dull, one less smile, and one less reason to love this town as much as we do.
So, if you’re not on Facebook, or you didn’t doom scroll today, now you know.
P.S. Corvallis Fire Department… get ready for the Reddit onslaught about a “waste of taxpayer dollars.” Even if it’s not true.
The kitten was saved, and so was your data.
We appreciate you.
This blog/news/article/story/gossip was written by K. Hewlitt at The Corvallis Inquirer. Feel free to send us your stories or articles to publish at: editor@corvallisnow.com. Or just post them to r/corvallis.
Do you have a story for The Inquirer? Email: editor@corvallisnow.com
→ Support us
We’ll keep it ad-free even if you don’t.
