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2016: The Smiler Reopening

Will you ride in 2016?

  • Yes

    Votes: 147 94.8%

  • No

    Votes: 8 5.2%
  • Total voters
    155
Hey, to be honest, that's a good point, and I will always try to never argue against good logic, so fair play for bringing that up. I remember hearing of an injury of a woman on the second row. I can't recall much more, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a bit of whiplash etc going around for most people aboard.
 
Daniel Thorpe, who was on the front row next to Vicky Balch, has remained completely out of the spot light since the crash. With all the attention the other three have had, he's obviously been offered to give an interview but has declined.
 
The media couldn't care less about the dignity of the victims. They will argue that every incident at towers "brings back the traumatic memories of the crash", but that is exactly what the media coverage will do. Not been in their situation, but I know that if anything bad happens to me, I just don't want people to talk about it, I would want to distance myself as much as possible, and the media haven't given them a chance to do this.

And even if they choose to use their chance to get as much media attention as possible, the media doesn't exactly show them in a flattering light. I can't wait for them to drop it eventually, but you know that every breakdown the smiler has it will be brought back up.
 
All the videos are most likely out now, most articles written are already consisting of copy and pastes from existing articles, end of the court case and then close season. Story is nearly dead.

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These two posts are the ones that have made me think..
Pepper_Plant said:
Regarding the Mirror - although it comes across that way, I don't see why they would have a vendetta against Alton Towers, other than perhaps their competitors make money by selling money-off AT tickets? I would assume they are just trying to sell the most papers/get the most hits and that involves releasing stories at a time they are most likely to be read.

Regarding why there haven't been any videos of the crash itself - I think that even though I am very familiar with AT rides (although not as familiar with the Smiler), I would have just assumed that they knew what they were doing. It's so inconceivable that something like this would happen that your brain might just assume it was on a different section of the track, or something like that. Alternatively people might have not sold videos out of respect for the victims, or just been too shocked to get their camera out.
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BarryZola said:
If I had actual footage of the crash, I would sell it to The Sun for ONE MILLION DOLLARS. sorted.
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I wouldn't say any of the newspapers have a vendetta against towers, but more against the sun. The mirror and mail are both the sun's direct business competitors, and therefore will want their business. Why do quite a few people buy the sun? For the merlin tickets to the parks. Towers have been caught in the middle of it all, and if people are put off towers, they might as well buy a different newspaper.

It also explains why the small closures at Thorpe were getting covered a lot compared to other parks and why parks not associated with merlin and the sun have stayed out of the spotlight, and M&D's getting less coverage despite that being a lot more worrying in terms of a train coming off the rails.
 
The Mirror coverage is absolutely because of the Sun tickets.

The Daily Mail coverage is due to it being a right wing, snobby, racist, homophobic hate rag.

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matthewgcole said:
The Mirror coverage is absolutely because of the Sun tickets.

The Daily Mail coverage is due to it being a right wing, snobby, racist, homophobic hate rag.

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The coverage has little to do with that and everything to do with the high click count their online articles get due to the fantastic social media spread caused by angry enthusiasts arguing with people on Facebook.

Online advertising is money and the towers articles bring in clicks.
 
May I make a suggestion? I propose that it is time for the team to put a ban on posting links to these so-called articles. We are only encouraging them. Better yet, is it possible to block people from posting links to ANY of these tabloid sites?
 
DiogoJ42 said:
May I make a suggestion? I propose that it is time for the team to put a ban on posting links to these so-called articles. We are only encouraging them. Better yet, is it possible to block people from posting links to ANY of these tabloid sites?
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Although I see where you are coming from and am not a fan of the articles myself that is not something that we able to do. Simply don't click on the links if you don't want to give them the hits. Following the sentencing next week things will hopefully die down again unless something relatively major happens with the ride.

:)
 
Rob said:
Although I see where you are coming from and am not a fan of the articles myself that is not something that we able to do. Simply don't click on the links if you don't want to give them the hits. Following the sentencing next week things will hopefully die down again unless something relatively major happens with the ride.

:)
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I agree. This would just be censorship. But let me just explode a few myths about this particular article.

Firstly, I must confess that I know the person who sent this video. I know for a fact that the article was not "held back" to coincide with the end of the court case - it was posted within 24 hours of the video being received.

Secondly, the rewards would have been far greater immediately following the crash. Some consideration was made for the victims feelings.

And thirdly, I'm not here to defend the reputation of the Daily Mirror. Let's face it, all the tabloids are as bad as each other and some of the broadsheets aren't much better. It is all about selling newspapers or maximising clicks on their websites.

And finally, let's not forget that due to the incompetence of one or more of their employees, several people's lives have changed forever. Much as I love Alton Towers and theme parks in general, there is no denying that this should never have happened and, hopefully, will never happen again.
 
Note that if people use www.dailyfail.com you avoid giving them ad revenue and can still laugh/lament at the idiocy...

As for this, coverage over the court case is only going to reveal worse... I would assume fortunately that any footage of the actual crash will be completely keep internal of the court room, though it depends on the judge...
 
discoinferno said:
I agree. This would just be censorship. But let me just explode a few myths about this particular article.

Firstly, I must confess that I know the person who sent this video. I know for a fact that the article was not "held back" to coincide with the end of the court case - it was posted within 24 hours of the video being received.

Secondly, the rewards would have been far greater immediately following the crash. Some consideration was made for the victims feelings.

And thirdly, I'm not here to defend the reputation of the Daily Mirror. Let's face it, all the tabloids are as bad as each other and some of the broadsheets aren't much better. It is all about selling newspapers or maximising clicks on their websites.

And finally, let's not forget that due to the incompetence of one or more of their employees, several people's lives have changed forever. Much as I love Alton Towers and theme parks in general, there is no denying that this should never have happened and, hopefully, will never happen again.
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Fair enough. But no one's forgotten how bad the accident was - it's the fact it's still getting mentioned that is somewhat irritating.
 
Dave said:
The coverage has little to do with that and everything to do with the high click count their online articles get due to the fantastic social media spread caused by angry enthusiasts arguing with people on Facebook.

Online advertising is money and the towers articles bring in clicks.
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I can't believe how carried away we are all getting here! A couple of dozen enthusiasts clicking on a link is driving the story to be copy and pasted every week?!?! Seriously?

It's far more simple than that. The Daily Mail is a publication that sells is wares by evocing emotions of bigotry and hatred amongst people that read it. Always has been, always will be.

The Daily mirror is a sensationalist red top that would do anything to take a swipe at The Sun and any business dealings it has with companies like Merlin.

Although I completely understand why none of us would want to validate their ridiculous stories by adding to their click counts, to suggest we are having any significant impact on what they write is ridiculous. The fact is, the journalists who are writing these articles obviously have very little knowledge of The Smiler, or how a roller coaster or theme park operates in general. They just want to put stories out there that provoke emotion, stories that look sexy. That then captures people's imagination and sells papers/increases website traffic.

This is no different to claiming Freddie Starr ate a hamster, Syrian refugees are coming to steal our jobs and homes or slagging off Ed Millibands dead father. The story is loosing it's sex appeal and will be all but dead bar the odd rogue snippet article by the time the park reopens in 2017, by which time these people would have found someone else to pick on. This will happen regardless of any of us on here or any other forum.

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