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A comment on Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now. Parent comment

Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by andrewheins on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @12:15PM (#4809989)
This kind of thing happens often, where you've got "news", but can't disclose until it's final.

In these situations it can be helpful to use some kind of scale or domain reference.

"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, and we think it could change the world"

vs

"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, that should really fire up geologists"

vs

"We've got some pretty exciting news coming up, that gets us closer to understanding the history of Mars"

Set a level of expectation.

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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by zacharypinter on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @02:15PM (#4810698)
From the article:

"This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good..."

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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by arrrg on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @03:09PM (#4811060)
The existence of any kind of life (past or present) would be something for the history books. Only Curiosity pretty much cannot find life, only hints that life exists or existed. Maybe this is about something else, but if this is only about hints that life exists or existed, then it isn’t really something for the history books. Most people would be bored by news like that. (I personally would find it very exciting, but I’m far from typical.)
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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by fixedd on Wednesday November 21, 2012 @10:38AM (#4814606)
SPOILER WARNING

There's life everywhere... we just haven't found it yet.

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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by rymith on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @07:28PM (#4812112)
re: Only Curiosity pretty much cannot find life

What? A martian running in front of the camera would work. A rover not sent by earth. A little house on the... sand. Big ol skeleton of a unicorn... Seriously, you have no imagination.

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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by arrrg on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @10:25PM (#4812609)
It cannot find any kind of life we can realistically expect to find (given past data).

You hurt me. Don’t be so mean.

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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by andrewheins on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @09:08PM (#4812423)
I think we've all recognized the lack of context this actually provides. Something for a scientist's history books could mean jack to the general public.
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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by stephengillie on Tuesday November 20, 2012 @12:58PM (#4810216)
"This just in -- exciting news about the Mars Rover -- more at 11"
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Re:Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now by noselasd on Wednesday November 21, 2012 @09:33AM (#4814334)
Well, if you have news, but can't talk about it, you don't have any news. So why say anything about it at all - unless you want some PR?
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