Melissa Lewis
@melissa.news
data reporter, Center for Investigative Reporting (@motherjones.com + @revealnews.org)
Pinned
Melissa Lewis
@melissa.news
· Apr 20
“Piracy. It’s a Crime.” PSA
From Wikipedia:
“You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” is the first sentence and commonly used name of a public service announcement that debuted on July 12, 2004 in cinemas, and July 27 on home media, which wa...
fontsinuse.com
TIL: The 2000s piracy PSA used a font designed by the fantastic Just van Rossum, whose brother Guido created the Python programming language.
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector inte...
defector.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
“Texas desperately needs a place where we can tell our stories, where we can be ourselves, mourn our losses, and celebrate our victories,” writes @kitoconnell.com.
Meet our newest newsletter writer and contributor, who’ll be spearheading our queer coverage 💕
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/25/t...
Meet our newest newsletter writer and contributor, who’ll be spearheading our queer coverage 💕
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/25/t...
I’m a Trans Journalist Choosing to Live in Texas. Here’s Why That Matters.
My name is Kit O’Connell. I’ll be covering queer and trans life in Texas for Big & Bright — The Barbed Wire’s first underwritten vertical.
thebarbedwire.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
“Texas desperately needs a place where we can tell our stories, where we can be ourselves, mourn our losses, and celebrate our victories,” writes @kitoconnell.com.
Meet our newest newsletter writer and contributor, who’ll be spearheading our queer coverage 💕
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/25/t...
Meet our newest newsletter writer and contributor, who’ll be spearheading our queer coverage 💕
thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/25/t...
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
To “yes, and” this statement, I think everything Eliot describes upthread are examples of *emergent coordination*. People often coordinate by watching and acting on signals, and emulating behavior, of people in their social network and environment, even if they aren’t intentionally collaborating.
It doesn’t need conspiracy or coordination. The incentives alone are sufficient. The platform pays the public to perform, and the performance produces the disorder.
November 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
To “yes, and” this statement, I think everything Eliot describes upthread are examples of *emergent coordination*. People often coordinate by watching and acting on signals, and emulating behavior, of people in their social network and environment, even if they aren’t intentionally collaborating.
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
Way back when, I wrote a PhD dissertation on design patterns for improving this sort of UI.
One key recommendation was to make the safer/recommended option more prominent after I did multiple studies showing how most people instinctively swat that without reading.
One key recommendation was to make the safer/recommended option more prominent after I did multiple studies showing how most people instinctively swat that without reading.
This is *amazing*. This goes straight to Deceptive Design Hall of Shame.
They made a "take a break" nudge that has no obvious "ok, I'll take a break" affordance. Its three affordances are:
1) Keep chatting (default, highlighted)
2) x out — keeps chatting
3) "This was helpful" — what is this?
🧵
They made a "take a break" nudge that has no obvious "ok, I'll take a break" affordance. Its three affordances are:
1) Keep chatting (default, highlighted)
2) x out — keeps chatting
3) "This was helpful" — what is this?
🧵
One of the changes that OpenAI has made to make ChatGPT safer is a "take a break" nudge. There's something quite interesting about the design here. Which thing does it make you want to click?
November 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Way back when, I wrote a PhD dissertation on design patterns for improving this sort of UI.
One key recommendation was to make the safer/recommended option more prominent after I did multiple studies showing how most people instinctively swat that without reading.
One key recommendation was to make the safer/recommended option more prominent after I did multiple studies showing how most people instinctively swat that without reading.
A reply to this includes useful information about assessing whether a purported screenshot is real; you can often see artifacts of image editing. That said, it remains trivial to fake something like this by editing HTML in your browser (yet another reason to verify before reposting).
The DHS Twitter account is *not* run out of Tel Aviv; this screenshot is faked. Free Palestine and don’t spread lies
November 23, 2025 at 10:56 PM
A reply to this includes useful information about assessing whether a purported screenshot is real; you can often see artifacts of image editing. That said, it remains trivial to fake something like this by editing HTML in your browser (yet another reason to verify before reposting).
There is (understandably) mention of an awful incident, but otherwise this brief story by @kitoconnell.com has an excellent balm-to-word ratio.
Previously, a visit to the "Trans Takeover" of Barton Springs: All across the stone slab, LGBTQ+ folks sat in clusters, talking and dipping in and out of the water together. ... Happy people who use every pronoun and none at all.
At Barton Springs, Trans Existence Becomes Resistance
Following a transphobic incident earlier this year, community members gathered to "protect trans joy."
www.texasobserver.org
November 23, 2025 at 10:15 PM
There is (understandably) mention of an awful incident, but otherwise this brief story by @kitoconnell.com has an excellent balm-to-word ratio.
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
Don't break bread. Don't accept gifts. Make sure you spell their name right. If you're INSIDE the salt circle you're ON the record.
the rules of journalistic ethics and the rules of Faerie ethics are eerily similar
September 18, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Don't break bread. Don't accept gifts. Make sure you spell their name right. If you're INSIDE the salt circle you're ON the record.
I read The Great Gatsby because of Kate Beaton’s comics about it web.archive.org/web/20250910...
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I read The Great Gatsby because of Kate Beaton’s comics about it web.archive.org/web/20250910...
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
I read the follow-up post and I feel like I read an It’s Always Sunny/Aaron Sorkin crossover fanfic. I want to curl into a fetal position of infinite density
November 22, 2025 at 8:05 AM
I read the follow-up post and I feel like I read an It’s Always Sunny/Aaron Sorkin crossover fanfic. I want to curl into a fetal position of infinite density
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records - Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School's Nuremberg Trials Project has finalized the first complete, keyword searchable online collection of more than 750,000 pages of Nazi war tribunal documents.
hls.harvard.edu
November 21, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
A U.S. postal worker on Long Island is accused of trying to help a man escape from ICE custody earlier this month, according to a federal criminal complaint: https://gothamist.visitlink.me/YNagDp
US postal worker charged with breaking man out of ICE custody on Long Island
Police arrested the worker and the man she tried to free.
gothamist.visitlink.me
November 21, 2025 at 1:20 AM
A U.S. postal worker on Long Island is accused of trying to help a man escape from ICE custody earlier this month, according to a federal criminal complaint: https://gothamist.visitlink.me/YNagDp
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
Stop laying off copy editors and then complaining about errors and lack of reader trust challenge
November 20, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Stop laying off copy editors and then complaining about errors and lack of reader trust challenge
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
I think the word you’re looking for is “kept”
Elon Musk’s foundation gave away a record $474 million in 2024, with the vast majority again going to entities he controls
Elon Musk Gave Away $474 Million in 2024, Mostly to Entities He Controls
Elon Musk’s foundation gave away a record $474 million in 2024, with the vast majority again going to entities he controls.
bloom.bg
November 19, 2025 at 2:14 AM
I think the word you’re looking for is “kept”
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
When half the internet doesn't work because of a failure of a single vendor, that vendor is a utility, in the same way that power, water, and, back in the day, the phone companies, are/were utilities.
3/5
3/5
November 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
When half the internet doesn't work because of a failure of a single vendor, that vendor is a utility, in the same way that power, water, and, back in the day, the phone companies, are/were utilities.
3/5
3/5
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
My new big visualization project is out: The Trans News Initiative, a collaboration between UM's School of Communication, the Trans Journalists Association, and Polygraph (The Pudding): transnewsinitiative.org Here's a piece about it in the Columbia Journalism Review: www.cjr.org/news/visuali...
Trans News Initiative
A database and analysis of news coverage affecting trans communities.
transnewsinitiative.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
My new big visualization project is out: The Trans News Initiative, a collaboration between UM's School of Communication, the Trans Journalists Association, and Polygraph (The Pudding): transnewsinitiative.org Here's a piece about it in the Columbia Journalism Review: www.cjr.org/news/visuali...
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
It began with a $4,500 coffeemaker. But it sure didn't end there.
I can't wait to moderate this virtual conversation with Beth LeBlanc + @chadlivengood.bsky.social on their investigative series into a $20 million earmark, revealing reckless spending, corruption and loose oversight in government.
I can't wait to moderate this virtual conversation with Beth LeBlanc + @chadlivengood.bsky.social on their investigative series into a $20 million earmark, revealing reckless spending, corruption and loose oversight in government.
November 17, 2025 at 10:48 PM
It began with a $4,500 coffeemaker. But it sure didn't end there.
I can't wait to moderate this virtual conversation with Beth LeBlanc + @chadlivengood.bsky.social on their investigative series into a $20 million earmark, revealing reckless spending, corruption and loose oversight in government.
I can't wait to moderate this virtual conversation with Beth LeBlanc + @chadlivengood.bsky.social on their investigative series into a $20 million earmark, revealing reckless spending, corruption and loose oversight in government.
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you."
Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
How the right uses "gender ideology" to blame trans people for everything
MAGA learned from global autocrats the language needed to push fear.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
"The right’s gripe isn’t just that trans people exist, but that their existence is tearing down the old world—of good men, obedient women, traditional family structures—and unleashing a new, godless age of chaos and precarity on you."
Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
Banger from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social
If you want to learn more about Alice Wong and her work, you can find many links on her profile, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social, or check out disabilityvisibilityproject.com, or her Wikipedia page.
Your library may also have her books, including audio/ebook editions (@multcolib.bsky.social does).
Your library may also have her books, including audio/ebook editions (@multcolib.bsky.social does).
Alice Wong (activist) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 15, 2025 at 7:44 AM
If you want to learn more about Alice Wong and her work, you can find many links on her profile, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social, or check out disabilityvisibilityproject.com, or her Wikipedia page.
Your library may also have her books, including audio/ebook editions (@multcolib.bsky.social does).
Your library may also have her books, including audio/ebook editions (@multcolib.bsky.social does).
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
the world is a bit smaller tonight with the death of Alice Wong. if you aren't familiar with who she was please pick up any of her books.
Disability Visibility anthology
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century (Vintage Books, 2020) Click here for more about the anthology adapted for young people. Order paperback, e-bo…
disabilityvisibilityproject.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:04 AM
the world is a bit smaller tonight with the death of Alice Wong. if you aren't familiar with who she was please pick up any of her books.
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
‘Death remains my intimate shadow partner. It has been with me since birth, always hovering close by. I understand one day we will finally waltz together into the ether. I hope when that time comes, I die with the satisfaction of a life well-lived, unapologetic, joyful, & full of love.’
—Alice Wong
—Alice Wong
November 15, 2025 at 6:12 AM
‘Death remains my intimate shadow partner. It has been with me since birth, always hovering close by. I understand one day we will finally waltz together into the ether. I hope when that time comes, I die with the satisfaction of a life well-lived, unapologetic, joyful, & full of love.’
—Alice Wong
—Alice Wong
Reposted by Melissa Lewis
I just want to say there are a lot of journalists and writers who do real, incredible work on topics that matter while maintaining high standards. Many of them do not have stable employment or recognition from major institutions.
November 14, 2025 at 9:37 PM
I just want to say there are a lot of journalists and writers who do real, incredible work on topics that matter while maintaining high standards. Many of them do not have stable employment or recognition from major institutions.
So, a budget cut of 26% meant that they dropped the number of tents by half? Never mind the fact the $2.3 million was *for* 88 beds.
That works out to $2,376 a bed (tent) a month.
That works out to $2,376 a bed (tent) a month.
November 14, 2025 at 3:44 PM
So, a budget cut of 26% meant that they dropped the number of tents by half? Never mind the fact the $2.3 million was *for* 88 beds.
That works out to $2,376 a bed (tent) a month.
That works out to $2,376 a bed (tent) a month.