Members of the protest group Code Pink taunt local school children with chants about the war in Afghanistan as the children and their families arrive for a Halloween reception by U.S. President Barack Obama and his family at the White House in Washington, October 31, 2009. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst   

I must strongly protest your caption on the photo of protesters outside the White House. Using the verb “taunt” with “local school children” as its object is inaccurate, pejorative and unwarranted.

Who is paying you to run such captions?

L.S.

Nobody is paying us to “run such captions.” Our photographer says the protesters said things to challenge and confront the children and their parents. For example, one protester dressed as a Wicked Witch was saying things like, “More pretties to die in my war! More pretties!”

He said they were not just protesting the war in general but were, in effect, telling these families that their children were going to die at war. That sounds pretty much like taunting to me: GBU Editor

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The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting

For f**k’s sake! Wilkinson thought. He and Treasury had had enough trouble trying to fend off all the Goldman Sachs conspiracy theories constantly being bandied about in Washington and on Wall Street. A private meeting with its board? In Moscow?

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/20/the-secret-paulson-goldman-meeting/

Excuse me, but that little four letter ‘f’ word just happen to sneak into the article, and I’m offended. Need I say more?  Please advise the article’s writer to stop quoting offensive words.

Stephan

This was posted in a blog on your Website. I’m not really sure if that was supposed to be there. If it is, then no problem, but it doesn’t seem a comment I would normally read off a news Website. Just wondering.

Pana

We don’t make a practice of using that word, as you can see from my version of the passage above. Our blogger, a member of our commentary team, was quoting from a book, and the decision was made to leave the word in, uncensored. I only saw one reader complaint on it: GBU Editor

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testifies before a House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 16, 2009. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

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Darfur kidnap victims endured mock assassinations

KHARTOUM, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Two Darfur aid workers held captive on a harsh mountaintop on the remote Sudan-Chad border for 107 days said they felt anger at mock assassinations by their captors but clung to the hope they would be released.

One shocking howler in your story is your reporter’s repeated use of the term ‘mock assassinations’ when she actually means ‘mock executions’.

A mock assassination would be quite elaborate i imagine, possibly involving hired armored cars, fake explosive charges, by-the-hour-snipers and a nefarious foreign secret service that was only kidding.

Boris

Our story used the same word the aid workers used in the interview. As it wasn’t in a direct quote, however, mock executions would have been more appropriate in the context: GBU Editor

Released Ugandan hostage Hilda Kawuki (R) is welcomed by an unidentified official on arrival at Khartoum airport, October 19, 2009. Two kidnapped aid workers Kawuki and Sharon Commins (L) from Irish Goal aid agency will return home on Monday after a three-month ordeal in Sudan’s Darfur region, saying they could not wait to see their families. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallh

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Microsoft releases biggest patch on record

It said six of the patches were high priority and should be deployed immediately. The patches — which update software to write over glitches — are designed to protect users from hackers or malicious software downloaded from the Internet.

The word you are looking for is “crackers” NOT “hackers”. There is a huge difference, and it is quite offensive to use the incorrect term.

Please modify your article to reflect the correct usage, and any articles that you may publish in the future.

Man in Scary Mask

As someone who loves words, I’m unhappy when they get hijacked and given a new meaning for no good reason. However, I’m afraid trying to preserve the original meaning of hacker is just a lost cause.

To quote the Associated Press Stylebook, which is recognized by most U.S. media: “In common usage, the word has evolved to mean one who uses computer skills to unlawfully penetrate proprietary computer systems.” GBU Editor

A participant of the “Chaos Communication Camp - The International Hacker Meeting 2007″, sits with a laptop at a hangar of a former Soviet airfield in Finowfurt north of Berlin, August 8, 2007. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

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Bones found in California kidnap case probably old

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bone slivers found near the home of a California man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and holding her for 18 years did not yield human DNA and are probably old Native American remains, police said on Friday.

“The DOJ Bureau of Forensic Services was not able to recover human DNA from any of the bone fragments,” Contra Costa County Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Lee said. “A forensic anthropologist says the bones are probably human, old and likely Native American.”

This article presents misleading information. The article says “for 18 years did not yield human DNA and are probably old Native American remains, police said on Friday.”

Problem: Are Native American remains not Human?

The article reads as if Native Americans are not human and is disrespectful. Thank you for your time.

Al, an Archaeologist

It would have been clearer from the start if the lead had not used the word human. However, a quote in the story, “A forensic anthropologist says the bones are probably human, old and likely Native American,” makes it very clear that Native American bones are human bones: GBU Editor

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Microsoft launches new phone software

The market for phones is set to treble or quadruple in the next few years, Ballmer said, and Microsoft is ready to challenge other phone makers for market share.

The following quote: “The market for phones is set to treble or quadruple in the next few years, Ballmer said, and Microsoft is ready to challenge other phone makers for market share.” was on your site today.

While I do have trouble getting decent bass on my cellphone, the treble is quite good.

T.A.

Ballmer used the word correctly. You may wish to check a dictionary:

Treble: verb (used with object), verb (used without object) to make or become three times as much or as many; triple. GBU Editor

Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation Steve Ballmer gestures during a news conference in Munich, October 7, 2009. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

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Tsunami smashes Pacific islands, over 100 feared dead

SYDNEY, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A series of tsunamis smashed into the Pacific island nations of American and Western Samoa killing possibly more than 100 people, some washed out to sea, destroying villages and injuring hundreds, officials said on Wednesday.

Several of your articles about the tsunami refer to “Western Samoa.”

This name is no longer in use. The correct name of the nation is simply “Samoa.” Your own FACTBOX page (linked from the main story) even mentions this!

Greg

It seems something of a mystery why our style during this running saga has switched back and forth between Samoa and Western Samoa for stories, photo captions and graphics. The style is under review, and we will settle on one. Watch this space: GBU Editor

A dog walks past a propped up road sign in the tsunami-damaged village of Vaigalu on the southern coast of Western Samoa September 30, 2009.  REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

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Honduras talks start, police disperse protesters

Foreign ministers and the head of the Organization of American States are overseeing the highest-level dialogue in the coffee-growing nation since Zelaya was bundled into exile at gunpoint three months ago, but a solution to the crisis seemed distant.

In your article today, I believe your comment about Honduras being a coffee growing nation was a veiled slander that typically reads ¨Banana republic¨.

Your comments are gratuitous and your reporting is sloppy and shallow. Reuters can do better.

Gene

Perhaps you are reading too much into this. I believe when we said “coffee-growing nation” we meant that Honduras is a nation that grows coffee: GBU Editor

Honduras’ ousted President Manuel Zelaya reads bible before meeting with Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza and OAS chancellors inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, October 7, 2009. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

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Chicago go out in first round of 2016 Olympics voting
COPENHAGEN, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Chicago were eliminated after the first round of voting for the 2016 Olympics host city.

Correct grammer would be Chiicago WAS eliminated. The grammer in the headline is also atrocious: “Chicago go out…” What does that mean?

Please watch what you publish, running a grammer checker would probably have eliminated both of those errors.

Michael C.

For quite some time now I have been referencing Reuters’ website for news updates because of your quality and accuracy in reporting. Understandably the occasional error slips through - not a big deal.

However, your current article(s) on the failed Chicago Olympic bid are (or should be) an embarrasment. Clearly the products of a lazy reporter and editor using a prewritten template, the news items with their repeated errors in grammar show both a lack of concern for us as readers and for your own reputation.

A deadline rush is no excuse. Shame on you.

Coyote

Shame on us, indeed. Understandably, we took a hit on this one. The fact that one of these readers misspelled grammar and the other misspelled embarrassment doesn’t excuse our poor writing and editing: GBU Editor

International Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge, holds a card with the name of Rio de Janeiro, chosen as the city to host the 2016 Olympic Games, during the 121st IOC session in Copenhagen October 2, 2009. REUTERS/Charles Dharapak/Pool

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