I will put this to you, the community, in a very straight, simple (hopefully understandable) way.
The editorial staff is a small, hardworking group. There are currently about 5 of us that are actively pushing stories out on a regular basis, and we need help.
We humbly come to you, the community, to solicit for a volunteer or two. We will provide all the necessary training, at a cost of just 3 easy payments of $999.99US, or entirely free if you apply before 1 Apr 2099.
For that pittance, you can expect to learn:
In all seriousness, we all are busy and have lives. So do you, and we get that, but for this community to continue to thrive, we need a little fresh blood on the editorial staff. Some of us have been at this since the site went live almost 3 years ago (janrinok and martyb have posted over 3000 articles EACH). To put it in perspective, the site has only run about 14,500. Some of us came on almost a year later, but like any organization, there has been attrition, and we need to replenish.
We are starting to see some of the tell-tale signs of burnout, and to avoid that, we need your help.
If you are interested, please feel free to reach out in the comments below, via email ([nick] at soylentnews dot org), or hit us on IRC. If we aren't there (we all LOOK like we are logged in all the time due to the bouncer, but we may not actually be there), /join #editorial and leave a message — we will get back to you.
Remember, it isn't all doom and gloom! Working on staff, you will be on a team with a fantastic group of REALLY smart (myself excluded) people. I can honestly say I have made some really good friends from this experience, and I've even gotten to meet one of the guys in meat space. It is something that I am truly glad I took advantage of when the opportunity came around.
Thanks for listening, and with a little luck, we will see one or two of you pretty soon.
Live Long and Prosper,
-cmn32480
[TMB Note: Seriously. You really don't want me having to pick stories.]
[Update: see this comment below if you've expressed interest in volunteering.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @02:46PM
Whatever you can manage, really. If you can push 3-4 stories a day, you'll be the in like Flynn. When you do the queuing is irrelevant unless the queue has run dry.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Monday November 14 2016, @04:51PM
What does "push"ing a story entail?
And what is queuing?
(Score: 5, Informative) by cmn32480 on Monday November 14 2016, @05:30PM
Pushing a story entails taking the submission, fixing what ever might be wrong with it, checking the links, setting the dept line, setting the time, and pushing it into the front page queue.
Depending on the story, this can take 2 minutes, or it can take 30 minutes.
We queue the stories up so that there does not have to be an editor on call every waking moment. Some times we have gotten as far out as a few days (though this is exceedingly rare). Normally we are 12-24 hours of stories in the story queue before we run out.
Time is only what you can give. We can't ask more than that. A few stories a day (even an average of 1-2) is a huge help. Some of us average 4-6 per day over several years. We all have days where we post nothing, and we have days where we might post 15-20 (causing a day where you only see our names in the story list). It all varies.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 1) by mrpg on Monday November 14 2016, @11:28PM
Hi, I'm interested.