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posted by martyb on Tuesday January 14 2020, @08:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the editors-wanted dept.

The observant reader will notice that we have reduced the number of stories we post on weekdays from about 15 stories per day to about 13 stories per day. We would certainly like to continue with the higher rate, but we have been struggling to do so with current staff.

We try to post enough stories each day so that there is "something for everyone". Ultimately this site is for the community. It is also by the community; it does not run all by itself.

We Need Your Help

People's lives change. They move, get married, have health issues, change jobs, etc. All of these place additional demands on their spare time. SoylentNews is not immune to this; in fact we have experienced all of these. With less free time available, more work falls upon the other staff members — whose lives are already quite full.

What would help?

Volunteer! Have you ever thought about being an editor at SoylentNews?

You'll get to learn a super-sekret handshake, the passcode to enter our volcano-lair, and the admiration of your fellow Soylentils!

Right from the start, let me point out that we — SoylentNews — aim to be impartial. If you have an agenda that you would like to push or advocate (or denigrate) then skip to the next story.

On the other hand, not a great deal of time is needed. Even if you have only an hour or two per week that you could contribute, that would be greatly appreciated!

An earlier request for help summarized things nicely (slightly updated here):

Well we are all volunteers, so we contribute what we can, when we can, no one is expected to edit X stories/day (make your own hours). I would say a strong recommendation (maybe not requirement) is signing onto IRC once in a while (especially when editing) so one can communicate with the other editors. Editing a few stories a day, or even a few a week would be welcome. A typical submission takes me about 15-30 minutes to edit, usually on the longer side if I'm expanding or adding a balanced point of view without trying to put words into the mouth of the submitter. The rest is pretty much what you'd expect:

  • Opening up a story
  • Checking links
  • Checking basic grammar and spelling
  • Correcting wording
  • Expanding a weak submission (sometimes it's just a few links and a sentence or quote)
  • etc.

One also needs to:

How else could I help?

Nominate someone. Have you noticed someone who tends to compose well-written comments or journal entries? Think they might be a good fit? Please let us know!

How else could I help?

Submit a story! A well-written story that needs little editing takes a huge load off of the editorial staff. If just a few Soylentils submitted a story each day it would make a world of difference. Ideally, a story submission would be grammatically correct, have no spelling errors, be balanced and impartial, and be "publication ready". But even if your writing skills are not up to (or are even far from) that level, we are experienced at "cleaning things up", so do not let that keep you from making a story submission! If you see something tech-related that you think would be of interest to the community? Send it in!

How can you reach us?

Send an email to editors (at) soylentnews (dot) org. Or drop a message on our IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel. Just issue the command "/join #editorial" and leave a message expressing your interest, along with your SoylentNews nickname, and someone will get back to you.

What's in it for me?

That is a good question. Speaking for myself, it started with my getting onto IRC and occasionally pointing out an error I'd seen in a story. Sometimes it would take a while before I could get the attention of an editor who could make the correction. I got frustrated. Finally, I suggested that if I were made an editor, I could fix things myself without having to track people down. Over the 5 ½ years since then, I have made mistakes... and learned how to own them, in writing, in front of all of you. I've developed a thicker "skin". I've made great friendships with people all around the world. The technical expertise on staff here is amazing; they've taught me so much. And, I hope, I've been able to teach them a thing or two, too.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:16AM (18 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:16AM (#943427) Journal

    I've been considering it very strongly, but given this place's hardcore rightward and authoritarian shift, no doubt I'd not last long.

    It's not as if I'd start passing Aristarchus subs willy-nilly either; I've told him to his virtual face he's undermining his message with his trolling and antics. His brand has zero "pull" now. Too many people see the username and instantly tune out, and that's a crying shame since he's got some serious brainpower behind all the shitposting.

    Still, who knows? May be worth a try.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:11PM (4 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @12:11PM (#943550) Journal

    If a boat is listing to one side, the way to bring it back to an even keel is to lean the other way.

    Apart from and beyond that, you would do a good job promoting stories that bring the energy back to STEM topics and the excitement about innovation that we all share. I suspect that would be a balm this year.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:38PM (3 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:38PM (#943619) Journal

      No way would I be allowed to. To be honest, there are times I would happily watch this place disappear right off the face of the earth.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:11PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 15 2020, @08:11PM (#943754)

        ^ this place is infested with alt-right shitheads spreading racism and misogyny because they are triggered by people caring about prejudice. Just look at the NASA story about women astronauts, my god did the turds come out in force for that one.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:21PM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday January 16 2020, @04:21PM (#944061) Journal

          Hence why there are times I really wonder if the internet would be better off without SN. I'd like to help, maybe even be an editor at Phoenix666 suggests, but it doesn't seem like there's any point. We're infested.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:27AM

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:27AM (#945230) Journal

            but it doesn't seem like there's any point. We're infested.

            You can either join us - and try to change the 'infestation' that doesn't even exist - or you could leave. I would be sorry to see you go but, rather than remove SN from the internet, it would be much easier if you just stopped reading it, wouldn't it?

  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday January 17 2020, @07:06PM (11 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 17 2020, @07:06PM (#944667) Journal

    he's undermining his message

    This site doesn't exist so that community members can push a 'message'. Join the discussions. Make intelligent and relevant comments. Do not try to push the community in your own preferred direction.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:38AM (10 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:38AM (#944862) Journal

      Oh kiss my entire ass, starting and ending at the brown eye. We're neck-deep in hard-right authoritarians, and yet I don't see you telling *them* not to "push a 'message.'" Get up in the faces of, for example, Hallow or Bot or J-Mo, and I'll take you seriously about this. Until then, enjoy being a useful idiot for the internet fascist club.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @07:43AM (9 children)

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 18 2020, @07:43AM (#944910) Journal

        Idiot - they don't push their 'message' in the stories that we publish. People are free to say whatever they want in the comments. Even people such as yourself who are showing a remarkable lack of intelligence on this matter. You are advocating that people become editors 'to push their message'. Nope, that would mean that any editor could push any message that they wished. You want to push your own message while stopping others from exercising their right to free speech in the comments.

        WE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH.

        Is that clear enough for you now?

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:03PM (8 children)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:03PM (#945007) Journal

          What the hell, no, I'm not advocating that. If I were an editor the only "message" I'd be pushing is "Can we PLEASE get some more STEM in here? And also I'm dropping this politically-charged clickbait sub in the trash."

          Someone here is an idiot and "showing a remarkable lack of intelligence on this matter" and it's not me.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:57PM (7 children)

            by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:57PM (#945020) Journal

            We do reject those submissions, and then some in our community complain that our topics are too restrictive despite those very same topics being in place since this site was created. They would prefer it was a free-for-all like some other social media.

            However, STEM and politics can also be connected. Education - one of our topics - is dictated by politics to a significant degree. Anti-vaxxers are arguing from a point of ignorance, as are flat-earthers and climate change deniers. Business - another topic - is also very closely linked to the state of a nation's politics. Are you not heard of the tariffs being imposed on various nations? Is science being funded adequately, and are scientists even being listened to by those who control our current lives and our future? Is your privacy protected and your personal data being kept safe when your own government and huge software giants want to track you, record your every move, or use AI and cameras to identify everything you do or who you talk to?

            There are times when the political connections cannot be ignored and the reporting and discussion of such stories is important to us all. Who is more responsible for the actions of governments than your own politicians and leaders - elected or otherwise? The problem is that when we report such stories many in our community take it as an opportunity to abuse those with different political views rather than debate the actual STEM topic that is being reported.

            You have the ability to shut down such abuses by moderation - but you do not have the right to prevent others from expressing their own views. And that, we believe, is exactly how it should be.

            • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @06:22PM

              by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 18 2020, @06:22PM (#945026) Journal

              Are you not heard

              Couldn't decide whether to say Are you not aware of or Have you not heard so my brain decided to use both!

            • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:14AM (5 children)

              by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday January 19 2020, @05:14AM (#945202) Journal

              We need to have a serious talk about moderation then because one set of 10 points daily, with a maximum of 4 downmods per registered account, is *not sufficient* for the task at hand. People can post almost endlessly. They can shitpost more in 10 minutes than one person can -1 downmod them in 3 days.

              If you want to make any progress here, I suggest three things:

              1) All AC posts start at -1. Don't give me "butbutbut muh freezepeach!" okay? It's not censorship if the community does it according to our local carrion-molesting raptor.
              2) Split mod points into 20 available daily for upmods and 10 for downmods. Yes that's 30 points a day. Tweak the numbers a bit if you like, maybe 15/15 or so, but 10 is not enough for the volume of trolling we get.
              3) Troll modifier needs to be made stronger, -2 instead of -1, and modbombing with it taken seriously.

              --
              I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
              • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:21AM (4 children)

                by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:21AM (#945227) Journal

                because one set of 10 points daily, with a maximum of 4 downmods per registered account, is *not sufficient* for the task at hand.

                Moderation isn't there to enforce one person's opinion - it is to aggregate the community's opinion. One person MUST NOT be able to dictate the views of everyone else or decide which comments members can see. I keep repeating this, but by having more modpoints you seem to want to be able to personally to shut out views that YOU do not like. There are over 8000 registered members - that is 80,000 moderation points that are available. Perhaps the community does not see things the way that you do? By all means bring this discussion to IRC and we can discuss all of the possible options and outcomes.

                All AC posts start at -1

                What would that achieve? It is an arbitrary value. Some AC's make interesting and insightful comments. Why should they be penalised for the actions of a few? You can select the level at which you can see stories without rewriting the whole site just to suit your preferred values. Use the site properly - start surfing at a higher threshold than you are currently doing.

                2) Split mod points into 20 available daily for upmods and 10 for downmods. Yes that's 30 points a day. Tweak the numbers a bit if you like, maybe 15/15 or so, but 10 is not enough for the volume of trolling we get.

                You are still looking at this as YOUR battle so that you can (or you wish to be able to) clean it up single-handedly. Others have solved the problem by surfing at different thresholds, or by switching off the Politics nexus in their personal settings, or simply ignoring the crap and not getting excited about it. You are making the assumption that everyone shares your opinions on every topic. They do not. Do not try to personally control what other people can say, read or believe; it is a community view not a personal one that we are seeking.

                One of the reasons that we get more Trolls at the weekend is because people like you get into such a tizzy about it. They get a reaction from you. They can wind you up and sit back to watch the fun. As you get more frustrated or when arguments do not go your way you often switch to ad hominem attacks. You are giving them all the entertainment and publicity that they crave. Mod them down and then ignore them, or vice versa if you prefer.

                By all means come and join us to improve what this site can be, we would welcome that. But do not expect us to change everything because you see things that you do not like. I don't like the trolls or the abusive comments either but if the community doesn't wish to moderate them then I have to change my personal selections to 'clean' the comments up. Unfortunately, as an editor you have to spend a lot of time reading the site at the lowest thresholds just so that you can see those comments that you might prefer not to see.

                • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:37PM (3 children)

                  by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday January 19 2020, @08:37PM (#945455) Journal

                  You know that .gif of the dog man in a bowler hat drinking tea in a burning house and going "this is fine" even as his skin melts off and his flesh crisps? Yeah. That's what this puts me in mind of. You really do not seem to understand either the scale or the kind of problem we're facing here. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. Constantly taking the high road not only doesn't make it go away but encourages it. Direct opposition and even violence don't either.

                  Know what ideologues fear most? *Mockery.* Every tinpot dictator, every frothing monomaniac, every teeth-grinding troll in all of history fears laughter, mockery, the metaphorical high-velocity custard pie, more than anything else. Closely behind this is being ignored, which downmods help with.

                  Now, if y'all want me as an editor, we're going to need to talk a little about what that would entail. I will tell you up front, as an editor I would be dropping a lot of political stories straight into /dev/null and heavily favoring STEM. I'd also make sure to publish a few Ari subs here and there if he can be convinced to quit bloviating in the submission directly (argh...) because, you know, he's not wrong. I wish he hadn't gone in for trolling and shitposting so hard...

                  --
                  I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday January 20 2020, @08:04AM

                    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 20 2020, @08:04AM (#945717) Journal

                    Now, if y'all want me as an editor, we're going to need to talk a little about what that would entail.

                    It entails you joining a team that supports this site - not the site having to comply with your demands. There are a set of rules that we all work to [soylentnews.org] and you would be expected to follow those rules just as every editor before you has done. The 'wanting to join' has to come from you - if you're waiting for your own gilt edged invitation it probably won't arrive in the post.

                  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday January 20 2020, @08:18AM (1 child)

                    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 20 2020, @08:18AM (#945719) Journal

                    I'd also make sure to publish a few Ari subs here and there if he can be convinced to quit bloviating in the submission directly (argh...) because, you know, he's not wrong

                    So you will be biased too, or will you also post a few stories supporting the alt-right too? Not as simple as you first thought now, is it?

                    If Ari's submissions have something new and interesting to say - not just a change of naming an individual and then trashing everything else that follows, we might post those submissions too.

                    Finally - no single editor releases a story. To comply with the rules every story has to be signed off by a 2nd editor.

                    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 21 2020, @12:35AM

                      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday January 21 2020, @12:35AM (#946089) Journal

                      Actually, yes. I want people to understand what it is that drives others into the arms of the "alt-right." I want people to understand what rural Americans have suffered over the last 45 years, ever since the Democrats ripped out the populist engine that kept their car going after that humiliating defeat to Dick Nixon. I want people to see how obvious it is that when people are hurting, they will vote for anyone who even pretends to give a damn, even if they're actually the worse choice, because pride is pride and the Democrats wrote off all of Middle America by 1974.

                      In short, I want people to understand that the alt-right are still human, despite how hard they're trying to get themselves disqualified from the human race for shoving. And in seeing this, I want them to understand that This Could Happen To Them To (TM), to sharpen their wits and attack the problem while there is still a chance to do so. I want them also to see that this is merely the next turn of the wheel, that this has all happened before with the Nazis and for the same reason, and that the calls, as it were, are now coming from inside the house.

                      --
                      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @10:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20 2020, @10:29AM (#945737)

    Azuma, I don't agree with some of the things you say or how you say them. In fact, I bluntly articled that here [soylentnews.org] in a manner that wasn't particularly civil.

    However, my quarrel with you doesn't extend to whether or not you should be an editor. If you post interesting and thought-provoking content, I support you being an editor. I'd like to think that people are capable of compartmentalizing things to the extent that they can argue with you vehemently in comments and journals while still appreciating the quality of the editing. I don't give a damn about the political views of the editors so long as they post worthwhile content.

    So, yes, this is an endorsement.