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from the How-many-slugs-to-the-stone? dept.
AnonTechie writes:
"I have the following requests to members of this new forum:
1) Please use SI Units wherever possible. Alternative comparative units such as swimming pools, size of Florida, cars, libraries of congress, etc are also welcome ...
2) Please cover tech/science related stories from around the world. Please do not make this a US only website !!
Cheers and best wishes,
AnonTechie"
[ED Note: We as a community welcome submissions from around the world, as befits our international userbase. The Editorial team in particular is looking closely at including voices from outside the U.S. as we continue to grow. As for the units question in particular, stories will certainly arrive with a variety of units depending on the origin of the submission. We encourage, though do not require, submitters to include conversions where appropriate for clarity out of courtesy to your fellow readers. Though we try to use a light touch when making edits to story submissions, Editors may add these from time to time as well, should clarity demand and time permit.
Soylentils, does the current ad-hoc approach meet your needs, or do you favor a more formal approach from your news discussion site?]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jt on Monday February 24 2014, @01:01AM
I don't think a style guide is really needed here; it's an informal discussion site, and like any community it will evolve its own styles and norms. People tend to instinctively recognise and adopt the 'house style', and any attempt to impose a distinct style will be ignored. I expect, of course, that the evolution of the styles and norms for this place will have a head start owing to their derivation from a certain other unnamed discussion site. As long as the summaries are interesting and (mostly) correct, I'm happy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday February 24 2014, @01:04AM
I believe the prudent thing for the admins of this site to do is to keep doing what they've been doing*. Let's not kid ourselves here, this site is a Slashdot replacement which keeps all the old things we liked about Slashdot while discarding offtopic politics and other corporate bullshit.
Generally speaking, that's the demographic the site should seek to attract, as it's the fastest and easiest source of gaining new users. That demographic is also likely a resident of an Anglophone country, so it makes sense not to be too "alien" until the site is established and can pull off edgy risk-taking. We're at around only 40 comments(or less) per discussion, but give it time.
That's not to say that international stories should be rejected, however, it would be boring to see 5 articles in a row about something relatively obscure happening in India. The quality and severity of the article subject matter should always come first, before nationalism or anything else.
Site admins - you're doing great. In my opinion, you don't need a more formal approach. You want to stay relatively flexible, and not be bogged-down with more and more bureaucracy. But that's just, like, my opinion, man.
* Except for editorial non-sequiteurs about Blackberry phones posted in summaries about unrelated things, unless that's part of the business model and I never got the memo, heh
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday February 24 2014, @02:23AM
The BlackBerry comment was not a non-sequitur, as QNX is owned by BlackBerry (assuming that was the story you were referring to).
(Score: 1) by Refugee from beyond on Monday February 24 2014, @09:53AM
>That demographic is also likely a resident of an Anglophone country
I'd like some numbers, personally.
Instantly better soylentnews: replace background on article and comment titles with #973131.
(Score: 1) by mojo chan on Monday February 24 2014, @01:41PM
Thing is the off-topic politics did generate a lot of comments, sometimes quite interesting ones. Personally I get withdrawal symptoms if there isn't a good metric/imperial flame war every six months or so. As well as venting it's worth it for the jokes.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Appalbarry on Monday February 24 2014, @05:17AM
A style guide is very much needed for the summaries posted to the site. Clear, grammatical English, without spelling mistakes, and sticking to some useful style, make them easier to read and understand, and more importantly will let Soylent look one hell of of lot more professional than Slashdot has ever managed.
Comments less so - if AC wants to look like some ill educated Repub... ah Bumpkin, so be it.