So, what is SoylentNews? This is your chance to tell us!
I am announcing the first ever SoylentNews online video contest. The rules are pretty simple.
Too easy, right? We will count the views on 31 March 2014, at 11:59 UTC. The winner is the individual video that has the most views.
You do not actually have to appear in the video! Make a cartoon, do CGI, do a voiceover of a movie, whatever. Be creative and explore your artistic vision! (Yes, you have one. It may be underutilized at times but it is there).
We have not yet determined the prize for the winner, but it will be jaw-droppingly awe-inspiring (it's a key-chain I found on the sidewalk somewhere). No, it'll be something good. At a minimum we'll feature your video on the site here and interview you for the "making of" your entry. But probably more (it's a keychain).
On behalf of the entire staff and volunteers, we continue to be amazed at the response we've gotten from the community so far. We will continue to provide ways that you can interact with us and help define us. I hope you enjoy this contest. If you have any other suggestions for how we can better meet your needs, feel free to let us know in IRC, the Forums, or the Wiki. Thanks for reading!
~Mattie_p
p.s. keychain!
p.p.s updated based on feedback
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Aiwendil on Tuesday February 25 2014, @08:19PM
Not even two weeks before managing to upset the userbase, I'm impressed ;)
Seriously however, do the same kind of people that frequent soylent actually bother with social videosites?
-From one with a strong preference for text
(Score: 2, Informative) by Adrian Harvey on Tuesday February 25 2014, @09:17PM
Cut them a little slack - you're not forced to participate (cf: Beta). The site is quite new and if the idea flops, then it flops. No real harm done. The Other Site did all kinds of random things in the early days. I for one fondly remember the days of poll stuffing.
To your serious question: I suspect that many are like me and don't use it as a social video site, but if told of or sent a link there for a particular video, (like, say, the elements song) would go and view it... And it would probably be the first site that popped into my head if I were to think "where could I publicly post a video for others to see and share"
(Score: 1) by Aiwendil on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:32PM
Was intended as a "tounge in cheek"-comment. But yeah, relying on smileys to convey intent hasn't been reliable for at least ten years, I should have written it within "<tounge-in-cheek>" instead
I guess choice of wording was poor, with "social video site" I meant "any videosite that isn't primarily educational [TED et al]" but that would have been hard to put in with a more natural langauge.
Personally I would think of a torrent-tracker as the first place to post a video to share (then again - I detest interactive sites and I figured I wasn't the only one)
(Score: 1) by Adrian Harvey on Wednesday February 26 2014, @10:54PM
My brain didn't parse the punctuation as a mini-smiley, sorry....
I would never have thought of using a torrent - I'm mostly mobile at the moment, so the peer to peer nature of torrents doesn't mix well with data charges...
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Wednesday February 26 2014, @06:54AM
Don't be too hard on them, everyone's just forgetting (or wasn't around for) the early days of /. and all the rough patches, before everybody figured out what it was.
Don't forget, CmdrTaco even threatened to disable user comments if people kept on being so darn rude:
http://news.slashdot.org/story/98/01/08/093100/sla shdot-user-abuse [slashdot.org]
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.