from the editorial-staff-is-getting-TIRED dept.
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:
- The editing process
- How to get onto the bouncer for IRC
- The best ways to abuse The Mighty Buzzard
- The secret staff handshake
- How to be abused, and learn to like it
- How to deal with having your name in lights
- and much much more!
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.
Related Stories
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:
- The editing process
- How to get onto the bouncer for IRC
- The best ways to abuse The Mighty Buzzard
- The secret staff handshake
- How to be abused, and learn to like it
- How to deal with having your name in lights
- and much much more!
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.
A couple months ago we ran a story asking the SoylentNews community for volunteers to help with editing and the community did not let us down; we received a full dozen inquiries! You've probably noticed a few new names art the top of the stories and quite frankly, their contributions made it possible for the staff to survive the holiday season — many, many thanks!
If, for whatever reason, you did not want to be an Editor, but still wish to contribute, there are many other areas:
- Submit stories
- Click the Submit Story link in the "Navigation" slashbox on the left-hand side of the main page. It is not necessary to write perfect prose (though we sure appreciate it when we see it!) If you find a story that you find interesting and think that others might also enjoy it, too, send it in! We publish, on average, about 450 stories a month. If 1% of the community submitted a story or two each month, it would make a huge difference!
- Post comments
- You don't need to be a subject-matter expert to comment on a story! (Though we sure do appreciate when such people chime in!) Sometimes the best discussions come about simply because someone asked a question.
- Perform Moderation
- Moderation is like Olympic Scoring. Everything from a "-1" (not worth the electrons used to store it) to a "5" (one of the best on the site). Each registered user gets 5 mod points per day. Concentrate on promoting the good rather than hiding the bad... we want to make sure the most insightful, interesting, and informative comments are visible.
- Help site development and operation
- Something bugging you about site behavior? Have experience in running a web site? Know how to run an IRC server? Know your way around a Wiki? Can code Perl in your sleep? Have experience doing QA and/or test? Don't have this knowledge but would like to learn? Join our development and/or operations team.
- Support the site
- Your financial contributions are critical to our continued operation. Subscribe to SoylentNews or buy SoylentNews swag.
- Other?
- See something else where you'd like to help out? Let us know — the more the merrier! There's a lot of fun and camaraderie in our team... in large part it's why I continue to contribute to the site. Join in on the fun!
There are many rewards for contributing. Just to be a part of such a diverse and knowledgeable team is indescribable. I have learned so much from some amazingly helpful people. So join up as an editor, submit stories and comments, moderate, or help the site to keep running.
Lastly, spread the word. Share a link to the main page, to a particular story, or even to a single comment.
--martyb
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 14 2016, @01:14PM
"I've even gotten to meet one of the guys in meat"
cmn and meat - what more needs to be said?
(Score: 2) by martyb on Monday November 14 2016, @01:47PM
I think you a word out. =)
And that is an example of one of the "joys" of working on the site... the valuable feedback and perspective of our community!
But seriously, and on topic with the original quote "I've even gotten to meet one of the guys in meat space." — I've had the distinct pleasure of personally meeting three of the staff. Very fine folk all round.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 1) by EETech1 on Wednesday November 16 2016, @04:21AM
So is he as mighty as his name would imply:)
(Score: 2) by martyb on Thursday November 17 2016, @11:13PM
YOU tell him that he isn't. ;)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Funny) by jdavidb on Monday November 14 2016, @02:41PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 4, Funny) by Pino P on Monday November 14 2016, @04:09PM
That is, if we don't become the meat first. SoylentNews is people, you know.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @01:28PM
It's probably a good thing that most of our readership doesn't have the time to be editors. It means we are all very busy with productive things :) Still job needs to be done, and I know that it is a thankless job for sure that requires very thick skin and healthy emotional-detachment from the internet.
(Score: 4, Informative) by martyb on Monday November 14 2016, @01:40PM
Did you ever notice a typo, grammatical error, or formatting issue on one of the stories on SoylentNews?
I did, and went into IRC [soylentnews.org] to suggest a correction to the editorial staff. And then I saw another one. And another. So, I suggested that it would be easier for them if they let me edit stories.
Little did I suspect what I was in for!
I met a team of amazingly knowledgeable and hard-working people who cared about our site. I got to see the operations of a site first-hand, all the way from what the community posts to the site, down through all of the UI code and into the underlying OS and networking support. Saw how things were partitioned... and why.
Oh, and I got to do QA/testing, too. When TheMightyBuzzard rolled out UTF-8/Unicode support, I took it upon myself to do the testing. Found the relevant RFCs, wrote up test data, found edge and corner cases. We worked together until it was solid.
There are times after a long day at work that I get home and check the story queue at 9pm, and see that we don't have enough stories scheduled to make it until morning. As much as I'd rather just go to bed, I've found myself posting just a few stories to help get us over the hump. (And I'm not alone in doing that, by any stretch!) What am I doing this for? And then I see a discussion unfold in one of the stories that just blows me away.
But, beyond the rewards from a professional perspective, I made a number of good friends. We have a camaraderie that I treasure. We have shared joys and frustrations about our lives and grown into a group of whom I am proud to have become a part.
So, to all of you who have submitted comments about mistakes in stories, here's your chance! Even if you can post only a couple stories a week, every bit helps. SoylentNews is a community -- staffed by volunteers -- it's only as good as we make it.... come join the fun!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 14 2016, @02:30PM
I nominate wonkey_monkey. There will never be a single typo, loose grammatical construction, or textual ambiguity ever again.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Touché) by wonkey_monkey on Monday November 14 2016, @04:33PM
dam strait,
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:22AM
Then we have to sail around....
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Kilo110 on Monday November 14 2016, @02:32PM
What are the day to day duties for an editor?
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @02:43PM
And wish to stay anon. And would have a REALLY REALLY HIGH UID if we bothered to register now :)
While I am on the subject, does SN have a .onion? And any chance of getting a .i2p to go with it? :)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @02:57PM
We do have a .onion. I think it's just soylentnews.onion but I wouldn't swear to it. I just make sure it's got traffic coming over it every now and then, I don't actually use it.
i2p, nope. No current plans on it either. May change if we get enough requests though.
Can't edit as AC. That would require giving all ACs editorial access. While hilarious, that wouldn't be practical. You'd need an actual account to edit from, though nothing's saying you'd have to give up posting as AC.
Currently there's no policy against doing all of your editing over the TOR gateway though and I personally don't see one coming into existence.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday November 14 2016, @03:42PM
If it is soylentnews.onion, then there is no good way to authenticate an onion site.
There are probably a few random characters tacked on the end: not that most people would bother to verify those.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday November 14 2016, @05:30PM
While hilarious
Hundred some days until April 1st, just saying
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:27PM
soylentnews: http://7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion/ [7rmath4ro2of2a42.onion] ?
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @03:12PM
Would it be possible to have a guest editor feature where users with positive karma could add a limited number of stories (3-5 per day) to the queue?
Is there any interest in low-productivity (10 stories per month) editors?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @03:51PM
Possible? Yes. Easy? Not remotely. It'd take probably a week of mornings worth of coding and two weeks of martyb trying to do things he shouldn't be able to and otherwise break it.
No clue about interest on low-productivity eds but I know you could push out 10 of Phoenix666's or any editor's submissions in about 15 minutes. Just double check the links and pick a time really.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday November 14 2016, @03:14PM
> we all are busy and have lives. So do you
So true. I have very little free time, and carving out just 3 hours out of a week would be hard. What's the minimum time commitment you think an editor must make?
Need more submissions too? I've long wondered whether Computer Science and especially algorithms could be covered more. Very occasionally there's a programming language story that sparks a fun debate about that subject.
Now, as to editing: Through his blundering, my elderly father showed me some serious deficiencies in text editors. (Holy war over editors, anyone? vi vs emacs, pfft. FYI, I have him using Leafpad right now.) Select All is too powerful. I've trained him to Select All and Copy, then Paste in another window, and he keeps screwing that up. Most of the keys one could hit after a Select All operation aren't merely wrong, they're majorly destructively wrong, and I've concluded that's a flaw in text editor design. One very, very seldom wants to replace all text with a single letter. If he tries to type ctrl-c for copy, and doesn't hit the control key first, he just replaced everything with a 'c'. The text stays selected after the copy operation, so at any time over the next several hours of viewing, one keypress can wipe out the entire document. Then, when he closes the editor window, it has the cheek to scare him that he is about to lose all his changes, and would he like to save first? He'll fearfully click "yes", not understanding that he just saved a single letter over the text document he was using. I've had to back his text documents up to be able to recover from that.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday November 14 2016, @03:30PM
Yes, please. CompSci and algorithms would be great.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Monday November 14 2016, @04:11PM
I just tried in Mousepad: Ctrl+A, c, Ctrl+Z, and the document is restored to how it was before c was pressed. Ctrl+A in a graphical text editor was more dangerous back in the day when we had one level of undo, and the second was to undo the undo itself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @03:23PM
Oblig [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @03:42PM
TMB Note: Seriously. You really don't want me having to pick stories.
Besides the times you've submitted obvious crap to "counteract the obvious leftest crap", I would not mind you picking stories. I do not agree with many of your views, but I appreciate your perspective and your principled stances that you defend.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Monday November 14 2016, @05:10PM
Trust us... you don't want him picking the stories.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday November 14 2016, @05:57PM
I've got two jobs and do anti-human-trafficking stuff on the side, but I'd be happy to volunteer some time in the wee hours of the morning as my schedule usually has me up till 1 or 2 AM CST/CDT.
Also, the fact that it would probably make Uzzard there burst every blood vessel in his body is an added bonus, though my content would be almost entirely science and computer stuff :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @09:06PM
What's an anti-human and why would I want one?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:17PM
There are some people who have a fetish for aunts and there are people who traffick them for them. Not to be confused with 'ant-y human trafficking' which is usually trafficking in medical, chemical, or radioactive accident subjects who have been partially mutated into ants.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @09:16PM
Go for it. Assuming you can manage to separate professional conduct from personal beefs. We're not exactly high-class over in IRC but we don't let politics get in the way of getting the job done.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday November 14 2016, @09:29PM
Damn it, Uzzard, do you know how expensive fuses for the irony-o-meter are?! Gah...gonna be feeling that one for like a week. Ow, ow, ow...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @10:37PM
Guess that's a no on the can you act in a professional manner question then.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday November 14 2016, @10:49PM
This is what we call a joke where I come from, Senor Flappy-flap. Both my jobs involve customer service and interaction and I've gotten nothing but good reviews from clients, so don't worry your pretty little carrion-eating head about me :)
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @11:10PM
I'm not especially worried about you cheesing off the community. They can take care of themselves pretty well and editing is not my worry. I'm concerned you can't separate business time from play time and would feel the need to bring venom into staff interaction.
Our staff as a group will argue to no end on the finer points of the implementation of our roles on IRC but there's currently zero malice behind any of it. I personally would like to keep it that way. If you say you're capable of that, excellent. If you turn out not to be, that's easily remedied too.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday November 15 2016, @06:35PM
Look, roadkill-breath, if I can handle two jobs dealing with "the general public" (and remember the words of Saint Carlin on that score...) I can deal with you. There is such a thing as a professional demeanor, and given my track record in intensely customer-focused jobs, I'm not worried.
As much of a total asshole as you are, you at least can spell. That helps a lot. Now put that tiny thing away before you get it caught in yer zipper again.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:47PM
Off you go to IRC to give it a try then.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday November 15 2016, @10:12PM
Later, I got that second job coming up. It's gonna be stupid-late if I make it in there at all. Don't get your bloomers in a knot; all in good time.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Redundant) by jrial on Saturday November 19 2016, @02:47PM
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @07:25PM
I've had an idea.
Allow TMB to pick & edit one or two stories a week. Maybe on weekends, when the traffic's low. Add the tagline (like we have "Breaking" or "Ask Soylent") "What's the Buzz?" to the stories.
While I disagree with Buzzard on most issues and think he's frequently a pompous ass, replies to his comments are usually worth reading :)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @09:17PM
That's a large part of why I post them. That and I like arguing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @10:53PM
While I disagree with Buzzard on most issues and think he's frequently a pompous ass, OTOH...
I lost my train of thought.
FTFY
(Score: 2) by julian on Monday November 14 2016, @05:02PM
I like this place, I'm willing to help.
[redacted]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @06:57PM
This site exists because Slashdot was going Beta. That is no longer the case (they were bought by someone else). We post the majority of articles that Slashdot posts. Why do we need to exist? What makes us different enough to be worthwhile? The site was a success, it achieved it's original purpose. Why continue? Record all the steps taken to get here and keep them stored for the next time Slashdot starts to die.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @07:17PM
Why not this site? I only come here and post stories here. I don't really care to hit a bunch of sites every day, so I've settled on this one and I'm happy with it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday November 14 2016, @07:21PM
Because we are a community of regulars who work, each in our own way(s), to enrich our own community and help it to thrive and grow.
Yes, there are other sites on Internet, including slashdot, that do similar things, but this site is ours.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Monday November 14 2016, @07:23PM
Because Slashdot still regularly goes downhill?
The quality here is much higher. The first time I hit a racist troll post here, I modded it to oblivion because that sort of thing just doesn't fit here. On Slashdot, it's still "accepted" somehow.
The stories here have a much high quality but less quantity of comments. Slashdot is still on life support as far as many users are concerned.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 14 2016, @10:48PM
Yes, the quality here is much better than the quantity there (although I haven't been THERE in a dogs age)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:47AM
I dunno that it's that much better here than over there. I only post AC when I post on both sites because it's not worth my time to deal with the obvious trolls.
I find myself posting less and less because the SNR is getting pretty bad.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @09:30PM
We post the majority of articles that Slashdot posts.
I don't think this is true. There may be some overlap, but I'm confident it isn't the majority.
There will always be cross-coverage of technology news between this site and Slashdot because there is an overlap in interest and neither site will specifically avoid topics because the other site published it first.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday November 14 2016, @09:51PM
Let me answer that by bringing up the dev team. Slashdot, under shiny new management, has been promising unicode support for the better part of a year now. I coded it up for this site (having never looked at slashcode before) in around three weeks worth of spare time. And I'm fairly sure both NCommander and paulej72 are better than me at perl. And let's not forget martyb who could tear up an anvil given five minutes of playing with it. That's a quality you really want in a QA guy, though it is annoying when you think you're done with something and he shows you you're not.
There's also the editorial team. Click on the original submission link next time you see a story from MrPlow or exec. These guys do a lot of work that I'm very glad is not on my plate. Stories about every 90 minutes five days a week, every two hours on weekends, all year long. They don't let the site sit without a story even if they have to go out and find one when there's nothing in the submission queue and it's a holiday weekend with no significant news.
Not to neglect the admin team or anyone else. They know what they do, they do it well, and the rest of us are all very glad it's not our problem.
I dunno what kind of folks they got working for them over at Slashdot but I know we got one seriously badass team for the job here.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:53AM
What is even more sad is you fixed *THEIR* code. They could take notes and fix what is left. People have been telling them in the comments for the past year it is fixed. They have no interest in fixing it. That much is clear.
Their site does *not* work well if you turn javascript off. 99.99% of the time I try to comment it pretty much lets me do 1 maybe 2 comments a day as AC. Where as here I can comment pretty much as much as I need on a post as AC so long as I do not do it too fast.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:53AM
I did offer to help them. It would take me all of a morning to get their shat unicode-friendly after putting so much time in on ours. Even with the divergent code bases. They weren't interested.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:26PM
If you use TBB you can just copy your comment/title, go back to the comments.pl page with all the get fields tacked on it (the later ones with no option are 'post' form/cgi submissions and don't properly reset) and do new circuit, and usually get a 'fresh' ip to post more stories from. Soylentnews doesn't have that problem, however if you connect to the clearnet site over tor there is an issue with your comment audorization token not matching up with the ip address if your circuits change between clicking reply, and when your comment is finished and you hit submit. Slashdot has the same shortcoming (likely intentional anti-spam feature, but it obviously doesn't provide that benefit if switching circuits and hopping through three pages allows you to submit anyways.)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by caffeine on Monday November 14 2016, @10:04PM
For me switching from Slashdot to SoylentNews was not driven by a desire to avoid the beta version. After years of being a SlashDot regular, I was getting tired of all the idiots posting strong opinions on every story. It seemed the signal to noise ratio was deteriorating and I was looking for an alternative.
From time to time I look at SlashDot and the problem there remains the same. It would be a great pity if SoylentNews does not continue.
On that note, I'd be willing to help by working as an editor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @10:42PM
Why do we need Trader Joe's? We already have Whole Foods.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:03PM
Q: Why do we need Trader Joe's?
A: Cheap. Drinkable. Wine.
Q: We already have Whole Foods.
A: Expensive. Undigestible. Quinoa/Kale/Linoleum.
You're comparing decent apples to douchebag oranges.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @11:58PM
A bit off topic, but let me start by saying I love Soylent News. It reminds me of what Slashdot used to be. But the community seems to be really small. I think some of it could be the name "Soylent" News. I just Googled Soylent News and I got...news about the meal replacement product "Soylent." It seems like it might be beneficial to think about a rename/rebrand. Slashdot is geeky but makes sense to people that have worked on the command line or program. Soylent just sounds a bit off putting. Are you trying to be a funny fiction product from a really old movie that a lot of people these days probably haven't seen, or don't remember? Are you a news site about Soylent(TM) Brand Meal Replacement(R) products?
Just seems like a more tech/geek friendly name would help from a marketing aspect.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:11AM
I just logged into register.com and tried a bunch of names. Everything obvious has been taken; this is the best one I found:
Congratulations, your domain is available!
ohpointone.com ...............................
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Tuesday November 15 2016, @07:18PM
SoylentNews Name History [soylentnews.org]
The first week or so, the site was AltSlashdot in Usenet fashion. Discussion soon pointed out that the name had to be changed to avoid future legal entanglements with Dice or whatever future overlords who may own Slashdot. A contest was held which encouraged geeky/scifi names that avoided words like slash, dot, and beta. SoylentNews won the vote as it recognizes the merit of /. to be the community itself as well as a referencing a terrible, obscure sci-fi cult film.
If we're renaming the site, I'd like to suggest "colonptth.org" and "colonsptth.org" just so our path could be http://:ptth [:ptth] or https://:sptth [:sptth] if you're using ssl. ://: might make for some pretty cool short hand too that's easier to type than !β.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:35AM
I can think of several reasons, so let me state a few of them.
One, monopoly sucks, competition and alternatives are good, no matter how tiny. Why do we need Firefox when there is IE, why do we need Androids when there is iPhone, why do we need Google Plus when there is Facebook... (OK, that last one may be a bad example, but you catch my drift.)
Two, some of us prefer a small community. Like living in a small town vs living in a metropolis. Even the village idiots get more endearing. (Hi, Ethanol-Fueled! Hi, Oh Powerful Birdster!)
Three, Eternal September. No, no, hear me out. The next time Slashdot screws up and there is another Buck Feta Exodus, a bunch of new people will switch over to SN. Then we, the Old Guard, can start complaining about all the newbs destroying our community and how much better it was in the old days, and ain't that the primary role of communities?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:12PM
Let a hundred flowers blossom.
-- Mao Zedong
It`s your pasture now, and it`s not so big-only three thousand miles from east to west, only two thousand miles from north to south-but all between, where ten thousand points of light prick out the cities, towns and villages, there, seeker, you will find us burning in the night.
-- Thomas Wolfe
[...] a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.
-- George H.W. Bush
(Score: 0) by Vokbain on Monday November 14 2016, @09:43PM
The material is interesting, but the delivery is kind of... Hmm.
Not that I have any idea how to fix it or anything though.
</offtopic>
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 14 2016, @10:17PM
The problem you are referring to seems like it is more to do with the quality of submissions.
Source material for quality submissions seems to be lacking. Most often when I'm looking for something to submit, I have to sort through lots of "So what?" or clickbait articles and a lot of the time I end up submitting a niche scientific article because there aren't any really interesting stories.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:38AM
I submit a lot of stories, so some of this I can speak to. Submission "quality" is a tricky target to zero in on, because so many people have such different ideas what that means. There is often feedback that people prefer straight up technical/scientific stories. Those interest me, too, so it's >90% of what I submit. Most of them don't generate much discussion, which may mean people aren't that interested in them, or it may mean people are interested in them but since the story lies outside their particular field and focus they don't want to seem a fool by commenting, lest somebody who is an expert should happen along and upbraid them. The only measure we have of "interesting," which is number of comments, is, as you can see, ambiguous.
If it's the length of the submissions that's wanting, or that they're excerpts and not paraphrasing, then that's a different matter. In my case I have arrived at a balance between how long it takes me to do it the way I do it and how much I would care my submission is declined. Back in the Slashdot days I laboriously researched and prepared a half dozen submissions only to have them each declined without explanation. After those few times (and we're talking about spaced out over more than a decade at that site), I never bothered again. I imagine that if any of them had been accepted and got very few comments, I would have also felt like not bothering again.
So I bang out a submission in 2-3 minutes by excerpting what seem to be explanatory bits, with maybe a brief icebreaker/conversation starter. If it's rejected or gets few comments, no big deal.
But there's more than one way to do it, and at Soylent there's plenty of opportunity to introduce those other ways. Compose a submission that satifies your indices of quality and it's pretty sure it will be accepted for publication.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by nethead on Tuesday November 15 2016, @05:36AM
This. I've been on slashdot a while, UID 1563, and have submitted dozens of articles and maybe two have been accepted. Maybe I suck at it but without editorial feedback there was no reason to keep on keeping on. Slashdot is also too big now and I have to read it at 2. SN lets me read at 0 and I enjoy that.
How did my SN UID end up over 3 times my /. UID?
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:25PM
When we don't accept a sub from a registered user, you actually DO get feedback via the site messaging system.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 1) by nethead on Wednesday November 16 2016, @02:25AM
That's good to hear. I'll have to try feeding the pipe.
SN reminds me of the early /. days. I was even able to provide hosting for images.slashdot.org because of my job when Rob saturated his T1. Gawd I feel old.
Maybe later after work settles down I'll try my hand at editing. I just switched positions from Lotus Domino admin to HP-UX admin. That's what I get for being the oldest person on the team.
How did my SN UID end up over 3 times my /. UID?
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Wednesday November 16 2016, @03:59AM
All submissions are welcome and appreciated!
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:55AM
How about stop the dangling questions. They do not add much and pretty much only try to polarize the conversation usually.
You wouldnt like to see that would you?
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Monday November 14 2016, @09:53PM
While I'm pretty sure that no one would like to see me as an editor as I'd probably make timothy look like a savant, I would just like to thank the editors for the great job over the past couple of years. It's much appreciated.
(Score: 2) by Username on Monday November 14 2016, @10:55PM
Ethanol-fueled Has my vote.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:25AM
Why? What do you have against Jews, blacks, women, Hispanics, Chinese...... everything non-white-male? :)
I'd love to see something submitted by Ethanol... so long as it is kept civil and interesting. Or..... wait a second....
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:30PM
And hey if enough of them voted Trump for president, then voting Ethanol-Fueled for SN Editor seems just as likely to succeed :)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Monday November 14 2016, @10:57PM
Where are those august free agent editors now? Show BizX who's the real reason we visited the green site after CmdrTaco left.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 14 2016, @11:08PM
I sometimes have time, and then not: sometimes it's due to working overnights which jet-lag me and sometimes my son, if he gets on a behaviour/non-sleeping binge.
But I am willing to edit if needed: i think I'd rather edit than submit, although I'd also like a section of "interesting/fun/funny/educational" stories that people can read just for their own enjoyment (like the Bathroom Reader series, or a readers digest kind of thing... something that might just pique your interest and make you want to read further)
Tl;dr
Am willing to help edit, will try to submit more, but can't be counted on every day (but can usually be counted on in a pinch).
I also greatly appreciate all the effort everyone has put into this site/community, from staff to commentators: 'usually' there is always something of interest going on.
Thanks!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:40AM
I'd like to see that sort of thing, too.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @12:20AM
You are an editor, edit the submission. Yeah, easy for me to say, just an AC, but editing is a duty and a privilege.
People who know how to write, and I don't mean poetry or fancy prose but straight clear-headed succinct narrative, are what we need here.
Unfortunately, our twitter generation is practically illiterate, and the rest of us are ... well, I guess we will find out soon.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:42AM
Trust me. You do not want unfiltered submissions making it through. We'd quickly devolve into Breitbart subs vs HuffPo subs. Nobody wants that.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Username on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:36AM
What ever happened to making a bot to scrape other news sites?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @12:26PM
Arthur T. Knackerbracket subs come from that. They still go through the eds though being as it slurps up the entire article into the sub and there's no guarantee of the quality or suitability of the article. Also, it requires a template be written for every site added to it so it knows what is the article and what is page layout. So don't worry, humans still rule the roost on quality subs; robots won't be taking that job from you any time soon.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:42PM
I meant "don't simply pick" but also read it, try to grok its general gist, and edit it so that it gives the gist in a concise manner. A decent summary will attract intelligent questions (from those outside the field) and elaboration/clarification (from those with some expertise) even on esoteric, highly technical subjects.
(Score: 4, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:00AM
Okay, so, if you've volunteered and not heard anything yet, Don't Panic. Someone should shoot you an email in the next day or two if you have a usable email address associated with your account. Please don't post one that you don't want to get endless amounts of spam here publicly or in open channels in IRC (they're publicly logged). /msg one of the editors your address in IRC if you don't want a valid one associated with your account.
If you haven't already hopped on IRC and gotten oriented, do so when you can find the time. You can use the web client [soylentnews.org] for now if you can't be arsed to install a proper one yet. Just type "/join #editorial" without the quotes after connecting and say "Hi, please abuse me".
It would also speed things along if you check the dev server [soylentnews.org] and sign up for an account there if you don't already have one (you may, it's an old database dump from the live server). We can't give you edity powers on it until there's an account there to give them to.
What to expect later:
audioguy or mechanicjay or paulej72 will hook you up with an @soylentnews.org email address when they're handy.
Deucalion will hook you up with a staff hostmask for IRC and get you access to the secret channel that doesn't exist no matter what anyone tells you as soon as he's handy and you have a proper IRC client installed.
Myself, NCommander, paulej72, or Bytram/martyb will get you edity powers on the live server when you pass the swimsuit competition.
If one or more of the above doesn't happen quickly enough, the people to pester about it are handily listed there.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:13AM
To be honest, I suck at summaries. I sometimes have time, sometimes I don't. I've had several submissions accepted, but each were heavily edited. Makes me wonder what the raw input stream looks like.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:28AM
Sometimes pretty good if our submitting badasses have been at it. Occasionally sucktastic if most of the subs are coming in from IRC. Weekends can be especially slim pickings.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:32PM
Even a (perceived) crappy summary is worth the effort if the story is good. Don't get down on yourself because your summaries aren't perfect. That is what the editorial team is for. We put some pretty good lipstick on that pig occasionally.
Having the link and some text is a great start. Way better than just giving us a link, or worse, nothing at all!
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by goodie on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:17AM
I could probably pitch a few once in a while. Like everybody here I am pretty busy but it seems only fair to do what I can and you guys aren't pushy about it so that gets my vote.
(Score: 3, Informative) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @02:49AM
I cannot tell you all how proud of you I am. We ask for help and you nut jobs come out of the woodwork looking to toss in and help.
I knew when I signed with this madhouse that it was a wonderful place. And y'all have proven it to me once again.
From the very bottom of the hearts of the (currently expanding) Editorial staff, Thank you.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:29AM
And spank YOU too! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:20AM
The SN editorial board decides on who to endorse for US President.
Last time around, SN endorsed Donald Trump and that might have been enough to make the difference in Wisconsin. Maybe we need more Democrats editing the stories.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:43AM
If you are serious in your statement then I have failed.
We, as a team, made a big effort not to support any particular candidate and we tried to put out roughly as many stories of HRC as we did about Trump, and to maintain the balance between criticism and praise. There were fewer stories about the other candidates but, where deserving stories were submitted, we published them.
That is part of the editorial process, and we did try to be balanced. However, the comments are not ours - but from the community. If you feel that more of the community were supporting Trump than anyone else then you might be correct - although I haven't tried to count the comments to find out what the spread of support was.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @01:12PM
Sorry, that was meant as a joke about the range of tasks of SN editors.
Actually, I think there was a pretty even split here between the two camps.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:02PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:06PM
That even among our more conservative members it felt like there was critique of Trump, and at least more critique of Clinton among the Liberals than the mainstream media tended to present. There were certainly at least more intelligent discussions of actual issues or misdeeds than seemed to happen in the media, especially in regards to falsehoods spread on both sides of the aisle to slant public opinion against one candidate or the other.
I wish I could claim the split in mainstream voting results was similiarly balanced, but as near as I can tell the election just proved the higher powers in american politics have masterfully divided the country into two bitterly opposed teams who are so focused on their hate for the other that they can't see the strings rising from either their own or their opponents backs, and realized they are both being pulled by the same puppetmaster(s).
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:36PM
We try very hard to present both sides, and it is nice to hear that we (mostly) succeeded.
Admittedly, toward the end, we did discuss banning politics altogether 'cuz we were sick of it.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:41AM
I've got to be better at editing and queuing submissions than I am at submitting interesting stories. How low is your bar? [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @06:23AM
Whatever editors are chosen must be Non-Zionists. We don't need any more stories of how the jews made a positive difference. They don't. All they do is destroy the world that already existed in order to impose their one-world government on us. They fuel the flames of war and benefit greatly from it. No more jew editors or anyone with jew friends. Thanks. We need editors with a sharp eye who are able to spot jewish advertisements and articles showing the jew in a positive light, however dim that light may be.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:50PM
I think your PoV is going to fail to be embraced around here. Shatner and Nimoy were/are both Jewish after all.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @11:50AM
ynewsd.org is available last I checked. Pronounced "why-news-dee".
Unfortunately, the short form "ynsd.org", which might stand for "ynsd's not Slashdot", is taken. Probably by a legitimate nonprofit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2016, @03:49PM
Thanks for the input, but we've already had a vote on the name. While I've never liked the name, and it won due to inertia, it is our name now and very unlikely to change.
(Score: 1) by nethead on Wednesday November 16 2016, @02:00AM
Dang! And I'd be willing to donate nerdboy.org too. (or FlyingCrockOfShit.com depending on how it turns out.)
How did my SN UID end up over 3 times my /. UID?
(Score: 2) by mendax on Tuesday November 15 2016, @04:11PM
... I don't think you WANT me to be an editor. I'd have difficulty putting my political views aside (e.g., Trump delenda est!) and I do have other biases.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1) by charon on Tuesday November 15 2016, @08:12PM