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posted by martyb on Friday January 20 2017, @07:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the making-a-legacy dept.

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

Related Stories

Call for Volunteers: Editors [Updated] 105 comments

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.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:04AM (#456422)

    Quit begging, you morons, and fund your shitty site with Bitcoin mining.

    Can't figure out how to mine Bitcoin? Ask a teenager from the Homeland Generation to tutor you, stupid Boomer assholes.

    Making a public pledge never to donate to your musky news for geezers!

    • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday January 20 2017, @07:33AM

      by butthurt (6141) on Friday January 20 2017, @07:33AM (#456430) Journal

      I happened upon a Web page, which I suggest you peruse, entitled "SoylentNews Alternatives." It lists other news sites with a similar focus; perhaps you will find one or more appropriate to your age.

      https://web.archive.org/web/20161115163756/http://alternativeto.net/software/soylentnews/ [archive.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:49AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:49AM (#456433)

        First hit is Hacker News for Millennials.

        Second hit is Slashdot for GenX.

        Pretty good suggestions for picking on someone your own age.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:53AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:53AM (#456434)

        Interesting, I use alternativeto quite often, but I didn't know there are also alternatives for websites.

        I'm also enjoying the fact that a whining, trolling AC was confronted by an actual butthurt telling him -- very politely and respectfully -- to piss off :D

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:50AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:50AM (#456480)
        • (Score: 1) by butthurt on Friday January 20 2017, @12:25PM

          by butthurt (6141) on Friday January 20 2017, @12:25PM (#456485) Journal

          "Error 1008 [...] Access denied [...] Performance & security by CloudFlare"

          Thanks though.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @09:45PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @09:45PM (#456719)

            Error 1008 [...] Access denied

            I was under the impression that that site was like Facebook, requiring a signup to even -read- anything.
            N.B. Looking back, I don't know where I got that erroneous idea.

            I pull up the Linux page.
            I didn't have the slightest problem getting that.
            I will note that, by default, I block EVERYTHING that isn't readable text, including the 4 scripts on that page.

            Now, with my browser config, I have to scroll down about 45 percent before I get to any actual content.
            Adding the Fragment Identifier #linkflair to their URL would improve that condition for me.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

            • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:33AM

              by butthurt (6141) on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:33AM (#456823) Journal

              I was under the impression that that site was like Facebook, requiring a signup to even -read- anything.
              N.B. Looking back, I don't know where I got that erroneous idea.

              I seem to recall that a discussion site recommended by The Mighty Buzzard works that way. He may have made a journal entry about the site, which has a reputation for being frequented by conservative-minded netizens.

              > I didn't have the slightest problem getting [a voat.co page].

              I assume that voat.co doesn't approve of the anonymising proxy I use. I also, incorrectly, assumed that other readers would understand the reason for the error. Sorry about that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:59AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @07:59AM (#456435)

      Some day you'll be old, and then you'll laugh at what a dick you were when you were young. Maybe you'll still be a dick, who knows. Everyone gets old, just remember that.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @08:09AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @08:09AM (#456437)

        No way man. I'm like Homer Simpson. I haven't changed since high school. I'm 40 years old but I still rock out to all of today's teen hits on the Billboard charts.

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @08:17AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @08:17AM (#456439)

      The jew is upset that non-jewish stories make it to the site and are discussed. Comments are also made on this site that reveal the truth about jews. The jew naturally hates that. The jew hides among non-jews in order to steer conversations on forums towards his worldview where jews are rulers and their demon god is praised. The jew does everything to stop people with different views from posting. Their JIDF organization is always active and gets involved in the moderation and administration of websites and forums. They don't have to worry about making a living; they live off the hard work of non-jews, so they are able to spend hours each day moderating and reporting anti-jewish comments and commenters to the proper authorities so they can be murdered.

      When adding moderators and administrators of forums, always make sure they are not jewish. Otherwise intelligent discussions about real topics (and discussion of the jewish question) will be banned and only jewish celebrity news will be discussed.

      Now go ahead and be a good goy and moderate this comment -1, Troll. Your jewish masters are counting on you being a good goy.

      Jewish hatred toward the Goyim [youtube.com]

      How the Jews Treat Christians in Israel - It's Serious! [youtube.com]

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @09:42AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @09:42AM (#456455)

        Leverage What You Know to Support Donald Trump. Make America Great Again!

        • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday January 20 2017, @01:29PM

          by Gaaark (41) on Friday January 20 2017, @01:29PM (#456515) Journal

          Leverage what you know and go find that great leader Hillary! Or is she dead? I dunno, cause no one has seen her or her leadership skills lately.

          --
          --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:27PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:27PM (#456737)

            no one has seen her or her leadership skills lately

            I can't say that I've missed her.
            (Making an effort to not consume Lamestream Media, I didn't catch much of her swill for the last year either.)

            Meanwhile, in the November election, Reds took seats in the national gov't and in state houses.
            Folks weren't so much voting -for- Reds as they were voting AGAINST Blues.

            Since then, Neoliberal Pelosi was elected Blue Leader by her colleagues in the House.
            Neoliberal Schumer was elected Blue Leader by his colleagues in the Senate.
            Neoliberal Wasserman Schultz was reelected in her Florida district, over a worker-friendly anti-Neoliberal opponent.
            The Florida Democrat Party elected a Neoliberal as their chairman.
            The guy that most Blues like for DNC chairman is a chickenhawk.

            The Blues have learned NOTHING from the election.
            They will continue on their anti-worker Neoliberal tack and will continue to lose elections.
            We can only hope that the migration away from the Blues is in the direction of a less Neoliberal and more anti-war party.

            I'm also hoping that Trump voters take note of what his Neoliberal domestic policies and Neoconservative foreign policies get them (rather than unbendingly defending their choice as O'Bummer voters have).

            With a little luck, the short fuse of Donnie Tiny Hands will be managed by more mature people and we'll avoid a nuclear war and there will be another election in 2 years.
            If we're really lucky, we'll survive to see another election in 4 years.

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by dyingtolive on Friday January 20 2017, @01:59PM

        by dyingtolive (952) on Friday January 20 2017, @01:59PM (#456528)

        I think you're thinking of a comment that was posted at goylentnews.org.

        --
        Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 20 2017, @10:28AM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday January 20 2017, @10:28AM (#456467) Journal

    I got swag for the site early on, but I've been thinking that the site could use a better logo. I'm not a designer and don't have ideas off the top of my head for a better one, but I would get more merchandise for myself and others if it was a bit more visually appealing.

    I realize it sucks to say something like that and not have a ready solution too, but thought I'd put the thought out there while we're on a meta thread.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:59AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:59AM (#456475)

      I dunno, I think it's nice, but then again I suck at design. I also never noticed that the red stripe behind "Soylent" is not just an abstract thick line, it's an open candy wrapper... and I've been here almost since beginning! Now I like the logo even better.

      The one thing that bothers me about it is the way-too-busy right side on some of the swag. "TM", ".org" and "...is people" is a bit too much. Do I pick the ending I like best? Do I have to use all of them? In which order? How come it doesn't flip over to the right? It looks like the beginning of one of those god-awful tag clouds.

      (While I'm writing, I want to thank the SN team! You people are the bestest.)

      • (Score: 2) by NCommander on Friday January 20 2017, @01:08PM

        by NCommander (2) Subscriber Badge <michael@casadevall.pro> on Friday January 20 2017, @01:08PM (#456506) Homepage Journal

        ... I never even noticed that detail about the stripe until you brought that up and I've been here the longest ...

        --
        Still always moving
        • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday January 20 2017, @02:17PM

          by dyingtolive (952) on Friday January 20 2017, @02:17PM (#456536)

          As long as we're on the topic, it is probably overkill to offer the text in the logo "Soylent News ...is people!" and then immediately thereafter the subtitle (in text) "SoylentNews is people".

          Were I to make a precise recommendation about it, I would drop the "...is people!" from the logo, and then continue to offer the subtitle. The logo feels very 80s/90s also, which may or may not be a bad thing, though I can't help wonder whether such things, along with the 'traditionalist' feel (read: lack of javascript splattered all over) if we're not actually a little off-putting to certain groups of people.

          --
          Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
        • (Score: 2) by Max Hyre on Friday January 20 2017, @11:11PM

          by Max Hyre (3427) <maxhyreNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Friday January 20 2017, @11:11PM (#456766)
          Soylent News is one of the sites that's always open on my browser. So is Schneier.com. Notice how remarkably alike their favicons are when seen on the tabs?
          • Schneier's [schneier.com] (I guess it's reasonable to restrict images in comments.)
          • Soylent's: Can't find a direct link---you'll have to look up at your tab. :-)

          Since Schneier was there first, could we maybe change the content to ``SN''? Or use a new color? Or something? [Speaking for a small group, but hopefully with more than one member.]

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday January 21 2017, @12:01AM

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday January 21 2017, @12:01AM (#456781) Homepage Journal

            Maybe, dunno who has the original SN artwork we make everything from right now. For now, switch themes. They pretty much all have different colored favicons. Plus I wrote quite a lot of them so there is much awesome to be found. Okay, mostly it's just different colors. Pretty colors though.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:55PM (#456760)

      Makes no difference to me.
      The only thing that I have unblocked here which isn't readable text is the subscriber's star.
      N.B. If that feature was done properly, I'd see a text representation of that (alt-text) and I wouldn't need to bother with that config change.

      Now, if we had a name like "Mozilla" we could have a New Age thing that looks like Moz://a, as that bunch just did. 8-(

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Friday January 20 2017, @11:55AM

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 20 2017, @11:55AM (#456481)

    I've wanted to resub a while ago. Any update on bitcoin support?

    • (Score: 2) by martyb on Friday January 20 2017, @12:40PM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Friday January 20 2017, @12:40PM (#456491) Journal

      I've wanted to resub a while ago. Any update on bitcoin support?

      Good question! As far as I know, we DO support PayPal and Stripe, but bitcoin has been out of commission for a while. ISTR there was an issue with a change to the API we used with our bitcoin intermediary (can't remember the name), but I could be mistaken.

      Hopefully TheMightyBuzzard will be along to clarify.

      --
      Wit is intellect, dancing.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 20 2017, @02:07PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 20 2017, @02:07PM (#456532) Homepage Journal

      We've got one more blocking bug in the upcoming update to iron out and I'll start on bitcoin as soon as we get that update rolled out.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 2) by mrpg on Friday January 20 2017, @01:35PM

    by mrpg (5708) Subscriber Badge <mrpgNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday January 20 2017, @01:35PM (#456519) Homepage

    I might help but I don't really use fancy things like varnish and perl. Maybe with postfix or the HTML?

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 20 2017, @02:55PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 20 2017, @02:55PM (#456550) Homepage Journal

      If you wanna tidy/valid up our html, rock on. Just keep in mind that us crusty old devs can be slower than an energetic new guy about merging pull requests.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:22AM

      by martyb (76) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:22AM (#456819) Journal

      I might help but I don't really use fancy things like varnish and perl. Maybe with postfix or the HTML?

      Any help is welcome! One area where the site is admittedly quite weak is support for mobile devices. I've got an old Android phone and the font size varies from well-nigh microscopic to quite readable. If a way were found to, in effect, institute a minimal font size, that would be a huge win from my perspective. ISTR that TheMightyBuzzard took a stab at it a while ago, but ran into some issues — best to talk to him for details.

      --
      Wit is intellect, dancing.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @02:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @02:12PM (#456533)

    Why does SN's vendor, Zazzle, have their e-commerce site linked to Facebook.net ?

    I've got No-Script blocking that but I'm just curious.

    Reminds me of other sites were silly things like "arrows" on a web page didn't render until I enabled a domain seemingly unrelated to the one I was visiting.

    I mean "arrows" really ?

    Thanks for the time someone smarter than I may take to answer this.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 20 2017, @02:55PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 20 2017, @02:55PM (#456549) Homepage Journal

      Have to ask Zazzle about that. I really have no clue. I'd prefer making our own shwag but I can't seem to talk cmn32480 into farming his kids out as child labor.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:42PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:42PM (#456593)

        >can't seem to talk cmn32480 into farming his kids out as child labor.

        Odd... I thought that's what they were for in the first place ?

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 20 2017, @03:02PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 20 2017, @03:02PM (#456553) Homepage Journal

    pj and NC have been extremely busy with life and such lately, though they do kick out huge amounts of damned good code when they're around. We really could use some more devs though if for no other reason than to review my pull requests (merging your own is considered bad juju round here) when the bosses ain't handy. perl knowledge is pretty much mandatory for core development but you ain't gotta be an expert starting out; we'll got enough knowledge on staff to get you guru'd up in no time.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:25PM (#456770)

      Maybe it's just plain dumb luck, but I've noticed that no journal-entry spam has made it to the front page for quite a while.

      Whether that is because paulej72 caught up on his to-do list [soylentnews.org] or otherwise, we're doing good there.

      Now, there was a recent newbie who hadn't/hasn't participated elsewhere on the site who made a journal entry about improving personal relationships, but that wasn't pushing a site or anything like that, so it looked like a sincere effort by someone with something he thought was worthwhile to say. YMMV.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @11:29PM (#456774)

      There were several obvious spam items in the queue in recent days (after a long spell without any).
      Those disappeared quickly, so we're doing better there as well.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:11PM (#456576)

    Here's what I see when clicking on a Trump article...
    "Error 503 Service Unavailable

    Service Unavailable

    Guru Meditation:

    XID: 1158580238

    Varnish cache server"