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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.
(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