News Department Feedback 2k13

[Kardan]

This is getting old to be honest. If they want to see changes, why not apply for that particular position and improve it?
Laura and Drewar has lives and cannot be online 24/7 as I am sure their lives are more important then a fansite right?



Also regarding about mistakes, It is still readable and if there are mistakes it must be the smallest mistake.
I am not saying not to correct it either....but I won't be saying anything else in this thread.

The position of News Team Leader/Manager is not open, so your argument is void. We cannot apply and make the changes needed.

[FlyingJesus]

I was wondering why are not applying for the News Department if you want all these to be done...

Because the best solution that solves the problems at hand can be done without having lots of people in the news department and only really requires a manager to make the 5 minute changes:

The solution for news if it has to be kept on the site at all is pretty simple and I've been explaining it for god knows how long without it ever being put into practice (despite being told by more than one news manager that it would happen) and to my knowledge doesn't require waiting for v7 or having a huge team or even needing people who can write really.
Current problem: the community always gets to the news first and posts threads about it
Solution: don't see it as a problem and reward the community for being attentive
Current problem: not enough writers
Solution: stop needing them
Current problem: no-one comments on the on-site news so it looks totally dead
Solution: take away on-site commenting and bring it back to the community properly

The news is already here. We do not need writers, we just need someone who can copy and paste a link onto the site with a title to it.

Give credit to the thread creator (there's an incentive for people to keep posting the news as quickly as it comes out), remove on-site commenting PLEASE (it makes everything look unread and even if there are comments on the stories ever it's pointless as it may as well come from the forum, adding to the community), and give whoever's on this "news team" a really easy job increasing the number of stories on the site without having to write more than an opening sentence. If people really want to write there's nothing stopping them from doing extra stories on things that aren't being reported on through the forum, and then we have even more from whatever contributors want to step forward. It's ridiculously simple and there's never been a reason given for it not to be done except that management can't be bothered to change things

[Drewar]

also @Drewar; have you wrote any articles in the last month in which you have been in the role that others could use as an example?

No I have not.

I know that this answer isn't what anyone is looking for, but: the department truly is in a state of transition right now, and there will be major changes coming over the next few days (I was told as early as this Friday).

It seems that one of the major issues is that there are articles being added to the site that haven't been properly proofread. I am going to be implementing a system so that authors will have to submit their work in the Staff forums to be proof read and approved by the senior staff before they go ahead and post it on the website. This should ensure that higher quality works are being put on the website, which is what I believe one of your main concerns is, Martin.

I do accept responsibility that I have not been doing as much with this role that I could have. Laura has graciously taken most of the heat from you guys about the department's progress over the last month, however I am equally as responsible for the lack of progress that has been made so far.

With that being said, I have read through all of your comments, and I am discussing them with Laura. We are working hard to implement changes ASAP (as I said, hopefully as early as this Friday), and hopefully the changes will help alleviate some of your concerns

Also, just a side note, if someone wants to contact me directly, it is usually best to reach me over PM.

Cheers!

[Samantha]

No I have not.

I know that this answer isn't what anyone is looking for, but: the department truly is in a state of transition right now, and there will be major changes coming over the next few days (I was told as early as this Friday).

It seems that one of the major issues is that there are articles being added to the site that haven't been properly proofread. I am going to be implementing a system so that authors will have to submit their work in the Staff forums to be proof read and approved by the senior staff before they go ahead and post it on the website. This should ensure that higher quality works are being put on the website, which is what I believe one of your main concerns is, Martin.

I do accept responsibility that I have not been doing as much with this role that I could have. Laura has graciously taken most of the heat from you guys about the department's progress over the last month, however I am equally as responsible for the lack of progress that has been made so far.

With that being said, I have read through all of your comments, and I am discussing them with Laura. We are working hard to implement changes ASAP (as I said, hopefully as early as this Friday), and hopefully the changes will help alleviate some of your concerns

Also, just a side note, if someone wants to contact me directly, it is usually best to reach me over PM.

Cheers!

So, making news even more delayed getting onto the site? When I was in News the ability of posting it to the site was so that if someone wasn't available with the authority straight away then it could be there earlier than it would be if it's posted elsewhere first. Also, to get news out there as quick as we could! Yes, some reports have errors in, but I don't agree that there should be submissions on the forum beforehand when it's simple to just edit it on the site. Not only that, but once it's edited, the reporter then may have to rewrite it all onto the editor due to how horrible it is [the editor].

I see it could be more simple to post them on the forum first, but if you really wanted to go about making sure they're perfect before publication then you can just get staff to post in the 'Unpublished' category until you've seen, edited and PMed them.

[Mr-Trainor]

So, making news even more delayed getting onto the site? When I was in News the ability of posting it to the site was so that if someone wasn't available with the authority straight away then it could be there earlier than it would be if it's posted elsewhere first. Also, to get news out there as quick as we could! Yes, some reports have errors in, but I don't agree that there should be submissions on the forum beforehand when it's simple to just edit it on the site. Not only that, but once it's edited, the reporter then may have to rewrite it all onto the editor due to how horrible it is [the editor].

I see it could be more simple to post them on the forum first, but if you really wanted to go about making sure they're perfect before publication then you can just get staff to post in the 'Unpublished' category until you've seen, edited and PMed them.

Yeah I thought that at first too . But if the aim of News will be more 'articles' than stuff like Habbo news, then it wouldn't be as essential to get it on the site asap. Having said that, if someone was online and read through it as soon as it was posted then it could be up within a few mins.

BUT, I don't think I really agree with it though - what's wrong with just making the staff themselves proofread them, whether it's before or after it's posted? Surely that's something which should happen anyway. And then a senior member of the department can still go through it when it's live on the site, which means news/articles won't be delayed when it comes to getting more stuff on to the site .

[Martin]

Yeah I thought that at first too . But if the aim of News will be more 'articles' than stuff like Habbo news, then it wouldn't be as essential to get it on the site asap. Having said that, if someone was online and read through it as soon as it was posted then it could be up within a few mins.

BUT, I don't think I really agree with it though - what's wrong with just making the staff themselves proofread them, whether it's before or after it's posted? Surely that's something which should happen anyway. And then a senior member of the department can still go through it when it's live on the site, which means news/articles won't be delayed when it comes to getting more stuff on to the site .

This is how it should be. Some recent articles clearly haven't even been proof read by the looks of them and that's worrying.


I'm sorry but if senior staff are having trouble looking over and correct mistakes now whilst they are live on the site, then preventing the posting of them until they are checked will just mean that we won't get any recent news until 2020/v7 is out.

One of the most important things about news is that its up to date and that things are posted asap so they are still relevant and worthwhile reading. I used to cry and hit my head against my desk if anything took longer than 24 hours to publish as it made me personally feel like a failure, because there really is no use in reporting news that is old and stale and that nobody gives a crap about. You need to be investigative, the content needs to be exciting and interesting and there needs to be other pushes to get people actually wanting to read them.



Delaying articles getting onto the site is definitely NOT what we want to do. We just need dedicated staff who are willing to actually read their staff's articles to ensure their department isn't lacking severely in quality and looking like something one of those tk fansites would come up with.

[FlyingJesus]

Or we could completely skip the need for both writers and proofreaders by using the resources we already have and have always had

[Drewar]

Once the proposed changes are implemented, perhaps you will see why the proof reading thing is not going to make much of a difference. Or perhaps everyone will continue to question my judgment and believe that they are better suited for the position. Either way, let's just see what the weekend brings, ok?

Cheers!

[Kardan]

Guys, I think we're all missing the real reason why the news department isn't working. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it yet.

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Version 7.

[The Don]

Or we could completely skip the need for both writers and proofreaders by using the resources we already have and have always had

Really don't understand why nobody who has the power to make change has commented on your suggestion which seems like a vast improvement to the current system.