News Department Feedback 2k13

[lucaskf390]

Can we not just call it quits with News and Rare Values and keep it all forum based? In my opinion what undertaker does by just c+p the news article with source is sufficient and only a small minority actually use the habbox values.

Too easy to say to quit, what about work to improve what's there?

[Mark]

Too easy to say to quit, what about work to improve what's there?

You need to ask yourself whether that work will improve anything. Certainly for the rare values department it's highly unlikely as people use the marketplace

[OldLoveSong]

well said martin !

[Grig]

I had a drawn out debate with Samanfa over promoting news and the fact that for festive events, there were events created that had 0 relation to news and didn't promote news at all.

I've stated this problems extensively myself in previous threads and the fact that it's simply become way too much of a snooze fest in terms of articles. Many of them are not unique, and there are some talented writers like Dan, so it's a shame standards can't be maintained throughout. This is particularly the case when the department is not big AND you have a Head, which I disagree is needed for such few staff.

Forum integration is long overdue, if you can't get significant improvements of news comments and engagement on the main site, then that is a plausible choice.

There are less unique articles, apart from ones Dan does on trading every now and again and many less features, which are more interesting. That is essentially what papers such as the New York Times does, because unless you are first to break a story or get some unreleased furniture, then you need to focus on a longer feature. Take a big news story and focus it down, go to the backstory, get some analysis etc.

Obviously coherency and SPAG is another issue and I do not understand how a manager with a senior at hand cannot fix these efficiency, seeing as I know for a fact that these do not take a prolonged amount of time to do so. It either shows laziness or people simply being awol and not being on top quickly and efficiently.

It in my view is probably the weakest link at Habbox at the moment and hopefully things are done to rectify the situation, because at the end of the day this is plastered right on the homepage of www.habbox.com and with boring articles and errors, that does not reflect well on the professionalism of Habbox as a whole.

[Mr-Trainor]

Can we not just call it quits with News and Rare Values and keep it all forum based? In my opinion what undertaker does by just c+p the news article with source is sufficient and only a small minority actually use the habbox values.

You need to ask yourself whether that work will improve anything. Certainly for the rare values department it's highly unlikely as people use the marketplace

We had a survey recently and actually the results say the opposite. People do still use Habbox for Rare Values, and it holds a lot more information than Habbo's marketplace does. You might not use it, but a lot of people still do - even if it's not as many as it would have been prior to the merge.

Having said that, I have suggested plans to downsize the department and the Rare Values section on Habbox, should that need to happen, as opposed to just closing which would be a very bad decision in my opinion.

As for News, I think it needs a manager ASAP. I know it was mentioned that 2 AGMs are looking over the department, but that's not enough. You need someone who will be there and be able to focus solely on news. Obviously I'm sure you're planning to do that anyway, but I'm just saying it should be done as soon as possible .

[lawrawrrr]

I have some really strong opinions about News but I've spouted them so many times and noone listens to me

Unfortunately, I think that you can make the articles perfect, up to date and fantastic, and still people won't read them. It's just too easy to find news on this forum, let alone Habbo itself. The only things that make the department truly outstanding are the interviews with staff, which 90% of News Reporters don't and/or won't have the dedication and drive to get to, and the weekly or bigger ones, like when I did Day In The Life of, maze reviews, Undertaker's Rare Values thing etc.

But honestly, I feel like that department could really easily be merged into another role - or it at least needs to be taken in a different direction as at the moment, it kind of feels like a useless ship that's being sailed. Being (Assistant) News Manager last year really solidified that view for me and I just got so frustrated there was almost nothing I was able to do that would improve the department.

By all means, improve the quality of writing, but when you're struggling for staff (what, 2 staff and a few trialists at the moment?), and have been for a good few years, I don't think there's much you can actually achieve, without drastically changing it. I'd love to see when V7 comes out, and how things will change then, as it might really bring around a new opportunity for News. Sounds like the horrible "oh wait till then" excuse again, but I genuinely think that it would make a difference.

[Inseriousity.]

Merge it with content again lolol. The reason that failed was two managers unable to see eye to eye (oh and Matt undermining it and allowing a protest to form by putting it on a 'trial' which is almost like sticking a KICK ME sign on its back).

I think Laura's right, they could be award-winning masterpieces and it's unlikely to get noticed. I think the competitions/events thing can help and I was constantly pushing for that back when I was competitions manager! Ideally, it'd be linked to the department but I think the exposure and getting the name out there can be just as useful and is certainly better than nothing so I disagree with Grig on that point. I also tried to push for a more investigative approach but again like Laura says it's hard to find people with that drive to do that.

[Grig]

Merge it with content again lolol. The reason that failed was two managers unable to see eye to eye (oh and Matt undermining it and allowing a protest to form by putting it on a 'trial' which is almost like sticking a KICK ME sign on its back).

I think Laura's right, they could be award-winning masterpieces and it's unlikely to get noticed. I think the competitions/events thing can help and I was constantly pushing for that back when I was competitions manager! Ideally, it'd be linked to the department but I think the exposure and getting the name out there can be just as useful and is certainly better than nothing so I disagree with Grig on that point. I also tried to push for a more investigative approach but again like Laura says it's hard to find people with that drive to do that.

I never disagreed on exposure, so you can't disagree with me! The features stuff I added as one of the small ways forward (not the full focus) after an initial shake up.

[Inseriousity.]

Was refering to this:

"for festive events, there were events created that had 0 relation to news and didn't promote news at all."

Now perhaps advertising news in said events coulda been better I haven't been to them all but yes I don't think it necessarily has to link to the department to be good exposure if its done properly.

[lawrawrrr]

Merge it with content again lolol. The reason that failed was two managers unable to see eye to eye (oh and Matt undermining it and allowing a protest to form by putting it on a 'trial' which is almost like sticking a KICK ME sign on its back).

You couldn't merge News and Content if News stays like it is really, too different. I feel really power-hungry saying this, but with hefty experience managing and being staff for a considerable amount of time in both departments I really feel like I have a good way to get the two together and I'd like the chance to at least feel like I can put across an idea without getting it shot down straight away as is my general expectation when it comes to trying new things. I've been breaching it to a few people and have actually had some positive responses, so I might start formulating a proper plan for it later and see how that goes down.

I think Laura's right

I think that's the first time you've ever said that

, they could be award-winning masterpieces and it's unlikely to get noticed. I think the competitions/events thing can help and I was constantly pushing for that back when I was competitions manager! Ideally, it'd be linked to the department but I think the exposure and getting the name out there can be just as useful and is certainly better than nothing so I disagree with Grig on that point. I also tried to push for a more investigative approach but again like Laura says it's hard to find people with that drive to do that.

There are only 4 or 5 people I can think of, since I've been in News (so erm January 2010) who actually fit into that brief, and even less so who would be willing to do it on a regular basis. Thing is, people don't want to read Habbox news articles, so why would people want to write them? It's the same problem amongst other departments too - people see few attendees at Habbox Events, so they don't want to join the department, see only a few listeners and don't want to DJ at HxL etc etc. It would be fantastic if we could get a proper, good, journalistic team together, but it takes a) a lot of drive to be at that standard and b) time to get used to it. Which aren't really two qualities I've found the majority of Habbo players have!

- - - Updated - - -

Now perhaps advertising news in said events coulda been better I haven't been to them all but yes I don't think it necessarily has to link to the department to be good exposure if its done properly.

The problem I always found with this is what are you supposed to do?

OMG READ THIS ARTICLE ABOUT THIS CHANGE THAT YOU ACTUALLY ALREADY KNEW ABOUT

and THAT is why we need more different pieces, or to change the system. People don't want to be told things they already know!