News - 2014 to the future FEEDBACK

[Mikey]

News - 2014 to the future

As you all will have seen recently, we have been looking at reforming the News department for a long time now. There have been so many things tried, quite a few of which has failed... but we're hoping to make a step in the right direction with this new plan!

What this thread will do is let you know, basically, what's going on. It's not set in stone, and we have left quite a lot open for future possibilities and developments! We've been through quite a lot of suggestions and "final" plans to get to this stage so it's nice to get it finished and published.

For now though, Welcome to the plan.

Articles

As you may know, the current department basically writes articles on Habbo's new ideas and events. As well as that, they do some bigger articles: from offering room reviews to interviews and the odd speciality Feature article.

After reviewing each type of article and the reception to them, we've put this together with a few of our own ideas and formed this plan!

We'll be moving away from the Habbo News & Rumours... mainly because it's posted on the forum before one of our reporters can get to it! That means we're left with the fantastic features & bigger articles.

The department will be re-named and rebranded. As we're removing the focus on the "News" element, we're going to name the department 'Articles'. I honestly don't know how this will go down, but News seems outdated and not very representative of what we'll be offering.

Examples of Articles that could be on offer as the department grows:


Rare Values Watch (Dan's already existing article series!)
Celebrity round-up / real-life roundup
Staff spotlight interviews (both Habbo and Habbox staff)
Tutorials on new features on the client, as well as looking into things like Wired guides
Research-based articles, such as looking into Habbo or Habbox History
Forum round-up, and forum news
Weekly Habbo round-up (this is the closest to the current department, but more condensing the week's news into one article)
Some Habbox announcements


as well as some we already do:
Room Reviews
Badge guides
...etc.

Now, like Dan's above, some of the sections will be assigned to a reporter; exclusive to them, or with them managing it. We're perfectly happy, and encourage you, if you have an idea of an article or series you'd like to take over, to give you at least a trial in the department. We do have an announcement here though: myself and Drewar are very happy to announce

lRhyss

has returned to the department, under the title of Head Article Writer, and his responsibility will be to manage the Habbo badge, event and game guides.

Staff

Staff in the department will look something like this:

Drewar (Articles Manager)

Because of his dedication and experience, Drewar will be promoted to Articles Manager!

lRhyss (Head Article Writer)

Rhyss will be mainly in charge of the Habbo guides, but will help with a few other bits, especially at first. There is a possibility of new Heads coming in in the near future.

Articles writers

The current staff in the department will be automatically transferred, but we will be looking to get some new staff too! The staff in the department will be expected to post TWO in-depth articles a month, showing progress at least ONCE A WEEK in a personal updates thread.
Or, FOUR articles a month that are shorter (room reviews, short/repeat interviews and Badge Guides).

Proof-readers

Pretty much what it says on the tin. A small team of proof-readers will be given permissions on the site to edit all the articles. These people will be expected to have a VERY good grasp of spelling, grammar and a good eye for design. They will also be managing the layout of articles, and helping to form style guides and things for the Handbooks we'll be re-doing (seriously, they're pretty much the same ones I wrote when I was asst manager WAY back).

We are hiring proof-readers and Articles writers: if you're interested in these roles, please apply using the following form!

Habbo and Habbox name(s):
Role applying for:
Past experience:
Have you got an idea or request for your own section or series? (don't worry if not!):
What would you add or change to this plan?:

We'll be taking on anyone with a half-decent application for a trial in the department, so get them in. Please send a PM to either myself, HabboxNews, or Drewar, because we will be assessing them together for now! Once the initial stage is over, Drewar will take COMPLETE control (exciting stuff)!

Guest Writers

Some members are very interested in certain things - some can do fantastic Wired guides, some building guides... but usually they can be so busy! Occasionally, we will be spotlighting some Guest Writers. These will be the very best of Habbox, producing all kinds of guides. If you think you could contribute to this, a one-off article, then let us know and we'd be happy to publish that. Just a reminder that normal writers only have to write 2 big articles a month though, so not too much at all!

Questions? Queries? Suggestions?

Just PM me or Drew. Please. We'll get back to you.

I agree with the decision about leaving Habbo News and Rumours, it's not really needed. Love the other ideas though and Proof-Readers.. oooh!

[MKR&*42]

About time christ, yes wonderful idea I can't wait to see how it works out

[kitten]

i think the proof readers is definitely a good idea. hopefully these changes will improve the department, seems like a good plan to get it back on it's feet!

[Lewis]

@lawrawrrr; does this mean for 'guest staff' anyone can just send you any old article at any time, and if it's good, it can get posted?

And maybe I'm imagining things, but isn't news a compulsory thing fansites have to have in order to be an official fansite? Just like events on habbo?

[FlyingJesus]

News - 2014 to the past

I think it's a nice idea and would love to see it work but it doesn't actually solve any of the issues that news has had in the last 2 years, or anything that's been brought up in the news feedback thread. Articles failed before because no-one cared about reading them and no-one wanted to write for a ghost audience, and I can't really see that changing by saying "we'll continue as we were but with a different name"

Guest articles is a good idea though, should have been a feature for a long time

[lawrawrrr]

@lawrawrrr; does this mean for 'guest staff' anyone can just send you any old article at any time, and if it's good, it can get posted?

And maybe I'm imagining things, but isn't news a compulsory thing fansites have to have in order to be an official fansite? Just like events on habbo?

Basically, yes!

And it's not compulsory to my knowledge to do anything - we've missed events, as have other fansites, and kept the status. Most fansites don't have News the traditional way anyway.

Glad you think the plan is OK though guys, it's a relief to finally get it out after so long.

[Lewis]

Basically, yes!

And it's not compulsory to my knowledge to do anything - we've missed events, as have other fansites, and kept the status. Most fansites don't have News the traditional way anyway.

Glad you think the plan is OK though guys, it's a relief to finally get it out after so long.

I meant normal events, like the events department .

[lawrawrrr]

I meant normal events, like the events department .

Oh I see. Fairly sure that isn't compulsory either I could be wrong though

[MKR&*42]

Norm events surely cant be compulsory as i rarely ever see habboquests or habbocreation doing them

[Lewis]

Oh I see. Fairly sure that isn't compulsory either I could be wrong though

Norm events surely cant be compulsory as i rarely ever see habboquests or habbocreation doing them

Could be wrong then! I'm sure it was in the fansite way or whatever, that fansites must provide fun events for the community and up-to-date news. I'm probably imagining things then

Anyway, I do like the idea of this article department instead of news department. Hopefully it'll turn out good.