[Boston-editorial] Articles vs. Links to articles- new policy?

Sun Mar 27 09:38:34 PST 2005

I agree that having a full article is preferable to just having a link 
with no information--the latter is really annoying. It's actually kind 
of disrespectful to us.

In the case of the example you give, it looks like she's not promoting 
a blog, but a website that is intended to be a resource for feminists. 
She's providing a number of potentially interesting links by different 
authors, not just one. It's not a personal site, at least not in the 
way a blog is. I'm not quite sure what we should encourage people to do 
in such situations. I have no problem with people promoting their 
websites as resources on the newswire, as long as they don't get 
obnoxious about it. If she just included one article with a link, 
people wouldn't necessarily know there are other articles by other 
authors they might be interested in--i.e., it wouldn't be clear that it 
was a general resource site, not just a personal site.

But that situation is less common that people providing just a link or 
part of an article and a link, which leads to their blog or something. 
In those cases, I think you're right that we should encourage people to 
provide the full article. Are you planning on e-mailing folks 
individually to do this?

Too much of the conversation on this list is Pete and me. I know the 
rest of you are out there and I assume you have opinions. Please speak 
up!

-- Matt

On Mar 26, 2005, at 2:26 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:

> I originally included a link so you could see the
> content I am talking about:  Here it is again.
>
> http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/34149/index.php
>
> Please- check it out this time so you know what I mean
> by this.
>
> I just think we could be focused on having full
> articles- not links to articles.  I think it would
> make the site a little more usable and less
> frustrating.
>
> When I click into a story I want to see a story, not a
> blurb and a bunch of links to pull me off the site.
>
> -Pete
>
>
>
> --- Matthew Williams <mw21 at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> Uh, I really don't have time to read most of that
>> stuff. If you think
>> there's people we should encourage to post more of
>> on our website, may
>> be you should post links to their work here and ask
>> some of the rest of
>> us to check them out so we can evaluate them.
>> Really, I think the best
>> long-term solution is to set up a section of our
>> site that consists of
>> blogs and encourage people to blog there, rather
>> than posting it in the
>> newswire or other press. But I haven't seen the
>> content you're talking
>> about, so I really can't say what I actually think
>> of it and where it
>> belongs. -- Matt
>>
>> On Mar 22, 2005, at 10:18 AM, Pete Stidman wrote:
>>
>>> That's an interesting idea.  We could do that but
>>> maybe we could make a distinction for certain
>> bloggers
>>> that are really good writers.  Folks we really
>> want on
>>> the site we could ask to publish full articles.
>> We
>>> could explain it as, "either post full articles or
>>> post to other press or we hide it.  We strongly
>>> suggest posting full since you will be on the
>> newswire
>>> longer than the other press (which has a shorter
>>> threshold)."
>>>
>>> THen for folks we like less we could present both
>>> options without the emphasis on the full article
>> maybe
>>> even pressure them to go to other press. I bet
>> theyd
>>> go there if given a choice anyway.
>>>
>>> -Pete
>>> --- Matthew Williams <mw21 at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>>> I often just move stuff like that to the Other
>>>> Press. People are in the
>>>> habit of posting entire articles in the Other
>> Press,
>>>> but it's main
>>>> function is to provide links to interesting
>> articles
>>>> eslewhere
>>>> (especially off the Indy Media system), whether
>> or
>>>> not they actually
>>>> post the content of the article. -- Matt
>>>>
>>>> On Mar 21, 2005, at 7:04 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> we get a fair number of articles that are more
>>>> links
>>>>> than articles.  In a way these are almost
>>>>> advertisements for other peoples news sites and
>>>> blogs.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Heres an example:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
> http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/34149/index.php
>>>>>
>>>>> The article is not even in this post, you have
>> to
>>>> go
>>>>> to the link to read the article.  If people go
>> to
>>>> the
>>>>> article it breaks the continuity of the use of
>> our
>>>>> site.  I'm not so worried about links in
>> general,
>>>> I
>>>>> love links.  But I think if someone opens up a
>>>>> newswire item they should see something of
>>>> substance.
>>>>> An article or an announcement of an upcoming
>> event
>>>> or
>>>>> at least a news blurb.
>>>>>
>>>>> We could have some sort of soft enforcement
>> policy
>>>> on
>>>>> this- by contacting the writers of these to say-
>>>> hey
>>>>> post an article and THEN link to your blog.  We
>>>> could
>>>>> give folks a number of chances to start doing
>> this
>>>> but
>>>>> then start hiding them if they don't.  It's not
>>>>> censorship but a little control over the form of
>>>> our
>>>>> site.  They may not get as many links- but the
>>>> links
>>>>> they do get would be on the merit of their
>>>> articles
>>>>> and not the creation of curiousity with these
>>>> annoying
>>>>> posts.
>>>>>
>>>>> What do other folks think?
>>>>>
>>>>> -Pete
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 		
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