A note on bumping fanposts...
by outsidethesidelines on Jan 15, 2010 7:36 PM CST
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PrintOne topic that has repeatedly come up around here on RBR is the practice of us creating new fanshot / fanpost when a reader has already written a fanshot / fanpost of their own on a particular topic. It has been an issue around here for a while, so I imagine it is time that we at least formulate some sort of loose policy about the practice.
Now, with that in mind, it goes without saying that we appreciate all of the reader content here at RBR, and we love when our readership actively participates here on the blog. Moreover, from a reader's perspective, I can certainly see how you would want to get at least some recognition for being the first to post news about a particular subject. And besides, if nothing else, it makes life easier on us. It's certainly a practice that we would like to encourage.
On the other hand, though, I hope that you all understand that we have quality standards that we must meet. The writers here have devoted a massive amount of their free time the past several years to getting RBR to where it is today, and it's not a lofty status that we are going to let fall by the wayside as a result of sloppy work. Whatever goes up on the front page of RBR has our names on it -- regardless of whether or not it is our work product -- and thus it must be able to meet a pretty high standard.
Furthermore, there is a practical interest in play. While reader participation is at an all-time high, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of our readership does not comment, and probably a clear majority of it is not even a registered member of the site. RBR has grown exponentially since I came on board two and a half years ago and we have reached a point to where we get thousands and thousands of readers each day. We hope to continue that growth even further as we move forward, and once again we must keep high editorial standards in order to do that. Simply put, we cannot allow sloppy work on the front page just to give credit to a member here.
All in all, we've got several competing interests in play here, and we need to try to balance those interests as well as possible. We need to find a way to give readers credit for posting content all the while keeping quality standards high. So, with all that in mind, here is what I propose: Let us establish two generic forms for how to post things that you want to be bumped up to the main page.
For news stories, browse the article that you want to post and find the one quote that gets to the point of what you want to post. Don't post the whole thing or make it excessively long, just find the money quote and post it as a quote in the fanshot. After that, in the quote source field, add the author / publication and the title of the article, and add the link there. Also, add whatever comments you have. In any event, just make sure you don't use the link fanshot... that thing shows up ugly as hell.
For photos, post the link to the image in a fanshot, and then in the description field make sure you give proper credit to the source (if you cannot find one, don't overly worry yourself over it). Simple as that.
If you do that and I run across your fanshot, I will personally bump it out to the frontpage instead of creating a new fanshot. However, keep in mind that I will reserve the right to add my own comment to it, because that is something we routinely do here to get quick blurbs up on the blog. Don't worry, though, I'll make sure that my comments to it are clearly distinguished from what you write, so don't worry about us changing your writings around.
Let me know what you think of this policy and if you have any more questions or suggestions. Hopefully this will settle the matter.
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Great idea OTS...
keeping everything uniformed should help….my thing is..people shouldn’t get pissy if they aren’t acknowledged as the one who originally posted said link…my feelings are, you guys run the site and like you said…
Whatever goes up on the front page of RBR has our names on it — regardless of whether or not it is our work product — and thus it must be able to meet a pretty high standard.
Coach Saban would completely agree with this, aight ;)
Lane Kiffin took the meaning of "Volunteer" WAY too seriously....
I agree...
…I understand that y’all would like credit for being first to link or quote an article, but there are plenty of times that we are seeing it at the same time and have our own comments to add, especially if it’s a fanshot with nothing but a link.
Roll Bama Roll - The Champagne of Bama Blogs.
Totally agree with this
I don’t see any difference between this and what is already going on. I’ve never had a problem with this… I’ve had FanPosts bumped to the front page and FanPosts not bumped to the front page, and there has never been anything to be upset about… if you guys post it a few minutes later instead of mine it is formatted more properly and looks more fit to be on the front page. Just because someone subscribes to Gentry’s twitter and rushes over here and writes “james Willis to Texas tech to work with tuberville, confirmed OFFICIAL!” 20 seconds after he does doesn’t mean it should be put on the front page of RBR.
Well...
I don’t see any difference between this and what is already going on.
Well, the biggest issue in the past was that people would post news stories in the form of link fanshots, which again look terrible. I didn’t want to put those on the front page.
Now, the problem with that was / is that the writers here at RBR cannot go into your post and change the format of your fanshot. For example, if you post a link fanshot, we cannot go in and convert it to a quote fanshot. We either have to edit within the context of the link fanshot, or delete it entirely. As a result, it gives us no play between the strings if we really want to change things over.
Under this new policy, though, I think it will work out better. It will show up on the blog in the proper format, and it will allow myself and the rest of the writers here the ability to go in and add additional comments if we want.
"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman
by outsidethesidelines on Jan 15, 2010 8:44 PM CST up reply actions
I guilty of the link fanshot, but I could care less if it gets bumped. ;)
With that said, I’ll use the described format in the future when I run across something interesting.
I'm just glad the BON folks....
went back to their own blogosphere.
"When you give a Gatorade bath, you're not suppose to hit the coach in the head with the bucket !" - Saban
pathetic losers
and now i am hearing the same crap from Green Bay fans about the Cardinals game last week. grow up losers. win on the field, dont try to win it in the replay booth or the world of “what ifs”. they should be ashamed of themselves for the way they are representing their teams. pathetic.
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
by tempebamafan on Jan 15, 2010 11:20 PM CST up reply actions
I asked the question last time that brought this back up
and I appreciate the response. I think the comment about the fanshot vs fanpost is helpful.
I think the biggest issue is that, being a member here for nearly 4 years – going back to the pre-SBN days, Todd and Nico were the only writers and I think fanposts (or whatever they were called back then) were valuable in contributing. Of course, the readership was so much smaller that our posts seemed to be more insightful and better written – well, I can speak for myself. It made it easier for the editors to put it on the front page. Frankly, I have gotten lazy myself and my threads since joining SBN have received much less effort than previous ones. Again, I don’t think it has much if anything to do with recognition – we all want to get the news up as quickly as possible – rather than a misunderstanding and perception that the member’s efforts weren’t important; I feel much better for all of us that this situation has been resolved.
But this explanation makes perfect sense. Glad you explained it to all of us and how it relates to your editing habits now. So if we choose to contribute, we know the guidelines on how to do so effectively, and we can choose to use these.
RBR went from a small community of diehard regulars to a HUGE community of diehard members, and there was some adjustment. I love the growth, and we just want to make sure the communication between the editors/MODS and the members (especially the regulars that post daily) remains as open as possible to help continue this growth.
You play fast, you play strong, you go out there and dominate the guy you play against, and make his ass quit! That's our trademark, that's our MO as a team, aight, that's what people know us as! - Nick Saban, 2008
ready to host our annual news and politics fiasco?
i’d say sometime after NSD and before A-DAY….
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
by tempebamafan on Jan 15, 2010 11:23 PM CST up reply actions
Yes. Time to give Todd some heartburn
Let’s make sure to grandstand each other:
BR07 – “Paul is a dirty liberal hippy druggy”
Tempe – “J is a bigotted old republican drunk bastard”
LOLz to follow
You play fast, you play strong, you go out there and dominate the guy you play against, and make his ass quit! That's our trademark, that's our MO as a team, aight, that's what people know us as! - Nick Saban, 2008
by BamaReturns07 on Jan 16, 2010 11:52 AM CST up reply actions
Trust me...
…I steer way clear of y’all’s political threads.
Roll Bama Roll - The Champagne of Bama Blogs.
as good as SBN is..
i kinda miss the old days..
Lane Kiffin took the meaning of "Volunteer" WAY too seriously....
Nah.
Much better now. More content, and more authors, and frankly, a lot of the “non-authors” are stinkin’ knowledgeable about CFB.
"Let's go be champions, boys!" - Greg McElroy
(Formerly SugarBowl93)
by RememberTheRoseBowl on Jan 16, 2010 11:02 AM CST up reply actions
Who are you?
you have only been a member for about a week now lol
You play fast, you play strong, you go out there and dominate the guy you play against, and make his ass quit! That's our trademark, that's our MO as a team, aight, that's what people know us as! - Nick Saban, 2008
by BamaReturns07 on Jan 16, 2010 11:51 AM CST up reply actions
SugarBowl93
changed my name after the MNC.
"Let's go be champions, boys!" - Greg McElroy
(Formerly SugarBowl93)
by RememberTheRoseBowl on Jan 16, 2010 3:37 PM CST up reply actions
You left out the vowels...
…that’s SABAN….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 16, 2010 11:35 PM CST up reply actions
Score one to NLS
We did have that one rough year under Shula though actually. This blog didn’t start really attracting traffic until the Mississippi State loss of ’06 (I shudder just typing that.)
RollBamaRoll.com - Also check out my music blog: Hear the World
You shouldn't...
…‘cause that’s the game that brought us CNS….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 17, 2010 3:30 PM CST up reply actions
i remeber being here for the live blog of the ULM game in 07 (couldn't even buy it on PPV)
that was a dark day for me here at RBR.
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
by tempebamafan on Jan 17, 2010 5:05 PM CST up reply actions
I had...
…the ‘pleasure’ of attending that game…it was a dark day in BDS, too….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 17, 2010 6:59 PM CST up reply actions
I skipped that game...
…to go to a party in Birmingham. I remember being on the phone with TJ from Tower of Bammer for about an hour after it was over just trying to figure out what just happened.
RollBamaRoll.com - Also check out my music blog: Hear the World
If you were on the phone...
…with him after that game, I bet it did take about an hour to figure it out, since it quickly went from a one-bladder to a nineteen-bladder game….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Jan 18, 2010 9:23 AM CST up reply actions
Mississippi State loss of ’06
Had the “pleasure” of attending that one. Not a fun drive home.
"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." -H. L. Mencken
That was the first time....
…I ever saw Alabama lose in person. Devastating.
RollBamaRoll.com - Also check out my music blog: Hear the World
alls i know is
5026 better get credit for that bombshell news he just broke about our Gymnastics win over Georgia…..
lol… y’all do a good job as editors and i certainly understand why you wound’t want to bump something that just doesn’t look right, even if the user/member helped out by bringing the item up first. i say if it looks like crap, RBR editors make it look good and just sat “H/T to so and so”….
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
5026 better get credit for that bombshell news he just broke about our Gymnastics win over Georgia…..
I was in Tuscaloosa this afternoon and saw a billboard advertising the meet that said:
SEC CHAMPIONS VS. NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
I just have a problem when you can win the national title without winning your conference.
I feel righteously indignant about said policy
And next time I see Todd in his Blazer jersey at On Tap, I will physycally assault him. (fuck red eye flights btw)
"Yeah, it's Tennessee, that's the way it is sometimes." - Corey Zickefoose, Pulitzer Prize winner and robbery victim
by Thomas Walker Esq on Jan 16, 2010 4:20 AM CST via mobile reply actions
um, me, uh, neither
You play fast, you play strong, you go out there and dominate the guy you play against, and make his ass quit! That's our trademark, that's our MO as a team, aight, that's what people know us as! - Nick Saban, 2008
by BamaReturns07 on Jan 16, 2010 11:53 AM CST up reply actions
You just slammed....
every fan in the Superdome…….who dat.
"When you give a Gatorade bath, you're not suppose to hit the coach in the head with the bucket !" - Saban
fair policy, thanks for clearing that up
have you really been here 2.5 years OTS?! Holy shit, time flies.
I think that's a great idea.
I’ve certainly been guilty of rushing to get the word out and sacrificing significant editorial content to do so. Although one reason I come to RBR is to get the latest info, my desire to read quality info supersedes that.
If I may make a suggestion, would it be possible to perma-link these guidelines at the top of the fanshots area? If not, maybe put it in the “recommended fanposts” section and title it “Guidelines for Fanposts and Fanshots” or something similar.
As always, great job good sirs.
Buy me some Bama gloves like Ingram wore
and I will recognize you in my sig. Fair deal I say!
You play fast, you play strong, you go out there and dominate the guy you play against, and make his ass quit! That's our trademark, that's our MO as a team, aight, that's what people know us as! - Nick Saban, 2008
those were so freakin awesome!
much better than the gator ones…or the FSU…
Lane Kiffin took the meaning of "Volunteer" WAY too seriously....
i think the simple
h/t under the duplicated or revamped post is sufficient
"You have to create 6 seconds of hell each play..."
Coach Nick Saban
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