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About Our NewsWire

Sean-Paul Kelley | San Antonio | February 10, 2007

The Agonist - A little over a year ago we opened the NewsWire in which all members can post without editorial approval. It's been a success in one aspect and a disappointment in another. Let me explain.

It's succeeded better than I thought it would because all the news which gets posted there is always thoughtful, timely (and humorous) and from solid sources.

But it's been a disappointment because so few people have contributed. (If you contribute, however, thank you! This post is not directed at you in any way.) I see several hundred different users online every day. So, instead of asking for donations here at The Agonist I'd like to ask for your time. In the future, if you are a reader who rarely posts, try posting one interesting news article a day, of course doing your best not to duplicate posts and keeping the flavor of the stories global.

If we all do this on a regular basis the news here in The Agonist NewsWire will be comprehensive in a way that no one can compete, all readers will benefit from the breadth of our coverage and ad revenues will go up so we don't have to ask for donations.

So how about it, want to give this a try?

However, please, please, please: no Capitol Hill Blue, Debka and other sources, especially those with a conspiratorial slant.

Nota bene: I want to add, after reading this comment that the reason we don't just use the aggregator included in the Drupal software package is that we don't want to. We want the news to be reflective of the community and the values our community is formed around: thoughtful, global and timely. The NewsWire isn't simply pulled from some computer generated RSS feed, but the conscious effort of a human, and a thoughtful one at that. Computer generated RSS feeds are exactly what we are trying to avoid. Ya dig?


Sean Paul Kelley February 10, 2007 - 2:40pm
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( categories: Miscellany | News | Agonist | News Guidance )

platforms

is that because you're running Drupal and capitol hill blue is on wordpress? just kidding... drupal 5 is a lot better than 4.7 though... stuff like the aggregator doesnt cause the performance hit it once did. maybe consider it after an upgrade?
--
Hongpong.com

HongPong February 10, 2007 - 2:56pm
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We hope to upgrade the site in the next few weeks with

Drupal 5.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination."

Sean Paul Kelley February 10, 2007 - 3:02pm
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that's a fair request

one of these days i'm going to review some of the numbers about blogs more closely and write on some of the habits that are being formed. it's very easy, especially now, to be quite passive and just let everyone else do the work. community! that's what it's all about. erm, or should be. as i'm fond of saying, "no one is going to fix the media problem for you."

be the media.

chicago dyke February 10, 2007 - 3:00pm
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Didn't even know it existed...

despite the obvious "Newswire" button at the upper right. I've usually just gone to agonist.org and read the frontpage like it was a regular group blog. Methinks I should look around here a bit more...

I've been meaning to contribute more. I'll be starting up my diary soon too, though it will be pretty sporadic--too many interests, too little time, so writing about the things that interest me is currently secondary to pursuing those things :).

Bolo February 10, 2007 - 4:48pm
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Steve, Thanks for the

Steve,

Thanks for the reminder, this site is as good as its contributors, and as good as Stirling or Ian are, the more smart people throwing in the better. A small price to pay for such a good sift of what matters.

Chris in London February 11, 2007 - 5:10am
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helpful

it would be helpful to streamline the submitting process.

Kryptman40k February 11, 2007 - 4:58pm
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Firefox

In the early version of firefox there was a toolbar add-on that made posting the URL easy, but was not functional when it upgraded. I lost the name of the add-on and without it posting is more difficult for me. I will try posting more often as time permits.

Phil February 11, 2007 - 5:51pm
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Phil, HERE IS THE ADD-ON

you are looking for: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/491/

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination."

Sean Paul Kelley February 12, 2007 - 1:17pm
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Thanks!

what a time saver!

Tina February 13, 2007 - 8:58am
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well

it should just be the URL and then a box for the text.

putting all that extra crap in there is just annoying.
if you're worried about it being fake or whatever you can check the URL.

Kryptman40k February 11, 2007 - 8:58pm
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I disagree,

the submits should always show its source. I personally like to know how timely an article is too.

Tina February 11, 2007 - 9:09pm
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Yes, the format is a bit onerous but

it is that way with good reason. People can immediately see what date the article is, who wrote it, i.e. Judy Miller, John Solomon, David Sanger, that's important, and which media outlet it comes from. All these items were inserted into the Agonist form organically as an outgrowth of the news-submitting process. And although they are onerous, they do serve very useful purposes when people are scanning the news and have to choose to dog deeper or not. It allows readers to be more discerning consumers, not passive ones like the teevee people want us to be.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination."

Sean Paul Kelley February 12, 2007 - 1:20pm
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Changes made to simplify the forms for posting

For the time being, we have made the following changes, to simplify the forms for posting:

* side content submission box no longer appears on the posting form

* trackbacks submission box no longer appears on the posting form

quiet Bill February 11, 2007 - 10:00pm
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