[Imc-web] Re: Feature, and a Question

[Brian Dolinar]

I edited my report on Sheriff Walsh this morning
and it was taken down off the page.
Did I do something wrong?
Someone need to click a button to make it happen?

Thanks. BD

On 2/7/07, Mike Lehman <rebelmike at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Brian,
> OK, but this raises the question of who granted you editing privileges:
>
> 1. Without notification and/or discussion among the other editor's from
> IMC-Web. This is not a big deal, but it all too easily leads to
> misunderstandings. Web editing has the longest history of any media
> activity at UC IMC and is fraught with a number of understood but not
> always written policies. New editors are typically briefed and always,
> just like trhe rest of us, subject to proper notices when certain
> decisions are made.
>
> 2. The problems that can be caused when someone is made an editor, yet
> has apparently not been briefed on policy.
>
> I would suggest that you do not engage in further editing until we've
> had a chance to have these issues discussed and settled. You are not
> even a member of the IMC-Web list, so you're effectively out of
> communication with the rest of us. Editing can all too easily create
> issues that other posters will raise if it seemingly results in a vanity
> press. I think you took entirely the wrong cue from my discussion about
> the regalia article and that is definitely leading to further
> misunderstandings.
>
> Since you apparently didn't receive the email with my concerns about
> Featuring announcements from Monday, I'll copy it below. This is just a
> start on a variety of things you'll need to learn and apply as policy if
> you're going to be join in editing
> Mike Lehman
>
> Subject: [Imc-web] Policy on Featuring Announcements
> Date: 2/5/2007 1:30 PM
> I want to raise a couple of concerns about featuring announcements.
> First, I've seen no messages regarding Brian Dolinar's two stories being
> made into features, as they should be sent to this list per policy.
>
> The main issue is that both stories are basically announcements and
> really offer little new info about either long-running story. It has
> been our policy for some time that announcements should not be featured,
> with exceptions being available for IMC events. If an announcement
> provides substantive new info related to an ongoing story, then an
> exception can be made, but I don't really see that in either of these
> cases -- and if it exists, it should be noted in the feature email sent
> to imc-web when that is done.
>
> Another factor is that we now have the "Upcoming Events" news wire that
> provides even more exposure than simply offering Local Newswire space
> for announcements.
>
> Brian sent me a message about featuring both of these a few days ago. I
> have noted current policy on this to him before and advised him that I
> didn't think either really qualified for an exception. I also advised
> him that he should send such requests to the imc-web list, so that more
> people could be involved in making such decisions, rather than making
> personal requests of individual editors without input from others. I
> haven't seen such a message.
>
> I also advised Brian that he could move his stories up to the Upcoming
> Events newswire, just so long as he added a date to the headline. I went
> to the trouble of explaining what he needed to do, since when he's
> signed in as a regular user, this means he won't be so dependent on
> waiting for us to fix issues with his many stories.
>
> If people think we should review the existing policy, then we should
> meet and do that. At a minimum, such requests should be made to the
> imc-web list and any decisions made to feature them should be documented
> with a message from the editor doing so back to the imc-web list, giving
> the reasons why an exception should be made.
>
> Please note that this in no way constitutes a judgment about the
> importance of either event or action. It's just that this issue has a
> long history that may not be apparent to all of those with current
> editor privileges. It has always been somewhat of a problem with people
> being motivated to use our site for announcements, but being far less
> motivated to file an actual news story afterwards telling our readers
> what actually happened. I know we take a very wide view of what
> constitutes news on Indymedia, but there is a clear difference between
> that and an announcement that I think is worth respecting. If nothing
> else, then we're going to start receiving complaints from those whose
> announcements did not get featured, as well as filling up the feature
> section with stuff that isn't really news.
>
> A final factor to consider is syndication. Right now, I don't think it's
> working, so it's not an issue, but we really do desperately need to get
> it working. Then, anything that is an announcement here will be even
> less suitable for syndication. If you review what is featured elsewhere
> in Indymedia, you'll see that other IMCs follow a policy on featuring
> announcements that is very similar to our existing policy. In any case,
> there is little additional value in syndicating announcements -- and it
> would tend to make US Indymedia a far more boring read and less
> compelling to return to, for instance, if it was full of mostly locally
> oriented announcements like those I've been discussing here.
>
> I realize this is a complicated issue with a number of nuances that are
> hard to address via email. I think it might be good to have a meeting,
> if there is a perceived need to change the existing policy. But in the
> meantime, I think existing policy has served us well and I request that
> we try to follow it as best possible in the meantime.
> Mike Lehman
>
> Brian Dolinar wrote:
> > Hello Wendy.
> >
> > I've taken cue from Mike on his Chief regalia article
> > that the most newsworthy stuff be at top of features.
> > I would like to see the Patrick Thompson trial announcement
> > as the first thing you see when you pull the page up.
> > After today's events, others can go to the top.
> >
> > I don't know who made my Taser update a feature.
> >
> > Thats all for now.
> >
> > See you in the courtroom.
> >
> > BD
> >
> > On 2/7/07, Mike Lehman <rebelmike at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >> I made this a Feature:
> >> http://www.ucimc.org/node/910
> >>
> >> It's an article, and a bit of an opinion piece, on an ongoing story that
> >> has drawn strong readership and comment. In the absence of other
> >> reporting on the Feb. 1 Forum, it's what we got and should be featured.
> >>
> >> OK, now the question. I see that Brian has another story featured:
> >> http://www.ucimc.org/node/911
> >> which is cool, considering this one is really news and not just an
> >> annoucement. However, as I mentioned in my note the other day about
> >> announcement policy, I think everyone would appreciate it if any editor
> >> making a Feature would please follow established policy and send a note
> >> to this list.
> >>
> >> Brian, I'm curious if you know anything about this? I want to avoid the
> >> obvious way to enforce policy, demote any Features that aren't properly
> >> noticed, and avoid getting you caught in the middle. The way it was done
> >> is also a bit of a disservice to a commenter who reacted to this posting
> >> since it was already posted as a comment in your Feature/Announcement of
> >> the hearing.
> >> Mike Lehman
> >>
> >
> >
>
>


-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com