Seeking to help, still need a CE? (+Questions)

[Jmtyra]

Hey :)

Was chatting with Matt over in another thread (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=666482), and was curious about the CE bit.

I've read these (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=619972) two (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621838#generate) threads, and it pretty much covers the basics. However, the area I was interested in become a CE in was the News area...but that's where I'm a bit confused.

Are there really newsworthy items that require a lengthy article to be written? Let's say there is a new version of Windows coming out (OK, sooner than Win 8). Will newsworthy, wouldn't we just need a small snippet instead of a full-blown article?

Any additional info you have would be awesome.

Thanks guys and gals!
-JT

[MattNo5ss]

Hey again :p The news articles are usually small, like 2-3 paragraphs. Check out some of dostov's articles (http://www.overclockers.com/author/dostov/) for some examples; he was the News CE, but hasn't been logged in since last June (~7 months). So, you're right, not many news articles will be full-blown articles. You'll basically be like a reporter for a news channel, finding interesting stories and writing small pieces on them.

[hokiealumnus]

We'd love to have a news person. Dostov previously had spare time when he was living abroad but since he came back to North America, it seems his time left him. As Matt said, news pieces can be short; no problem there.

They often cite other sites, so we have to be very mindful of proper sourcing. We also don't want to just copy from other sites; it should be our own article, citing proper sources but giving an Overclockers take on it. Dostov's articles were great, so definitely check through them for what we'd be looking for.

If you're up for the challenge, it would be great to have another news person. Because I've noticed you're the go-getter type, I'll be very up front with you. It's easy for a news person to get burnt out. So don't run like a madman out of the gates. Just do what you can, when you can and be careful not to overdo it. This isn't to scare you off, just to set realistic expectations of yourself. I know your type; heck, I am your type. Pace yourself and you'll be just fine. :thup: :salute:

[Jmtyra]

Hey again :p The news articles are usually small, like 2-3 paragraphs. Check out some of dostov's articles (http://www.overclockers.com/author/dostov/) for some examples;
Well HAI! Been so long since we've spoke. How's the family? :p
I'll definitely check out dostov's articles to get a feel for the News CE bit.

They often cite other sites, so we have to be very mindful of proper sourcing. We also don't want to just copy from other sites; it should be our own article, citing proper sources but giving an Overclockers take on it. Dostov's articles were great, so definitely check through them for what we'd be looking for.
No problem there, I'm a big advocate of proper sourcing and giving credit where it's due. It also helps to solidify the authoritative nature of an article. Dostov's articles are the next item on my list. :D


Because I've noticed you're the go-getter type, I'll be very up front with you. It's easy for a news person to get burnt out. So don't run like a madman out of the gates. Just do what you can, when you can and be careful not to overdo it. This isn't to scare you off, just to set realistic expectations of yourself. I know your type; heck, I am your type. Pace yourself and you'll be just fine. :thup: :salute:
I think it's right up my ally, as I'm almost always listening to technology-related podcasts (twit network (http://twit.tv/)) that are current event/news centric. I'll have to check the previous news articles by dostov to be 100% I can duplicate the format.

You're right, I am a bit 'direct' :D but my job will prevent me from getting burned out. Which is my other concern; certain job assignments will keep me from generating content regularly. Unfortunately, there will be quasi-regular spans of a week or more where I won't have the available time to produce content. I'll still be online and available, especially if it's email, so I won't just vanish but content won't be generated (by me) during that time.

Any-who, if that's cool, then I'm game (after I take a peek at the old articles).

Edit: As a CE, would I still need to find others to generate news content, considering the short nature of the articles?

[EarthDog]

Yay...a news guy (again!)!!!

Is the news guy a CE? I though a news guy was just that. News guys, as my understanding, just scour the web for relevent news article and bring them to our front page. CE's on the other hand have sections they volunteer for and are there to bring in articles, not news bits like the news guy. BUT, thats just my understanding which could be wrong.

[hokiealumnus]

As a CE, would I still need to find others to generate news content, considering the short nature of the articles?
Not necessarily. Generally one person does the news. If you can recruit other news people, more power to you. What may be more helpful in the news person role is to recruit people you know stay current on all things hardware. They may or may not write, but they can give you a heads-up on interesting items.

[MattNo5ss]

I think the "News guy" is a CE, he can still give input and edit news articles from other people, mostly the Editors, to keep the news articles in the same format.

Many people post up news from other sites in the forums, so keep a heads up. So, as hokie said they can at least give you a heads-up if they don't want to take on an official role. It seems Evilsizer posts up news stuff quite a bit.

[Jmtyra]

We can play it by ear. I don't mind assisting as a CE where I can, but I probably won't have many news articles that I'll need to review unless someone else generates them. I agree with Matt's point; I'd like to see the news articles in the same format for a consistent presentation on the front page. It'll look cleaner and speak of our professionalism.

Upon reviewing Dostov's articles (http://www.overclockers.com/author/dostov/)...well....WOW. At first I just thought he was copying and pasting from other sites, but no, he's actually just that good. I'm a bit rusty, but eventually I hope to produce at that level of quality.

Having said that, I think I'd like to give this a go. Should Dostov wish to resume his duties, I'll return the torch and (time permitting) move to another inactive CE area.

Thanks for giving me a chance to give something back to the community.

:salute:

-JT

[EarthDog]

In the past I have mentioned I was a 'news guy'. All I did was look at several tech and overclock websites and spit them back out with the associated credit. Personally, Im not a big fan of injecting opinion into news articles. Ive said it before and I'll repeat it for the Editors again to see to chew on. KISS.

TITLE: (JMYTRA overclocks SR-2 to insane levels for F@H)

CONTENT: (ONE paragraph, usually the first paragraph of article)

Source Link: www.thissitehadit.com

[hokiealumnus]

I think analysis is a better word, rather than opinion. See Dostov's end of DFI Lan Party piece (http://www.overclockers.com/line-dfi-lanparty/).

Our content should be original, even if based on others' material (properly sourced of course). We've discussed it at length and I believe the consensus was not to simply regurgitate stuff like that. It would be yet another boring news link like many sites run (no offense to said sites, but that's my take).

If we lay out what the news is, with some detail and give people the news -such that they don't have to click on the link to find out what the news is-, then link them to the source if they want to view the original, that ads value to what we publish.

What's the point of having them click through a news piece on our site if we're not going to tell them what the news is? Might as well link from the home page straight to the other person's page.

[EarthDog]

If thats's your goal, then obviously that has to happen ("analysis"). However, I initially thought OCF just wanted something up there daily. I think we need to take baby steps and regurgitation is the first step in doing that. Once we can consistently put something up, then maybe its time to add "analysis" to it.

I understand the scope you are looking for, but we have to be a bit careful in doing so. Id would rather see OCF consistently regurgitate than what happened this past year.

Yes, I would rather come here and be linked to a news story...for now. At least we are coming here. We have our own discussion thread on the content so there is actually a landing bed for those people. I just think the right, long standing pieces need to be put in place, before we jump head first into an endeavor like that. :)

[Jmtyra]

Well it's a new year, so I'm game to go either way; simple 'link service' to other articles or non-opinionated analysis/regurgitation, let me know what path I should take.

Also, as these are shorter articles, do I need to give an advanced notice of what is coming up the pipeline? Or, should I simply notify the Lead Editors when I have something that needs to be reviewed for publishing?

Thanks folks! :)

[hokiealumnus]

Because news is short, it tends to get read & published quickly (and it's almost always time-sensitive).

Let's stick with Dostov's format for now. If that changes, we'll let you know.

[Jmtyra]

Sounds good. I'll add my info to the intro thread (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621838). Anything else I need to know/do before I start drumming up some news?

Also, do I need to submit a CE status template (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=182) for each news article, or simply "submit for review" once I'm done?

I don't mean to ask a ton of questions, but I'd rather get it correct the first time and save someone else a headache. ;)

Edit: Is this still accurate and up-to-date? CE Workflow (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621619)

[I.M.O.G.]

Dostov's format is good. Plenty of sites regurgitating. I like dostov's so much because he inserts a frame of reference and explains the relevance to the reader, in a brief couple sentences. Doesn't try to do to much, but accomplishes a lot and points the reader to whats new and happening.

We could regurgitate as a stepping stone, but I wouln't mind skipping that. News is great to have, as it would help me keep up with whats the buzz on a regular basis... However there are plenty of other sites pumping out the same crap, and unique content is a large part of what separates us from other sites. I'm as happy with no news as I would be with low quality regurgitation - a lot of the sites doing news have amateurs selecting whats interesting and they often aren't necessarily very good at it. We can be better.

Reviews cover the same products a half dozen other sites or more also cover, so that isn't helping our unique content. The way we do news is different than many, and I like that. Our DIY and Howto articles are especially important also for unique content.

The more unique spin we put on everything, the stronger it makes us as a site, and the stronger it makes us on google. This has a lot to do with why we are a pagerank 5 on google, and very few other sites are that high, though very many sites have taken similar focuses to us.

[Jmtyra]

Reading your post, I'm curious as to what scope we want to focus on with the news. Any technology news (example: Comcast/NBC merger (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70G66F20110118)) or only news specific to performance hardware/software? "What does our audience want to hear about?"

Regarding unique content; regardless of what sources I find, any news item will be reported at hundreds of other news sources. Are we leveraging the <grin> 'Dostov Effect' to provide our uniqueness? At a high level view, any news we report is not unique. While we can spin it and re-type it to our hearts content, said news can be found anywhere else on the web.

Overall, should we focus on other areas other than news, to further develop our uniqueness? (AKA, should I pursue another CE area?)

I just want to be 100% sure of what direction I should be taking before I begin. Unfortunately, it seems that each team member has a slightly different viewpoint as to what this role should be. I don't mind serving many masters, as long as they all want me to do the same thing. ;)

Whatcha think?

[I.M.O.G.]

You should start with news since you want to contribute, then take things from there.

Hardware mostly, software if its prominent. There's a lot of software "faux" news and spam on minor version releases that aren't interesting in any way. New benchmark releases are news. ATI updates drivers monthly, boring unless they include compelling feature additions.

I don't come here, and our audience doesn't come here, to hear about comcast or nbc... Unless they burn to the ground perhaps.

News itself can't be unique, but our perspective and explanation of how its relevant can be unique. Dostov wasn't a magician, but he was good at finding interesting stuff, and saying a few words to make it clear to the normal person why that news mattered.

In the end for the frontpage, what I say is the final word. However, the way you want to do things is up to you - each person puts his own spin and personality on things. My opinion and that of others is just guidance - how you ultimately attempt to do news is up to you, and as you submit the first few articles we'll provide feedback and edit so you and we can both be working to make a good thing better.

If you need me to be more specific on something, ask me something specific and I'll give you as straight an answer as possible. Otherwise, I'm generally going to give you a direction and see where you take it, and provide feedback along the way so we can develop something.

Doing news is a great way to get started, demonstrate you can actually work independently and be reliable, and get familiar with the editorial process. The biggest hurdle for most people is actually getting out of the starting gates... If you can be productive in any way, you are a success and you'll figure out what else you might prefer to do, or we'll tap you to see if you are interested in other things we may need.

[MattNo5ss]

The unique content mentioned is not news. News content will not be unique, I think everyone realizes that, but the way we present the content could be unique. I think that's the point being made.

News on the frontpage will help keep everyone up to date on what's going on in case they haven't seen that specific news elsewhere, that's it really (and maybe give the Editors a heads up on possible review samples). I don't think news is meant to be a major thing that draws in the readers (unless it has to do with NewEgg and fake i7 CPUs...). But, when people do stumble upon our news articles, that could lead to them checking out other articles on our site, possibly joining the forums, and hopefully making them realize that this is a good place for interesting content, non-bias reviews, and a great community.

The only "masters" are the Lead Editors. I'm just a lowly CE, like yourself, bound to the wills of 4 greens and a red.

EDIT: I didn't think someone could ninja you 17 mins before your post... Guess I should refresh more often...lol.

[Jmtyra]

Excellent feedback gentlemen! I do appreciate your time and effort in helping me understand the situation at hand. As much fun as it is to bug you fine folks, I'm going to have a go at a few articles and see how things develop. Still sounds like a lot of fun. Ya, ya, call me nerdy but I think I might like it. :D

Thanks again for everybody's help!
-JT

[David]

I'm late to the party as sodding usual :P

Firstly, dostov's format was ideal. We need to take an article from another site (e.g. detailed Ivy Bridge writeup) and we need to read it thoroughly and then decide: what are the main points that an overclocker would care about? This is where software news is non-ideal, as very little software is really that relevant to our readers. A news poster needs to be able to read an article, get the main points, and then translate that into "this means X for overclockers". That's the kind of analysis we were getting from dostov.

I'm with IMOG on this one: I hate regurgitation. To be perfectly honest, I dislike our couple of links to Skinee labs as we don't get any analysis at all, it's just a link and nothing more (don't get me wrong, Skinee runs a great site).

I strongly believe that every thing we do should be geared towards overclockers. Every article should be relevant, clear, thought-out, logical and entertaining. I'd rather see three to four excellent pieces a week on the front page than twenty 'links'. We have to work harder than many other sites to source articles (we have zero paid staff) and have to source all of our review kit (iNet contributes $0 to purchasing kit). I'd hate to see all that hard work drowned in twenty-odd links to other sites.

I'm definitely for quality over quantity: quantity should follow quality, not the other way around, IMO. The majority of writing I do in my 'day job' is journal-style, which I try to emulate in our articles. We want high-quality articles with good, clear English written in a concise manner.

Anyway: as for news posts, if anyone wants to contribute a few then write a couple and us five editors will take a look. If it fits the bill, it'll get published. If it doesn't then we'll be clear about how it can be improved.

[Jmtyra]

Welcome to the party! :D

I'm working on my first news article. Will see how it goes.

Er...do I need to post a template every time I submit an article, or just 'submit for review' and leave it at that?

[I.M.O.G.]

Just submit when you think its ready.

[Jmtyra]

Just submit when you think its ready.

Just submitted my first article "GTX 560 Ti Reference Pics Leaked Before Launch"

Fair warning, it's probably a bit rusty, but everyone has to start somewhere!

Be honest, and I'll correct/update it as necessary.

-JT

[I.M.O.G.]

We talked in PM and told you what a good job you did...

But congratulations, the public has spoken and they like it also:
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/f7jaa/nvidia_geforce_gtx_560_ti_photos_and_benchmarks/
http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware
http://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/f7jvm/nvidia_geforce_gtx_560_ti_photos_and_benchmarks/

[Jmtyra]

Y'all are going to make me blush! :p
Plus, I'm going to have a hard time beating the first article.

Beginners luck! :thup:

[Jmtyra]

I know, I know, "don't double post" but really I'm just double-linking. So ha! :p
Question here (http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6746603#post6746603), please let me know. ;)

[Jmtyra]

Another question: In my continued efforts to keep the news OC centric, it seems that newsworthy articles are not found very often. Should I be keeping it strictly to hardware/OC-related content, to keep it consistent or is publishing articles at a regular interval more important?

Also, could you post your recommended news sources? I've got quite a few in google reader, but want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Thanks again folks! :D

Edit: It's been over 8 days since I've found/published anything deemed newsworthy, thus my concern.

[hokiealumnus]

You're fine. Better to post qualified news than any gibberish we find that doesn't serve our readers.

Places to look:

Anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com)
TechReport (http://techreport.com/)
TweakTown (http://www.tweaktown.com/)
SemiAccurate (http://www.semiaccurate.com/) (though, beware - that's often an accurate description too)
Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/)

There are plenty more -and big ones- but my brain just quit working. Will post more as I think of them.

[Jmtyra]

Cool, thanks for the links hokie. And don't worry about the "brain not working" bit, I'm sure that benching party hangover is still with you. :p ;)