Independent Media Centre Ireland     http://www.indymedia.ie

Keeping things moving....

category national | miscellaneous | news report author Tuesday March 25, 2003 05:27author by Daithi - 1 of IMC IE

The flip side of a successful IMC

The newswire is very busy at the moment and site traffic is higher than ever before. Please try and be responsible with your use of the wire - at present it is an absolute mess. Here are a few suggestions that would really make the site easier to read and to maintain - directed at regular users and newcomers equally.

* Look for existing stories on the same subject. If there is an article on Iraqi treatment of prisoners then attach your article or opinion as a comment to that story. It means one less space taken up on the wire, and an easier way for readers to see different angles at one time.

* Copying articles from other media outlets is not original in any case, but at busy times it's just dumb. If you really need to copy entire articles from Reuters, don't copy five as separate articles. They will be combined into one story, which is one more job that editors have to waste time on doing.

* Opinions and comments are central to any Indymedia site. But it's not acceptable to start a new article just because you think your contribution is so important that it deserves a headline all of its own. And if you are wondering where the succession of SP/SWP arguments that took over the wire on Monday are, they are all at http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=37437 . If you have anything more to add on that delightful subject then please do so there. It's not that hard.

* Long links, from sites like Ha'aretz, AP etc, make the wire very difficult to read on smaller monitors. Use a service like www.tinyurl.com to produce a shorter link.

* Volunteer to help out the editorial and tech collectives. We simply cannot keep up at the moment.

* Don't ask a one-line question in the form of an article. Satisfy your idle curiosity in the form of a comment or in your local pub.

Comments (5 of 5)

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I Agree
author by non-aligned peacenikpublication date Tue Mar 25, 2003 10:31author address author phone

We don't need every last detail about the latest battle here or there, or the latest bullshit propaganda from Fox News/Sky?CNN posted individually. Let's use a bit of common sense. The rate stories are moving off the front pages is getting out of hand.

Clean up
author by Ronanpublication date Tue Mar 25, 2003 10:45author address author phone

Why not just delete all that inter-faction nonsense? I suspect that some of it is posted by right-wingers for the sole purpose of disrupting indymedia. Anyone genuinely interested in opposing the war would not get involved in it.

Good idea but
author by sick of childish tantrumspublication date Tue Mar 25, 2003 11:58author address author phone

why not post this article on the main page? It will be way down the newsire list by this evening and by tomorrow gone from memory for many. Give it a prime location and hopefully people will respect it.

usability in a time of crisis
author by simon - web designpublication date Tue Mar 25, 2003 12:18author address author phone

I was onto the administrator two days ago suggesting a slight redesign in order to make the indexing etc. work better. There a some slight site changes that will make it far easier to use and sort the chaff from the wheat. Im waiting for a reply....

This will be on the front page tomorrow
author by .publication date Wed Mar 26, 2003 00:56author address author phone

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/37695

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