User Articles

[Nirkon]

I just had this great idea!

It would be really great if users could post their own tech news items in a "User Articles" section (which will be linked to on the main page, like on the bar that have "home, reviews, guides" etc...)

Of course, I'd also be more than happy to moderate the section as I visit TechSpot at least twice daily.

I think that user content is what keeps a website alive and more successful, also there's nothing faster than an eager techie with an important tech discovery

What do you guys think?

 

[Didou]

There's already the "news & interesting links" section, you can use it for that purpose.

 

[Nirkon]

but that's in the forum, im talking about actual articles in the main website.
exactly like techspot's editors' articles only by users.

 

[Didou]

I suppose you're talking about something similar to DIGG. I doubt that would happen at least not in the close future as tech sites try to keep a minimum level of quality which is something that would be hard to reach if any user is free to submit articles.

Julio will probably drop by in the thread & give his opinion.

 

[Julio Franco]

I had been waiting for the thread to develop further before dropping in, but I think I need clarification on something first... When you say user articles, are we talking about news articles like the ones in the frontpage, or are we talking about reviews/guides?

 

[Nirkon]

Yup, I mean tech news articles like the regular ones, also because its user-created it'll probably have some tech-news gossip

I suppose you're talking about something similar to DIGG. I doubt that would happen at least not in the close future as tech sites try to keep a minimum level of quality which is something that would be hard to reach if any user is free to submit articles.

Julio will probably drop by in the thread & give his opinion.

Thats why it would be in the 'USER articles' section, and not in the main one (it shouldn't mix with Techspot's articles), user articles will probably be more open to speculations, so when you enter the user articles section take some things with a pinch of salt, although better user articles will contain source links!

It could probably contain things like reviews of products as well if anyone actually takes the time to test it.

 

[poertner_1274]

You can also post articles in the Reviews by Members for Members section of the forums. I know it's not the frontpage, but it's a starting point. Maybe if people get good enough at it, then Julio can decide if it's worth opening it up to everyone.

 

[SNGX1275]

Nice job reading the first reply poert.

 

[poertner_1274]

The News & Interesting Links is a different forum. I was talking about the reviews forum.

They are 2 completely different things. Depending on what type of article they want to write.

 

[Julio Franco]

At some point I have looked into the possibility of accepting user submitted news (for posting a la slashdot/digg) and user submitted reviews.

The problem is I don't think the level of participation is enough to develop too much into the idea. Like poert points out, we have two specialized forums for both and they barely receive enough attention within the community.

Besides, with all its flaws and bias, Digg is likely the preferred place to submit your news. While opening up an user reviews section, from what I've seen still requires lots of moderation and collaboration from the staff if we wanted to keep things tidy and in good shape.