Forum:News Team

Time to make yet another war room thread discussing wiki change. I think the News Team needs to be made more concrete. It technically fails to meet the usergroup standard and yet has no listed requirements for being a member. Lacking a membership mechanism to me makes this group oligarchical in nature and thus needs to be amended. The common user should have the right to post news blogs as long as they are (A) trusted and (B) find something newsworthy. Even worse is the fact that the oligarchy is against admins posting news blogs and will go as far as to delete relevant news blogs should they be made by those not in the group. In my opinion, all admins should be allowed to add news blogs if they're trusted enough to be admins. Poketape Talk 04:31, October 19, 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree, and also if users are trusted enough for rollback, blog patrol, chatmod or custodian then they should be allowed to make news blogs then. This would allow trusted people like Redskin and MLG to make news blogs. 15:38, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, the News Team's creation and implementation wasn't a matter of trust. It was a matter of reducing the number of repeating news blogs, keep the blogs somewhat uniform in terms of writing and style and to prevent users from putting together a half assed blog just to say they got one on the front page. We really don't need multiple people writing blogs since everyone writes differently and it's not like the current News Team doesn't give credit to users who find the source for x blog; Smuff just did this for Kratos not too long ago.

Keep in mind, those blogs are seen on the front page and thus seen by thousands of readers and I for one believe that our current 3 man team does an excellent job writing those blogs. Carb0 15:51, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

I really think everyone should be allowed to make news blogs without them being deleted or moved to someone else's name. The only matter is that they wouldn't appear on the main page. Although I'm not a blogger of any kind, if I were to make one, I'd still like to keep it rather than getting it deleted and let someone in the news team make it again, or them moving it to their own name. If someone finds a huge thing, the news team can make their own blog of it in the main page, but let the original founder have credit as well as their own blog. If there are trolls on the original like "hey Smuff/N7/Cod4 etc. found this before you stop duplicating him", those aren't found very often and their comments can and will be deleted. 18:53, October 19, 2011 (UTC)
 * Personally, what i would do is that if i was given an article to make into a news blog, i would put a note at the top, something like "First found by MLG, all credit goes to him!" or something like that. Its not about credit and names, its a matter of presentably, i would say.22:29, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

I'm kinda stuck on this. On one part, I want the Wiki to be able to post News Blogs freely. On the other side, we need to keep this from happening to prevent spam. Poketape is right, the News Team is not well described at all. How are you supposed to join if there is no requirements at all? A lot of trusted users should be able to post News Blogs, so please improve the News Team page. DarkMetroid567 22:18, October 19, 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but i would have to say no. Not speaking as a member of the news team, but in general this time, that people's blogs arent well...good. For example... Poketape. His recent "news blog", looked like this. It only looked presentable after Smuff did his magic on it. Not to be rude or anything, but we have standards, and i'm sure no one would want to see a ugly (for the lack of a better word) blog, then something that comes from the News Team that looks professional and neat. 22:25, October 19, 2011 (UTC)
 * Frankly I don't see what was wrong with it. While it was definitely basic, it was in no way unpresentable. People want to see the news, even if a news blog is just made up of a link they're still technically getting it. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 00:48, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, the news team was made at the CoDference, as it was one of the topics, and if it was created, that means the people who went (that where more than just a few) agreed on it. Just like a consensus, which would make this WR thread kind of pointless. Just my opinion tho.-22:28, October 19, 2011 (UTC)
 * This idea was adapted at the CoDference? (I didn't have enough mainspace edits at that time.) This thread should be invalid. CLOSE NOW. DarkMetroid567 22:32, October 19, 2011 (UTC)
 * This thread is about setting it more in stone because the group isn't actually documented in the project as existing nor are the rules regarding it and its business actually written, so I don't see what's so invalid about the thread. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to discuss. 00:24, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * Seems a bit unfair if you weren't in the CoDference. I reviewed it when I made the blog. Basically whoever was there got a chance. Drk basically got in by repeatedly shouting that he wanted in. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 00:44, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * It isn't really unfair, seeing as everyone had the opportunity to attend, and the time it occurred was the most convenient for most people. 00:57, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * It occurred when I was asleep. Seems unfair all because I'm not European I get stuck with a shitty time. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 01:23, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, the times we're pretty convenient for everybody, actually one of the earliest times (California PST) and it started at 10 AM, so unless you live the middle of the Pacific, it was actually not impossible to attend. 01:36, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * I live on the US East Coast, and I had no trouble getting to the CoDFerence due to time problems, it was at 1400 here. 01:38, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
 * uhhh, nope. 10:32, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

If there currently is an issue with the news delivered and news other users can find, perhaps a good compromise would be to have a sandbox page which users can add any recent news and when it comes to news delivering the team can look at that page, considerer what should and shouldn't be news and than give credit to the finder. - Crazy Sam10 Talk Poll 00:30, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

I really don't see a current problem with the news team, I trust all 3 of the users on the team to deliver the news in a good manor, but when it comes to someone already making a blog about a new topic, I think that the news team should ajust the blog to a higher standard(if it has poor grammar) instead of making a duplicate blog or deleting the already existing blog. 10:51, October 20, 2011 (UTC)

There is no problem with the current news team. Everytime news comes up, they get it up in a blog in a timely matter. While Smuff's "humor" whenever he does the week in review gets a little annoying, everything else he (and the other news bloggers) do is perfect, spot on and (for the most part) unbiased. CoaZ Talk  04:32, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * Mentionning things like Smuff's "humor" in public forums also gets a little annoying. 18:29, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * Just stating my opinion Smuff. Ireland_flag.gif  CoaZ Talk Ireland_flag.gif  17:13, October 22, 2011 (UTC)

I don't see any massive problems with the way the usergroup is handled. Shotrocket6 10:09, October 21, 2011 (UTC)

"Even worse is the fact that the oligarchy is against admins posting news blogs and will go as far as to delete relevant news blogs should they be made by those not in the group." At no point has an administrator deleted a non duplicate news blog made on the wiki; blogs are generally rewritten and, in few cases, renamed in the event of a complete overhaul. 18:29, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * Smuff, the whole reason this started was when Drk deleted my blog about the Sledgehammer Games blog being deleted because I wasn't in the News Team. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 22:13, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * So this whole forum was brought up because something of yours got deleted? 22:36, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * You mean this blog? O.o 22:44, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes that is the blog. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 04:21, October 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well I never realized how broken it was until my blog was deleted. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 04:21, October 22, 2011 (UTC)


 * You're saying the blog is broken or the News team <.<.-04:23, October 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well right now we're discussing the News Team. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 04:30, October 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * So we are reforming the News Team am I correct, I've lost the topic. Sorry. 18:18, October 22, 2011 (UTC)

Also, whilst this isn't always the case, what I frequently find is that users not on the news team either make rather short, unformated blogs or are copy pastes, with this one linked being a perfect example. Whilst I know the news team doesn't really give users a good chance to show they could be ready for it, the examples we do get are generally unfavourable... 18:45, October 22, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well then can the News Team's job be editing any News blogs users have created instead of being the only ones able to create them in the first place? BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 05:19, October 23, 2011 (UTC)


 * Oh you mean this?.-05:26, October 23, 2011 (UTC)
 * Herp already posted by smuff derp. BOofficialicon.jpg Poketape Talk 06:35, October 23, 2011 (UTC)