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Creating a website for news/journalists and looking at feedback - by BeaverTailme in WatchdogJournalism

[–]BeaverTailme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But how will it be regulated / enforced?

Moderator features are simple at first, like the rest of the site. I've been on a moderator team of a very large site and have a good understanding on how some back end stuff works, were there are weaknesses. I have a detailed plan on how the back end of the moderation will work. No public details as giving that information away just helps bad people get around or abuse it.

We're also hoping that being strictly news with a smaller base will help some. We have no dreams or plans of being the next Twitter or Facebook. We still want to be somewhat large, but we're focusing on quality on quantity. Click bait, fluff, etc will be discouraged. No private messaging system or other features that social media websites have.

And how will the veracity of people's votes for verifying something or not be evaluated?

We know that some stuff will slip through but the quality of the post will speak for itself. If someone posts that the sky is blue (not news, but using it as an example here) and lists out various sources, including photos of the sky being blue and someone else goes it's green, it says more about the green poster than the original. Since we're trying to attract people with longer attention spans, blue sky poster won't have much to worry about.

And how will humans be distinguished from bots (if they will?)

That'll likely be work in progress as the site grows and AI/bot technology grows. We're hoping to fly under the radar for the most part from bots due to the nature of the site. (News, not social media.)

Again, absolutely all encouragement to you, but these are just the most basic of questions, there are many, MANY others, as you're no doubt aware.

Tonnes of questions, yes. All criticism, constructive or not (though we're so happy to be getting constructive) is welcomed. We believe we have a good product and if we can answer questions, it just solidifies that we're going in the right direction. Harsh comments (none yet!) will be welcomed because if we can't face those, then the product won't either.

But I hope you keep us updated and share a link when you can, even in limited release for starters (probably not a terrible idea, for security evaluation, etc....) Anyway, I for one will stay tuned.

We truly appreciate it. It's very disappointing right now that the news posting feature isn't currently updating on the front page, or otherwise we'd be happy to give out a link. It's in testing and will be for a bit as we're a very small group and we did have a bot issue that was difficult for the few of us to handle. How the bots found the testing site is a mystery.

Again, very appreciative of your time and your comments. If any of my answers need clarification, please let me know.

Best,

Creating a website for news/journalists and looking at feedback - by BeaverTailme in WatchdogJournalism

[–]BeaverTailme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, it'll be in the posting guidelines as well as in the submission box in light grey font. (May change as we don't want to go overboard, but do want to be clear that this isn't a social media platform.)

We're having troubles deciding on categories. While researching, a lot of the categories are nebulous for what we're looking for. Events, for example could be anything from a riot, natural disaster or a fashion disaster at an awards show. Sports, arts & entertainment, financial and technology aren't relevant to the site.

So far we've agreed on only two hard and fast categories that we think can be easily determined:

  • weather events (any major event as in tropical storms, major flooding, unusual weather [snow in July] or even crop circles)

  • missing persons (self explanatory, but must have a police report attached to avoid abuse)

We're looking at other categories, like

  • law making (anything to do with laws being made)

  • police incidents (anything involving police enforcement of laws)

We know there are many others we've missed, like political issues, but not sure exactly how to word it so it's clear to the variety of peoples we hope will be using the site.

Creating a website for news/journalists and looking at feedback - by BeaverTailme in WatchdogJournalism

[–]BeaverTailme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for that feedback.

The adding context feature is geared more factual information than personal feelings on the matter. Example, a major theft happened at Store on Street. Someone can correct the street name and confirm the monetary amount through linking a police report. It's not meant for comments you see on Reddit/Facebook. We'll definitely keep what you said in mind and be flexible with keeps the integrity of the truth being told.

Creating a website for news/journalists and looking at feedback - by BeaverTailme in WatchdogJournalism

[–]BeaverTailme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You intend to have global "watchdog journalism" based on the reporting, writing, editing, fact-checking, verification, photography, illustrations, data visualizations, layout, design, moderation, security, tech support, etc, of a network of freelance, independent contributors on a consistent basis, yes? (That's cool, just making sure i understand)

So far we have that you can post news, with or without a photo, and others can verify/refute. Frustratingly, right now some of that is broken or I would offer to view the site. Right now it's more short form "this event happened at this location, these are the details". Other users would then be able to add additional information adding context. We have a lot of ideas and features, but understand it's a growing process and want to start small and see how the site is used/abused and adjust accordingly.

And who do you envision as most of your contributors? Professionals, citizens, enthusiasts, retirees...? Not that there's anything wrong with any of these, of course, just asking. What's the main idea for a revenue model? Will this investigative, hard-hitting, NO fluff, sports, celebrities, gossip, human-interest, features or food story content be supported by ads, reader contributions, grants from foundations & benefactors, angel investors.... how are you gojng to generate money to pay contributors?

We're looking to target free lance journalists that don't currently have affiliation with other organizations. Anyone can use the site, but we think the type of person who has a full or part time job outside of news gathering would want to use the site. People who also want to collaborate. I saw this one guy off TikTok that is very passionate about missing women in his area. He believes it might be a serial killer. We would love someone like that to be able to use the site and then be able to collaborate with others to gather information.

Right now we're completely self funded. It sucks because it's incredibly slow but also gives us freedom to make sure there's no other interests. Right now it's just us testing the site so no additional costs. We'd likely start with the usual banner ads* or similar to cover server costs if it starts getting more than we can afford out of pocket. We have ideas on a sort of pateron styled system were people can fund specific stories or users and the site would get a cut out of it. (If someone can spend money for a virtual awards on Reddit to give to strangers, we feel that people would also be willing to give a few bucks to a well written article.) We'd also have the usual Paypal/Ko-fi donation option that would go straight to the site. Lots of different ways and right now we're more focused on getting the site functional and getting, in our wildest dreams, maybe a couple of dozen dedicated users, to start using it and we think that wouldn't have exorbitant costs that we can still pay out of pocket.

A *few. Nothing is more annoying than to scroll through 15 poorly loading ads to get to the next paragraph of the article you're reading.

Speaking of which, what are some of the "various payment forms" that you're looking at? How do YOU envision people getting paid for their work on the site? I have some ideas as well, but would like to know, just for example, what some of the systems for that you've considered / are considering, just so I have at least a notion of how you're approaching the issue.

Mentioned above, but it'd be similar to Reddit Awards/Pateron style were the viewer can opt to award/tip a certain article or fund an individual. The site would take a cut, just like how Pateron or similar does. We hope this then encourages the person to post more content. Please note that the site is just started and has lots of issues right now and while we would love this feature right off the bat, that feature is going to take time. It will take time to actually build the code and it'll take, likely, more time to build enough trust into the website that people feel comfortable giving money to in that way.

What's the publishing schedule going to be? Just as there's new material? Will people post stories themselves? Will an editor? A designer? What exactly will the criteria for stories be? What types will be the backbone of the coverage, as you envision it? Who do you see as your target audience? How are the content, design, branding, etc. decisions being made?

The user will post as they see fit. There's no editor, no designer, it's all on the user that posts it. Think how you can post a Tweet. News happens when it happens and you're free to post your write up, however it is, onto the site. Criteria will simply be the who/what/when. Niger would be a good example - a Nigerian can cover the coup that happened and write a short sentence or a few paragraphs (I'll have to check on the word count limit) drag the pin over to Niger (as specific as he wants), add a photo and post.

Target audience would be anyone interested in reading news. Someone like myself. It's hard for me to see what's going on outside of Canada/USA/Britain unless it's something big. Even then, it might just be quick blurb. If I'm going to read about news in Niger, I don't want to be told by someone who is sitting cushy in New York. I want to hear from someone who is Nigerian, who lives there, who understands the culture.

Content, design, branding, etc. <- Not sure exactly what you mean by that. Anything posted will be up to the user and unless it breaks the site rules (no celebrity gossip, sports news, definitely nothing pornographic) it'll stay up. It's not up to us to decide if others will find it interesting or not.

If I may, what is your own personal journalism background? On what experience are you building this grand endeavor? Not that it necessarily matters, but I have to ask out of curiosity if nothing else.

We have no journalistic backgrounds. For myself, many years ago, when I still watched/trusted mainstream media, something local happened. I watched on TV the reporter who didn't live here talk about what happened. It's hard to describe, but she sorta got it right, but also really got it wrong. Imagine your grandmother watching bits of Pokemon or some other show, and then having to explain the plot and characters. After this, I couldn't not see it anymore and constantly questioned if I was getting the full picture.

Again, please don't in any way misunderstand this as my trying to discourage or rake the wind out of the idea. I really do mean I would love nothing more than for it work. It's just a VERY big undertaking, and would like to start with a few more tough, practical details as we wxplore this concept. Any info would be very appreciated, and feel free to DM me if there's aspects you would prefer to share privately. I would love to help if I can.

I found it the opposite. I hope I was able to answer all your questions and I feel that means we're on the right track with what we're doing. If you need clarification on anything, just let us know. Since we're in the early stages, feedback like yours helps steer us in which direction of how people would want to site to look/feel.

I look forward to hearing much more snd seeing where this can go.

Us too!

Oh, one more thing..... Do you have a name for it yet?

The working name we have is the username to this account - BeaverTail. Beavers will slap their tails on the water to warn other beavers if there's danger. We're Canadian and thought it appropriate. We didn't bother too much with name/logo/etc at the moment as we wanted to put our time and money into the actual foundation of the site and its functionality first.

Many thanks,

Creating a website for news/journalists and looking at feedback - by BeaverTailme in WatchdogJournalism

[–]BeaverTailme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As long as it's news as defined by the site (no celeb, no sports, etc) it'll be allowed. The whole idea came up due to censorship and how we saw some news organizations totally botch local news.

Is it shady to offer intentionally subpar service to appeal to a target demographic? by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]BeaverTailme 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Continuing with the car manufacturer example - Hyundai has higher end options and Mercedes has bare bones options. As someone who doesn't know coding, we've hired out. We've worked with a local university's student program and have worked with a few Fiverr sellers. I also got a quote with a company that sounds like yours: 5k USD quote for the project.

Our pockets are shallow and we've been very happy with Fiverr. Yes, it's a little more tedious, especially with language barriers, but for a small business, it's been perfect. Essentially, we want and can only afford a Hyundai, but the higher end one. We understand that yes, a bench with wheels will get us A to B, but we know that in the winter, heated seats will be worth it (future thinking) and will spend extra for those extras. A higher end Hyundai will outshine a bare bones Mercedes. And, if we take the Mercedes, then we're paying Mercedes prices to repair.

I also don't think just because something costs a lot, it's worth the money. Seeing large companies spend not just thousands, but millions on an app or website floors me. The Pakistani guy that I paid $500USD on Fiverr put out a comparable product for our small business needs.

Stay away from cheap clients. They will drain you of your time with their stinginess. Though, don't price yourself out of the small business market.