The "News Stories" forum

[cnredd]

Ever wonder what's going on in the world today while waiting for a member to respond to your post?...Do you surf the media outlets for information and subjects that pique your interests?...

Well, Political Wrinkles is proud to say that we do the work for you!...

I've set up a system where this forum scans certain news outlets and brings their stories and articles to this forum directly and places them in the "News Stories" forum...

Skim the headlines to your heart's delight...Then, if you'd like to respond, then post away and let your voice be heard!...Mods can even move the threads you're responding to to the relevant topic-related forum to keep things organized...

So give the "News Stories" a looksee and keep up to date with the topics of the day...

[Spencer Collins]

This will be a real time saver for me since most of what I do here is news related. Instead of putting in 40 hours a week I can cut back to 10...

[saltwn]

Cool Beans, Baby.

Very thoughtful!

[Gordon Shumway]

I have to admit that originally I found the speed in which "The Wrinkler" was adding news stories a little overwhelming. I can't be on all the time & I can't read that fast either. However, I understand the advantage to the automated system. It'll take some getting used to.

Thanks cnredd for all you do to give us a great forum experience.
Here's to you

[Gordon Shumway]

I've noticed that at least once one of the "news stories" ended up in another forum category after it had been responded to...but, that obviously doesn't happen to all of them. I was wondering why some & not others...?...is this something that could be automated as well...And, when it is moved could there be some sort of notification...?...

[cnredd]

Originally Posted by Gordon Shumway

I have to admit that originally I found the speed in which "The Wrinkler" was adding news stories a little overwhelming. I can't be on all the time & I can't read that fast either. However, I understand the advantage to the automated system. It'll take some getting used to.

Thanks cnredd for all you do to give us a great forum experience.
Here's to you

Thanks for the kind words...

Think of the news stories as a "tickertape" or a crawler that you see at the bottom of a news program...

The object isn't to discuss every little story (One day we may have enough people to actually do that)...the object is to inform members of the top stories of the day without them having to go offsite...Even if someone just skims over them without commenting, at least the member is a little more informed about recent events...

Originally Posted by Gordon Shumway

I've noticed that at least once one of the "news stories" ended up in another forum category after it had been responded to...but, that obviously doesn't happen to all of them. I was wondering why some & not others...?

I've noticed that a member or two has made comments to one of the news stories threads...that means the article piqued enough interest to comment...So I've moved them to the relevant forum for the members to continue the discussion and not get lost in the plethora of the other articles presented...

Originally Posted by Gordon Shumway

...is this something that could be automated as well...And, when it is moved could there be some sort of notification

You're asking something like this...

"Have a program where the second someone posts a comment, the thread gets moved out of the "News Stories" forum and into a forum where the members debate."...

First, there isn't a program that does that (to my knowledge)...Second, The software would never know which forum to place the thread in...

And there's no chance I would automate EVERY thread to go to a different forum because some of the threads aren't discussed, making the new forum appear filled with topics where there is no debate...

If anyone has the motivation and has enough interest in an article they've read in the News Stories forum, they can always start a new thread about it in the relevant forum and start up a dialogue...

[Gordon Shumway]

Originally Posted by cnredd

Thanks for the kind words...

Think of the news stories as a "tickertape" or a crawler that you see at the bottom of a news program...

The object isn't to discuss every little story (One day we may have enough people to actually do that)...the object is to inform members of the top stories of the day without them having to go offsite...Even if someone just skims over them without commenting, at least the member is a little more informed about recent events...

I've noticed that a member or two has made comments to one of the news stories threads...that means the article piqued enough interest to comment...So I've moved them to the relevant forum for the members to continue the discussion and not get lost in the plethora of the other articles presented...

You're asking something like this...

"Have a program where the second someone posts a comment, the thread gets moved out of the "News Stories" forum and into a forum where the members debate."...

First, there isn't a program that does that (to my knowledge)...Second, The software would never know which forum to place the thread in...

And there's no chance I would automate EVERY thread to go to a different forum because some of the threads aren't discussed, making the new forum appear filled with topics where there is no debate...

If anyone has the motivation and has enough interest in an article they've read in the News Stories forum, they can always start a new thread about it in the relevant forum and start up a dialogue...

I didn't figure there was a way to automatically move a thread --- but, what the heck...I figured I'd ask...

[Spencer Collins]

One concern that I have with the "Wrinkler" is story duplication! A member may actually start a thread on a breaking story before the Wrinkler posts said story.This could happen from time to time,another concern is that the Wrinkler is so prolific one has to sift through all the news posts to avoid duplication of an existing news article. This is a valuable news tool but duplications may become more common than before it was implemented.The Wrinkler has no way of "knowing" that a member has already posted a story and it has no concern with the need to merge threads!

[cnredd]

Originally Posted by Spencer Collins

One concern that I have with the "Wrinkler" is story duplication! A member may actually start a thread on a breaking story before the Wrinkler posts said story.This could happen from time to time,another concern is that the Wrinkler is so prolific one has to sift through all the news posts to avoid duplication of an existing news article. This is a valuable news tool but duplications may become more common than before it was implemented.The Wrinkler has no way of "knowing" that a member has already posted a story and it has no concern with the need to merge threads!

I've thought of that, but two things...

1) I, personally, have been vigilant in looking for a "Wrinkler" thread becoming a full fledged debate topic...I'd rather be moving threads and/or merging threads than not having the "Wrinkler" instigate debate at all...

2) The articles in the News Stories go by quickly, so a duplicate thread in the relevant forum gets the debate and the one the Wrinkler started will drift off to page 2 and into oblivion...so my concern is minimal...