What do you think about the news posts?

[Andem]

I'd like to get an idea of what people think about the news syndication that has been setup on the forum. We have gone to two major news organisations, the CBC and CTV and syndicated top stories. There will now no longer be more than 4 stories that show up every 6 hours and they will show up in the recent topics list.

I thought this feature would be useful to us who do spend a lot of time here and maybe give us an insight to whats happening outside what the membership feels is newsworthy.

The Internet has reached a stage at which you just must be interactive, and to talk about whats happening in the news is just such a big phenomenon it can't be ignored.. which is why the "In the news" forum has become such an important part of these forums.

When we were first starting out using this new software, it was a learning curve for all of us to get used to and I understand the 10-15 News posts in the recent topics may have been annoying.. thats why I've limited it to 4, just so it's not overwhelming.

Thoughts?

 

[Sassylassie]

I like reading the new post Andem, I didn't have time to respond but I enjoyed the read. Good work me son.

 

[#juan]

I think it is a good idea. When my computer is healthy, I'm probably here as much as anyone and sometimes it is a bit of a struggle to find a news item that people will be interested in. The news posts help by supplying a few more topics, and a few more choices for people signing in. Ya did good...

 

[Kreskin]

I think they are good topic starters. Like you said, if they are limited in number then they don't overdo it. It was definitely a learning curve to start.

Have you tried more forum specific search perameters? I know with yahoo rss for example you can make it field specific. For example, in the sports section you could have a post come through every hour or three based on a specific search field, like "NHL" or "Canadian hockey" etc. So instead of the bots only posting to their own forums they could beef up a few other forums that are normally inactive.

Just food for thought.

 

[Andem]

Good idea Kreskin Yes, that is an option and possible. I will look into options of providers soon.

 

[Curiosity]

I think because they cover many topics they may not be read - so I read them and move along not treating them as someone else's topic starter and not making commentary - but I believe this is being addressed.

 

[I think not]

Honestly? They're annoying.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I'm with ITN on this one. I don't come here for the news, I use lots of other sources for that, including the CTV and CBC web sites those messages presumably come from. I come here to talk to people, not news services. Fairly often when I first come in here in the morning I've already seen most of those items, either on the Web, in my local newspaper, or the Globe&Mail. Too often the news posts just plug up the Recent Topics of Discussion panel at the top of the entry page to CC. I use that page to get a quick scan of what's hot at the forums, but when I see almost half the posts there are from CTV or CBC News reporting on things I've already seen, with zero responses here, it tells me nothing about what's really going on. They just push active threads off the front page. Seems to me that people who want those services can subscribe to them themselves and fill up their own inboxes with them, and start a thread about whatever they find interesting. I really don't find them useful or interesting at all, they're just an irritant to me.

Try tracking how often those news posts actually generate an active thread that goes on for at least a day or two, and if it's not some moderate percentage after a few weeks, like around 25%, I'd suggest dropping them.

 

[Gonzo]

I check the CBC regularly so it's a bit annoying for me. But if people like them thats cool. I dont realy care one way or the other.

 

[Toro]

Honestly, I don't like them.

When I hit the "What's new" button, and I've been gone for a day, I get 3 or 4 threads to wade through.

 

[Curiosity]

It's obvious very few people are responding to them ... and they take up a lot of room on the list of
"new posts"....

change of subject ...

While I am here I would like to suggest a military topic be inserted - I don't feel military necessarily belongs in Canadian or U.S. or International Politics - or Culture - so anything military is spread throughout
the forum.

With Remembrance Day coming up in November, it would be nice to see a special place to post some messages.

 

[gc]

I'd say they are pretty annoying as well.
It seems that not a lot of people are responding Link
It's hard to start a debate with someone that isn't going to respond. If someone sees something in the news that is worth discussing, they can start a thread on it, offer up some opinions and get the debate going.