Fielding an idea...

[DreamThrall]

I've got an idea to create an internet news portal. This portal would only link to news articles that were deemed "worthy" by contributors. The idea would be to create a collection of articles that are genuinely interesting and not the general filth and tabloidism that tends to plague the media these days.

The following are examples of what would NOT be linked:
Anything to do with celebrities
FOTD/W/M/Y (Freak of the Day/Week/Month/Year)
Politically favored (editorials, blogs, obviously partial "news", etc)

As far as how the contribution system would work, I've been working some stuff out in my head:

• Use google ads to generate revenue
  • 1st $13/mo goes to paying for website and domain names
  • remaining:
    • % to me
    • % divided amongst contributors
      • based on rating system
      • seniority bonus
        rank bonus
• Contributor reputation system
  • Readers rank quality of links
    • system to track negative spammers
• watch for certain # of consecutive negative ratings by the same visitor
• Ratings by unique users have more impact
• Ratings are cumulative for 30 days prior
• No bonus for quantity
• Bonus for click-through counts
• Bonus for reporting bad keywords
• Penalty for having bad keywords reported and confirmed
• Ranks
  • 1st Level: <30 days
  • 2nd Level: >30 days
  • 3rd Level: Handpicked
    • move mis-categorized links
    • remove bad or poorly rated links – average rating established after certain # of ratings
    • recommend removal of bad contributors
    • Me
• Contributor application approval
  • First, email confirmation
  • Manual confirmation
• Contributor responsibilities
  • Categorize article
  • Add keywords
  • Summarize

So, the contributors would have an incentive to help spread the word and as well as to find good news articles. It probably won't be a significant amount of money unless this thing blows up, but hey a few bucks here and there is nice.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Ennui]

I'd use it and contribute.

 

[Burn]

I think its a good idea, but I wouldnt use it..cus I dont use sites like that.

 

[bvasgm]

If you filtered out all of the rubbish that comprises 80% of the news these days then yeah I'd use it.

 

[ríomhaire]

I;m interested but I don't think i'd be up to it, so I voted no.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

www.drudgereport.com

 

[DreamThrall]

www.drudgereport.com

First off, its got pop-up ads. Second, the layout sucks. Third, let's take a look at some of the headlines...

CRUISE WON'T TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST PRANKSTERS...
BOOK CLAIM: HILLARY HUMILIATED AS BILL HAS NEW AFFAIRS...
Red Pencils Are Drawn Over New Clinton Book...
NM Gov. Bill Richardson at center of another speeding controversy...

Seriously, who honestly cares about this crap? Isn't Matt Drudge notoriously conservative anyways?

 

[bliink]

Google.com is where I get my news, I think it reflects not only world events, but also the media themselves; which makes google a useful source for "news"

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

First off, its got pop-up ads. Second, the layout sucks. Third, let's take a look at some of the headlines...

CRUISE WON'T TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST PRANKSTERS...
BOOK CLAIM: HILLARY HUMILIATED AS BILL HAS NEW AFFAIRS...
Red Pencils Are Drawn Over New Clinton Book...
NM Gov. Bill Richardson at center of another speeding controversy...

Seriously, who honestly cares about this crap? Isn't Matt Drudge notoriously conservative anyways?

Eh, popups are blocked for me (and that's just with service pack 2) so I never notice any. Haven't since I got the SP2 anyway.

Those are about the only headlines on there that people would consider 'tabloidey' at the moment, there's another hard hitting 13 top breaking stories. A lot of times Drudge gets the news first.

I never noticed him to be conservative by my watchings of it (And I am very conservative, so I'd be the first to say it in praise if he was )

You can make one and I'd contribute with my stories ;d HARHAR. But would it get off the ground at all?

edit: Drudge has the best layout for a news portal. It's my favorite due to simplicity and ease, and the way he groups stories.

 

[Shodan]

I love the idea.

How would the contribution thing work, Email or a database and entry box type thing?

 

[craig]

Problem is if you filter out all the stuff that you deem 'unworthy' you'd loose 90% of your audience, and 99% of the news.

 

[DreamThrall]

Problem is if you filter out all the stuff that you deem 'unworthy' you'd loose 90% of your audience, and 99% of the news.

Well obviously, this portal wouldn't be for everyone - just people like me who are sick of what the media calls "news".

How would the contribution thing work, Email or a database and entry box type thing?

[I moved what was the rest of this post to the original post for higher visibility]

 

[Pesmerga]

I condemn your foolish conceptions!

 

[CptStern]

ummm wikipedia? informationclearinghouse? SourceWatch, Media Matters etc etc etc


I'd still read it ...as long as it wasnt full of knee-jerk reactionism that's inherent in "news" sites like drudgereport or littlegreenfootballs

 

[Evo]

I'll use it but probably won't bother getting involved in it

 

[Razor]

I would use it and contribute as long as the site looked professional, unlike the Drudge report which is one of the worst sites i have ever seen.

 

[DreamThrall]

ummm wikipedia? informationclearinghouse? SourceWatch, Media Matters etc etc etc


I'd still read it ...as long as it wasnt full of knee-jerk reactionism that's inherent in "news" sites like drudgereport or littlegreenfootballs

Wikipedia's news is alright, but there aren't that many articles. I'd be looking to link content rather than actually create it.

InformationClearinghouse and MediaMatters are so unabashedly liberal it's nearly embarassing.

I gave up after trying for a few minutes to find any news content on SourceWatch, which should say something about their site layout. They seem more like a watchdog group than what I'm trying to do anyways. I'm not trying to debunk anything here, just find decent news articles.