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Next roundtable: Thursday, May 14th, at 2:30 p.m. ET
We made some really cool changes on the site this morning, so I'm sure that everyone will have a lot to talk about today.
Lila's already blogged about the new features, and you probably noticed that the star rating system is gone.
Now that we've taken care of that nagging issue, it seems like a good time to ask some bigger questions:
What do you think the iReport.com community should be and how do we get there from here?
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Hi everyone!
Hi everybody.
Since I asked the question "what do we want our community to be," I'll go first. I really want the iReport.com community to be a place where members encourage each other to to share stories that are meaningful to them. I'd also like it to be a forum for passionate, but respectful debate.
Hey everyone! Can't wait to chat.
I like your new shiny badges katie and davidw
hi guys!
Hello fellow iReportarians!
Hello all.
Aha, I was in the right place! Good morning!
Hello. Thank you so much for the updates. I hope the rating system stays away
Hi there!
Hey KyleHD!
Most impressed by new changes - Twitter feature is a real bonus, too!
Bye, bye stars - yippee!
Alun
I like your new badges, kewl! Thanks for all the neat upgrades!
I would like to know about the newiest...will they get "refreshed" more often? Not speaking for me being there but some good News reports would be great to see there.
Hola everyone!
the staff badges look great...well done..
Hello ireport staff and community ..
Howdy, everybody!
My big interest in iReport is photography. Therefore, I'd like to address the Photo Club...Wasn’t the Travel destination for this week Nova Scotia? What happened? Usually, the same travel destination up for a week and than a new one is announced on Friday. However, I noticed today that it’s now Rome, not Nova Scotia.
hola everybody
I think that iReports has definitely already formed community.
Also a note from me...there is still a delay of several comments so I might get behind..and if I do it is not my fault..thanks.
hi everybody, I haven't made it here in a few. glad I remembered this week.
david et al. I think the new changes are positive. thanks!
I'm soooo happy to hear positive feedback on the new features. So far, does it look like everything's working the way you'd expect?
Ooh, the staff badges are good, too!
Makes this place much better - thank you!
Alun
I think this is important....Also, many of the posts with lots of comments that get on to Newsiest are nothing more than a couple of people having a conversation back and forth, or many times the person that submitted the post has placed more comments on their own post than anyone else has, thus, manipulating the system to get onto Newsiest. I think it’s misleading to factor in a person’s OWN comments when calculating “Newsiest.” Any opinions?
Love the changes. One more request. Can we see who is following us?
I think it would be great if there were different "Sections" or "Pages" to go to for specific types of reports. Like "politics", or "health & fitness" or "travel" or "photography". Not just rely on tags.
Good afternoon!
Question about Super Star ratings from someone who can't be here. How does one get that rating?
I would like to know what defines Newsiest? On the weekends it is really not that good..just a bunch of weird stuff on there that really is not even community news or world news..just stuff
Awesome changes..
Now we are able to clearly see who the quality over quantity I-Reporters Truly are.
Also since there are no more stars.
If you want to quickly type a response letting the I-Reporter know how you feel, which one of these are best?
1. I read your I-Report and I have found it to be lacking of any news content and would rather see it on myspace.
2. I read your I-Report and it was of poor quality and content.
3. I read your I-Report and I liked it better the fist time before you cut and pasted and the wrote "Hot Topic".
Would someone please explain how the “Newsiest” posts are selected? I’ve had posts with more than 2,000 views that don’t make it on to Newsiest and then there are those posts with far fewer views that do make it onto Newsiest.
I think we should definitely tackle Newsiest next. What types of stories do you want to see there?
@Davidw i agree with you. I think however, we need a better way to communicate in theses sessions. I think it would be great to incorporate a chat room on the site, not only for these meetings but also for us to discuss what news it going on. Or even better, I'm not sure if you have used stickam, but it's basically a broadcasting website where multiple people can video in and chat, which would be cool.
@JoyfulGypsy -- I think we basically goofed this week. Not sure what happened, but we weren't on the same page as the Travel folks. sorry for inconvenience.
how often are stats updated
Thank you, Katie.
Not long ago, the travel destination was “Vatican City.” Now that the destination is Rome, many people are submitting photos of Vatican City again. Are we expected to resubmit the photos we previously submitted of Vatican City, or are photos of Vatican City not being considered this week?
I like to see news, breaking news posts on the newiest
I went to donate blood today and I made it in time for this meeting
@yorksnbeans Good suggestion. Let's massage that sections idea a little. What would you like to see on such a sections division, and what would make sense? What features would make this easier?
@KyleHD -- We're working on a better format for these meetings. We met with some folks last week and are testing a more user friendly solution.
Lips and offbeat stuff is not newiest to me (just my opinion)
The harassment got really bad today.
Hello Everyone,,,,first time at the round table...
Like the new non rating system...and the stats on the ireporters....Nice changes...
nsaidi, aren't those just the tags?
@KyleHD We have been toying around with some video chat programs; I'll send you an e-mail. We're interested in getting some video chatters together, so please let me know if that sounds like something you want to try, and what time. And topic suggestions too!
David, I have reached a point where I am afraid to trust anyone unless they do video.
@ky42 -- There's a bit of lag on the new stats, and we're checking for a more specific answer.
Hello everyone.
JoyfulGypsy, I think only photos of Rome are being considered, but I'll ask the CNN.com Travel producers for clarification.
Newsiest should only be Current Events oriented. Since this is a global website about news, silly stuff should not be up there!
pinklade the three comments would be put on the ireport for people to just pick a number?? Is that what you are saying?? not sure..
@Davidw Awesome! that would be cool!
Anyone can post a picture and say it's them but you don't know for sure.
Comments are getting deleted but please explain what justifies hitting "Report violation" (in the rules yes but any specifics like insulting, harassment?)
@Spontaneous I think yorksnbeans was asking for pages organized by sections or special interests, correct me if I'm wrong.
@OCGirl - I'm sorry to hear that. Please flag the offending comments and I'll check them out.
Thanks davidw
Is that really important though OCGirl? People have their on personality and may not want to be all out there. Just my thoughts, sorry
maybe if during the week we pick a hot topic and then when we come together we could talk on that subject for that week and that day. For example, health care could be a subject one week and the economy the next. It can be on any subject but just one subject at a time might be nice, so we can speak our views with others on subjects we want to talk about
On the newsiest thread: one of the ideas behind it is that activity around stories is a new way of measuring what should be considered news. What do you guys think of that?
(Hi, @gracemcd!)
I find that for me to purchase a video camera is just not in my budget ocgirl..so to trust or not to trust people based on having a video camera is really not fair to people that cannot afford one. There are a lot of videos on this site that the person making them is questionable..how would you know to trust someone with a video as apposed to someone just using still pictures?
Katie thank for checking on whether Vatican City photos will be considered. Please let me know.
Hey JoyfulGypsy,
Our "Newsiest" module is automated.
"Newsiests" stories on iReport.com are calculated based on user activity. Things that go into determining "newsiest" include page views, comments, times shared, whether it has the "On CNN" stamp, and up until today, star ratings.
Now that the star rating system has been disabled, we're looking at tweaking the algorithm to better meet the community's expectations.
So please tell us what qualities and/or measures should go into determining "newsiest." Should the community have a bigger or smaller role?
I had a harrassing message on a post all morning and it's frustrating because I kept hitting the violation button. Why does it take so long to be removed?
The main user stats update runs roughly once an hour. The "all-time" values get updated once per day. The all-time values take longer to gather and tally so we didn't want to update them hourly.
I agree yorksnbeans about the newiest!
I would like our community to be a family of problem solvers, were as our voices reach the highest levels of government, shared ideas, also our community family should have the influence to influence serious stories that we face in life, also we should have a very respectful and considerate family to reach out to each other, now thats a community family, Peace.
Techie question I still have some "Failed Reports" that need to be deleted. Could someone help me with this?
@OCGirl, @everyone: I would encourage everyone to be careful on iReport.com or any other Web site. Don't give out any information that you wouldn't want a complete stranger to have.
There are a lot of great Internet security resources out there if you need more information.
@yorksnbeans we have all kinds of stories on iReport.com and it's hard to define a specific category for newsiest, per se. Is the concept of "newsiest" broad enough, or too broad, or does it make sense?
@nicole....my thoughts would be that these other pages could be set up just like the home page with the changing banner but just showing that sections reports. ie: If someone places their report under let's say "politics", then only political reports will be in that section with it's own banner on the first page. Does that make sense?
I want to comment on the superstar rating. I noticed that some of the superstars on the grid have only posted as little as one time! Now I can't say that I am obsessed with the status, but it seems that if you post a few posts, and one goes viral, it doesn't matter what else you do, you are a superstar? That doesn't seem right for all the true superstars who are working hard to make good posts, get lots of comments, following, views etc each week. One gal had only one post that got 64,000 views. That's great, but should she have higher status then some of our dedicated ireporters who are way down on the list and aren't on the grid?
Here's an example of a guy, and nothing personal against him, who had two widely read posts about the Easter Bunny! lol. I never saw him before and I don't recognize a lot of these "superstars". I'm really not advocating for myself here (I'm not overly concerned really), but all of my catagories are better than his (some significantly), but he is higher up. Why so?
Here's from his profile:
5 iReports uploaded
0 Comments posted
0 Following
58,709 Page views on iReports
33 Comments on iReports
1 Followers
5 iReports on CNN
I understand Gilldreams but it has been a battleground on here.
This morning I came on to Ireport and someone came on with the name FUOcgirl. That hurt me so much.
@Margot707 If you email us (contact@ireport.com), we can pull them down. Please be sure to include the URLs of the iReports you want deleted.
David, I was wondering how do comments get deleted. Last few days I noticed benign comments disappearing...almost as if someone had hacked into the system....
Are comments that are flagged always deleted by an individual for CNN? Or do you have some kind of program in place where if one comment is flagged by 4 or 5 different ireporters...the system auto deletes?
@TheThruth -- That's a beautiful goal. I want to change my answer to what you said.
hello i am happy to be back and david how and when someone can get a star again lol i lost my status is my fault but after beeing here so long do i have to wait for a red tag on cnn to have my star back just wondering thanks david and thank you all, kisses me larena
@TheThruth Amen to that. What do you think would help us all get there?
Thanks davidw. Getting too personal is not wise and kids on post I am leary about as well.
If I say something that offends anyone I apologize but this has been a very rough day on here.
Tyson I think "Newsiest" should be based on comments. Once something gets stamped "On Cnn" it could get 13,000 views and maybe have 0 comments from iReporters.
If a person visits a post and does not like the report/video/content/topic or the way it is presented..is it unacceptable to voice an opinion without thinking oh I better not say anything or my comments will get deleted??? Like come on! just because you do not like a person's comments..and they are not disrespectful..it is rediculous to keep flagging them and having them removed..then to go on and have comments made by that person flagged and deleted on other posts as well..This to me is a bigger problem then the star ratings ever were..and it really needs to stop..it makes this site look terrible!
I think I am going to leave. I feel like I am being attacked. Bye.
@rosehips Superstars are calculated by a formula on a computer. It has no bias. What do you think are priorities for making that sort of calculation? We're always looking for help on this. (Keeping in mind that no matter what you do, there will be some way to game the system.)
I know I'm new to iReport, but I'd like to see the ability to edit videos/photos on the site... as an example on my first (and only report so far) i posted a blurry photo and would love to replace it with a clearer one.
Newiest should be real news only, not offbeat etc. I think
Yes it has been a battleground. Many people were blatantly harassed this week.
@Rachel Thanks!
Tyson, I'd love to see "real" news on Newsiest. I find there are a lot of silly posts, which are really not news worthy, but just conversations by friends back and forth or posters commenting over and over on their own posts to get onto Newsiest.
@jgratcyk That's a great idea, and it's definitely something we're looking into pursuing in the future.
I agree with rosehips. Someone with 1 or 2 posts, shouldn't all of a sudden trump the people who have several posts and comments. But this is what happened when people wanted to see more variety on the board.
@OCGirl! That's crazy and mean. They were probably just jealous because you get a lot of stuff put "On CNN" and you are always on the front page. I've had people make hater names for me before. Just try to ignore it and let them be. They obviously have no life with nothing better to do than try to put other people down. And good job on CNN.com Live the other day! You did great! :)
@blabbylips -- We had a feature on the site that hid comments after they were flagged a certain number of times by the community. This was designed to give people more power to deal with abusive behavior.
Unfortunately some people figured out the pattern and used the report violations function to target other people's comments and make them go away.
We disabled this function today.
Ocgirl, don't leave...why do you feel like you are being attacked? Do you mean on the site? or here at this discussion?
@jgratcyk Good suggestion. We're looking into having that feature. Are there any additional features along that line that you would like?
@Margot707,
Thanks for your input. Comments actually make up a big part of that Newsiest algorithm. Do you think the newsiest iReports should be the most-commented stories?
ireporttwo wanted me to ask for her about the "block feature"
@jgratcyk Thanks for that - the ability to update videos/photos is definitely on our list.
My question exactly Rosehips A report can get a gazillion views of a plane crash and because it's "On CNN" and suddenly that person is pushed to the top of the boards while others who have been here forever putting up quality reports stay down in the ranks and may not even have a "Super Star" rating.
Most of the comments on the newiest are not about the post but people just chatting
Going back to the topic of community... I wonder... what can we do to make it easier for the community to be productive? Are there any ways that we can cluster people together or facilitate interaction? Are there any interests that people share? People that want to work together? Just throwing that out there.
@JoyfulGypsy Here's the response I got back from one of the Travel Snapshots producers:
"Vatican City is something different, so we're hopefully going to avoid those photos. But you're right, it is a small distinction between the two."
She added that they're going to focus on different destinations in the future. Thanks for asking!
Thank You David...for your response....I figured it was a program that was just designed to count violations so people didn't have to wait for the staff to do it...
You are right, I guess some did figure out that it was automatic....
I have really had it with people being nice one minute and then turning into vampires the next. It's not fair. Everytime I come into these meetings I feel like a ghost. Everytime I report a harassing meassage it takes forever to see it removed. I have been a target from day one on here from so many people. I don't understand it. Where is the goodness in people anymore???? I feel I really have NO voice on here. I have never been beat up like this before anywhere. Goodbye everyone. This is like a rollercoaster ride and the abuse is never going to go away. People never stop to think that maybe the person they are very mean to are struggling too and could be worse off. bye
@Tyson, I definitely do NOT thinks comments should factor in so much in Newsiest. As I said earlier, comments are usually conversation between a couple of people or just the poster commenting over and over on their own post to manipulate the system and get onto Newsiest, even if the post is not news worthy.
nicole, I don't know but maybe not take an average but consider that someone is posting every day and getting respectable numbers. I just don't think one viral video should qualify someone as a superstar. I had my second highest views, almost 10,000 for a girl scout cookie post! It wasn't my best post, but it was of interest to a network and must have gotten linked somewhere else. I don't think that should get a person on the grid, if it's just a fluke kind of thing.
@nicole: With the different sections, the newsiest thing would be more equitable. It's having the newsiest banner only on the home page that makes the current system seem unbalanced. The iReport homepage banner should show only show hot news reports (maybe only "On CNN" reports, not reports from users with lots of friends.
@Tyson
It should probably be weighted to views but unique comments probably 25%. By unique I mean one person leaving 100 comments should be the same as 1 comment.
@Katie. Thanks for you prompt reply. :o)
Newsy is whatever the views and comments say it is. That's like people complaining about National Pickle Day. If you find it noteworthy, someone else may as well! We can't start picking and choosing what kinds of stories are NOT newsy if the numbers prove otherwise!
I am a target as well but I don't post about it a lot. We all have from one point or another. This site can not please everyone. Just my view
Thanks for the upgrades
@Tyson There is already a category for "Most Commented and "On CNN" so it does need to be a combination. But it seems that the # of views & "On CNN" dominate that category.
if someone makes a comment you don't like then just ignore it..that is what we have all been told..if it gets worse then copy it and send it to the appropriate people and they will deal with it..this flagging over some stupid insult is rediculous..People are just people and don't like everything they read or see on an ireport..that is life..so what...
I was under the impression it is the number of comments or posts or combination that will get a person a superstar..Hec I had one and had no idea what the hec it was..still don't really know and don't really care..People need to mind their own business and do their own thing on here and not worry about who or what or how much someone else has..it's silly!
as far as newsiest, you should maybe count commenters, instead of comments. I comment a lot on my own posts, not to get the comment count up, but to acknowledge and thank people for taking the time to comment. I'm not looking for comments. I don't think the # of comments is important but the # of commenters is more an indication that there is interest in your post.
Spont, if I want news, I go the front page of CNN. Ireport is for those who have a voice. If I see Anav or your pics on the newsiest, for instance, they always make me smile. It's not news but it's a breath of fresh air compared to all of the bad news in the world.
@nsaidi I think it would be cool to maybe find people that would want to work together. Like, everyone that wanted to meet another iReporter in the area, could fill out a form to work with another iReporter. Then you guys at the iReport team could review and make sure everyone wanted to do this had some type of clarity of who they really were, so we are not matched up with CRAZY people. And then based on our areas and depending on where we lived, our interests, and put people together to meet and network, and work together! That would be cool!
There is still one thing that bothers me here though and that is suspicion..because people can have multiple ID's no one is sure who is really who..
Hey @Margot707 and @Rosehips - we built the superstar system to help recognize people who share fresh and interesting stories on the site. It's certainly not perfect. What other ways do you think we could highlight star contributors?
I like rosehips idea!
@OCGirl -- We deal with complaints as quickly as possible, but this community has more than 275,000 members, so it does take time.
I'm sorry you feel ignored, but we do the best we can to deal with everyone's concerns.
Ok OCGirl. Most post in IReports is news. Offbeat gets bashed, including me. What I've read so far a lot of people want news on the newiest but it's CNN choice.
Ewillies, exactly what I'm saying too. # of commenters, # of views could be the indicator for a newsy post.
@KyleHD are you coming to Atlanta?
thanks beans ;-)
@KyleHD That's an awesome vision. And thanks for being so encouraging to other members of the community!
Great points @JoyfulGypsy & @EWillies,
We plan to tinker with "Newsiest" a bit and see if we can't come up with the right fit.
So let me ask you this. How much weight should the "On CNN" stamp have?
Are we allowed to say if we like a post or not?? or is that now tabou and will get us deleted ?? Do people want feedback to their ireports?? I mean constructive feedback..not ripping it apart and being rude..
ALL comments are relevant Rosehips. Yours too. It's part of the discussion.
OCgirl I think u need a thicker skin. If u are gonna do reporting people are not always gonna agree and people usually don't read the post with understanding in it anyway's If I write a story with the word Obama in it thats all they see and they go on attack, like he needs defense, totally aggravating, but u have to expect some people are different and have different views and express themselves in a different way than u. You must of said something against Palin or Obama for someone to do that, lol. Just kiddin, though, I do believe that u need thicker skin when writing an opinion, that is yours and yours alone.
@rosehips @Margot707 We're seriously looking at tweaking the superstar ratings. Thanks for your feedback! Any help we could get would be helpful!
Rosehips, that's a great idea of counting the number of people that have commented and not counting the number of comments for Newsiest. Usually, the comments are coming from just a few people.
OCGirl No, Don't go away!
Also to add on to my last comment, and @lila's question, It might be cool to have more sections to the site, and categorize iReports by region, so maybe people can focus what's happening closer to them as well, because with so many reports posted in a day, it's hard to see where they all are coming from. Just a thought.
@tyson
CNN = 25%
Comments = 25%
Views = 50%
View may indicate people are interested in he title and want to see more. A good ireport may be ignored by CNN as it does not fit the topic of the day.
"on cnn" shouldn't have that much weight for newsiest, unless it generates a lot of views and comments. It's a subjective tag and may not really reflect what people care about. I recently got the tag but only two comments and very few views. not too newsy, I guess. :-(
Whatever the outcome, the Newiest needs to refresh more often. Some have 3 and 4 up there for days. Keep it fresh
@KyleHD that is a great idea! Would you all like to meet other iReporters in your area? We've always been hoping that people would link themselves geographically and that could be a fantastic way to start.
Also, what about long-distance collaboration? What would help with that?
And what about collaborative storytelling?
@nsaidi YES!!!! I'm heading down on Sunday and I'll be there for 2 weeks!!!!! I'm super excited. I was going to e-mail you sometime next week and try to figure something out, if that's still ok!
@Tyson
(Hi!)
"newsiest", by definition, is the item which has most interest.
Therefore, "most commented" should have a high percentage - and "on CNN" should have an even higher percentage of relevance, as it will not only be seen by more people, but an experienced news producer at CNN has decided it has relevance - "news value" if you like.
Alun
David, can you address the comment issue? Several comments on my own post were removed because an individual and their buddy didn't like what I said about their antagonizing. Why are comments, that are NOT abusive, allowed to be removed?
Are the stats on a different time zone? Some posts say 18hrs ago when it was really a day ago
lette, i see your point, but it can be exploited, and if people are chatting all night long because they can't sleep, that hardly qualifies as newsiest. lol. ;-)
@KyleHD Cool well let us know when you're around. We definitely want to meet with you. iReporters stop by every now and then and it's always great.
I think a lot of people have different definitions on what insulting, antagonizing, harassing mean
thanks joyful...
nicole, thank you for taking our suggestions for tweaking superstar status into consideration.
@Nsaidi
(Hi!)
I'm always up for collaborative reporting form London - locally or internationally - I did promise to make an iReport offering / suggesting this - but forgot - sorry - will do!
Alun
I have a delay here between comments...anyone else experiencing this too?? so the responses are far from instant LOL
okay maybe I should clarify a bit more. Right now there is only one newsiest banner. Can we not have a newsiest banner for separate sections? ie: politics, home & garden, technology, health, travel, etc., etc.
@Lette -- We have disabled the feature that allowed comments to be hidden because it was being abused.
That was taken care of as part of today's upgratde.
I agree rosehips!
@KyleHD It'd be awesome to hang out with a fellow Illinoisan!
True Rose, but how can CNN decipher chatting and actual debating? They would have to manually rate posts. That's not happening!
hi all...
I wonder about the time too...
here right now for me where I live it is 3:05 p.m.
anyone else have a different time??
@Lila Thanks for responding. There was discussion about revamping the "featured ireporters" page, revolving the top ten or twenty each week, so they don't stay so static, following the idea of quality vs quantity. Maybe featuring the best 20 most popular reports of the week?
@rosehips I think that's interesting that you differentiated between On CNN and newsiest. Does the On CNN stamp that you see on CNN correspond with what is newsiest to you? What is newsiest to you?
Thanks David!
Newiest shouldn't be based on comments
@Tyson. IMO, the weight of "On CNN" should play a larger part than chit chat comments. Views and content should also be considered.
@gillidreams
There do seem to be time gaps for me, too - I press the "refresh" (f5) button to keep up - I don't know if it helps (!) but it seems quicker!
Alun
@nsaidi Long distance is hard. I think I said awhile back it would be awesome to have like an iReport conference, where all iReporters would be invited somewhere to meet and maybe learn some more tips and it's another way to network. Another great way maybe to meet, is again with that form and if people are traveling near another iReporter and have extra time, it might be a good way for people meet and show them around!
thanks spontaneous!
I come here to enjoy myself posting when I feel like it, commenting when I see something I like etc..I do not come here to get pressured into having to post x number of posts or making x number of comments just to keep a superstar status..that is not right at all..
Thanks AlunHill,
I agree, but even the most-experienced news producers don't always catch the best content on iReport.com.
That's why we've tried to design "Newsiest" as a way for the community and CNN producers to help bring those great stories the attention they deserve.
Sounds cool KyleHD, but people work, can't travel, afford it, can't take time off, have kids, no car, etc.
I believe that only users who actually generate content should be allowed to hold accounts and/or leave comments. Having users who have no profile activity other than leaving comments is not fair to those of us who actually contribute to this site. I also believe we should have the ability to block certain users which would reduce the demand on CNN/ireport staff. Since reporting violations rarely makes a difference where it could, people are allowed to go beyond the discussion or topic as well as harass members.
@AlunHill What would you work on there? What collaboration ideas can you cobble?
I might be going to London so you might have to show me around! I might need it. Specifically, I am looking for good places to stay.
See, I can already see the benefit of geographical linking. What can people of the same geography lend to each other?
@zdan For sure! Illinois! Represent! haha
OnCNN should have nothing to do with newsiest. Not everyone is interested in what's OnCNN! Therefore, it's not an indicator if it doesn't generate interest!
yes Alun I do that too..LOL
I hope you don't take offense of what I just said to u OCGirl, and I will read your posts just to give u more views and I can understand your offense
@KyleHD -- A get together, or series of get togethers is a good idea, and one we'd love to do. We'll have to revisit that soon.
nicole, I think newsiest posts are ones that generate interest, no matter the topic. that's just my opinion.
#1 criteria: views
#2 number of commenters
I do see lette's point if it sparks debate, it may be more newsworthy, but if two people debate for an hour, that may not really mean it is newsworthy, so I stand by my opinion that commenters should weigh heavier than total comments.
@djhighnote We feel like comments are an important part of the discussion on iReport, so I don't think we're going to have a requirement that people post iReports in order to comment. However, you do have a good point, and we encourage everyone to submit iReports to talk about the news and issues of the day instead of just leaving comments.
I like to see "On CNN" up on a board and not have to click on the tab for it
nsaidi...lemme know if u ever get to toronto...we'll take u for POUTINE & BEAVERTAILS...lol
@everyone
So ... what else can we do besides changing newsiest? Ideas?@Spontaneous and @gilldreams: the times are all relative so it should not matter what time zone you are in. One hour ago means one hour since a story was posted. After 24 hours the units of measure shifts to number of days.
As always I'm late
What did I miss?
Tyson Since you're the techie, any chance of expanding the 100MB limit to the upload? Also, I'd like to add a table to some of my reports, but that function doesn't seem to work in the iReport HTML editor. Is there a guide anywhere?
@djhighnotes -- I can understand why you feel that way, but comments are an important part of the conversation. In fact, you can't really have a conversation without them.
We don't want to exclude people who either can't post iReports for technical reasons, or don't want to post for their own reasons.
Hi everyone..sorry I'm late. Just had a Mother's Day picnic with my son at his school. It was great!
@tyson..I agree with the others about the comments. I see that I don't make my views go up when I hit on my link, so when I make a comment on my own post it should not count either. Just my 2 cents.
Now that's interesting what does the blue highlight mean?
Yes Rose, but others may be intrigued by a two person debate even if they don't jump in.
@zdan
Cab you add the list of who is following you?
Thanks pbethany
@PapaK The blue badge indicates iReport Team members.
Hi there, everybody.
I think if iReport incorporates a chat system to the site, many folks will be able to use that for chatting instead of posting comments that are not related to the story. This could help solve the problem of multiple unrelated comments messing up the newsiest/superstar calculations.
-TCG
was wondering howmany post i've viewed @davidw
zdan, on the "Superstar" board, some people haven't posted for weeks and months, is this refreshed weekly. I didn't know. Thanks
@Ewillies That sounds like a great idea!
@ EWillies1961 Great idea!
I notice the video posts are totally different the the written ones...They should be in separate catagories..
@Kylehd I agree it also lets us see different views of the world and how this region feels about something opposed to another region, like when the attacks were made on the Taj Mahal. It would of been interesting to see the view of it over there compared to here (in America, don't you think
@thecoolguy I suggested that too! they said they are working on something more user friendly! :)
I had a suggestion about somehow being able to follow specific threads. I normally view the latest but usually follow specific threads, is there a way to mark certain threads, while on line so you can automatically go back to?
How can you stop people from chatting TCG?
@rosehips So you've brought up an interesting point. A newsiest post draws a variety of people and not just individuals. I do think that variables of that sort, taking into account the number of individuals and unique users, could be one valuable part of the equation.
personlly, no offense to ewillies, I prefer to keep the followers list anonymous. I just think some people don't want you to know they are following you and I don't necessarily want everyone I follow to know. Not a big deal to me though.
I don't want to know the names of people following me and some are shy and don't want you to know either (privacy??)
@Spon - The Superstar board is automatically updated each week. Good question!
Your own comment should count! Individuals are debating YOU on YOUR views. YOU are very relevant and YOUR comments are an integral part of the conversation!
Okay another idea. Can you give two different account options for users? One to be an "iReporter" with full benefits which would include superstar rating potential but must keep up a quota of monthly submitted iReports. The other option would be to be only a commenter.
It has been talked about before what defines chat vs conversation about the topic on the post..sometimes they run into each other..so what..who cares as long as there is good healthy dialogue..the ireports that are the best have the most diverse conversations going on..or should I say dialogue..it's great..if you start dictating to people what they can and cannot do on an ireport in the comments section you will just lose period..
@Tyson
Good point - hmm!
The comments last week on "tags" should help CNN's producers - I learnt from that!
So "newsiest" needs to be highly weighted on views comments - and the iReport team copy tasting (do you call it that in the US!)
Alun
If the newiest is based on comments then it will turn into chat time on most posts
Another Techie question that's come up before. Any word on expanding the recently viewed list?
I can see the privacy issue!
@Margot707,
I'm flattered you consider me a "techie," but the real brains behind this operation is our talented developers!
But yes, we are considering expanding our size limitations beyond 100MB. What size do you think would be helpful?
And your right, we don't offer much help creating a table in our html editor. Something for us to consider. We used to have free-flowing html on the site, but it got a little unwieldy.
yes nicole, I think the wider the appeal the better. If a greater amount of viewers take the time to comment, I think that indicates more interest and thus is more newsiest.
sorry lette, I see your point, but just disagree. ;-)
@davidw..a video and a photo tab would be an idea to consider.
We should ONLY have ONE account
I don't see too many posts these days where people are just chatting!
@yorksnbeans -- We are looking at a reputation system that's a little bit more informative and interesting than "Superstar" and "Not Superstar," but we haven't decided on a format.
Does anyone have any suggestions. Are there sites we should be looking at for inspiration?
Oh gosh, I do Lette
@Spontaneous We don't currently show the names of iReporters who are following or being followed, but I'm curious to hear what people think about doing that.
@AlunHill,
copy tasting, never heard of it mate.
No problem Rose! It's cool!
@MelissaF - The photo and video tabs are an interesting thought. It'd help us sort different types of media.
I don't like that lila. That should be private I think. You usually know who follows you by who posts comments on a norm
The only problem I have with news from different parts of the world is the translation.
nobody really knows what will happen when they put an ireport out there..sometimes people flock to it and other times mabye one comment ..you never can predict what will happen.
What is a newsiest event to one person could be utter nonsense to someone else.
Is there a criterier for newsiest in the comments section? No I don't think so and I hope there never is. Keep it real ..if you start telling people what to do they will just simply leave. This has become a borderline elementary school level site lately and gee we are all adults right??
Well there was one child under 13yrs old and stated he was only 12 yrs old..he made videos and made it to onCNN as well..how is this possible if the age is 13 yrs.of age?? just asking
@staff I love the tweet sharing b/c I had to do it manually all the time on my account..and sometimes that site is soooo slooowww!
David - that wasn't what I was referring to. I was commenting on the two different types of accounts. One would hold more benefits of the other. Why should someone who only comments be a superstar??
@ tyson excellent if you expand the size limitation past 100MB. I'd like to see it as high as you can go. I hate compressing my vids down at the expense of the quality of the video. Allowing for larger files would be awsome!
@lila for as long as I've been on iReport, I just noticed the following feature this morning...haha....i think it would be nice to know who is following you and has an interest in your reports.
i don't like it either spont...someone might be offended if they see i don't "follow" them
Then we will start having posts "You Follow Her But Not Me, I thought you were my friend"!! :-)
I guess I don't get around enough Spontaneous! ;-)
@gilldreams -- That iReport was posted by the children's parents, so it was okay under our terms of use.
As a compromise you could allow the iReporter and the iReporter only to see who is following him/her. That way others cannot see who others are following.
hehe, I don't either but it seems to never fail, when I look it's mostly chatting. "LOL" is not a comment (for the most part)
being followed? sounds like stalking. I wouldn't mind a method of some sort while I'm logged in to be able to follow certain threads.
@zdan..I think you need to look at the CNN.com/video website to get the idea of how they have categorized their stuff..they reorganized it and it's great!
Tyson Some of my videos run just over the 100MB mark - 105-112MB, so 125 MB would help for now. What I was getting at, was a listing somewhere of the HTML codes iReports does allow. I created a report with a table and it came out looking like garbage.
@Tyson
Ah, sorry!
English journalism - sorry, British journalism, term!
Seeing reports (press releases, news, ideas) as they come into a newsroom and "tasting" what's newsworthy!
A bit like you and your colleagues do with the iReports which get a'twitttered / tweeted (whatever!).
Alun
ok thanks David..
also I have according to the new profile stats..37 followers...people following me..I have no idea who they are at all..that is a bit weird..
Any way of seeing in the future who is following us around?? I don't post all that much so it is strange to me to see that many followers
I still think it should be private EWillies1961. Some could copy and paste that and post it, etc.
Um... so what kinds of interests do you see on iReport.com? What kinds of things do people like to cover?
well it was a pleasure again, I've got to run and try to get under someone's skin. I'm a virus I'm not happy unless I'm making someone irritated.
I feel out of place here. I think I'm the only one who isn't a superstar! :-)
@Ewillies1961 has a good idea! I think it would be at least just for the iReporter to know who is following them.
till next week all.
@Rosehips & Margot707,
Would 200MB be enough?
I will un-follow if it is shown who follows, sorry (just me)
i'm out, guys! gotta work on a project. :) thanks for coming!
York you can have my star. I bestow my star upon york.
I agree, I would hope that the followers remain private.. Just having the number up is enough..
@nsaidi..I love covering politics!! (and condoms...lol)
lila, in case my comment re: following was lost...I don't like the idea of listing who is following you. I think keeping it anonymous is better. I don't really want everyone I am following to know it. I don't know why. I don't stalk anyone but just wish to follow anonymously. I think more people will follow me if I don't know their identity. again, not really a big concern for me though...
Following you just means their interested in your stories. I don't want to know who's following me. I'm only following 8 people and 2 are banned, 1 self-deactivated, so hey... no big deal!
@Spontaneous
But you would not know if it is made up or not if it is copy/pasted.
Yorks That's because you deactivated and came back to life!
Everyone is important to me. Superstar or not. It's not a competition to me.
tyson 200MB would be awesome!
Now we get complaints of people having a super star status? I said at the very first roundtable..get rid of all the stars including these superstars..they cause problems..people's egos get out of wack and their behavior becomes really disgusting...
Find some other form of reward system get rid of the stars..this is not Hollywood!
tyson, 200mb would probably be enough. I don't think longer videos are really of much interest, but sometimes I need to edit way down to make them upload. 300MB would be even better!
nsaidi...someone recently did a report about a trainride and we got to see the actual train rooms...i like that cause i can see something OTHER than they put in a pamphlet
Thanks rosehips
@Yorks
You are a superstar in my eyes. But I am not following you. :)
@gilldreams...hmm...I wonder who you are talking about?!?..lol
I lost my star too..It's according to activity on the site and I have been busy a lot off site..And so lost it..doesn't matter really..
Hey everybody - thanks for a good chat and great ideas as always. See you next week!
If names are added to the following feature, it would become like the "friends with" feature on Facebook. Do we want that?
@MelissaF perhaps we can work out a condoms section. Or not.
But OK, politics is one hot topic! People would go to that. What would you want to do on a politics iReport page, or see? This is purely hypothetical; just thinking through an idea here.
I agree with djhighnote, there are too many people with multiple accounts (personalities) that use their fake accounts (those with no content) to anonymous blast others.
Wow, that's not nice. Superstars don't cause problems. Single people out, don't put all in the box. Just my opinion
Take care everyone, thanks for the suggestions.
I will give my star away too...PapaK you might have a good idea there..Super Star give away!!
@everyone -- Thanks for another interesting meeting.
We'll talk to y'all soon.
Thanks CNN as usual. Thanks for removing the ratings (please keep away). We love you!! :-)
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. See ya next week.
Well I was just telling my husband what we are doing here and he just told me I am his super star...LOL
@sintheeesize That's so cool! We love it when people share a personal story or let us see something you can't find anywhere else. What else would we like to see?
David What is the formula for the super star ranking? I promised to ask for some one who couldn't be here.
Bye everyone! All you mom's, I hope you have a great Mother's Day!!!!!
See you all next week. Glad everyone seems to enjoy the new features.
well this round table was very interesting and if someone had been attacked i can tell you all about it and is me and others but i am back and i will never let anyone get to me as before,
so hope people that are being bullied take me as an example of trying hard to face the attacks and ignore them thank you all thanks davidw and all of you see you next time
I have 44 followers and I follow 47. Wow! I looked at some others on the superstar grid and they hardly follow anyone. It made me feel like less of a narcissist. lol.
gill, I follow you, but you don't post much. ;-)
nsaidi...more artists and their work?
Well I was just kidding about the condoms section. Context, context. Gotta go now, but I'll see you next week! Let's be in touch. And let me know if you want to video chat!
@nsaidi..lol..a Political Debate Page..most of my pieces are political..I would rather see a political page vs. all the shows to contribute it too..because for example, my This is a Condom piece was just for HLN views, but would have been great for any show. I feel that maybe if you tag it just for HLN that Anderson or The Situation Room don't even look at it. Do you know if this is true???
Hey peeps! Shouting out to y'all from London.
What's a superstar iReporter?
The top members on iReport.com are called superstars. How do we decide who makes the cut? It's all in the math. The site tallies members' contributions, ratings, popularity and site activity, and gives the "superstar" badge to the members whose scores are in the top 20 percent every week. Got an idea for another way to highlight the site's top iReporters?
Honestly, I haven't kept up with all the comments, so if this was already discussed or answered I apologize.
I always thought it was kind of silly that the ireporter who posts a report...as they comment, thanking others for their comments, or debating.....that their own comments count in the tally....I think they shouldn't.
Personally there are a lot reports, mine included that have a high comment count...but a good percentage belong to the original poster...
JoyfulGypsy I agree with djhighnote, there are too many people with multiple accounts (personalities) that use their fake accounts (those with no content) to anonymous blast others.
YES and now the star ratings are gone they can no longer rush from id to id to give themselve tons of star ratings...it's great !!
I will auction my superstar status for charity! let's see what will the money go to? hmmm...i'll think on that. lol.
@Spontaneous -- Thanks for looking that up for me. You're faster than I am. It will be interesting to see how the formula works now that we don't have ratings. We'll probably have to revisit it.
@Spontaneous, I did not think about preventing chatting in the comments area, but if a real chat system is provided it would probably encourage chatters to do it in the proper place and therefore stop cluttering the story with unrelated comments.
Everyone gets "attacked" from time to time. Move on, ignore it. This site isn't for everyone
@thecoolguy -- That's a good idea, and something we should look into.
I have to go now, take care everybody.
shout out back @maddogza
No problem davidw. Here to help :-)
maddog, what a jetsetter you are! I'm jealous...
I agree thecoolguy, thanks
@hhanks...Henry I am going to send you a clock with est and pst time...lol..give me your address at CNN!!
I removed my following. I can look you up.
blabbs, we did address that and many of us agree with you! surprised? ;-)
If you change the pattern of dialogue in a post then it will lose it's natural flow of conversation that is going on amoung more than just one or two people..the topic gets put on hold for a bit then it picks up again..some of the best debates on ireport have been like this..with nobody getting offended or flagging or crying to cnn to delete comments...Let people be people..
@maddogza
You get around more than me - giggle!
Alun
The one-star bandit rosehips, he and she are homeless!!
I'm totally loving the new info we have on our profiles, but I think the next step in terms of technical changes is revising the user ranking system. I have noticed that a few of the top "superstars," at any given point in time, have never had any of their reports approved for CNN. I perceive that site activity is heavily considered, but I think we should have different categories for all-time acheivements and etc... I wish I could have a badge, as I believe my stats and effort warrant it!
thank you david, nicole, et al. It was a good discussion.
ocgirl seems to have closed her account. Too sad.
Everyone - dltbgyd. Nil carborundum, etc!
Never let the idiots win.
Alun
lol spon...well I doubt my star will generate much. but maybe that bandit can get a hot shower or something. lol.
don't know if my response took to spon..
spon, lol...I don't think my star will generate much, but maybe that bandit can get a hot shower. lol.
MelissaF @gilldreams...hmm...I wonder who you are talking about?!?..lol
I am not talking about the people I am talking about the stars..super stars themselves..not the human beings..geez...talking about where ever the shoe fits..nobody in particular..I could care less about a superstar status..I don't have a need for it..
oh there it is..whoops
Giggles right back @ AlunHill and rosehips...
Sorry I only caught the end of this discussion, but I'm out! Gotta catch some nice British TV, and then it's off to bed to rid myself of the jetty lag. Saw a lady with a mask at Heathrow this morning! Swine Flu panic!
-Trevor
Very funny rosehips :-))
missed the whole thing but the changes are great! how nice to see a responsive team on a site that gets so many hits from all over the world. I love this place. today I tracked the progress of the fires in Sanata Barbara- Unfortunately good freinds lost their home- but just say the blog on that from Montecito.
I agre with hte idea of "pages" tabs or whatever instead of or in addiotn to tags. to go to posts we are most intersted in.
Thanks
NERAnger
GREAT Changes!!! I second or third the end to the superstar as well, nicely done Ireport team!!
I think the changes are fantastic..I do have one suggestion though, when anyone views your report, it counts as one view even if they view it several times, so, when someone comments on their own report, it only seems fair that only one of theire comments should count, some comment over and over and over again therefore upping the comment count.
My question was never answered.
ireporttwo don´t worry mine either they are busy arranging the web
the laws acainst hemp/marijuana,were a collaboration of w.r.hearst,the duponts,and other friends of adolph hitler,directly involving goebbels,hitlers propaganda minister.It was done so that petrochemical plastics,petroleum products,and haersts vood pulp paper could monopolise the world.the marijuana tax stamp act was copied from the machine gun stamp act as marijuana was froven not harmful in any way.racism against blacks,mexicans was used as well.hemp is a truly clean fuel,lubricant,fabrics,rope,medicine,food.we almost lost ww2 thanks to the nazis millionaife friends here.see hemp for victory.ww2
I think the changes are fantastic..I do have one suggestion though, when anyone views your report, it counts as one view even if they view it several times, so, when someone comments on their own report, it only seems fair that only one of theire comments should count, some comment over and over and over again therefore upping the comment count.
Hi, where are all our comments?
Strange....I missed the meeting, but I thought I could come here and see what it was about.
Yes it looks like they have removed the entire roundtable meeting..wonder why???
I commented early this morning and that comment is gone.
Hi Dave, I think the promotion of photography, the cities we live in would be good for the iReport community.
The comments keep disappearing on here, try 3.
where are all the comments from the May 7th 2:30 pm roundtable meeting?? I cannot see them anywhere..