ER Daily News Family Huddle

[Melissa G]

Hi All,
We currently have 3-4 open slots for ER news editors. We have not had much interest, and the interest that was previously expressed did not materialize. So.... Brain storm time.

Brain storm #1

John Gideon of voter's unite has given us permission to repost the DVN version of the news. That could save a lot of time and energy. Someone could post John's work and the rest of us just K&R and add more links if we were so inclined.

Any thoughts or more brain storms?

[FogerRox]

1. JOhn does some good work.

[Melissa G]

2. Hey, Foger! What do you think about shortening our work hours

and reposting John? :hi:

[FogerRox]

14. Sure that works, but

How about a special edition once in a while, in addition to Johns reposting. A Special Edition, is a one shot deal, the author is not committing to a long term thing.

SO we can all be "Freelance ERD Editors" at our leisure.

[EFerrari]

19. A random Special Edition? That would keep people checking in.

A variation: on Sundays, there may be 15 or so new stories. That could also be a day to post the best of ER news in a low stress way although it would tie somebody/bodies down to that day.

I love posting on Sunday vs weekdays because there's a little more room to pick and hunt and chose.

[Wilms]

3. I've been wondering about abandoning the daily and posting news stories as threads.

It could sponsor discussion.

[Melissa G]

5. The downside of that is I personally find most of my good posts by searching for the news

Anything I think of as particularly good, I pull out as a separate post. Also discussion has been a bit thin around here lately. I'm not sure individual posts will make it to greatest,
so we would no longer be getting the news out...

Still it's a possibility to be thrown in the pot. Others might have different experiences.
So Brain storm #2: Ditch Daily News. Repost articles as individual threads more.

[EFerrari]

6. Or, we could take a vacation to think and regroup.

Our ERD is usually the most comprehensive compilation on the net, as far as I can tell. John is GREAT and electionline is also GREAT and usually our editors build on their work.

Maybe we should just take June off or something and rest, recoup and let people check in with ideas if they want to - while posting stories as Wilms suggests. (The funny thing is, sometimes it's not the story itself that is worth noting but a detail in the story that really pays off.)

The traffic in this forum will increase as we get closer to November -- I think we can predict that, anyway. Imho, we need to be keeping an eye on where we're going.

[Melissa G]

7. Vacation hmmm ...What do other editors think? n/t

[EFerrari]

4. I can see the argument for going either way. But,

maybe if the ERD highlighted the campaign topic of the moment in some way, it would be more sexy to DUers?

We're heading into Summer now and, iirc, that's a sort of slow time?

[kpete]

8. i love all of you

you are tireless

I will post whenever I find anything of interest - just can't commit to a specific time or day.

I will k&r and shout and scream and await further instructions

kp

[Melissa G]

9. We Love You too, kpete!

You utterly rock! :yourock: :grouphug:

[EFerrari]

10. You're the best, kpete!

:loveya:

[Melissa G]

11. Kickin for more editor input...

Another possible choice is to just do ER News every other day. John Gideon often does that.

[livvy]

12. I think every other day is a good idea as well as posting more election '08 stuff...

at least through the campaign season.

As far as the idea for every other day, I like this because it would make it easier to find articles to post. There are some Saturdays that it takes me forever trying to find articles of interest that haven't already been posted the previous day or two. I don't know if it is just because it's the weekend, or if I need to improve my searchin' skills, or maybe I'm just a slow poster. Don't know, but I do know it takes me a few hours on Saturdays.

I know this is the election reform thread, but it is also related news. I think the election of '08 fits, plus it could be a great way to compile all the different election news, and hopefully draw more interest to the election reform aspect as well. Folks perusing the election news might stop to read the reform posts as well.

[Melissa G]

16. Is every other day the way folks want to go? We might be able to also do

rotating teams for days.

[EFerrari]

17. That would be fine with me.

:)

[EFerrari]

27. Posting stories related to the election will be easier once

we have a candidate, for sure, and even before then, there's a ton of articles that think about the election without being partisan for Clinton or Obama, that are about process and that people might like to read. :hi:

[flashl]

13. If you have the energy to teach me, I am willing to learn. nt

[Melissa G]

15. Woot! flashl!!!!!

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
We got plenty of energy here!!! Having you with us would be wonderful! I'll PM you in just a bit!
:yourock:

[EFerrari]

18. Thanks, flashl! Bookmark this thread because anyone on it

can answer questions when they pop up. Wilms showed me how but once I started posting, I needed to pm and ask about stuff that came up mid-posting. :hi:

[flashl]

23. Thanks. nt

[Melissa G]

20. OK, let's look at our current schedule...

The amazing tbyg52 does Monday and leaves very little to pick up on Tuesday, so if she is willing to continue we could skip Tuesday. flashl could pick up Wednesday with help from me until flashl is rolling comfortably along. Skip Thursday, which the lovely sfexpat has been doing double duty on. Friday needs a home. livvy has been covering Saturdays and sfexpat has been covering Sundays.

So to sum up if everyone else wants to continue as is, there is a hole on Th- Fri and coverage for both Sat and Sunday.

IMHO,Sunday is the better weekend day to cover, having done all days at one time or another. Friday afternoon is news dump day, where they bury all kinds of stuff they wanna hide. So if we leave Friday open Saturday could be OK, but if the point is to get the news out, I imagine more folks read DU on Friday than Saturday and having Th and Fri both open is a big hole.

I'm remembering that livvy was only available on Sat though... Is that correct, or was it just weekends?

So livvy and sfexpat... what say you? any other interested party comments?

I would be available to back folks up which would be useful come the summer holidays.

[livvy]

21. I can do either weekend day.

From June 14 to the end of August, any day is fine, but from August to June, only the weekend will work.

[Melissa G]

22. OK summer flexibility for livvy, but weekends only later

It looks like we can do the Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday scenario at least through the summer.

Let's see what sfexpat says.

[EFerrari]

24. I'll be happy to do Friday and if livvy needs week-end back up

I can pitch in then. Do we have a convoy? :hi:

[Melissa G]

25. Sounds like we do! Let's Roll with this new schedule. If livvy

is up to Sundays, we can start next week. Beth can do today or not, as it suits her. tbyg can catch us up on Monday if today is missing. Yea team!!! :bounce: :hi:

[EFerrari]

26. I have to walk Miss Kid, and then put up the thread.

'Way to make things work, Melissa G and my fellow ER news editors! :applause: :loveya: :applause:

[livvy]

28. Works for me. I will start next Sunday.

Love teamwork!