Between the PA and Puerto Rico primaries, there's a lot of time where things can happen. There is danger that those on the left can drift apart as the primary fight gets hotter.
I want to be sure that our writers know that articles supporting both candidates are welcome here. I make this statement because I'm getting complaints from Hillary supporters that OpEdNEws has taken sides. The fact is, we don't usually solicit articles, but almost all the commentary coming in on the Democratic primary are coming in pro- Obama. So I am specifically inviting Pro Hillary writers to post articles in support of Hillary, making it clear that there is a place here for them, as well as articles supporting Obama, McKinney, Paul, Nader, Gravel and even McCain. We're a non-profit site and have to remain open. Of course, we do encourage comments, if you disagree with any article supporting any candidate. That's a major way we keep things balanced.
Since I last wrote to you, the writers on OpEdNews, we've added a whole batch of new features:
First the one you'll probably like the most:
-we've doubled the number of characters you're allowed to use for your bio. The old limit was decided when we were using a much smaller website hosting solution. I'm glad to take it up to 4000 characters-- about 700-850 words, not including any html you use. If you decide to expand your bio, please consider adding an image to your profile too.
-new front page with new top banner collage image and new improved navigation drop-down menus. This new look is more polished and more functional.
-Description bubbles; we removed the descriptions from headline articles and you see them when you mouse over the titles now in bubbles. We'll be adding bubbles in other parts of the site too, for example, tying them to help icons.
-we've added a masthead crediting our volunteer editors. It's database driven, so editors are automatically added as they are promoted. We're up to about 35 volunteer editors now and could use more. Drop me a note if you're interested. All we ask is an hour a week, on most weeks. That's why we need more.
-ability to block messages from unwanted senders and we get to see the unwanted message (spam, threats, abusive messages are all considered unacceptable and reason to be banned from the site.)
And we have, as usual, a lot more new features planned.
The next one to go live will be events and calendars. Each tag page, each locale, each member will have their own events and calendars. You'll be able to select an event and add it to your calendar. You'll be able to add events as an individual or as a group.
Then, we're making our site-search smarter and deeper, adding search within search, so you can drill down into our database of close to 60,000 articles, diaries and quicklinks, first searching by one parameter, then by another, then another. So, for example, if you search for IMPEACHMENT, then, within that set of results for CHENEY, then within that set, for a specific author, say, David Swanson, you'll be able to find all the articles by David Swanson mentioning cheney and impeachment.
Combination/Directory and subdirectory level Inside Pages and RSS feeds currently, there are no inside pages that represent directory and sub-directory levels which include all the tags at and below the directory level. We're building these so people can subscribe to RSS feeds for broader categories of information. We'll be working with another site that will be offering our content to major news outlets and these RSS feeds are what they need.
Text to Voice Conversion of all articles; we're working with a third party company to enable people to listen to all our articles- on their computer or Iphone.
Poll creation and taking: We've been wanting to do this for a long time and we'll have it soon. You'll be able to create a standalone poll or a poll that's included in your article. Site members will be able to take the poll and we'll add all the polls you take to your member archive. Since we require age, gender, zip and state for all members, we'll be able to offer demographics for the polls. Now, there are other optional demographic questions we ask, and we'll be adding more. If you've filled in those demographics, you'll be able to see the additional demographics as well. Refuse to fill them in and you won't be able to see them. We call it "you show me yours I'll show you mine" techology.
We plan to create some polls that all members are asked to take. Then, we'll match people up on how they responded to those 10 or 20 polls. You'll be able to see where you stand on certain issues in relation to the other person. You'll be able to go to another member's page and see how you match up poll-wise. We'll also, eventually be adding privacy controls, so this may only work for certain polls for certain people.
We're always fine-tuning and tweaking, adding minor fixes and upgrades. Many of them are designed for managing the operations of the site-- editing functions, article management, etc.
Volunteer registration and Control Panel: fields that make it easier for members to volunteer, to specify their interests in what kind of articles they want to work on if they want to accept article assignments.
Editor Bulletin Board: To help editors share information, discuss articles under evaluation, etc. We've considered adding bulletin boards for general members, but are concerned about not having the resources for effectively moderating them. So far, we're convinced that they are not the way we want to go.
Of course, we have close to 100 other upgrades on our to-do list, but these are the near term ones we hope to get up and running in the next three months.
Are there any features you've seen on other sites, or that you've envisioned that you'd like on OpEdNEws? Drop me an email to describe it.
Now, you didn't think I was going to send out an email blast without a call for funding support, did you? This year, we don't have any foundation grant support. We are depending entirely upon reader/writer/member support. And we're behind this month. So please, take a moment to send in what you can.
thanks for all you do,
rob kall
