It almost seems like this place is slowly dying....

All the enthusiasm and energy that was evident upon the launch of the site seems to have dissipated.

Only Marie and I seems to be "regular" posters, and I barely post anymore due to the lack of responses.

I truly love Mediascrape/IBC, and I am worried that its potential is not being fully exploited by those in the management/administration position. You have a fantastic concept here, and it is not being publicized to the extent that it should be.

What's going on!?

Either you are all hard at work, preparing for something big, or you are letting this wonderful site atrophy.

Last time I checked, there were a bit under 600 message board subscribers, there should have been thousands by now!!

I anxiously await some form of reply...and where is Tyler!? This is, after all, his brainchild!! :)

 

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"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there's a chance to contribute to the making of a better world." - Chomsky

Dear Mac,

Please carry on posting news. I really enjoy your intelligent analyses and comments.  I agree with you the site has got a lot of potential totally unexploited. I really enjoy my job and I wish I had more time to write more blogs about the stories I edit all day. I am editing fast and rarely have enough time to reflect on news content. There should also be a section called 'Facts in Context'. Some people might be interested to read more historical facts to help them understand particular situations.

At least you answered to Liana's last blog ... thank you! I did not have time to do that myself.... It gave a good insight of the situation of the Middle East. She seemed dead scared going into the Arab Zone!! I have got an amazing picture taken by my friend from last Peace March that took place in Montreal a few weeks ago. I shall ask the administrator for the rights to attach pictures to my blogs.

Internal News Ask Tyler. I don't know which direction the site is going at the moment.

The new navigation is smarter and I think we should start producing analyses of news content ourselves.

Please WRITE more. I ll be checking your blogs!!

Best,

Marie

Hi Marie.

I must say, I do love the mainpage's new layout.

It looks sharp, and is more intuitive than the previous one.

I will definately try to post more...I've always wanted to, but I thought I would just be talking to myself! ;-)

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"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there's a chance to contribute to the making of a better world." - Chomsky

Forgot to say...

...what happened to the "Statistics" section at the bottom of the message board?

I found it quite useful, it is coming back?

I hope so!

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"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there's a chance to contribute to the making of a better world." - Chomsky

Hopefully it should come back. I will ask about the statistics for you.
When did it go away? We should have a meeting soon to discuss further improvements to the site.
I will raise the issue then and by the way if you have more comments and ideas about how we could improve the website, please post a message here. I check the message board everyday. I don't always have time to write a lot as I am really busy editing the news most of the time.

Thank you

Marie

If memory serves me correctly, I believe the statistics and the "Most Active Users" disappeared when the frontpage got a facelift.

My only recommendation was this, however it is no longer an issue with the improved frontpage.

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"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there's a chance to contribute to the making of a better world." - Chomsky

Actually, I do have one thought.

Not really related to improving the functionality of the site, but increasing traffic towards the site.

If you can (I'm not sure how the copyrights work in IBC's case), you should start a YouTube account, and submit the 2-5 of the "most important" daily news clips. With over 20 million unique visitors per month, and all of them in the 18-45 demographic, it would be the IDEAL way to get more exposure for the site.

The best part is, at the moment, there is no one on YouTube who has focussed on the news niche. I've personally registered & secured a dozen or so accounts on YT with news-related usernames, because I see a lot of potential there, and was considering doing my own little broadcasts.

I notice someone from Canada has registered "IBCToday" username, hopefully it is someone that works for/with IBC.

Anyways, that is my idea! I don't know if it fits with the management's direction for the site, but might be worth mentioning ;-)

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"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there's a chance to contribute to the making of a better world." - Chomsky

Actually we have created an account recently. I agree with you YOUTUBE is highly popular. We could post an unusual but nonetheless interesting clip a day. We have so much to do here but we should definitely take the time to post more clips on Youtube.

Management agrees with that idea for sure.
I have a lot ideas in terms of editing news and content
We have to find new ways of driving traffic to the site... We thought about this one.
Thank you...

More comments and ideas are welcomed from everybody here.
I'll be writing more soon

Marie