The City Scoop-June 29, 2007 Discussion & Feedback
By
13th_Stranger,
Posted on: 2007-06-29 24:14 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Yeah. 19 across is really tough.
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Mantid seems to have taken off for the day, so it's probably not going to get fixed for a few.
Just so you guys know we're aware that the e-mailed version isn't quite final.
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I'm back and it should be fixed. >.<
I'm just happy I contributed something.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
first off: anybody notice any weird spacing settings in some of the articles? Main example i can think of is in LadyK's article, the word "puberty" has like 6 spaces on either side. Seemed to bring it out more. I know this could just be my settings, was just curious if anybody else noticed this.
secondly: while I agree with Lemur's goals about the i10 beta article, it did seem to have just a touch of the.. hell.. what's the word.. "uppityness?" (not the word i'm after, just can't think of anything else atm) about being in beta. I like the background info, but it kind of just seems like "i know this" instead of sort of doing interviews kind of thing.
I know, i know i'm not making much sense. I just think it may have come off more down to earth-related to everyday person-ish if maybe the info about what was changed came from an "anonymous source"?
meh. good article, none the less.
@Death Conqueror
-Goal for 2011: Survive, stay alive, and continue to thrive.
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first off: anybody notice any weird spacing settings in some of the articles? Main example i can think of is in LadyK's article, the word "puberty" has like 6 spaces on either side. Seemed to bring it out more. I know this could just be my settings, was just curious if anybody else noticed this.
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Yeah, that's the ugly side of justification. We can go with the saw tooth look or the squared off look... which doesn't always look so nice on the sides. 
Newspapers have done justified margins for a long time, though. The idea is to make a nice even column on both sides, which means "big and complicated" words are going to, well, complicate things.
Look at modern newspapers and you'll see it still, and sometimes, they even break the word causing the trouble up ("l i k e t h i s"; usually if it's a one or two word line).
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Web browsers don't do justified text well...at all...
If you know exactly how many words are going to be on the same line, you can alle- viate pro- blems by add- ing in hyph- en- ation here and there.
Thanks for Menitong Breast Cancer Awarness weeK!
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Newspapers have done justified margins for a long time, though. The idea is to make a nice even column on both sides, which means "big and complicated" words are going to, well, complicate things.
Look at modern newspapers and you'll see it still, and sometimes, they even break the word causing the trouble up ("l i k e t h i s"; usually if it's a one or two word line).
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Newspapers also have a full page width to work with. Even with html activated, we're limited by that little column on the left. That limits our options when it comes to columns. Even a real paper would run into the same problems if they ran such a narrow width.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Not only that, but a real newspaper knows that every paper will be printed with the same technology paper and ink and displayed in the same dimensions with the same font.
Yup, they spend literally months coming up with a specific set of formats and rule they will use ahead of time. Hope it doesn't make anyone feel bad to know that we're doing this Live and they're the guinea pigs, because that's really the easiest way to test our limits and find out what people like.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Couple things to say here about the city scoop so far... GREAT JOB is #1. As far as i know... this is all amateur work, so getting it done on a deadline for no pay is a friggin astonishment to me. Much kudos for your dedication to the community.
and #2.... I <3 Psoma!! Infinity server FTWz!! WTG! 
Great Job again guys, keep up the good work!
Rin lvl 50 Earth/FF
Kid Firekin lvl 50 Fire/Kin
Kid Spikes lvl 50 Spines/Regen
Bluski lvl 50 Ice/EM
Holds lvl 50 Fire/Rad
Kin Vendetta lvl 50 Kin/Psi
BIuski lvl 50 Rad/Psi
3dge lvl 42 BS/Regen
Now that the other thread is duly locked, I wanted to say one more thing here.
I just find it funny that people seem to think we didn't know Lord Stryker's rep before we ran the interview.
Of course we did. That's part of the point. Famous, infamous, or unfamous we're trying to be somewhat representative of most viewpoints, including people with a reputation for causing problems.
Some folks can't seem to make up their minds whether they want us to include everyone, or just their version of everyone.
I also see a huge rush to judgement. According to some, the entire concept of the publication is trash simply because it's been 7 issues and we haven't decided to interview them yet. 7 issues at about 4 people per issue is 32 people. Out of over 120,000. And we're a bunch of stuck up snobs with an agenda against Freedom server because we haven't gotten to them yet. Sorry, no, don't agree with that. This is not Behind the Mask Weekly. It's a great feature but it's not the core of the piece.
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
This is hardly the place to get into a debate on the purpose of Behind the Mask, Lemur, so I'm not going to question why we sought someone so infamous, if that was the purpose.
An appropriate question would be, "What do the readers think Behind the Mask should be?"
Because right now, it seems as if our purposes and the reader's expectations aren't lining up.
I'm just going based on things Teldon has told me before. In the end, it's his piece to put up as he pleases, and I think on the whole most people like it. They like it enough to want to be in it and to get jealous when other people are in it instead of them, at least 
"Null is as much an argument "for removing the cottage rule" as the moon being round is for buying tennis shoes." -Memphis Bill
Oh, good, it makes people jealous. Now all we have to do is charge 10,000,000 Influence for it and it will be working as intended. 
Seriously, though what do readers hope to see there? Famous people? Friends? Themselves? An interesting read regardless of the player?
<QR>
i got home from work- thread was locked--- few comments.. non flame worthy i hope...
1. hertz--- your on... i will try to come up with a piece for the next publication- that is tastefully written & on one of the issues mentioned on the freedom thread. whether you decide to publish or not will be up to you and your editors
2. what am i looking for in the behind the mask? interesting people that have done something for the server or have been around for a long time "famous people" as it were... (and hey lemur-- not ONCE did i ask to be interviewed for the behind the mask)
and i think... just for giggles.. i will post this ...
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...art=9&vc=1
so people who don't wander outta this section & have read your previous comments know what you are talking about...
"I don't wonda what Rose is like in RL, I just imagine she is a catgurl an' wish I could cyb0r wit her. "
- the legendary J-man
Silence!!! I kill you!
Excellent! I can't wait to see it!
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An appropriate question would be, "What do the readers think Behind the Mask should be?"
Because right now, it seems as if our purposes and the reader's expectations aren't lining up.
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IMO selecting people who actually contribute to their server Community in a meaningful manner (i.e. being one of the most respected instead of the most hated on their home server) would be more in line with a respectable publication. Choosing those who are known griefers, trolls, flame fest initiators and bottom feeders sets you up to look more like the Enquirer.
There have to be dozens of people on each Server who add to the game in a positive and meaningful way. Those are the kinds of people that deserve notice.
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An appropriate question would be, "What do the readers think Behind the Mask should be?"
Because right now, it seems as if our purposes and the reader's expectations aren't lining up.
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IMO selecting people who actually contribute to their server Community in a meaningful manner (i.e. being one of the most respected instead of the most hated on their home server) would be more in line with a respectable publication. Chosing those who are known griefers, trolls, flame fest initiators and bottom feeders sets you up to look more like the Enquirer.
There have to be dozens of people on each Server who add to the game in a positive and meaningful way. Those are the kinds of people that deserve notice.
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/signed
Then in one way or another, we failed. Either we failed to make it clear what the feature was meant to be, or we failed to tool that feature so it united the gamers instead of dividing them.
I'll bring it up with Teldon, and see if there isn't a better way to go about it just bear in mind that just because we seek to interview those people, there's no guarantee that they'll respond.
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I just find it funny that people seem to think we didn't know Lord Stryker's rep before we ran the interview.
Of course we did. That's part of the point. Famous, infamous, or unfamous we're trying to be somewhat representative of most viewpoints, including people with a reputation for causing problems.
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Proves my whole point right there.
1) If you knew who Stryker was when you interviewed him that means you've been purposefully ignoring all the other "famous" people on the servers. Which is EXACTLY the problem everyone (on freedom) seems to have.
2) I like how Lemur actually said "we" considering a lot of the excuses i've been reading have been "that is not our section"
Each one of them represents the newspaper, just like how each dev represents CoH. So now either Lemur looks foolish in all his other posts, or back tracks this statement making him look foolish then. Or a third option is to ghost edit his post, but I have it quoted, so that one is out.
I guess I shouldn't have avoided this for so long. Apologies. It just seems that I can't articulate what I mean some days so I tend to avoid things that could get flamey those days. Consider it a gift.
So, this whole interviewing certain people thing. Uhm, did any think that Teldon sent out requests for several different people to cover and he did the one who bothered to reply? That's what happens more often than not. For all the posts proclaiming how great Behind the Mask is, no one actually gets back to him when he sends the questions. Freakin weird, is what it is.
Second, on some things, there is a consensus about topics, other things not so much. See, I don't expect a vote for the horoscopes. I just pick a line from a huge list my little program spits out and that's that. And it's a real star chart program. PM me your DOB, time of birth and exact location and I'll try to get you a natal chart if you want.
Another thing, about covering people who are considered griefers. I'm so freakin sorry. I thought, and I was really hoping it would be that way, that by showing the person at the keyboard, by humanizing them, it would bring this whole touchy touchy feeling of community about. Y'know, "Hey, he's human too and there's actually something we have in common! OMG!"
Again, so sorry for being wrong about that. Really. Bipolar/PMS/whatever is gone now. This is sincere. Very sorry. And if that's not good enough, I really don't know what else to say other than write something and send it to Marcian or Hertz. Put your money where your mouth is.
I'd like to add that my article this week wasn't filler. At all.
What are you all insinuating?!
*runs off, mumbling assorted paranoid things*