The City Scoop! ~ Discussion ~ November 21, 2008

Vol. 2, Issue 24
November 21th, 2008

The City Scoop a publication for Supers by Supers!

Read the latest publication and then join in on the community discussion!

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PM Snow_Globe

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX

If you have a base you would like featured, please contact EnnVee

Finally if you have a Classified Ad or Recipe you would like included please contact: MistressNoire

ROFL for the Slow Loader cartoon!

Lol. Pretty funny comic this time

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the Lighthouse article should have started out "In Memoriam..." The guy's not dead, folks, he just moved on.

woot the comic at the bottom is back! i really missed that thing the last 2 weeks. lattice you are now officially never allowed to not make the comic again lol. seriously its like the sunday funnies for me in the newspaper i love them and its the first thing i always read in the scoop, not to say the rest of it isnt good either though. keep up the good work guys!

I can't believe that Lighthouse resigned. :\ Sorry to hear that and I hope whom ever takes his place can fill those rather large shoes.

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Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the Lighthouse article should have started out "In Memoriam..." The guy's not dead, folks, he just moved on.

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I would have thought the first sentence was very clear as to the meaning of the article:

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Last Friday the City of Heroes Community Relations Manager, Alex von Minden aka Lighthouse resigned.

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Lead stories are meant to get attention, but just reading the first line dispels the notion he died.

While the headline might (at the outside) be construed to mean that lighthouse was dead, the more likely explanation would be his office has been vacated or that he was somehow no longer with the Scoop (which truthfully he isn't dealing with the Scoop anymore).

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

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ROFL for the Slow Loader cartoon!

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Lol. Pretty funny comic this time

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woot the comic at the bottom is back! i really missed that thing the last 2 weeks. lattice you are now officially never allowed to not make the comic again lol. seriously its like the sunday funnies for me in the newspaper i love them and its the first thing i always read in the scoop, not to say the rest of it isnt good either though. keep up the good work guys!

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Thanks guys, glad you like them

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Lead stories are meant to get attention, but just reading the first line dispels the notion he died.

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I didn't mean to imply that you said he was dead, I only meant to say that the article is written as if he had died. I think a sidebar somewhere saying something like, "The staff of the City Scoop wishes to thank Alex von Minden and wish him well, blah blah blah" would have been altogether appropriate.

But the full front-page article, complete with Editor-in-Cheif weigh-in and sepia-tone photograph? Was that what he looked like in 1897 or something?

News would have been that he left. A scoop would have been that you found out where he was going. Full front-page news would have been that you found evidence that the PvP conspiracy theorists were right.

As it is, though, in my opinion, it comes off as extremely maudlin, borderline melodramatic. Plus, it's not exactly like there weren't plenty of other big news stories going on. Some off the top of my head probably worth covering were the Rikti invasion and its associated stories going on all week long without a single mention from the Scoop, mysterious Star Strider posts, and calls on various servers to destroy Rikti Drop Ships (!).

I would have also thought that Swiftwing winning a custom PC and other cool loot from the Create a Character contest would have made the radar. NCsoft and ATI give away $4,980.78 in prizes to City of Heroes players and there's nothing but deafening silence from a publication that calls itself the "City Scoop?" Maybe even a mention of a new developer taking on the mantle of Synapse would have been nice, or Ex Libris trying to smooth things over in a highly charged PvP community, or an ATI community rep making her presence known to field questions on our forums, or a chance for players to score costume codes in an upcoming contest (more than just a logo, like some actual story to go with it).

Not saying Alex shouldn't have been mentioned. Some folks probably missed his post and didn't know he had left. I liked the guy too, and I wished him well along with a few hundred other people in an altogether appropriate place. But come on, it was a job. One he was pretty good at, but did we really need a full front-page Lighthouse commemorative issue for something that you admit openly "isn't news to most of you?" As it is, I really think you guys dropped the ball on covering big news in this issue in favor of self-indulgent fluff.

I know firsthand how much you guys hate criticism, but I hope you will take something constructive from this and try to do better in the future. For what it's worth, though, I agree with the others that "Slow Loader" was the funniest yet. Kudos to Lattice for hitting a nice stride in the past few issues.

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The guy's not dead, folks, he just moved on.

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Oh no, he actually did die. He just got better.

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The guy's not dead, folks, he just moved on.

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Oh no, he actually did die. He just got better.

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Really? I heard a moose bit him. You don't just recover from moose bites, y'know.

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But the full front-page article, complete with Editor-in-Chief weigh-in and sepia-tone photograph? Was that what he looked like in 1897 or something?

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Ex Libris took that photo sometime around July 2007, and it was from a site that you know well. Maybe someone needs to find a better picture for it... I did search for a better picture. I even made the lighthouse pictograph.

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News would have been that he left. A scoop would have been that you found out where he was going. Full front-page news would have been that you found evidence that the PvP conspiracy theorists were right.

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Both Mantid and Myself are extremely busy with RL work (him)/school(myself) both Thursdays and Fridays. We've had a one week lead time since Jan 2008. We did not get any advanced notice, and the Scoop for the 14th was already done and awaiting Ex's availability for posting.

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As it is, though, in my opinion, it comes off as extremely maudlin, borderline melodramatic.

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Well he did help get the Scoop off the idea board and he was very supportive of the Scoop. Of course people that have been with the scoop since day one would be sad.

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Plus, it's not exactly like there weren't plenty of other big news stories going on. Some off the top of my head probably worth covering were the Rikti invasion and its associated stories going on all week long without a single mention from the Scoop, mysterious Star Strider posts, and calls on various servers to destroy Rikti Drop Ships (!).

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One week lead time. Add to that no one submitted anything to me (or any other Scoop member that I know of) about the Rage against the Rikti event. Had they given us an article with more than a week's notice, I would have gladly put it in.

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I would have also thought that Swiftwing winning a custom PC and other cool loot from the Create a Character contest would have made the radar. NCsoft and ATI give away $4,980.78 in prizes to City of Heroes players and there's nothing but deafening silence from a publication that calls itself the "City Scoop?" Maybe even a mention of a new developer taking on the mantle of Synapse would have been nice, or Ex Libris trying to smooth things over in a highly charged PvP community, or an ATI community rep making her presence known to field questions on our forums, or a chance for players to score costume codes in an upcoming contest (more than just a logo, like some actual story to go with it).

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All days before the Scoop went out. I repeat: one week lead time.

The PERC event was PM'd to me on the 17th (nearly 11pm my time). I got it early Tuesday. Zero chance of writing a story at that point. So I did the best I could for them, I included their poster, with a link to their event thread. Had they given us an article with more than a week's notice, I would have gladly put it in.

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One he was pretty good at, but did we really need a full front-page Lighthouse commemorative issue for something that you admit openly "isn't news to most of you?" As it is, I really think you guys dropped the ball on covering big news in this issue in favor of self-indulgent fluff.

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It was the most unique article submitted for this issue of the Scoop.

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I know firsthand how much you guys hate criticism, but I hope you will take something constructive from this and try to do better in the future. For what it's worth, though, I agree with the others that "Slow Loader" was the funniest yet. Kudos to Lattice for hitting a nice stride in the past few issues.

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Your criticism is based on your knowledge of how the Scoop ran last year, not how it is currently running.

We are down 5 Editor in Chiefs since starting, and I've actually managed to last longer in the post than all the others. I am constantly asked how can people join the Scoop, but they either don't come prepared with any idea whatsoever or if they do they tend only to last a few months before they stop submitting. Add to that the attrition of staff leaving due to real life issues or just quitting the game entirely.

If there were more submissions, we'd have a larger base of articles to choose from. You want the City Traveler to make a comeback in the Scoop? Submit it. Just know that it will be at least 1 week after submission before it makes its way into the Scoop.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

Thanks for all your hard work contributers; I know I rather have "The Scoop" than not. Great Issue, now c'mon peeps they need you!

Okay, here are some suggestions.

First, you guys need to document some kind of submission procedures and/or guidelines and publish them somewhere. This "send us stuff" policy is way too vague.

Second, you or someone else at the Scoop needs to be aware of stuff that's coming up. The Rikti invasion wasn't a secret, it has been announced for months. Also, the calendar is your friend. Browse the Player Events forum once a week. And, of course, read the Announcements, News, and Community and Developer digests. You probably do already, but start doing so with your Editor's hat on, thinking, "Hey, that's something that might be interesting to have a story about," or, "You know, I'll bet we can dig into this a little deeper."

Just glancing over those sources, if I were an Editor, I would see that there's a PvP event coming up that we might be able to squeeze into next issue if someone writes up the results. I can also see a couple of other events (1 2) that might make for interesting articles. Plus the Mr./Mrs. Paragon City/Rogue Isles contests on Protector, Triumph, Justice, and Guardian need coverage. There's also a villain-side Hami raid that might make for an interesting article. Also, I can see that Ex Libris has been hammering away at working with PvPers, and I'd consider dropping her a line for an interview or some quotes about what's been going on. Also, Virtue dropped 41 drop ships. That's huge. I'd try to write something up about it, maybe even tap Ara for a few quotes. It would be nice to have something said about Synapse and Sunstorm coming on board. Oh, and there's also the launch of the Mac client beta, it would be great to get some folks who are testing it to give their impressions. Looking at the wallpaper calendar I see that November 27 is the end of the First Rikti War. That would be interesting to write something about. Oh, and there's a little holiday this week that's rife with opportunity for a fluff article. (What are YOU thankful for, Paragon City?) Oh, and yesterday (Saturday) was Voltaic Shock's birthday, one of the founders of CoH Titan. Today is DumpleBerry's, long time forum poster. Tomorrow is Lighthouse's. Tuesday is DJ_Dazzler, of the PvPEC. Friday is Sleepy_Kitty's, long-time poster and Paragon Wiki administrator. Any of these might make great interview subjects. Ooh, I just noticed, a couple of PvP events worth mentioning happening this coming Friday, too!

All of that stuff took me around an hour to look up and write in one big paragraph. To actually post messages and send some e-mails might take another hour or so, and if even half of the stuff came through, it would be one kick-[censored] issue of the City Scoop next week that would get some folks who are undoubtedly a bit jaded more involved, and that's not even taking into account stuff that will undoubtedly come up Monday through Thursday this week.

Third, do some proactive recruiting. Post a message in upcoming event announcement threads saying that you would like an article about the event in the City Scoop and asking someone to volunteer to write it up. Trust me on this, if someone hears, "Please send articles to the City Scoop," you're not going to get anything. On the other hand, if someone sees a post saying, "We need someone to write up a short (200-500 word) article on taking down the drop ships on Virtue, and a picture or two would be nice," you're much more likely to get someone to spend a few minutes to write something up. Hell, I've read the thread, and there are some posts in there you could almost drop in unmodified. People love bragging about their endeavors. Use that!

Fourth, take some time to do some actual coverage. Drop PMs to Synapse and Sunstorm asking if you can ask them some questions about background, experience, and so on. (Or at least ask Ex Libris to relay the requests.) Don't sit around waiting for them to come to you. Ask Agent Ruby some questions over in her thread, or if you don't have the time, cull some of the answers she's already given and report on them. One thing I've considered that might be kind of cool, and I think was actually tossed around at one point, is a series of interviews with fan site owners, such as the Titan Network guys, the Badge-Hunter.com/VidiotMaps guys, the CoH Podcast people, some of the radio DJs from The Cape, Split Infinity, etc. Get out of the forum silo! As you probably know, it was announced that Tabula Rasa is shutting down, and being the same company and all, some people are concerned how or if it will affect City of Heroes. There was an interesting thread about this in the Player's Questions forum. Tap this curiosity and write up an editorial to calm folks down and mention that City of Heroes might be getting a few more players soon.

You can't just sit around and wait for the stories to come to you, you have to go to the stories. Drop some PMs. Ask some questions. Do some reading. Visit some other servers. Delegate stories out to other people. You don't have to take hours to do it, just a few minutes here and there.

Fifth, you guys really need to lose the "we need a week's lead time to cover stuff" line. Most events are announced, happen, and are over with within a week. You're busy. I get that. We're all busy. I spend at least a few hours a week working on the Paragon Wiki, Forums, and Taxibots sites, plus I have a pretty time-intensive job, plus (as hard as it is to believe) a life outside of CoH. I'm not asking that you write War and Peace every week, and I'm sure as heck not saying that one person should be doing it all. But I guess I really just don't see the big deal in spending an hour or two among the entire Scoop staff in culling a few current events for timely coverage. Of all the stuff I referenced in my previous post, the latest among them happened Thursday afternoon. (The earliest, a week ago Friday.) I'm not criticizing that all of them weren't covered, I'm criticizing that none of them were.

I'm not saying that you have to change the world tomorrow. I'm not even saying that you ought to do every one of the items listed above, some of them might not work for you, and they're really mostly meant to illustrate my suggestions. But still, I can't help but think that the City Scoop ought to be thriving like crazy. There needs to be progress, it is supposed to be better than it was on day one, and it's not. I'm sorry if I'm coming off like an armchair quarterback. I wish I could help out, but I already run two fan sites and I've got too many irons in the fire as it is. I can't run the thing for you, I'm not an Editor. Besides, for several months, I did try to help out, offering my services and delivering articles, and felt quite unwelcome for my efforts. I guess I'm just frustrated still at how potential and expectations are so far beyond the current state of affairs, and I wish that someone would step up and deliver. I'm not asking for your head on a stick, or anyone else's for that matter. I know you can do better, but you've got to want to.

We like critique just fine. What we don't like is when someone acts like their way is the only right way to do things.


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I really think you guys dropped the ball on covering big news in this issue in favor of self-indulgent fluff.

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I really think you have no idea what the Scoop is about, even after all this time. News is fine when we can get it and the timing is right, but that's not what we're here for. It's a community newsletter, and a voluntary effort. People fit it in where they can in their regular lives. We do our best, but that other stuff always comes first. If we could be comprehensive about news gathering, then we would.

In any case, you're on thin ice when it comes to trying make the Scoop better. Next time instead of making broad assumptions about how we should have done things and didn't, try finding out how and why we made the decisions we did then giving advice on how you think it could be better.

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Besides, for several months, I did try to help out, offering my services and delivering articles, and felt quite unwelcome for my efforts.

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You really don't want to open that can of worms again. Let's just say that this version of events is exceptionally one-sided and drop it. You can say what you like, but people who were there are still around, and I don't think you'd come out of a blow by blow rehash of something you have said you wanted to put in the past looking as good as you think you would.

You were part of the Scoop, now you're not. Leave it at that, because what you're doing rings of taking cheap shots, not constructive criticism based on the realities of the situation.

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I know you can do better, but you've got to want to.

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I never really say much, and just post my section, but you are taking cheap shots at the entire crew and that includes me. I do not know what your issue is, but perhaps you need to RE read the Scoop, the only "problem" anyone else seems to have is when the comic is missing, or we are running a bit late on print (RL HAPPENS) so maybe you should sit down and take a look in the mirror before you go off on a childish tangent. Also, I support everything Lemur stated as well. Here at the Scoop we work as a team, so we support each other just the same !

This is why you don't get articles submitted, why you have such high attrition, why you miss issues or push them out late, why issues are getting smaller and smaller, why columns are disappearing. You have someone in charge who thinks that news is merely "fine when we can get it" in a newsletter (his word, my emphasis), staff that won't bother to take a few minutes to report on major events, a community who is oblivious to your publication (except for the comic) to the point of not bothering to report on major events, multiple Editors who take every criticism as a personal attack, no one willing to step forward and try to make the Scoop better (and those who do being driven off), and this weird blindness to the quality of the Scoop getting worse.

I mean, seriously, compare the Scoop from a year ago to the Scoop published Friday. Can anyone here honestly argue that issues coming out now are better or even of equal quality? And the scary part? I was hoping to actually make improvements to the Scoop a year ago. Now, I wish it was as good as it was a year ago. Yikes! Do you really think that at the rate you're going, it will be better or equal to what it is today?

But you know what? Never mind. I don't have time for this. I'm beyond criticism, you don't want suggestions, and I just don't care any more.

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Okay, here are some suggestions.

First, you guys need to document some kind of submission procedures and/or guidelines and publish them somewhere. This "send us stuff" policy is way too vague.

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Like say, making an article in the Scoop about joining? I had 5 responses that week all asking "How do I join the Scoop?", with nothing else.

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Second, you or someone else at the Scoop needs to be aware of stuff that's coming up.

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Ok, I live about 1,000 miles north of NCNC. Tell me how, short of the developers actually giving us the information, are we supposed to do that. You have a serious logic flaw.

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The Rikti invasion wasn't a secret, it has been announced for months.

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It was news in JUNE, not so much now.

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Also, the calendar is your friend.

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Thank you but we already include that for players every month now.

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Browse the Player Events forum once a week. And, of course, read the Announcements, News, and Community and Developer digests. You probably do already, but start doing so with your Editor's hat on, thinking, "Hey, that's something that might be interesting to have a story about," or, "You know, I'll bet we can dig into this a little deeper."

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Event reporting, even when you were a part of the Scoop was practically non-existent. No one seems to want to cover them.

I'm already well past the point where the time I spend dealing with the Scoop is more than twice the amount I actually play the game. I'm almost to the same point in the ratio of time spent on the scoop and time spent on the rest of the forums.

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that's not even taking into account stuff that will undoubtedly come up Monday through Thursday this week.

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Tony, I know you are intelligent, but you clearly seem to have a problem with reading comprehension.

[u]WE HAVE A ONE WEEK LEAD TIME[u]

The reason for this is to give the proofreader time to go over the submissions, and layout time to actually do the layout. Last year, we had 2 people who could proofread, 3-4 people who could step into doing layout. We are about half that now. Only 5 active people from a year ago are still active in the scoop today.

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Fourth, take some time to do some actual coverage. Drop PMs to Synapse and Sunstorm asking if you can ask them some questions about background, experience, and so on. (Or at least ask Ex Libris to relay the requests.)

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We are already doing this, and we've been told that the turn around will be several weeks between questions and getting answers. So it would be around a month before you'd see anything...

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Delegate stories out to other people. You don't have to take hours to do it, just a few minutes here and there.

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I'm already doing that.

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Fifth, you guys really need to lose the "we need a week's lead time to cover stuff" line. Most events are announced, happen, and are over with within a week. You're busy. I get that.

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Clearly you don't, so here goes:

I have about 24 hours a week related to actual class time in school, I have another 20-24 hours of homework each week. Then I have to find work that actually pays money (which the scoop doesn't). In the small amount of free time I have left in the week I have a few hours to play CoX and work with the Scoop.

Mantid is extremely busy with real life work. I'm amazed that, even with his schedule, he hasn't cut back on the amount of time he works on the scoop because he doesn't have the real life time.

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Besides, for several months, I did try to help out, offering my services and delivering articles, and felt quite unwelcome for my efforts.

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It didn't need to be, but you used the same tone in these posts that you used with the rest of the staff. I suggest that in the future that you be less dogmatic and condescending. It rubs people the wrong way, and is bound to get the exact opposite reaction than the one you are seeking.

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I guess I'm just frustrated still at how potential and expectations are so far beyond the current state of affairs, and I wish that someone would step up and deliver.

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I too wish for people to step up, as I only can do so much myself. I don't have the time or resources/staff to do half the things I want.

One last thing:
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You have someone in charge who thinks that news is merely "fine when we can get it" in a newsletter

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Lemur stepped down from "being in charge" a long time ago.

At this point I'm beginning to think he is much smarter than I am than to put up with this.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

I'd like to also make a comment about the Scoop now compared to the Scoop from a year ago.

Our current crew is nowhere near that large. We simply cannot cover as much news as what happens in a week.

Well, we could, but then we'd be paying our real life money to work for a fantasy life job.

Frankly, I'm not that dedicated to my hobby.

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Thanks for all your hard work contributers; I know I rather have "The Scoop" than not. Great Issue, now c'mon peeps they need you!

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Exactly. Both sides dedicate vast amounts of quality time to the community. If either side actually succeeds in driving the other off the boards/game, it's going to be tragic for the community.

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Thanks for all your hard work contributers; I know I rather have "The Scoop" than not. Great Issue, now c'mon peeps they need you!

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Thank you! I think that posters like you are the reason we are still doing the Scoop.

Without trying to sound too much like the developers, I hope some of the new plans I have will come to fruition. Some things will be dependent on what we can or can't do on the new forums.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

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Just so it's clear, many of Tony's bald assumptions about how and why we do things are wrong. Just like any endeavor, we juggle. Game time, life time, Scoop time, and Dev Time. Tony had every opportunity to learn and understand this but he's either forgotten or refused to learn. We simply cannot bug devs for information then write about it. Just like any organization we have to go through channels. He's also putting far too much emphasis on news, and too little on community when we talk about the Scoop as a community newsletter. In the end though, none of that is here nor there. We do as much as we can with what we have. Could it be more? Always. Will we get there by treating everyone like employees and forcing them to do things they don't want to? Never.

No one deserves to burn themselves out over this project. It's got huge potential but if we forget that it's people doing the work, there's no point. It's a frustrating job. I've felt guilty as hell about abandoning everyone when real life took me from the game for a lot longer than I expected. I feel guilty that Snow works so hard and is essentially on his own. Same with Mantid. We can do it better, and even though now all I am is a reporter-at-large, I'm going to do my best to make it happen, same as before.

Now's as good a time as any to announce something we've been talking over for the last few days. Sometime in the next few months, the forums will be migrating to vBulletin. The transition will be smooth as they can make it, and we at the Scoop are talking about what we will need to do as a team, and how to take advantage.

That's what makes Tony's comments about how to do better a bit funny. We're being told something we're already well aware of, and are already working to change. We've actually been in a bit of a holding pattern on purpose because there are limits to what we can do and pushing to make the Scoop bigger and better would just lead to a lot of work we'd need to re-do under the new forums.

If the consensus remains as it has been in our discussions, we're going to use the transition time to our advantage and re-boot the Scoop. New forums will help our process, and our ability to make the Scoop better. A few weeks off, but we won't be quiet and on vacation when it happens. A recruitment drive and as much as we can manage to get a better idea of what the community wants to see in the Scoop.

Assumptions about what would make the Scoop better aren't going to do anyone any good. We will be working hard to build a good platform to get people involved and doing what they enjoy.

Anyone who wants to join in the discussions will have the chance to do so. Anyone who wants to drop us a PM is welcome to. Just remember how you frame what you say will have an effect on the response.

Edit- This is my last post in this thread for this week. I've said what I need to say about why I wrote the piece, backed Snow's decision to run it, and debunked what needs to be debunked about how we do things at the Scoop. Anyone who wants to talk more about it can send me a PM.

Lemur, I feel ya on the whole feeling guilty thing about leaving. My time with The Scoop and other community committees was some of the best time I ever had in the game. I have gotten messages from a few readers asking when I would be coming back.

Truth is I would love to come back. Reality is I could not give The Scoop or any other group my full attention. Between work and family there is just no time for extra game commitments.

I know how hard each member works and am pleased at the way things have been going. I still look forward to each Friday to read the new edition. Keep up the good work you all have been doing. We need it.

I feel obliged to say this...

Looking from the outside entirely, it seemed to me TonyV came with critique that was well meant, and got rebuffed much too harshly. As someone who might have now chosen to critique, or even contribute, to the Scoop (I've never read it before; I barely even read the boards), this entire thread has been immensely discouraging. What point in offering any sort of suggestions when all that seems to be desired is unequivocal praise?

Granted, Tony's standards are high, and his requirements of effort are significant, to the point where they are not, perhaps, possible. Still, he did provide suggestions for you, not merely pointed out that he disliked your current work, and that already makes it a constructive criticism which should not be taken as a personal affront.

I think perhaps the better comment to Tony's suggestions would have been.

"Thank you for the suggestions, unfortunately our current staff size is not large enough to cover every happening. We have been discussing some changes to improve the Scoop and hope to implement some new things soon."

It would have at least been less attacking in response to what are some pretty decent suggestions. I don't know what the ill will is between Scoop staff and Tony, and frankly I don't care because that's not what the newsletter is about.

In any case, everything the staff does is because they wanted to bring something to community. But if it gets in the way of enjoying the game or the community, then its not really worth it.