Just to clarify:

The contest is not writing up a story about the things you love about NowPublic - here is a reposting of part of the contest, which I hope will clear up the confusion:

Thank you for the clarification Amy, I only summarized the contest email when the original message came in and had remembered it as writing a story. cheers

World_Groove, I agree with you. I'm not here for the pictures or the videos. I've uploaded one picture to NP in my life, and that was only a screenshot to demonstrate something. I've never crowd-sourced or added a picture or video to someone else's post. It's just not what I'm here for. 

Also, unless a picture crowd-sourced by someone else is 100% relevant to my post, I remove it from my story. In other words, if it's doesn't add to the story, it has no place there.

I'm all about words. So I'm with you there.

Jarrett and Editors,

First this is FAR different than the story that exploded last week. No specific person is pointed to, No flaming has taken place. The story has constructive merit. It falls within the confines of the Culture section it was posted in (as I mentioned in an earlier comment), and it also has the correct label of opinion. 

"We want NowPublic to be a place people come for news and to learn new things and have constructive discussions with each other"

I Must also point out that in your initial post Jarrett you alluded to the fact that I broke the "code of conduct" and I asked for a clarification of that point and have not received one.

Am I to understand that a story about some sleazy starlet wearing diamond coated underwear is worthy of the culture section, yet a story which has to do with the NowPublic community culture, a story which has some direct relation to the readers does not ?

Thanks for Writing. I guess I am here for a little of everything. I like some of the pictures that get posted. What is ironic, is I was introduced to Nowpublic from a picture request to use a photo of an Arabic Coke bottle of mine on Flickr in a story about Coke that had nothing to do with anything world/arabic, so I turned down the request.

Wish I could have done that with my Coca-cola and Stevia story. Over 600 and impossible to load to moderate much less view. So, World-Groove, yours were one of those who 'swarmed' that story. never got to see it. (sorry, didn't get all you wrote, that you refused it's use, so thanks) But that was how you found NP? took weeks to just get the email notifications off my gmail and my NP email. I didn't dare click on any of them cuz that automatically approved them to upload to my gBlog (blogger) and I would have got blocked. It was a nightmare. And they kept coming long after the story was no longer easily found. a mystery. one I could have easily passed on. not worth any points or rank.

What is interesting is how the ranking system has made things fall-out on NP. Many good members have posted objections to it. and have left before and since. and others have used it to promote their agendas, to the detraction of NP, IMHO. What I value most is the world-wide discussion and posts from world-wide areas that are neglected in our media. Intriguing to discover people's biases and true ignorance, too. Hopefully continued rational discussion can correct some of that.

Rene, I remember you having problems moderating that article. I see pieces with 100s of pictures attached and I just don't see what they add. One or two pictures to say 'here is a visual representation of what the piece is about' is fine, if that's your thing, but 100s is ridiculous. And each picture certainly doesn't deserve 10 points. If we gave 10 points to every well-thought out comment, it would be much better. (Obviously, 'well-thought out' is subjective, and it's not a serious suggestion - it's merely an indication of where I think points should be rewarded.) Ten points for each picture certainly skews that old ranking system.

Actually, if there's a staff member around, could you possibly explain why pictures are given more points than comments, or even stories?

well-thought out comment = priceless

What we were saying is that this is not a news story - it's a discussion piece, and therefore belongs in the forum. It may be 'newsworthy' to NP members and good for discussing viewpoints, but it's not a news post, same as a story about the Madrid plane crash is for instance.

It's our new policy to discuss matters like this in the Forum. It's not the same as posting a story slamming another member, of course not, but it is a discussion piece, and therefore belongs here.

The division of points was decided when the member ranking system was built.

News can be very visually driven, so a good picture can be worth a hundred comments. However, I see the point surrounding more generic pictures.

Crowd powering a story is a part of what NowPublic is all about - but it might be time to look again at what is worth more on the site.

Thanks for the explanation, Amy.

I think it might be a good idea to have a look at the ranking system. I'm sure I'm in the minority really about this, but it does seem very uneven. However, if crowd-sourcing is the point of NP, which it is, the ranking sytem reflects that. It just doesn't reflect what I believe is important! ;) 

Crowd sourcing is not the point of NowPublic, it's a part of it, and can be a very good part. However, if members don't like it; it's good to hear those viewpoints now, and we can have a look at the  points division.

Do most members think comments should be worth more than pictures?

Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that it was all about crowd-sourcing. I wonder if it's worth starting a new topic about this, in case your question gets lost in the comments to this piece?

In rebuttal I will say that most all opinion pieces are discussion pieces.

I understand news is a matter of perspective, and that is why we as a world have so many news outlets in which to find our news as it relates to us individually.

I have come away from this with the feeling that NowPublic does not want stories on NowPublic having to do with NowPublic (in neutral light or less), and this has been a way of handling that without stating it.

In considering these issues, I would suggest several things. 1) Forum be added to the menu right after "strange" or "truemors". 2) A new page be added as well for Opinions/commentary/op eds, and thus keep opinion pieces out of the news sections period.

Concerning ranking points and pictures, I suggest a sliding scale that works toward a limit. Say limit of 10 per story, first 10 points, second 9, third 8..... something along that lines.

Even better would be Limit 5 pictures per person per story, 5 points to start and one less each additional picture.

Same for video with a smaller limit say 3 per story.

Your suggestion about a link to the forum in the navigation is a good one. But we are not trying to stifle this story or anything. Why do you think I am monitoring the thread and keep replying to it?

We just want news stories to be posted as stories on the site, and discussion pieces like this posted in the forum. We want this discussion to continue, we just don't think it has a place alongside news stories about an earthquake in China or soldiers committing rape (two examples off the top of my head). I'm not sure how you can disagree with that.

I appreciate your posting here Amy.

I can disagree with your analogy in that you mention two very serious stories from the World section in your argument, and leave out all the trivial stories which do make the news here and on major news web sites. I've highlighted them myself, posted them and they have made the front page. I've seen editors here post them.  From Phallus as health food to bigfoot captured on through so and so actress is pregnant with a married mans babies, so on and so forth..... News is subjective and comes in many forms.

The nut of my story would be NowPublic users are abusing the scoring system for ranking and glory. Not an earth shattering news story, and it is very much more worthwhile having it as a topic in the forum section, but it was in my opinion a story and was backed up with figures, placed in Culture, and it had Opinion tag. I honestly do not see the difference between opinion stories as I have read them on here, and what you are terming a discussion piece. Both poke at facts and happenings and bring forth discussion.

My reason for beating the dead horse here is I have read the Rules of Conduct on more than one occasion, and I took offense at the editors suggestive wording that I in some way broke them with this story. 

I know things are touchy around the news room since the big to-do last week....

Thanks again Amy.

That's true - I should have used different examples rather than the two world ones that just popped into my head. My mistake.

It is just our policy to have discussions around the functionality of NowPublic to take place in the forum - which I am glad it is doing here.