Table Tennis Featured Articles
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Table Tennis articles is a great idea put forward by panpong. We agree we all would like to see high quality, longer deeper articles which would be a benefit to a table tennis player. But where do we go from here?
I propose and wait for a response to this before I talk about any other ways to improve tenergy05.com.
1. Members who will write an original, longer, deeper table tennis player beneficial piece of writing that it will be featured in full on the front page for a week. I emphasize that this must be totally original and have no duplication anywhere on the net, as duplicates make the site rank badly. On top of this will be a new content type which will have an automatic minimum word count of say 500 words? In which case I have not seen a member write a serious article yet.
(we could look at ways in the future to actually give some sort of payment to these writers. for example the ratio of their word count contribution to over all word count of the site - being paid that ratio of the profit of the site. and or looking at ways of possibly having visitors of the site pay to read the full article. In which case the introductory teaser of about 50 words would have a donate to read more button. I would suggest a minimum of $1) All of that money would go directly to the writer.)
2. Writers need to volunteer and hopefully we could rotate between a core. for example I write one for next week, Pnatch for the week after, PanPong after that etc. The key is volunteer to write an indepth article. We could also keep this to a monthly style publication.
3. We can submit a list of ideas to write about or just let the volunteer do it since they are a volunteer.
Once we have enough of these they will be for sure all be a main link on the front page. And I can implement something like a slideshow of featured articles that goes at the top of the front page. Not the full body - just title - attached image and teaser.
4. If this idea suits you - you would like to see your piece of writing on the front page - then write it I will feature it.
5. You can invite anybody you know to come and submit a piece of writing, they have full right to have free back links to their website for example. In this way they benefit and so do we. But the article must not be duplicated in any length anywhere.
Instead of writing anymore about how to improve the site, start writing about how to improve in table tennis.
oops - forgot to mention if anyone does not want to be a part of this there is zero pressure put on them for any reason what so ever.
As for me (Boz -admin) I am busy doing other things but am fully supportive to see this idea go ahead, you do not need my permission to write and sumbit here or have anyone write and submit here.
If this idea works we can review the whole front page operation to only ever have quality at the front.
Just for now you can write your article in a blog - I can sticky that to the front and turn the blog into a page of a book - and you can add pages to that book. For example I have added Pan Pong's articles here as part of this book.
Comments
Great!
1) This sounds really good. Just a thought, if it's representing the site we might need to be careful with copyright. Will it be of concern if we don't have full rights to use a given photo? I've seen people do the whole "Courtesy of..." but I don't know legally how that goes.
I agree, it would need to be original. But is original 100% original idea? How do you feel about an article that is 'original' but more of taking scattered knowledge and putting it into the one place?
I'm not sure about payment. At least not for a very long time... Just doesn't feel right getting paid for doing this when right now everything we do needs to be focusing on building the website even more. Put the money where it can benefit us the most.
2) Rotating might be a nice way to take the pressure off the writers. Would monthly be "One article per writer, per month"? Or a new article by a different writer each month?
For now the amount of content that's being put out might need to be increased. This is just an idea, but I think it would be nice to get something like that article slideshow up and running as fast as possible (more on that later).
3) Is the forum still up? If it is then this might make a good section. State what you want to see an article about and why. If the community grew we could even get the users to vote, as opposed to the writer choosing one.
4) I'm going to cover this issue below in regards to quality control.
5) I like that idea a lot. Do you mean like a "guest writer" who would come in to write a piece. Say if you got Gregg Letts (??) to write a piece, then at the end sign it off with who he is and what part of the TT community he comes from?
Asking them not to repeat the content may be tough, though I've seen it work before. Just ask them to post about "an article they wrote for a site" and link it, instead of copy pasting. It all comes down to trust I imagine.
My additions:
Photos:
This will be a very crucial part to the success of the articles. They need to read and LOOK professional. Copyright is our first concern I think. Aside from that we should be looking to have only the highest possible quality photos. I'm not talking 1080p stuff. Even small pictures are fine. Just as long as they're clear and vivid!
Editing:
I agree with this being a community effort. I think everyone should have the right to contribute. However, if the slideshow thing takes off I'd like to see quality control. Again this could be a community effort. You write the article, submit it and it gets discussed amongst chosen editors. Maybe you don't want this to create more openess. But if I'm interpreting it correctly the articles would represent the website, so we'd want them free of errors. Errors both grammatically and content wise.
I think this last point in particular needs some further discussion. Do we want it totally open but 'open' to errors? Or do we try to close it off slightly and guarantee high quality, accurate pieces? Does the idea of 'open' not appeal more to a blog than a feature article? I'd like some opinions.
PanPong
JUST DO IT
1)photos are dodgy - original pics you can take yourself always have more weight and everybody has a camera these days. I don't know where the image came from if you remove all the properties from the picture and it gets retitled.
scattered knowledge reworded is fine by me but copy pasting from scattered places and putting it into one place is not the same thing I talked about, it devaluates the site as google records all duplicates - phrases etc.
I have taken from elsewhere but usually scatter all my own thoughts though it and unless I am directly smashing someone there is no reason you can't put it in your own words.
payment is not needed for most people I am sure - but I stand true to it from the time I started the site that people who help and grow the site will not be forgotten ever - there are database records and it might be incentive for some to atleast get a piece of equipment for free or cheaper.
I was thinking a different piece a week roughly by a different member each week. It really depends on how good the piece is and if anyone else has a piece in the queue. I don't want it to feel like this is an assignment.
as i said forum is there but will not be brought forward unless people populate it - think about that later. For now I made comments look like a forum this gives the initial post a elevated position - I like that.
Just remember anything you post in a "blog" does not look like a blog when it gets linked into a book of similar topics.
4) As for writing about quality control, why don't you focuss that writing effort by giving us an example. There is enough talk about improving and not enough improving.
5) I like that idea a lot. Do you mean like a "guest writer" who would come in to write a piece. Say if you got Gregg Letts (??) to write a piece, then at the end sign it off with who he is and what part of the TT community he comes from?
Yes, anyone is welcome but don't put this on me as you can see I am busy.
I know if they repeat content because you can copy a section in google in seconds and find out which student has plagarized for example.
Again worry about this when you find some people.
My opinion is it is open to anyone to write a lengthy deep article, simple. The more interesting it is the longer it stays.
OK no more discussion - show me in a piece of writing what an article is. Not a short example, show me the exactly what you mean as the perfect example of an article.
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
I write 4-6 magazine articles a year, maybe more
Writing a proper article that is worth reading is difficult. It isn't the kind of thing you simply write and post. Someone should review or edit the text to make sure the spelling, grammar and material is correct. It isn't as simple as making a blog post.
Here are some examples
http://www.designnews.com/article/511707-Auto_tuning_Hydraulic_Control_S...
http://www.isa.org/PrinterTemplate.cfm?Section=Communities&template=/Tag...
http://www.designworldonline.com/articles/6152/17/A-Second-Look-at-Elect...
I also give presentations at technical conferences
http://www.zemarc.com/Content_pages/download_pdfs_forms/Vendors/Delta/IF...
http://www.hydraulicspneumatics.com/200/Issue/Article/False/11800/Issue
Here is an example of an article that is web based
http://www.controlguru.com/wp/p80.html
You can see I have some experience at this. I know that it takes a lot of time. The articles would need to be in a separate section where they don't get lost in all the forum chit chat.
I/we don't get paid to write these articles. We see it as advertising.
No pressure
Pnach some nice articles there, but in all honesty I am happy reading your blogs just as much and the idea of writing something that is worth reading doesn't gel for me for that reason.
I like the personal stuff - and I think if someone wants write an article they should. As I said so far all we do is write about writing. I want to see an example and I think comments afterwards can be incorporated into the original article too. Of course we the core readers can point out spelling mistakes etc.
I often see spelling mistakes in my own writing after I post and others but to me get the message out is the most important thing because just getting into the knack or is it nack of writing is the hard part.
For me I get home and just feel like letting out all my ideas as the poor out. Sometimes I get another idea and go work on the same piece and build it sometimes I want to bring the post back to the front so I comment on it.
The site is about freedom to write as you wish about what ever you want hopefully close to table tennis.
ps. I like your writing pnatch and the graphs are cool but that stuff is way over my head.
Just do it. (is that nike?)
http://tabletennisyoutube.com
I agree that we need to do
I agree that we need to do writing and not just writing about writing. That's why I've written an article I'd like to post a soon as possible (as you know), but I'm just trying to work out formatting.
I know how you feel about this kind of thing and I agree to an extent, but would it be possible for us to keep this post open a bit longer to discuss some things about what direction the articles will go in? I suppose we could give feedback on the articles themselves but do you think it could detract from the content itself?
Just as an idea, maybe we could make a section in the forum (even though it's hidden) dedicated to critiquing the articles? I wouldn't mind a place where I could post my drafts too.
Also, I'm a little confused about the articles now. Will nominated people write them, or will it now be a 'highlighted article' of the week almost? Where you select a well written article to be displayed on the front-page?
P.S. What's happening with the forum? Can I still give you the list of headings, sub-headings and sub-sub-headings ?
PanPong
I think you are over
I think you are over complicating again. Just write it and release it. I believe ideas should be kept together - so commenting in another section is oppositie. Ideas should flow and be commented on.
Who will write? Just write and release. For now a show of interest can be shown instead of talked about it. So far as I can see you are the only person writing one - so don't worry about who or when.
Just do it.
I still think the forums are just bla bla word for what already exists - pages organised in categories.
Just write and release and we can talk more about it when we see say 5 articles. Until then this is wasting time.
As for drafts - just choose "publishing option" not published.
http://tabletennisyoutube.com