Hey Newsvine,

There have been a few issues raised in a couple of different places. I just wanted to say a few things here for anyone interested.

1. Israel/Palestine threads.

These have been trouble areas for a while now. As with most of my moderation, I try to be as "hands-off" as possible (leaving the front line of moderation and giving as much leeway as possible to the author of the thread and/or community in general ). I deleted comments and left posts where I saw fit with regards to these threads. I tried to take into consideration that this is a hugely sensitive topic and tensions often run high.

This didn't seem to be working.

I then took out an entire sub-thread that had devolved into futile back-and-forth name calling and other off-topic and provoking comments. This is exactly what we want Newsvine to avoid turning into.

A few days later, I saw a thread had taken a similar turn and decided the message wasn't getting through so I needed to be more pro-active. I suspended the group of users involved for a day. This was not a permanent banning (as is evidenced by all the users in question having been active on NV since).

I sometimes struggle to find the best solution for these types of threads. They're an on-going problem – (as is the actual Israeli/Palestinian conflict). Obviously, remarks that blatantly violate the Code of Honor are not helpful. Equally unhelpful are those comments that simply continue the inflammatory situation. I'm going to try a soft-policy regarding these threads where any user actively engaged in vitriolic insults or involved in furthering the conversation, rather than simply reporting it as the COH states, will have a 24 hour "cool off" period (many of the users involved said they just needed to cool off and thought more active moderation on these threads was a positive step).

This seems like the best (and most fair) policy going forward. If people have different suggestions I think would work better, I'll try to incorporate them.

2. Abuse Tools

Please click the "!" button to flag content you feel violates Newsvine's Code of Honor or User Agreement.

I literally go through hundreds of emails a day. Using the abuse tools provided is the first line of triage. I then go through everything case by case and step in where I think it's necessary (as quickly as possible).

If enough users flag a comment, it will be "collapsed by the community" and an abuse report email will be generated and sent to NV staff for review.

(Similarly, if enough users flag an article, it will be quarantined and/or taken down and an email report will be sent to NV staff for review).

If you see a particularly malicious user (or spammer), please click the "Report A Bug" button (upper-right hand corner) and select "Report Spam or Malicious User" in the drop-down subject list.

Examples:

You notice a user comment spamming

Direct emails to me should generally be for questions about moderation on your column or things that are outside normal complaint categories.

Examples:

A user has genitalia as an avatar and you feel this is inappropriate (this happened recently)

3. MSNBC threads

Drive-by comments are a problem. I hear you loud and clear. Mike and Calvin have heard from me (and the community) about this and they fully understand.

I'll leave most of the MSNBC questions for Mike and Calvin to field. They've made some posts here and here .

Feel free to comment below

Interview with Meryl Streep...the Oscar winner talks about her new role as Donna in the movie version of Mamma Mia!

Whenever film-makers have had the opportunity to go 'adult' with comic books heroes, most have excelled themselves

In recent months someone new has become part of our Newsvine family, someone with more power than the average Newsvine. Someone with an interest in super heroes. She broke the gender barrier, becoming the first female on the Newsvine staff.

I'm talking, of course, about Emily.

But who is this Emily in Seattle? Is she the Emily I met in Kansas (the first girl I met in person after getting to know via the Internet) who for reasons I still don't grok took me (and her family - can you say akward?) with her as she got her first tattoo? It would have been a small world (that Emily later moved to Seattle so it wasn't inconcievible.) But no, it was not her.

So I thought it'd be nice to get to know Emily. This is a place to get a better sense of who she is.

Let me say, though, what this is not. This is not the place to ask her questions about MSNBC or the Greenhouse or other meta stuff. For those things please continue to use emails, bug reports.

Ok, all that said, let's get on with the interview. If you have questions you'd like me to ask her for the next part email them to me.

Scott: What do you like to read when you're not reading Newsvine?

Emily: I've been trying to get into Kiplinger's Review and learn about money management/portfolio/stocks, etc. I sometimes steal/borrow my roommate's New Scientist magazines. And, {cough}, I may…or may not…read my "roommates" US Weekly (as a guilty pleasure)….or…not.

For books, I generally like biographies, historical fiction, and sci-fi. I just finished Octavia Butler's "Mind of My Mind" last week. I started Margaret George's "Autobiography of Henry VIII" and it's very good so far.

What are your hobbies?

Emily: Well, I used to do Tae Kwon Do pretty regularly, but I tore my ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) a several months ago, so I've been taking a break from that I've just started to be able to go hiking and I've been taking pictures with a new camera I got. I'm a pretty big movie buff – so I'm always looking forward to seeing an upcoming movie (currently, The Dark Knight is the next big one I'm anxiously awaiting).

(Related: Emily requests - and gets - feedback on how to quiet annoying people at movie theaters: )

Have you always lived in Seattle?

Yes, I've been in Seattle since I was a baby (and I love it).

Do you have any good dirt on Calvin and the gang? You don't have to say what it is, just nod or shake your head

No. {Nods Head}

Are you a mac person or a PC person

This is, by far, the most controversial question. I didn't fully understand the ramifications of the Mac/PC debate until I got to Newsvine and saw discussions explode over it. For the safety of this thread, I'm going to say I'm technologically agnostic.

How did you find your way to Newsvine?
Craigslist.

What did you do before coming to Newsvine?

I was born (a striking accomplishment, I know). I did the whole growing up thing. Went to school (University of Washington – Political Science/International Relations). Went to DC for a Congressional Internship (amazing experience). Came back to Seattle and worked for Amazon.com (part of the team that tested the Kindle device). Then I found my way to NV.

What do you do to blow off steam after dealing with hotheads at Newsvine?

Getting upset over something rarely helps the situation, so I try to avoid that. I do have a "stress ball" on my desk (one of those ones you squeeze). I throw it around with Tom and Lance (who sit next to me) when we're talking/brainstorming about stuff. I also like going to the gym and that has a side effect of 'de-stressing' me.

What's the best and worst part about being a Newsvine moderator?

Best – being a poli-sci major (and formerly a psych major) it's kind of a dream job to go to work and be able to read people's thoughts and opinions on current events. The NV team has also been great – very welcoming and friendly from the start. The boys are a lively bunch always debating topical issues, features on NV, and other random things in a very enlightening and entertaining way.

Worst – having someone always be mad at you no matter what you do (in terms of moderation calls).

Building communities is a tricky task, especially online. All hosts can really do is provide an environment with an ideal set of benefits, and ideal set of guidelines, and hope the right sorts of people show up. Whether the community flourishes or fizzles from there is a product of hard work from community members, hard work from staff, and just plain luck.

That 99 out of 100 online communities devolve into anarchies or ghost towns is usually a result of those communities' guidelines not keeping up with usage or people just plain losing interest. Thankfully, we've been able to avoid this fate at Newsvine by concentrating on what makes this site different: engaging conversation. Yes, many will argue that especially in the middle of politics season, people aren't always as nice as they should be, but if you compare the average comment thread at Newsvine to the average thread at Digg, Topix, The Huffington Post, or almost any other participatory news site, you'll generally find the discourse here measures up very well. People talking to people is what we care about. Not people typing into text boxes.

Being part of the msnbc.com family has already yielded many benefits in the several months since we started working together. We've gotten two of our members on national TV. We've had great Q&A sessions with the likes of Chuck Todd, Richard Engel, and others. We're mentioned on the NBC Nightly News from time to time. And msnbc.com, with its 35 million or so monthly unique users, continues to send a lot of new people to some of the best articles Newsviners write, as a result of efforts such as the Gateway groups, ConsumerVine and Gut Check America - just to name a few.

Part of Newsvine staff's charge, however, is to get msnbc.com's users more involved in their news site of choice; whether it be msnbc.com or Newsvine. This is a bit of a tricky proposition, because msnbc.com already has a ton of users, but they just have no means by which to talk to each other. Newsvine is a natural arena in which to encourage this sort of community building, but at the same time, one could argue that funneling people en masse into Newsvine would mess with the community dynamic. For this reason, we've been building systems that will accommodate community activity on msnbc.com and on Newsvine, such that we can see which implementation works best for Newsvine users, msnbc.com users, and staff.

Some things will work well (see NBC reporter Q&As hosted on Newsvine) and some things won't (see out-of-context questions posted as articles). The only way we can maximize what works well and minimize what doesn't is for you to give us feedback. If you have an idea for a feature or if you don't like the way something we launch is turning out, please write to us. Anytime you use the Contact Newsvine form, the entire staff sees your email so it's generally more effective than writing a public article that we may or may not see.

The newest thing we've launched -- just last week -- is a new "Discuss This on Newsvine" button which now appears on all msnbc.com stories. To be honest, we didn't expect more than a few clicks a day on these buttons as generally "Seed Newsvine", "Digg This", and every other social networking button you see on the web have very low clickthrough rates, but so far we're getting a lot more than that. The result has been a few msnbc.com stories a day receiving hundreds of comments apiece. This is a good thing, of course, because it proves out the theory that plenty of msnbc.com users are interesting in discussing stories, but it's potentially a bad thing because as we all know, when new users come en masse to a Newsvine thread, they aren't always aware of how we do things around here. We were all new at one time. Please welcome in our new visitors as you would a new guest to your own cocktail party, with diplomacy and patience. We hope that the Newsvine community puts its best foot forward when receiving new participants into the collective discussion.

There are several things we're going to do already to help ease potential problems with these sorts of things. The first will be to add a "Greenhouse" designation to the tops of new users' comments. In doing this, we hope to make it more clear, on first glance, who is a new user and who has been around awhile. The second is to remove the ability for NBC/MSNBC/Newsvine staff to appear on the leaderboard.

Thanks to everyone for their continued patience and stewardship as we fix bugs and build out more features, and once again, never hesitate to write us with suggestions or concerns.

Just a short poll to find out whether or not Newsviners would like us to make a couple modifications to the Conversation Tracker. This poll does not signal open season for feature requests, I'm just trying to answer two very specific questions. Feature requests should continue to be sent in via the "site suggestion" form.

Thanks in advance for giving your input!

By most accounts, John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, has started the vetting process for a running mate. The list of potential choices is a long one -- from Haley Barbour to Rudy Giuliani to Mike Huckabee.

You get to help shorten the list by playing msnbc.com's presidential veepstakes. Each week, the field of 32 candidates is cut in half until one remains, with your votes making the difference. (Not that McCain will actually abide by our result)

So make your picks on msnbc.com's "Veepstakes 2008" and discuss your choices here on Newsvine. We hope you find this application informative and fun.

I'm going pretty deep into indie territory here to bring you a young, talented, artist from Tacoma with an extremely bright future. Her name is Taylour Woodruff and her latest project is called Number the Stars.

Taylour has been writing acoustic songs for approximately five years, and soon after meeting Harrison Allen, they started a band called Taylour Makes Music, which more recently became Number the Stars.

The band is comprised of Taylour (vox/guitar), Harrison (guitar), Adam (drums), and Allen (bass), and these days they're actively writing, playing live shows, and spending some time in the recording studio working on a debut release.

After listening to the two tunes posted on myspace, my first though was to try to meet her and help spread the word on her and her music. The audio on this article is called Warning Norway and is a nicely polished song with great texture and melody. The other song, called Free To Go, found on the band's myspace profile features clear, soaring vocals and a little more raw of a sound overall (clearly influenced by the NtS fellas).

Now would be a good time to click Play on the audio while we hook up a little Q & A:

The myspace tracks are really great, but there are only two of them and that's simply not enough. Assuming you're working on a full-length release, does it have a title, how's it coming, and when can we get a copy?

Well, we are in the process of finishing up some last few songs that we think would be great for the album, and we are supposed to start recording actually within the next week or two. As for an official release date... I'm not sure we have one! We are all really busy outside of playing music... but we would really love to have it done before our show at the Bite of Seattle, if not before then. I would really love for it to be called "We Will Live As Ghosts Do..." But, you never know how the boys are going to react to my suggestions. haha

Tell me a little about working with Dylan at One Shot Studio ... did you lean on him for production help, engineering, or both? Was he picky with your vox, making you do ~100 takes before he'd let you proceed, or is he more relaxed these days?

Working with Dylan at One Shot has been probably one of the best experiences I've had as a musician yet. Originally, he messaged me and I took a chance and came all the way out there with mostly an idea of what I wanted Warning Norway to sound like. He helped me transform that song into something much bigger and much more emotional. So really he does it all, engineering, and producing, which is helpful to have another musician giving you fresh ideas. And yes, he is very picky. I normally jokingly threaten him after a while! (All in good fun, of course) He'll have me on like, take 10 or so and I start to get finicky, but I'm always really happy with the outcome, so I really can't complain too badly.

(Bonus question) Did Dylan bring you to Taco Bell while you were recording or is that something he only does to bad musicians?

Ha! No, he has yet to take me on an adventure to Taco Bell... but the guys in my band went there on their own accord. Hmm... I wonder what that says about them. Haha.

Is the songwriting for Number the Stars mostly done by you, or are you collaborating with others? If so, with whom? Also, is there a short story (or specific inspiration) behind either "Free To Go" and/or "Warning Norway" so we have a little backstory on one of those songs?

Most of the songwriting is done by me. They normally write their own parts to the acoustic version of the songs I bring them, but a lot of times I have kind of a certain feel, or sound that I want and we all chip in to figure out what would sound best.

Warning Norway's story is rather complicated...A little over a year ago I was dating a guy who I had been friends with for a while. He ended up dating someone else while I was in the hospital and when I asked to talk to him about it over coffee, he overbooked himself and met me for coffee...with a girl named Jessy who also went to school with us. So, I was a little bit bitter, and I went upstairs to my house and wrote a song directly after that. He moved to Norway for college shortly after, and I don't even think he ever heard the song. Turns out, Jessy and I are actually very good friends now, and she thinks the song is rather amusing. He's returning soon, so, we'll see what else he inspires. ha.

How are things in Tacoma? Do you feel like you're getting enough exposure down there, or are you planning an eventual move to a bigger city?

Things in Tacoma... are... slow. Haha. I think that Tacoma is a gritty, but beautiful city, and I love living here, but I think that I could do bigger things elsewhere. There are really only very, very, few venues at which we can play shows around here, so I think Seattle is going to be our focus from now on.

You're playing in Seattle on July 19th at the Bite of Seattle.... are you planning on booking any more shows around that time, at say, The High Dive, Nectar, or The Sunset?

Yes! We are indeed playing at the Bite of Seattle. See? Here's the problem. You are naming off venues I've never even heard of! This is what I was talking about when I answered the last question...There are so many places we could play shows out there! So, I think I'm going to be looking into those, and hopefully Seattle will be seeing a little more of us soon.

I once heard someone say that "all songs have already been written", implying that it's getting more and more difficult to write original songs with original themes. Do you agree with this?

Hmm... Well... to an extent that's true. But, people interpret similar life experiences differently. I've been broken up with plenty of times, but I took it differently than another girl would. I think if everyone would just write from their true feelings and real experiences, maybe we'd all be a little more original. I think people can relate more to true emotion, and that's my inspiration for most of my songs. I write simply out of experience, and since no one else has had my exact experiences, I can't really be too similar to someone else. You know what I mean?

Any other bands out of Tacoma that we should check out? Someone you think is really special, regardless of genre?

I think a band to really keep an eye out for would be Don't Tell Sophie. They're all really great guys and I've grown to absolutely love their music. They're really unique, and have a very interesting approach to the way they write. I believe they're going on another tour this Summer, and they have a music myspace as well, so check them out if you get the chance.

Requisite links:

• Number the Stars on myspace.
• Don't Tell Sophie, also on myspace (for you overachievers).
• Bite of Seattle music schedule.

Author's Note: Bite of Seattle did a great job booking this year ... check out Sue Quigley (acoustic rock), HB Radke (swing), Camille Bloom (singer songwriter), and of course Number the Stars.

We have a lot of good stuff in this installment so I'll skip a snappy introduction (I was going to try to find a common thread among these picks but there really isn't any) and get right to the picks.

Oh, but first I wanted to make an administrative announcement Mykola asked each of the Newsvine Community Administrators to introduce ourselves so most of us have done so. You can read the introductions via this link.

This editon's picks:

Will gets my award for April (a brand new award, just thought of it yesterday) as best new writing talent, especially when you consider his age. He wrote consistently excellent pieces on topics ranging from his rant about his
home state of Kentucky to this one on cognitive dissonance
to one on embracing your inner child as a way to relieve stress. I first noticed – and clipped him to this group – for this piece, Trapped, which he said he felt didn't work. As I told him if that's one of his weak efforts then his inferior pieces are still better than many people's best articles.

Kyle asked an excellent question: Can writers grow through writing at Newsvine

David Rutt wrote a good piece - Taking photos in public is not illegal - about how photographers are getting treated unfairly.

Celestina is as eloquent and thought-provoking as usual, this time with her piece about sex education.

Minnie wrote a great story which said, more eloquently than I've tried to explain it elsewhere and in her column, the problem with the public and media impression of Obama. To quote her title, It isn't Obama Who Fell To Earth, Only Our Fictional Image of Him as a Messiah!

QBall wrote an excellent piece Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent is shut - Censorship of love a la Putin!"

Gwenny exposed me to a whole different world that exists in WOW.

When Jack writes an essay about a topic, especially a cultural one, I'm usually pretty impressed because if nothing else he finds a new direction. In this case he compare the tv series Monk to the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout.

Killfile wrote a good piece about an MSNBC documentary, Meeting David Wilson, that he and I saw as part of Vinemeet.

I promised to do this as part of my Newsviners Resolutions

This was the first Newsviners Picks of 2008

This was the second one

This was the third (last week's)

And this was the one from early February This was the one from early March This was the one from March 17

And this was the one from March 27 And this was the last one from April 8

For each edition my goal is to spotlight the best articles I've read in the last week or so. Seeds are great but I, for one, much prefer reading original writing. This is a way to give back to the newsvine community, the one I'm addicted to. If your article - or one you consider deserving of attention - is not included feel free to email me the link.

Also feel free during the week to post links to this or past articles pointing me toward articles you think I should check out. I can't read everything so an omission is probably not a snub so much as I just didn't see a particular article.

My friend and I went to see The Forbidden Kingdom last week. It was a good, entertaining flick. I was enjoying escaping into a movie for two hours. Jackie Chan and Jet Li were busting out their martial arts and high-wire moves. The soaring views of landscapes and ornately decorated palaces were nice to look at. The theatre was almost full and had an energetic air about it. Everyone was there to see a light, fun film – laugh at corny jokes and 'ooo and aaaahh' at especially good moments.

As the previews played (I'm one of those people who actually enjoy the seeing the previews) the group next to us continued their pre-movie-theatre-light-dimming conversation. To me, this fine, as the previews are not the movie anyone paid to see. However, as the featured film began this group of about four high-school students acted as though they were watching the movie in one of their living rooms on DVD. They talked about how cool it was that Jackie Chan and Jet Li were in the same movie (true enough – but do we really need to go over this twelve times), the costumes ("that's pretty", "oh, that must have been hard to kick in"), the special-effects ("they couldn't have really done that", "that wasn't real", "wow, cool power"), apparently some of them were having trouble following the plotline ("wait, why is he doing that?", "is she sad now?", "what happened?"). With this running commentary throughout the entire movie, they got a handful of 'shushs' and one "be quiet!" – but not no avail.

I was sitting directly to their left and dealt out some "glances". There are many variations of The Glance – there's the "I hate you" glance that you give as you drive by someone who has demonstrated their extreme incompetence on the road. There's also the "wow, that's quite the acoustic experience your baby is giving everyone, however, I didn't come to this restaurant to hear your child shriek bloody murder" glance. My attempts had no effect on The Talkers.

I ran the options through my head and didn't find any good ones. Get an usher – we were in the middle of the row and it would have been distracting to everyone. Move – this would be incredibly distracting as well and we shouldn't have to move. Actually lean over and ask them to quiet down – this has unpredictable consequences. They could get louder to spite me. They could glare at me for the rest of the film (similar to the "I hate you" glance – see above). I could feel like my mother asking strangers to pipe down (NOT GOOD).

So having thought about this dilemma for a few days now, I wanted to get Newsvine's thoughts. Have you been in a similar situation? What is the correct/polite thing to do? What do you actually do?

Share any fun stories you have and any remedies you've found…and don't forget to answer the poll question!

Hi Everyone,

As Calvin mentioned in the new Code of Honor announcement, I'm re-doing the FAQ/Help section. The main goal for this project is to simplify both the format and verbiage to make it more reader-friendly. This is also a chance to suggest any additions to the FAQ.

I wanted to open this up to the Community and get everyone's feedback - What are some of the things you see people getting confused about? Are there questions you can't find answers for? What information would you have liked to have had available/explained when you first got here?

What I envision is having a straight-forward list of main questions/links at the top of the page and when you click a question it takes you to the answer listed below.

Some answers will have multiple parts (ex: How Do I Use The Search Function --> search by tag, search by full text, user search). My intention is to minimize the number of main questions/links (so users aren't overwhelmed by a huge list). However, the "sub-question/answers" should be sub-categories of and directly related to the main question.

I also was thinking about having a few basic headers to group major topics (ex: How Do I Use This Site, Reporting Abuse).

Below is a rough draft. I simply re-arranged the current FAQ and made some minor edits. Feel free to make any suggestions - particularly on how it's organized (should there be more/less headers, can some questions be combined, should some questions be broken up, the order of the questions, etc.) and the wording of the questions and answers (anything to make them more concise and informative is helpful).

Tedd Riggs has kindly offered to help me with this and brought up the idea of having a short glossary for commonly used terms on Newsvine. Please list any terms you think should be included. Tedd has also mentioned some tutorials that Newsvine Members have previously written. If you have one or know of one that you think would be useful, let me know.

Again, this is just in its beginning stages. I wanted to get users' input since this document is ultimately intended to help you and your fellow Viners. I know this may be a lot to take on, so if you just want to focus on editing one section, that's great too!

What is Newsvine and what makes it different from other news sites?

HOW DO I USE THIS SITE

Wire vs. vine
Each user has a column
Voting/ranking
What is the Greenhouse (new users)?
What are tags?
How do I use the search function?
How do I use the Conversation Tracker?
How do I customize my column?
Write Article
Seed Link
How much text can I borrow from an article I am seeding to Newsvine?
What is my "Watchlist" and how do I use it?
What Is "Vineacity", and how do I improve mine?
How do I become friends with another Newsvine user?
If I have a lot of friends who are good writers, how can I give them all Newsvine accounts?
Groups
Can I change my domain name or display name?
Does Newsvine offer local or regionalized news as well?
Do you offer RSS feeds or javascript feeds?
Can I use Newsvine logos and buttons to direct my readers to my Newsvine column?
Who owns the content I produce on Newsvine, both through seeding and writing articles?
How do I get paid?

REPORTING ABUSE

What is the Code of Honor?
I see an item on the site that should be removed because it is false or otherwise inappropriate. What can I do?
Can I get into trouble for submitting false abuse reports?

OTHER QUESTIONS

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What is Newsvine and what makes it different from other news sites?

Newsvine is a giant collection of news from all over the world, contributed and controlled entirely by Newsvine users like yourself. Whether it comes from the Associated Press, The New York Times, or the BBC, you'll see it here. Newsvine employs no editors because you decide what appears here. When you read a story you like, leave a comment on it or click the "vote" button above the headline and your input is automatically calculated into the story's popularity score. What you see on the Newsvine front page every day is a direct reflection of the community's actions on the site.

Newsvine believes in citizen journalism. There are many writers with good stories to tell and informative points of views who don't have an official journalism background. Newsvine is a platform for people to publish their own work.

HOW DO I USE THIS SITE

Wire vs. Vine
"The Wire" is a continuously updated stream of articles from The Associated Press and ESPN. Articles coming in from these sources are posted to Newsvine within seconds.

"The Vine" is a stream of content submitted by members of the Newsvine community. This includes both original articles written by Newsvine members and "seeded links" which are pointers to other interesting articles from around the web.

Each user has a column

Like a newspaper column, your Newsvine column is a place to write about or point to (seed) anything you consider newsworthy. It could be an eyewitness account of a news event you observed or just an editorial piece about something that happened to be in the news that day.

The only requirements are that it does not violate theCode of Honorand would be considered "newsworthy" by a reasonable person.

Also, please classify your content correctly by selecting "News Event", "News Opinion", or "Other" when submitting content.

To get to your column from anywhere on the site, just click the "home" icon on the far left of the navigation menu.

Voting/ranking

What is "voting" and how do I do it?

One of the many ways Newsvine ranks content is by keeping track of how many people vote for different articles, seeds, and comments around the site.If you see an article that is interesting or important to you, simply click the little green upward-facing arrow with the number next to it in the "article toolbar" located above the title. You can also vote up particularly insightful comments on an article.

How do articles move to the tops of pages and when do they fall off?

Newsvine uses a sophisticated algorithm that takes into account the number of votes an article gets, how many people read the article, the freshness of the news, and several other factors to determine its relative ranking.

Can I also "vote stuff down"?

No. If you don't like an article or a comment, simply don't vote for it.
If you see an article or comment that is inappropriate in any way, please click the "!" icon in the article toolbar to report it.

What is the Greenhouse (new users)?

The Greenhouse is a section where new users are featured. If you've recently registered for Newsvine, the content you produce (articles and seeded links) will likely appear in The Greenhouse. Users in the Greenhouse are able to comment around The Vine, but have limited user capabilities (i.e. ability to post links in comments, upload images on articles). Once you've posted good content and receive enough votes and comments, you will be "let out" of the Greenhouse and have full user capabilities. We appreciate your patience and understanding. The Greenhouse helps enormously with keeping spammers out.

If you feel you deserve to be let out of the Greenhouse early, simply send us an email {link}

What are tags?

Tags are keywords or keyphrases used to describe articles such as: "new-york, news, alex-rodriguez, contract, baseball, mlb". Users can search for articles with certain tags. Similarly, if you're writing or seeding a story, give it relevant tags so that people can easily find it.

How do I use the search function?

There are three ways to search on Newsvine:

1. Search by Tag: Just type in the word or phrase (phrases are connected by dashes) you're searching for in the search box and click "Go". Separate terms or groups of terms with a comma to search for items involving several tags. For instance, "tiger-woods, us-open, golf" will give you all articles having to do with all three of those tags.
Alternatively, you can always go directly to a tag page from anywhere on the web by typing in "www.newsvine.com/anything" (where 'anything' is replaced by what you're looking for).

2. Search by Full Text: This works similarly to a search engine (e.g., Google); This search returns results matching your search parameters to text displayed within articles and seeds within Newsvine, excluding comment threads and the content of articles linked to by seeds.

3. User Search: Type in a person's display name or domain name, in whole or in part, to find a Newsvine user.

How do I use the Conversation Tracker?

The Conversation Tracker provides you an easy way to keep track of discussions in comment threads. When a new comment is left on an item you are tracking, you will see the number of such comments in the Conversation Tracker (located in the green boxes in the upper-left hand corner).

There are three types of notifications you'll receive in the Conversation Tracker:
1. Comments left by others on content in your column (top box).
2. Comments left on conversations you've commented on elsewhere around Newsvine (middle box).
3. Comments left by your Friends (bottom box).

What items are included in my conversation tracker?

Items in your own column and items you comment on are automatically added to the Conversation Tracker.

How can I add an item to my conversation tracker?

You can add an item without commenting by clicking the "Track" button underneath the comment text box.

How do I clear items from my conversation tracker?

You can clear new items in your conversation tracker by clicking the "x" to the right of a specific article, or you can remove items (and not be further notified of any new comments) by clicking the "stop" icon.
When you get a new Friend, you automatically track their comments. To clear them from your conversation tracker, click the "Friends" button in the black navigation bar and uncheck the "track comments" box next to their name.

How do I customize my column?

Click the "Customize My Column" button in the black navigation bar towards the top of the page. From there, you can choose to show or hide different modules, rearrange the placement of these modules and fill out information about yourself.

The more other Newsvine users know about you, the more likely they are to send you a Friend Request or comment on your column.

What are "Comments & Feedback" for?

Users can leave each other comments and feedback on their columns. This can range from such things as stating the reasons why you like their contributions, to asking them a question on a topic you think they're knowledgeable about, or even just saying hello to a friend. Please keep in mind that the author of that column approves all comments prior to them being posted to the public.

Write Article

This button should be used for anything you have written yourself. If you have an article from your personal blog that you would like to post on Newsvine, use this button to publish it in its entirety.

Click the "Write Article" button. On this screen, enter a headline, your article text, upload some photos if you'd like, and then enter some tags (keywords) so that people can easily find your article. (If you want to leave your work in draft form, just click "Save" and move on to other things. You can save as many drafts as you want.) To publish your article, click the "Published" button above the headline field, and then click the "Save" button. This will publish your article immediately.

How do I create a poll?

A good way to get readers involved in an article is to include a poll.
Click the "Create Poll" button underneath the text field when you're editing an article. After choosing a poll question and the possible answers, click "Preview Poll". Confirm this is how you would like your poll to appear and click the "Looks Good… Publish It" button.

Seed Link

This button should be used for anything you have not written.

If you find an article from another source (CNN.com, Washingtonpost.com, local news, etc.) you would like to post on your column, "seed a link" to Newsvine. You can make the first comment on your discussion thread and invite others to comment on your column.

How much text can I borrow from an article I am seeding to Newsvine?

Use as little text from the original article as possible to orient the reader to its nature.

By copying too much, you are depriving other sites of traffic (and in some cases, are also violating our Copyright Policy). The best thing to do is to write your own description.

As an alternative, you can highlight the first few sentences (or first paragraph) and highlight it as from the original source. To do this use click the "quote" button, add the text from the article and click the "/quote" button – this should indent the text and make it grey.

What is my "Watchlist" and how do I use it?

Your Watchlist is a great way to keep track of the topics (tags) or authors you care most about. Rather than having to continually go to tag pages or columns to see if there's anything new, simply click the green "Watch" button next to the tag or author to add to your Watchlist. The number in parentheses denotes the number of new articles related to that particular tag or author. When you click an item with new articles in your Watchlist you'll notice the new items have a green indicator arrow. To remove an item from your Watchlist, simply click the small "-" button to the right of the item you would like to remove. More information is available on the Watchlist Help Page.

What Is 'Vineacity', and how do I improve mine?

"Vineacity" is a measure of one's overall level of contribution to Newsvine. Since users come in all forms and levels of interactivity, we've come up with a simple, yet powerful way to convey – at a glance – the relative productivity and credibility of Newsvine Users. By using Newsvine regularly and judiciously, your Vineacity should increase over time naturally. For a detailed description of the components of Vineacity, click here.

How do I become friends with another Newsvine user?

Click the "Friends" button in the black navigation bar near the top of the page. From this page you can send friend requests to existing members of the Newsvine community and people who do not have a Newsvine account. You can also accept or deny friend requests sent to you ("Received Friend Requests").

You can also elect to "track comments" from users in your Friends list. If you choose to track a friend's comments, you will be notified in your conversation tracker of every comment that friend leaves around the site.

If I have a lot of friends who are good writers, how can I give them all Newsvine accounts?

Newsvine is built upon the efforts of independent writers and other contributors. We want to reward you for bringing more great contributors into the Newsvine community. For each and every person who signs up as a result of either receiving a Vine Invite from you or credits you as the referrer upon registration, you will receive a 10% referral bonus on any content they create as long as you're both active Newsvine users. See our Invite Your Friends page for more details.

Am I responsible for the behavior of friends I invite to Newsvine?

Yes. We depend on your integrity and wisdom in choosing others to bring into the community. If you invite unsavory characters into Newsvine, your account can be affected. We are reasonable folks, so an offense or two is understandable, but a pattern of bad invites can lead to the deletion of your account.

Groups

Some people prefer to participate in smaller groups with their friends, colleagues, or others who share common interests. Newsvine now provides threetypes of Groups:

Self-governed "Public Groups"

In Public Groups, all articles published by members are viewable at the group's front page (http://yourgroupname.newsvine.com). Only group members, however, may publish to the group and non-members must request access in order to join.
Examples might be a "green" group discussing environmental issues or a "food" group discussing urban cuisine.
...Show Me How...

Self-governed "Private Groups"

Private groups are just like Public Groups except all content is hidden from non-members. Private Groups may still choose to list their group in the Newsvine Groups Directory so that others may find it and request access, but all articles, seeds, discussions, and member lists are always hidden.
Private Groups are great for discussing sensitive topics or organizing groups of friends or colleagues around subjects that are only interesting to them.
...Show Me How...

Private discussions with friends

When you just want to send a few friends an article to discuss, you can use a Friend List. Creating a Friend List is as easy as typing in a few e-mail addresses or Newsvine usernames. Instead of mailing stories around and trying to have multiple discussions over e-mail, host your private discussions on Newsvine where they can be better organized.
...Show Me How...

Can a private group ever be made public?

No. Discussions that happen in private groups are considered private forever, so it is not possible to transition a Private Group or any Private Group Discussions and make them public.

If I seed some articles privately to a Friend List and then later go back and add someone new to the Friend List, will this person have access to the conversations that occurred before they joined the Friend List?

Yes. Adding someone new to an existing Friend List gives them retroactive access the conversations already seeded to that Friend List.

If I seed something to a Private Group, will the seed appear in the Private Seeds & Articles module on my column page?

No. That module, if you configure it to be visible, displays private articles and seeds that are published to Friend Lists only.

If I read an interesting seed or article on the front page of Newsvine, and I'd like to have a private discussion about the seed or article with a couple of my friends, is this possible?

Yes. Just scroll down to where the conversations begin, and you'll see a tab labeledStart New Friend Discussion. Select this tab, and you'll be presented with the option to either (a) start a conversation with all of your friends or (b) start a conversation with any of your current Friend Lists.

Can content be removed from a Group by an Admin, if it does not belong?

Yes. Group Admins can remove content from the Group by clicking the small 'trash' icon in the toolbar provided on the Group's homepage. This will only remove the piece of content from the Group (i.e., the article or seeded link will still be available on the user's column and elsewhere around Newsvine such as tag pages, etc.).

Can I change my domain name or display name?

It is important to the integrity of Newsvine that people are held accountable for the things they say. For this reason, we do not allow users to change their domain or display names without the approval of Newsvine Staff. If you have good reason for wanting to change one of these values, please contact us directly {link}.

Does Newsvine offer local or regionalized news as well?

Absolutely. Newsvine currently supports 450+ regional domains around the world, including countries and metro-regions, and the list is growing all the time. Check to see if you're covered by typing in the name of your city or country in the Region text field in the upper-right corner of the screen. Alternatively, you can click the dropdown arrow to manage your regions. Regions can also be navigated to directly. For example, "http://seattle.newsvine.com". You can also view tag-specific articles in a regional domain by using the same methodology described above for searching for topics (for example, "london.newsvine.com/business" yields all business news occurring in the London metro area).

Do you offer RSS feeds or javascript feeds?

Absolutely. On almost every page of the site, in the lower left corner, you'll see the "Feeds" module. Use the RSS feeds to watch Newsvine pages through your favorite newsreader. Use the JSS (javascript) feeds to add Newsvine content directly into your own blog via a JS include file. More information on inserting Newsvine content into your existing blog is available at our JSS Help Page.

Can I use Newsvine logos and buttons to direct my readers to my Newsvine column?

Yes. You're welcome to use Newsvine artwork found on the Logos & Identity Page in any non-commercial, non-lame capacity. Please exercise judgment and care in your use of these files. Additional uses include screensavers and wallpaper.

Who owns the content I produce on Newsvine, both through seeding and writing articles?

You own and retain all rights to your works published on Newsvine. By publishing that material on Newsvine, you grant us a license to use that material. Please see the User Agreement for more information.

How do I get paid?

Newsvine works hard to sell advertising around the site so that everyone can benefit from contributing. You will receive 90% of the display advertising earnings from your own domain (e.g. "yourname.newsvine.com"). Ad earnings are based on traffic to your articles and seeds. The other 10% will go to whoever referred you to Newsvine. If no one referred you to Newsvine, the other 10% will be used to offset the cost of bandwidth, upkeep, and improvements to the site. The revenue you earn will be proportional to the traffic you generate.

When are my earnings available for redemption, and how long does it take to process?

Earnings are available for redemption 45 days after the end of the month in which they were earned (e.g., August earnings become available on October 15). Payments are processed on the 5th and the 20th of each month (or the nearest business day).

REPORTING ABUSE

What is the Code of Honor?

The Code of Honor is a short set of guidelines you are expected to follow to be a positive contributor to the Newsvine community. The Code of Honor exists in addition to the User Agreement and was created as a convenient way to remind people to respect each other and to make Newsvine a place of collaboration. You are encouraged to help other members of the community abide by the Code of Honor by politely referencing the Code when deemed necessary.

I see an item on the site that should be removed because it is false or otherwise inappropriate. What can I do?

If you see an item on Newsvine that is inappropriate, please click the "!" symbol and select the reason for removal. A minimum number of complaints must be received for an item to be pulled down. If you believe that you are the victim of plagiarism, please visit our Copyright Policy and file a formal complaint.

Can I get into trouble for submitting false abuse reports?

Yes. We take abuse reports seriously and false reports can negatively impact your account.

OTHER QUESTIONS

please send us an email

{LINK}

Dylan Fant is a busy man these days. He's a founding member of the Seattle pop rock band JMinus as well as the owner and recording engineer for One Shot Studio here in Seattle.

JMinus has released two CDs, Under the Blue (2002) and Sun and Moon (2006), a double-CD whose songs are broken up into major key (on the Sun) and minor key (on the Moon). The band has developed a loyal following here in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, culminating in a west coast tour in 2007.

Dylan has been aptly called "the heart of the operation" for JMinus, filling whatever role is currently available, from writing songs, to laying down electric guitar over near-finished tracks, to playing drums full-time for the band. As someone who has recorded at One Shot (where I assure you that you get many shots to get a take just right), I can say with confidence that Dylan's both an extremely talented studio engineer as well as being in possession of some kind of melody diving rod, with which he's able to local the perfect hook for a song. Couple these two skills together and you have a veritable pop-music machine.

I didn't have enough time to do an audio interview with Dylan, but we exchanged a brief Q & A over email, presented below.

Q Seattle, despite having a very active music scene, is not known for producing pop music. What are the specific challenges of reaching new fans in a city that embraces primarily other forms of music?

A It's not the easiest thing ever. We try to find other bands that might share a similar fan base, the hardest part is finding those groups. Myspace is still a key factor in reaching out to people in the area that might enjoy our style. Let's face it, the majority of people just don't go out to see random shows of bands they've never heard of anymore, so we have to find them.

Q What's more important these days for young bands trying to get ahead, selling CDs or making music available for digital download?

A I think music in a physical form is definitely on it's death bed. The most important thing for new bands is getting their music heard by as many people as possible. If that means giving half of it away for free, I say do it. There are many other ways to make money from your music than the music itself.

Q I once heard someone say that "all songs have already been written", implying that it's getting more and more difficult to write original songs with original themes. Do you agree with this?

A I agree to an extent. With so many bands and musicians out there...every chord progression has been used in some way. I believe the key nowadays is to be as personal as possible with your lyrics. Your experiences are your own. Sure other people have been through it and wrote about it as well, but it won't ever be exactly the same. The people that relate to your words will always be your biggest support. Personally, I think mixing up your influences genre wise helps as well. You might stumble upon some pretty wicked combinations that haven't been done much, or at least haven't made it to center stage yet.

Q What was your single favorite moment out of all of the gigs JMinus has played?

A I would have to say playing the showbox and seeing all the new people that I met on myspace out in the crowd mouthing the words....it's such a great feeling.

Q Any up and coming bands that you've recorded lately that you'd like to give us a heads up on ... someone to pay attention to when they play out?

A Definitely. Here are three that come to mind immediately:

• Everyday Car Crash is a band with an awesome heavy sound, but the vocals are very melodic and Mike (the singer) has a very smooth, cool character to his voice.
• C Side is a project that I produced with James Reber. It features singer/songwriter Matt Bekker on vocals. Very catchy pop songs with a great acoustic sound, and the occasional rock song to bring up the energy. Bekker also delivers a very warm feel with his soothing voice
• Taylour Woodruff ... Amazing voice, extremely talented young female singer/songwriter from Tacoma.

Q Any advice for bands that are just starting? I.e.: should they focus on writing songs, recording, practicing, promoting, playing live shows, or something else?

A The answer is everything deserves focus at different times, they all are of equal importance.

1. 1st = obviously you have to write the songs...so get that going and give it everything you have. Practicing kind of falls into this category as well...you'll be doing both at the same time hopefully
2. 2nd = record them....and record them well. I'm not saying break the bank, but save some money and make sure the quality is decent, these recordings will be representing you to everyone. Remember that a high price studio does not always mean a high quality recording, the guy that's turning the knobs is extremely important. Find someone that is very familiar with your genre and that you can see eye to eye with on a musical level (personal level is even better if you both have the time)
3. 3rd = Once you've got your recordings and you're happy, it's time to show the world! Give them away to as many people as possible. Get on myspace and hunt down the people that will love what you do. Make sure you keep in touch with them though, appreciate the fact that they love what you do, treat them more as friends instead of fans. Let anyone and everyone download them as well, the word has to spread, and there is no better way then having people burn cd mixes for their friends and showing you off as new music that they found.
4. 4th = get out there and play some shows, meet the people that love what you do and thank them in person by putting on a show they won't forget.

Dylan is true to his word, I've seen JMinus play live and they put on an excellent show. Be sure to check them out on myspace.

The comic Watchmen was discussed in the superhero thread. Just came across this on YahooMovies. Looks like the movie will be coming out in March 2009. A brief synopsis, production photos and video interview with director and some of the cast.

North Koreans listened to music they had never heard before—Gershwin, Dvorak and the "Star-Spangled Banner"—in an historic first visit by an American orchestra

An interesting take on where Obama's future economic plans might take us.

In November, we will have a new president. According to RealClearPolitics.com, it will either be John McCain or Barack Obama. The economy has taken a recent down-turn. Whether it's considered 'slow growth' or a 'recession', a relevant question seems to be:

How will the next president affect the economy?

I've read some different articles on the topic that brought up a few factors I was interested in (you can address these or not):

How much does the occupant of the Oval Office really influence the economy?

What is the stated economic position of each candidate and how does that relate to what they actually will do or will be able to do?

Will the international perception of the US lead to higher consumer confidence in the dollar?

Please vote and comment as you like.

With the economy teetering at the brink and markets swinging wildly, what should you do? Here is some classic advice for dealing with rocky financial times

Comic-book superheroes have been in our culture a while now (Marvel and DC Comics both started in the late 1930s). One can make the case that they serve to provide an escape from reality (ex: WWII). They also can be seen as instilling particular virtues (ex: superman - "truth, justice and the American way"; batman – helping the police fight crime). Recently, there has been a wave of major motion pictures depicting new versions of comic book favorites (Superman, Batman, X-Men, The Hulk, etc).

I've always been fascinated by superheroes and I still see little kids playing around pretending to be them today. I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys had to say about it.

Who is your favorite superhero and why?

Side question: do you like superheroes who have powers or don't?

Eric Bana insisted his co-stars Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman got on famously and that all three actors were able to raise their game in "The Other Boleyn Girl" with a friendly competition to out-do each other.

The two movies that I'm most excited for (that are coming out soon) are Vantage Point and The Other Boleyn Girl.

I like political action thrillers and the cast of Vantage Point is impressive (Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, William Hurt). However, films with good ensembles have fallen flat before.

I really enjoyed reading The Other Boleyn Girl - it thought it did a good job of transporting the reader into the intrigues of King Henry VIII's court. Hopefully, the film version will live up to the book. Eric Bana as King Henry VIII should be interesting to watch!

Let me know what you think of either of these movies or any others you're looking forward to.

Brief synopsis from YahooMovies:

Thomas Barnes and Kent Taylor are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Ashton at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When President Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide in the hunt for the assassin.

Two sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, are driven by their ambitious Father and Uncle to advance the family's power and status by courting the affections of the King of England. Leaving behind the simplicity of country life, the girls are thrust into the dangerous and thrilling world of court life--and what began as a bid to help their family develops into a ruthless rivalry between Anne and Mary for the love of the King.

The Pentagon plans to shoot down a disabled 5,000-pound spy satellite within the next two weeks, before it tumbles from orbit, because the rocket fuel it carries could be a danger to people

I hope they don't miss.

Many satellites have fallen harmlessly out of orbit during the space age

How many is "many"?

Good article about having good credit and impact on home mortgages, credit card interest rates, car loans and savings interest rates.

Consumers with good credit scores and fixed-rate mortgages should refinance immediately to lock in the new low rates

REACTION AND THOUGHTS OF VIEWERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST TO THE CLINTON/OBAMA DEBATE.

THIS IS A FEW DAYS OLD, BUT STILL INTERESTING TO GET AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. THE FOLLOWING IS THE WRITTEN EMAIL SUMMARY I GOT OF THE VIDEO CLIP. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE CLIP CLICK "FRIDAY, FEB 1ST 2008" ON RIGHT HAND SIDE UNDER "RECENT EPISODES", SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK "MIR: OBAMA A WINNER IN THE MIDDLE EAST"

The debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Thursday night commanded almost as much attention on major Arab television networks as it did in the U.S.

Arab networks such as Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Dubai TV currently have camera crews shadowing top US presidential hopefuls. They have been busy interviewing Americans about their choice for candidates. Al Jazeera English channel is also running promos promising "an in depth coverage of the US presidential elections."

There is a buzz about Obama that his victory would revive America's sinking image abroad. Many Arabs believe that Obama's ethnicity and background gives him a kinder understanding of third world countries. On the other hand, on an interview on Al Arabiya channel a Saudi businessman preferred Hillary, because he hoped she'd make Bill her Middle East emissary. "Obama would be a novice at navigating the dangerous Middle East quagmire," according to him.

Meanwhile, Iranians are watching the US presidential primaries closely. The Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made it clear, in several appearances on Iranian television, that Tehran believes the next U.S. president will have to accept Iran's right to a nuclear fuel cycle. Obama is favored since he is the only one who has made an offer to talk to Iran without preconditions.

GOP front-runner Sen. John McCain reached out to jittery conservatives Friday, saying he was ready to sit down with former candidate Mitt Romney to unite Republicans before the general election.

McCain became the nearly inevitable Republican presidential nominee Thursday when Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, dropped out of the race.

President Bush will sign a bill next week that gives $600 to individuals or $1,200 to couples plus $300 per child.

A lot of discussions have been taking place around Newsvine about what effect this will have on the economy. Will it stimulate the overall economy enough/in such a way that will help the housing market? What will it do to international trade? There have been many further questions above my head. To me, one of the main factors is what people actually do with the money they receive. What if everyone saved it. What if everyone spent it. Obviously, the final breakdown will be somewhere in between. I was wondering what Newsvine Users were planning to do. At polecolaw's suggestion, I have included a poll.

Discuss and vote as you will.