ok, i've been reading over mefi for the past couple of weeks and i continually hear every other person say "this is a not a good post, etc." i've read the mefi guidelines but simply hanging around when apparently half of the stuff is considered improper, it's kinda hard to distinguish between good versus bad. could someone point me to some older examples or just general ideas. i'd appreciate it.
posted by pooldemon to etiquette/policy at 4:40 AM (14 comments total)
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• Civil Defense Museum
• Zero Emissions Research Initiatives
• Maps of the Internet
A good example of a current events post might be:
• Red Cross Problems
Here's how you might go about building a post the to the front page.
• Find a "hook". This is a combination of an interesting headline and an interesting link. Interesting in this case usually isn't an AP or Reuters feed (more about those later, but briefly, a news story is usually discussable because of an underlying issue. That underlying issue is your hook). It could be a document from the people involved, or a website on the issue involved that people may not have seen or thought about. This is very important: the hook should be something that the majority of people will not have seen. That way they'll want to read and discuss your link.
• Give a little supporting data. This could include other links related to the issue or some background information. This is a great place for AP and Reuters feeds. Many people will have seen these feeds, so they won't make good hooks (why would somebody reread something that they have already read on their news portal of choice?). On the other hand, those who haven't read these can get up to speed. Ask yourself what people will need to know in order to understand your hook (your most important link). If you have too much to put in here, post inside the thread.
• Set up the topic. Ask a question (I'm starting to like this less, but it can be done well) or set out the issue to be discussed. Sometimes there's nothing to discuss, and that's OK. A thread with few comments is not always a bad sign; sometimes stuff is just neat and doesn't need to be discussed. Sometimes the best measure of a thread is when everybody else starts posting related links of interest, or when an expert on the subject posts some further information in the thread.
• Put all of those together in a coherent form. This doesn't require a journalism major, but you might have to spend more than 30 seconds.
Finally, don't post in haste. Let your post sit for a couple minutes once you are done. Ask yourself whether it will turn into a yelling war that will prevent people from discussing the issues that you are concerned about. If you think that it might, see if you can reword the post (this will prevent the mob from branding you a troll). Check for incomprehensible jargon and other things that might make people skip over your post. Make sure that your hook is clear and inviting. A quality post reflects well on you, just as a poor post reflects poorly on you.
posted by iceberg273 at 6:48 AM on October 29, 2001