We're Opening The Gates

News Type: none — Thu Jan 5, 2006 8:19 PM EST

technology, news, newsvine, gates, beta, invitation

Tonight, we began sending invites out to the beta list. If you're reading the Newsvine Blog for the first time, welcome!

Over the last month or so, the Newsvine team has been working with a dedicated group of alpha-testers to make sure the Newsvine user experience is as positive as possible for the first wave of people. We still have plenty of quirks to work out, but as of today, everyone is free to read, seed, and write articles on Newsvine.

Also, feel free to talk and/or blog about the site as much as you want... we're officially out of the quiet period now. Whew.

Speaking of not being quiet anymore, we've given every Newsvine member the ability to invite 20 of their friends into the community. As the inviter of any new member, you'll receive 10% of the ad earnings from any traffic they generate. Here's the rub, however: by inviting someone into Newsvine, you are implicitly endorsing them as a potential positive member of the community. This is not only a great way to control growth during Newsvine's early stages, but it also helps keep the spam and the trolls out. We'll eventually dole out more slots, but 20 is the number for now.

So once again, welcome to Newsvine, and please don't hesitate to report any bugs or give us feedback on anything you'd like to see improved. Our biggest priority here is meeting the needs of the news-loving community.

Much more cool stuff to come...

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What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

0.5

Jump to discussion page: 1 2 3 ... 8

{"commentId":1472,"authorDomain":"drew"}

DrewPickard

Still pokin' round here . . . Initial impressions: looks nice, functionality is brilliant, ui sometimes looks cluttered . . .

But, I'm still figuring it out . . .

{"commentId":1472,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"drew"}

#1 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 8:45 PM EST

{"commentId":1473,"authorDomain":"liquid"}

liquidguy

This is indeed brilliant! I've been here all of 20 minutes, but I am beyond impressed.

{"commentId":1473,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"liquid"}

#2 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 8:55 PM EST

{"commentId":1477,"authorDomain":"davek"}

Dave K

ive been here less than 5 mins, and this looks great!

{"commentId":1477,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"davek"}

#3 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 9:07 PM EST

{"commentId":1479,"authorDomain":"powerpage"}

PowerPage

like it centurion, like it.

now how do I invite my friends?

{"commentId":1479,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"powerpage"}

#4 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 9:13 PM EST

{"commentId":1480,"authorDomain":"powerpage"}

PowerPage

Doh! I found the link, right there

{"commentId":1480,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"powerpage"}

#5 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 9:14 PM EST

{"commentId":1484,"authorDomain":"anthonyb"}

Anthony

Just logged in. Haven't looked around much, but I'm very impressed by the design and concept! Looking forward to being a part of something that appears to have tons of potential.

Loving the ajax comment preview below!

AWESOME!

{"commentId":1484,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"anthonyb"}

#6 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 9:34 PM EST

{"commentId":1498,"authorDomain":"christopher"}

Christopher Woods

Nice, nice, a few little bugs here and there (mainly rendering problems, the main body's background disappearing if you mouseover links, excessive CPU usage lagging the PC when the live preview renders inputted text) - possibly particular issues with this PC, maybe just inherent flaws in browser (using IE at the mo). The site on the whole seems to be fairly neatly organised, Like the little personal space you get, must give that a tryout, the live chat could become a very funky little addition for big news events! Also like the organisation of the sections, fairly logically-organised.

Best of luck with the site! I look forward to remaining an active user of what should shape up, hopefully, to become a much larger web destination. I would like a little more international coverage though, possibly, but I have to stick up for us people on the right hand side of the pond (UK option in the Newsvine Region dropdown? Ta very much)

This should be fun.

{"commentId":1498,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"christopher"}

#7 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:13 PM EST

{"commentId":1499,"authorDomain":"rubyonrails"}

Justin Palmer

Same as Anthony, Just logged in and my first impressions are that it's looking great! A little disappointed there is no Open Source category for the tech section though. Great work guys, I'm looking forward to exploring the interface more.

{"commentId":1499,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"rubyonrails"}

#8 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:14 PM EST

{"commentId":1504,"authorDomain":"scohen"}

scohen

I like so far, very cool

{"commentId":1504,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"scohen"}

#9 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:20 PM EST

{"commentId":1506,"authorDomain":"anton"}

Anton

Present, and accounted for!

{"commentId":1506,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"anton"}

#10 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:23 PM EST

{"commentId":1511,"authorDomain":"MariaG"}

Maria G.

I should be working, but I'm here playing around. That's always a good sign...

So far everything I've tried is intuitive. I posted my first link. I've voted for a couple of stories. I've gotten a little miffed that someone called the Pac-10 Conference overrated. Overall a successful experience.

{"commentId":1511,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"MariaG"}

#11 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:32 PM EST

{"commentId":1515,"authorDomain":"alek"}

alek

Ditto what Antor wrote! ;-)

{"commentId":1515,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"alek"}

#12 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:36 PM EST

{"commentId":1517,"authorDomain":"connecty"}

Alexandre

From Portugal:

For the first view I saw to many US news, perhaps to expand to others regions.
First very well designed, need to take a more further look.

Congrats

{"commentId":1517,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"connecty"}

#13 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:38 PM EST

{"commentId":1525,"authorDomain":"dallasrpi"}

Dallas

Nice combination of ideas. I assume site speed will be better before official release?

{"commentId":1525,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"dallasrpi"}

#14 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:43 PM EST

{"commentId":1528,"authorDomain":"team"}

Jeff W

Looks really good you guys. I am always glad to support people from my local area (Seattle). I like how most of the site is setup and the ease of use is amazingly easy. I think this could become my online news resource. I like how you guys gave users the options of writing their own articles and seeding to other articles. Keep up the good work team!

{"commentId":1528,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"team"}

#15 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:45 PM EST

{"commentId":1537,"authorDomain":"theoden"}

Theoden

I wish with every ounce of my being that this had been my idea. You Newsvine guys are eventually going to make a fortune with this venture. Hats off. Looking forward to reading the success stories. ...

{"commentId":1537,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"theoden"}

#16 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 10:55 PM EST

{"commentId":1539,"authorDomain":"ross"}

David Ross

Great site. Nice design, layout, organization, usability. All this in the beta and I'm sure there are wrinkls to be ironed out but definitely, nice job so far.

{"commentId":1539,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"ross"}

#17 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:00 PM EST

{"commentId":1544,"authorDomain":"envy"}

Envy

I'm impressed so far. Still finding more surprises here and there, and I must say that I love how interactive everything feels. Definitely has a totally different experience compared to any other website I've seen. I just dont seem like I'm browsing, this is definitely a very powerful tool. Love it so far.

{"commentId":1544,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"envy"}

#18 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:07 PM EST

{"commentId":1548,"authorDomain":"lstryder"}

Lief Stryder

Definition list?: A test for definition lists tag support.

{"commentId":1548,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"lstryder"}

#19 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:14 PM EST

{"commentId":1553,"authorDomain":"troymartz"}

Troy Martz

Mike (and company)! What an amazing design! Couple questions... 1) Are you using flashobject in place of sIFR? 2) Why not XHTML STRICT? Note: I'm looking at this from an "under the hood" perspective. The concept is outstanding!

{"commentId":1553,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"troymartz"}

#20 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:16 PM EST

{"commentId":1554,"authorDomain":"cosmo"}

Cosmo

Excellent, most excellent, this is such a great idea - why didn't I think of it? :)

I visit online, major newspapers (NY, LA Times, SF Chronicle, Seattle, etc) and sites like MSN etc, but none of them allows this level of feedback, interaction, and ability to do so much more!

Great job NewsVine! I predict Mike Davidson's $369 domain name (from the other article: "http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/03/how-to-snatch-an-expiring-domain") could turn into a million dollar (+) a year revenue source...

{"commentId":1554,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"cosmo"}

#21 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:18 PM EST

{"commentId":1567,"authorDomain":"theonetogoto"}

Aaron Post

Mike (and company) - Very nice work and great idea.

{"commentId":1567,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"theonetogoto"}

#22 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:30 PM EST

{"commentId":1568,"authorDomain":"climaxdesigns"}

ClimaxDesigns

Great work guys. now its up to us to bring this thing to life!

{"commentId":1568,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"climaxdesigns"}

#23 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:34 PM EST

{"commentId":1576,"authorDomain":"craigbaker"}

Craig Baker

Very very slick.

{"commentId":1576,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"craigbaker"}

#24 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:43 PM EST

{"commentId":1577,"authorDomain":"addam"}

addam

I'll have to poke around some more but initial impressions are very good.

The design is looking hot! (Surprise, surprise...) I'm not sure if I'm more excited about that or the idea of how powerful this can become. Well, I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the night...

{"commentId":1577,"threadId":"30231","contentId":"49085","authorDomain":"addam"}

#25 - Thu Jan 5, 2006 11:45 PM EST

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