Newsvine Groups BETA Launches

News Type: Event — Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:37 PM EST

Newsvine is fundamentally about the democratization of news. Its most foundational promise is to provide its users with a platform by which each person can define the set of news that is important and meaningful to them. You no longer have to wait for a major media company or newspaper to tell you what's news: you get to both decide for yourself as then share that news with the community at large and with your friends.

In Newsvine's first several months, we've succeeded in several key areas which allow us to take this huge next step:

Steadily grown traffic to over a half million unique users per month, thus providing a large enough ecosystem to self-propagate the news.
Built a reputation system which allows productive and benevolent members of the community to receive more exposure.
Enacted a revenue-sharing program which allows writers to keep 90% of the advertising revenue sold against their contributions.
Managed to keep the site almost 100% spam free.
Kept our cost footprint small and our development cycles fast.

Up until now, however, there has been only one community. The community is comprised of the people who visit main sections of Newsvine and/or contribute news which makes it into a main section. Back when the Newsvine community was small, this wasn't so much of a issue, as there was room for everyone to make it onto the front page from time to time. However, as Newsvine has grown, it's become much more difficult to get front page exposure.

As well, if Newsvine is going to fulfill its foundational promise of the true democratization of news, there needs to be a place for everyone to define the news that is important to them, and to invite others to participate in the discussion and dissemination of news.

To address this opportunity, Newsvine today introduces Newsvine Groups BETA. Since public launch, we've never given the "beta" label to anything, but this project is extremely complex from an architecture and interface standpoint and we fully admit that we haven't gotten everything perfect yet. It's been a three-month project so far -- our largest since launch -- and we're sure that in the first several days of using it, the Newsvine community will have plenty of feedback as to what should be changed, improved, or simplified.

This release is actually three releases in one:

Public and Private Groups

Each user can now create Public and Private Groups to reflect their interests and the interests of their friends. Each group has its own front page at "http://yourgroupaddress.newsvine.com" and you can invite others to join and contribute with only a few clicks. Only members can contribute, but in a Public Group the Group's front page and all content within it is viewable by the general public. A sample use for a Private Group would be if you had some friends with whom you enjoyed discussing politically sensitive issues. Each member could write, seed, and read articles within your group and nobody else would be able to see them. A sample use for a Public Group would be if you were a Duke basketball fan and you wanted to gather together the best information resource for Duke basketball fans around the world.

Note there are now three places an article can be published to: the user's column (this happens automatically), "All of Newsvine" (this has been the default behavior up until now), and any Groups the user decides to publish to. Thus, when a user is publishing an article, he or she may continue to publish to his or her own column, "All of Newsvine", *and* whatever the appropriate group is... thus minimizing any change in publishing workflow.

Private Discussions with Friend Lists

Let's say you just have a small group of people with whom you like to share articles with. Your immediate family, for instance. You don't want to set up a Private Group for your family and you don't want your own front page. You just want the ability to share and discuss articles with them from time-to-time. For this functionality, we are introducing "Friend Lists". You can maintain as many Friend Lists as you'd like and adding people is as simple as typing in an email address or Newsvine username. Once a Friend List is created, you can then choose to publish any article or seed to it. A notification will go out to everyone on your Friend List and with one click, they can join your private discussion.

Only the beginning...

Newsvine Groups represents a major milestone in aggregation of news sources as well as giving users the tools they need to define and discuss the news that is important to each individual. With this release we're one step closer to fulfilling Newsvine's vision of democratizing the news.

During these first few days, we've allowed several users to create Groups but have temporarily frozen the creation of new Groups. This test period will hopefully only last a few days, but if any major problems cropped up, we wanted to make sure we only had five groups to adjust instead of 500. So head on over to the Newsvine Groups page (available in the black navigation bar at the top of the screen) and Newsvine Groups Help and get ta' groupin'! We'll open up Group creation as soon as the tires are sufficiently kicked...

95 Votes
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Published to:

Newsvine Blog's Column, All of Newsvine
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Public Discussion (92)

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.

8.7

Jump to discussion page: 1 2

{"commentId":355509,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Great going, guys. Been waiting for this!

{"commentId":355509,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

8 votes

#1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:51 PM EST

{"commentId":355523,"authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

Greg Plancich

So I clicked on the "Show me how" on how to make a public group and I just thought you should know that it's "indie", not "indy".

Apart from that, I am absolutely pumped about this new feature!

{"commentId":355523,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

9 votes

#2 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:00 PM EST

{"commentId":355676,"authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

Greg Plancich

Ah thanks for changing that babes. :)

{"commentId":355676,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

1 vote

#2.1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:17 PM EST

{"commentId":355525,"authorDomain":"spring"}

Corey Spring

Any Ohio State Buckeyes, be sure to stop by and say hello!

{"commentId":355525,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"spring"}

7 votes

#3 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:02 PM EST

{"commentId":355530,"authorDomain":"noah"}

Noah Bradley

You guys rock.

(and now have my permission to get some sleep)

{"commentId":355530,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"noah"}

8 votes

#4 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:04 PM EST

{"commentId":355540,"authorDomain":"warners"}

rwarner

Thanks for all your hard work. I really appreciate all that you do.

{"commentId":355540,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"warners"}

5 votes

#5 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:08 PM EST

{"commentId":355554,"authorDomain":"farmer"}

oldfogey

Beautiful! Wonderful! Delightful! I can't say thanks enough.

{"commentId":355554,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"farmer"}

3 votes

#6 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:16 PM EST

{"commentId":355566,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Question:

Is it possible to have a group with both public and private functions?

Let's say, for example, that someone wanted to start a group for writers or painters, with the intention of doing collaborations. These people want to talk about projects privately. Plan them, develop them, execute them. Then, they want to publicly publish the results to Newsvine.

Can they do that? Or would they have to have a private group for the planning stages, and a public group for the end result?

{"commentId":355566,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

7 votes

#7 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:24 PM EST

{"commentId":355617,"authorDomain":"noah"}

Noah Bradley

Agreed. The ability to make certain posts/seeds public would be mighty beneficial (but probably a pain to the Newsvine team). :)

{"commentId":355617,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"noah"}

2 votes

#7.1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:46 PM EST

{"commentId":355622,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

hi Dennis:

Let's say, for example, that someone wanted to start a group for writers or painters, with the intention of doing collaborations.

For collaboration: you'd want to make the group public if you didn't mind the general Newsvine community reading the articles and seeds of the group. You'd want to make it private if you wanted said seeds and articles to be readable only by members of the group.

These people want to talk about projects privately. Plan them, develop them, execute them.

Okay, so for your specific example, your group would have to be private for the R&D phase.

Then, they want to publicly publish the results to Newsvine.

Once you're done, and you have an article penned in your private group and ready to share with others publically, you would then:

Create a public version of your group (if you want the article to go to a specific group of people).
Publish the private article to the public group (or to "All Newsvine" for all to read it).

Make sense? You wouldn't have to rewrite the article, or cut and paste it, you could write it privately and then share it upon publication, either with "All Newsvine" or just with the public version of your group.

{"commentId":355622,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"tom"}

7 votes

#7.2 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:48 PM EST

{"commentId":355632,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

So we can have two versions of a group? One public, one private?

{"commentId":355632,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

2 votes

#7.3 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:53 PM EST

{"commentId":355752,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

So we can have two versions of a group? One public, one private?

No. Not with the v1.0 anyways*.

Workarounds, for now, for when you want to "go public" with an article, proffered in increasing levels of effort for you, include, but are not limited to (more commas please):

Publish to All Newsvine
Publish to one or more already existing public groups w/ similar interests.
Create a brand-spanking new public group, and publish to that.

There are a couple more options, but before I mention them, I recommend taking the groups functionality out for a test drive, seeing how you like it, and then let's meet in the Newsvine Community Group and talk some more.

* If it helps: the permissioning matrix w/r/t Private Groups, Public Groups, and Friend Lists, in terms of who can write, who can read, and who can converse, is relatively non-trivial [in it's complexity]. So, we made a bunch of trade-offs in the v1.0 functionality, based on anticipated usage vs. complexity vs. available feature set.

{"commentId":355752,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"tom"}

2 votes

#7.4 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:50 PM EST

{"commentId":355769,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Muchos Gracias.

{"commentId":355769,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

1 vote

#7.5 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:55 PM EST

{"commentId":355577,"authorDomain":"strongbad"}

Sean Balsiger

Sweet. I've been excited for this feature since I stumbled upon that test article about it on Friday. Of course now you've set the bar pretty high for future features. :) Keep up the good work. This is the best website I've ever been to and it keeps getting better!

{"commentId":355577,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"strongbad"}

6 votes

#8 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:31 PM EST

{"commentId":355579,"authorDomain":"darkside"}

Mykola Bilokonsky

I think I speak for us all when I say:

@!$%#in' A! Rock on, guys! Time to get my hands dirty...

{"commentId":355579,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"darkside"}

10 votes

#9 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:31 PM EST

{"commentId":355610,"authorDomain":"farmer"}

oldfogey

Outstanding development. You know what a farmer is don't you? A man outstanding in his field.

{"commentId":355610,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"farmer"}

5 votes

#10 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:45 PM EST

{"commentId":355616,"authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

Adam Hobson

These, "You are invited to join blah blah blah discussions" need to stop. Now.

{"commentId":355616,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

2 votes

#11 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:46 PM EST

{"commentId":355633,"authorDomain":"mike"}

Mike D.

Are you receiving more than what would be considered normal? How many have you received and for what?

{"commentId":355633,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"mike"}

#11.1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:54 PM EST

{"commentId":355640,"authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

Adam Hobson

Three in an hour period, and having nothing really to do with the group they were aimed at.

{"commentId":355640,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

2 votes

#11.2 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:59 PM EST

{"commentId":355695,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Right now, if you click on the Start New Friends Discussion tab, the default is your entire friends list. If I click that puppy, 150+ people get an email. If I click it five times....

This is an emergency. This is a major emergency. Get me two pairs of underpants and some tweezers.

{"commentId":355695,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

4 votes

#11.3 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:22 PM EST

{"commentId":356276,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

this needs to change now.

Default should be off!

As groups expand this will seem like Spam central

{"commentId":356276,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

3 votes

#11.4 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:30 AM EST

{"commentId":356283,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

lets be honest... most friends lists are just a list of people -- no offense - but you know what i mean

Maybe you need a "really good friends" list

{"commentId":356283,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

2 votes

#11.5 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:35 AM EST

{"commentId":356289,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

chill,

we now have the ability to create as many friends lists as we like. Example: Say you and 4 friends are interested in politics in Borneo. Create a list for articles about that. (leave me off it). Say you and 10 friends are interesting in talking down neocons. Create a list for those articles, and count me in.

{"commentId":356289,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

4 votes

#11.6 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:39 AM EST

{"commentId":356292,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

ahh thanks

and I like Borneonians

{"commentId":356292,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

1 vote

#11.7 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:40 AM EST

{"commentId":355623,"authorDomain":"LAUHAL63"}

lauhal

Ahhh...shiny new viney thingies...yippie!

{"commentId":355623,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"LAUHAL63"}

4 votes

#12 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:48 PM EST

{"commentId":355637,"authorDomain":"farmer"}

oldfogey

The Newsvine Groups Help is an excellent example of how all Help sites should be presented. You certainly did a lot of preparation for this launch. I can see a world of possibilities all within the structure Newsvine has made available.

{"commentId":355637,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"farmer"}

3 votes

#13 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:58 PM EST

{"commentId":355654,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

Thanks oldfogey! Since there's a lot to the groups functionality, we wanted to make sure people had a relatively gentle introduction... thus the tutorials.

{"commentId":355654,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"tom"}

7 votes

#13.1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:07 PM EST

{"commentId":355669,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

Thank you, Newsvine.

I'll be writing an article for the Newsvine Help Group and posting it by the end of the week... but first, I have to figure out how all of this works!

*grin*

{"commentId":355669,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

5 votes

#14 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:13 PM EST

{"commentId":355828,"authorDomain":"zaki"}

Zaki

I look forward to these new Newsvine Mafias!

I mean Groups! :p

{"commentId":355828,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"zaki"}

5 votes

#15 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:18 PM EST

{"commentId":355852,"authorDomain":"brianford"}

Brian Ford

First question I've thought of that I haven't found an answer for by playing:

So, if something is seeded to a public group -- it is also available to the entire community, right? (It shows up to "all of Newsvine" and on the front page, etc?)

As such, if I navigate to an article that is part of a group, but don't get there from the group itself (for example, if I link to it from the featured articles section on the front page) is there any indication that the article -is- part of a group? It seems like some sort of indication that "this movie review" is part of "this group" would help raise awareness of the group and help encourage people to join or at least browse the group.

{"commentId":355852,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"brianford"}

3 votes

#16 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:32 PM EST

{"commentId":355861,"authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

Adam Hobson

An indication that it is part of the group would be great!

{"commentId":355861,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

#16.1 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:35 PM EST

{"commentId":355865,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

There are checkboxes in the seeding window to allow you to publish to ALL of Newsvine, or to avoid publishing to ALL of Newsvine, while it will still be published to your column and your Group. I just did a test seed of the article we're having this conversation on to the Newsvine Help Group, and I can see that it's published to that Group, while I avoided publishing it to ALL of Newsvine. The seed also appears in my own column.

{"commentId":355865,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

#16.2 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:37 PM EST

{"commentId":355873,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

Oh, and yes, when I look at that seed, it indicates to me which Group it's published in. Although I don't know if I'm the only one who can see that indicator.

{"commentId":355873,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

1 vote

#16.3 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:40 PM EST

{"commentId":355884,"authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

Adam Hobson

Cool, I see it now.

{"commentId":355884,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"thevineofhob"}

#16.4 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:43 PM EST

{"commentId":355892,"authorDomain":"farmer"}

oldfogey

I have been looking also. The best I can figure is that articles will be published by individual members. I have not found anything to indicate a Group can publish as if it were the author. Not owning a group I may be outside the loop and not able to discover certain features.

{"commentId":355892,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"farmer"}

#16.5 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:45 PM EST

{"commentId":355906,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

oldfogey,

There is no Write Article or Seed links within the Group interface itself, so yes, all content publication will be by Group members individually, and content will appear in your column (whether you publish to ALL of newsvine or just to that Group). And if you publish to a Group, your content also appears there.

{"commentId":355906,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

1 vote

#16.6 - Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:53 PM EST

{"commentId":355960,"authorDomain":"Ardith"}

ArdithDeleted

{"commentId":355913,"authorDomain":"Ardith"}

ArdithDeleted

{"commentId":355953,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

Question: Say a group wants to have a page that that is "The Best of the Vine", and say it wants to add articles authored by non-members -- is the only way to seed them?

{"commentId":355953,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

2 votes

#18 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 12:23 AM EST

{"commentId":355969,"authorDomain":"josh"}

josh

Currently, yes. In the "near future" you will be able to clip articles into your group from elsewhere on the vine.

{"commentId":355969,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"josh"}

5 votes

#18.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 12:31 AM EST

{"commentId":355978,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

Excellent, josh. I had the same sort of question. :)

{"commentId":355978,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

3 votes

#18.2 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 12:36 AM EST

{"commentId":355981,"authorDomain":"mark"}

mark

Didn't take long for a request for that. You bet! We're going users to grab AP stories, vine articles and vine seeds and put them in your "publication". We've even toyed around with enabling you to put them in your own column. I might have a tech goup, and want to add tech news/photos to my group column.

For now, seeding is the only option.

{"commentId":355981,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"mark"}

5 votes

#18.3 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 12:38 AM EST

{"commentId":356086,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

Actually, you're heading in the direction of one of my recommendations for Newsvine that I mentioned to you yesterday, Mark — support for Citizen Editors -- i.e. let anyone or any group upgrade their column into a News Page (or a News Pod as I was going to call them). I have a 75% written article on it. People who don't like the algorithmically generated Newsvine front page can chose from a human created one.

The regular front page would benefit too, as you'd have even richer data to drive the ranking algorithms. You can do that now with groups -- how many groups is the article published under, how popular are those groups... PageRank style link analysis.

{"commentId":356086,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

2 votes

#18.4 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 2:43 AM EST

{"commentId":356818,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

I get that you can't publish an article to a group in which you are not a member. But what happens to your group published articles when you leave a group?

{"commentId":356818,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#18.5 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 12:29 PM EST

{"commentId":357223,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

They're still in your column, but I don't know whether references to them in the Group remain or vanish.

{"commentId":357223,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

#18.6 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 2:57 PM EST

{"commentId":357258,"authorDomain":"mark"}

mark

We will be supporing non-member content in a group. Just need to add it to the interface. Admins of the group will be able to remove content.

{"commentId":357258,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"mark"}

2 votes

#18.7 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:09 PM EST

{"commentId":357276,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

Bug /Feature request:

When someone else puts an article of mine in their group and there are comments .....

It should show up in my comment tracker still as my article and not as theirs.

Why this matters: Often I have too many comments in the 3rd box of the comment tracker and I just purge them to keep up. But I like to respond or see interest in my articles,

THanks

{"commentId":357276,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

2 votes

#18.8 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:12 PM EST

{"commentId":357348,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

Man, comment tracking just got a lot harder for the NV team.

{"commentId":357348,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#18.9 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:39 PM EST

{"commentId":357771,"authorDomain":"mark"}

mark

It will show up in your CT. As for it getting too full, I suggest "untracking" some of your friends.

{"commentId":357771,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"mark"}

2 votes

#18.10 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:48 PM EST

{"commentId":362190,"authorDomain":"DigitalRob"}

DigitalRob

Thanks for the answer.

I just started a teachers group and was wondering if I'd be able to add some of the AP articles or seeds that show-up under the education tag. I wouldn't want them all, but quite a few will be interesting to teachers. I was going to ask whether this was possible because I couldn't find any info on it on the Groups Help page, but I found my answer here: Coming Soon!

Thanks.

Great job with this impressive implementation.

-Rob

{"commentId":362190,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"DigitalRob"}

#18.11 - Sat Nov 4, 2006 1:42 AM EST

{"commentId":356019,"authorDomain":"ansab"}

Ansab

Is that all? Next time I better be offered an omelette with your new features. With green M&Ms.

{"commentId":356019,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"ansab"}

3 votes

#19 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 1:23 AM EST

{"commentId":356095,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

Question 2: Group moderation of articles published to it. Doesn't seem to be any mechanism for this, other than for members to ask an author to remove it. Any plans for this down the road? Pre-moderation: either by admin or minimal number of member up votes (I like the latter). Post-moderation: admin can remove.

Along similar lines, could you add a place on the group page to display group information, such as purpose, posting rules, etc? Maybe just adding a link in the group info box to a page akin to user bios?

{"commentId":356095,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#20 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 2:56 AM EST

{"commentId":356097,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

By the way, awsome job guys!!! I'm not complaining :)

{"commentId":356097,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#20.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 2:59 AM EST

{"commentId":356102,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

Final Question (for now): Do only under Public Discussion count toward an article's comment count, or do the others also get added in?

Too many tangiential discussions occur today that have nothing to do with the article or seed, but end up artificially boosting an article's popularity -- I was going to recommend prior to today that you add support for side discussions that don't count for the article. But maybe what you released today would work for this purpose?

{"commentId":356102,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#21 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:06 AM EST

{"commentId":356120,"authorDomain":"spring"}

Corey Spring

Only public comments count. If you go to this latest article I posted, you will see there are more comments (at the moment) in the Movies, etc. portion of the conversation than in the public portion - and only those count towards the overall ranking.

{"commentId":356120,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"spring"}

2 votes

#21.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:17 AM EST

{"commentId":356108,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

Nice upgrade, will be very interesting. Congratulations.

What Powers does the Group owner have? Are they dictatorial? Can she delete Group members? Delete Posted articles? Delete comments in other people articles.

{"commentId":356108,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

2 votes

#22 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:10 AM EST

{"commentId":356122,"authorDomain":"spring"}

Corey Spring

Group owners have the power to change the layout of the group page, the description of the group, the header displayed on the page, whether or not to make feeds available, and can change the domain of the group. They can also delete posted articles to the group and boot members from the group or make them administrators and give them all the same powers.

{"commentId":356122,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"spring"}

4 votes

#22.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:22 AM EST

{"commentId":356209,"authorDomain":"chill888"}

chill

thx corey

{"commentId":356209,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"chill888"}

1 vote

#22.2 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 5:51 AM EST

{"commentId":356239,"authorDomain":"Ardith"}

ArdithDeleted

{"commentId":356153,"authorDomain":"Sarcophilus"}

Sarcophilus

I heard a few whispers that you guys were going to introduce a groups function but you've really exceeded my wildest expectations!!!!

You guys more than Rock! You're LEGENDS!!!

I'm looking forward to the increased richness and variety that all of this will bring.

Thanks for nurturing the vine to this point: I suspect we'll be looking at a forest of vines before too long

Now I'm off to explore and discover what else you've done.....

Thanks again!

{"commentId":356153,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"Sarcophilus"}

3 votes

#23 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 4:12 AM EST

{"commentId":356447,"authorDomain":"faruk"}

Faruk Ates

Awesome work, guys.

While I read all that, I reflected back on how Newsvine started out a year ago, and how it's grown over the past year. I think Newsvine is one of the best examples of the future of the web, as it's such an organically grown but well-balanced and fine-tuned website, it makes all other sites of similar (even if only remotely) nature look lifeless, almost dead in the water.

Keep it up :)

{"commentId":356447,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"faruk"}

4 votes

#24 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 9:41 AM EST

{"commentId":356673,"authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

Greg Plancich

I just thought of a question: Long ago, our ability to tag articles that we did not seed or write was taken away (because of all of the flaming and flame bait), but I just stumbled upon an AP article on the 'Vine that I thought would suit the Movies, etc. Group.

Is there a way that I could "tag" an article so that it could appear on the group's page? I realize that I could start a group discussion, but that's not the same thing.

{"commentId":356673,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

2 votes

#25 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 11:16 AM EST

{"commentId":356757,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

You do that by seeding it onto your group's page, and then you can tag it any way you want. This also gives you an opportunity for a group-specific editorial comment or introduction. Here's an example, as seeded by Calvin Tang in the Newsvine Science group.

{"commentId":356757,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

2 votes

#25.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 11:59 AM EST

{"commentId":357703,"authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

Greg Plancich

Ah makes sense. I thought that seeding an article on the Vine was redundant but it seems they've made it work.

{"commentId":357703,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"gregplancich"}

#25.2 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 6:53 PM EST

{"commentId":356946,"authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}

Brian White

Are you sure this isn't too complex? When I get someone hooked on Newsvine now, it takes them quite a while already to figure out everything that the site has. If the most frequent visitors start taking their content off into private groups, will that hurt the site?

{"commentId":356946,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"wbrianwhite"}

#26 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 1:15 PM EST

{"commentId":356955,"authorDomain":"brianford"}

Brian Ford

My bet is that "private" groups will be the exception, rather than the rule.

{"commentId":356955,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"brianford"}

2 votes

#26.1 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 1:18 PM EST

{"commentId":356979,"authorDomain":"vas"}

vas

For the "light user", groups are no different from regular columns -- they just have multiple authors.

People who only post their content only to private groups would be limiting readership. Who's going to do that unless they want their content to not have wide readership?

{"commentId":356979,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"vas"}

1 vote

#26.2 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 1:29 PM EST

{"commentId":356980,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

Are you sure this isn't too complex?

While the underlying system is complex, it is Newsvine's job to make the interface simple enough that users find the features they need most, first, and that the workflow is as simple and as intuitive as possible.

That said: we're trying to manage the complexity by providing Tutorials and the Newsvine Help Group as well as taking suggestions on how to simplify the interface.

If the most frequent visitors start taking their content off into private groups, will that hurt the site?

I don't think so. There will always be "the most popular" writers, articles, and seeds ... so even if the #1 user made everything private, that gives other users a chance to make it into the Featured Writers section.

{"commentId":356980,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"tom"}

5 votes

#26.3 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 1:30 PM EST

{"commentId":357118,"authorDomain":"prompt"}

prompt

I don't think groups will create any problems for new users, because from what I have seen they aren't displayed too prominently on the site. It is there for users to jump into if they want, but doesn't bother them if they do not.

{"commentId":357118,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"prompt"}

4 votes

#26.4 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 2:28 PM EST

{"commentId":357231,"authorDomain":"aine"}

Aine MacDermot

Tom's link pointed to the front page. Correction: Newsvine Help Group

{"commentId":357231,"threadId":"51275","contentId":"421864","authorDomain":"aine"}

#26.5 - Wed Nov 1, 2006 3:01 PM EST

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