Return of the Kametsu Newsletter!

[Dark_Angel13]

I have to leave the house every now and then...since it so rarely happens...

 

I'm in the same boat, luckily my course gets me out of the house and since I broke up with my gf an old friend has started talking to me a lot again, going to see her tomorrow in the city =)

[Alice]

I just don't like leaving my sanctuary.  The outside world is not fun for me.  I much before the computer world and Sakura world.  XD

 

I like the outside world at all.  I have very few friends...and they constant bail out of the plans they make with me.  I predict another bailing...so I'll probably have all too much time to write.  -sigh-

[† Emotional Outlet]

Okay. I compiled just about every question I have received--either in this thread or brought up privately--about this newsletter into a FAQ. I've also linked it in the first post. Let me know if you can't access it for some reason. If I missed any questions, I managed to raise more questions, I messed something up, or I said one thing earlier but now the FAQ says another thing, let me know and I'll fix it up.

 

Phew.

 

Okay. I was thinking of something as I was writing the FAQ. The newsletter is definitely going to be posted on the forum in thread format as I previously discussed. There's no doubt about that.

 

However, would anyone be averse to a PDF compilation or something of the newsletter? I don't really know why anyone would want it, but I guess if you wanted to stick it on your e-reader or just have it for offline reference, we could make it an option. We would definitely have to push photo and video credits, though, for materials that aren't personal screenshots and whatever. And it would mean that we could do fancy formatting and layouts, so people are able to indulge any desires regarding design. And we could probably stick a few more graphics in there, like a full splash title page and other neat things.

 

It's just an idea, dunno if people want it or not.

[† L4ugh]

However, would anyone be averse to a PDF compilation or something of the newsletter? I don't really know why anyone would want it, but I guess if you wanted to stick it on your e-reader or just have it for offline reference, we could make it an option. We would definitely have to push photo and video credits, though, for materials that aren't personal screenshots and whatever. And it would mean that we could do fancy formatting and layouts, so people are able to indulge any desires regarding design. And we could probably stick a few more graphics in there, like a full splash title page and other neat things.

 

I was actually going to ask that very question in my last post, or see if a html formatted version could be posted on the actual Kametsu site. I decided against it because I didn't want it to seem like I was trying to take away from the actual forum. Personally, I'd prefer the nicer format of a pdf or html to the more restricted forum thread format, but that's just me.    

[† Emotional Outlet]

I don't have control over the main site (we were talking about tackling it, though), but I can definitely put together a PDF or whatever, haha.

 

I do want to keep it available on the forum so people can view it without downloading stuff.

[Dae314]

Is the date in the name of the article the date of creation, the date of last edit, or the target release date for the article?

[† Emotional Outlet]

Date written. We can see the date it was last edited under Last Modified.
 
I'll update the FAQ in case others were also confused by what I meant.
 
Actually, never mind. It already states that.
 

Yes, we ask that all articles have the writer’s forum username, article title, and date written somewhere in the title.

This information is also repeated in the Article Guidelines mini doc.
 

File name must contain forum username, article title, and date article was written

And mentioned in my sample article.
 

As you can see from the name, you can tell at a glance that this was written by me, Emotional Outlet, the name of the article is Sample Article, and it was written on the 18th.

The only place I could find where it was ambiguous what I meant is an earlier post in this thread, which predates any of the documents mentioned above.
 

As far as file naming conventions, as mentioned, I'd like for people to have their forum username, article name, and date so we can keep organised at a glance.

 

ETA: Actually, I found an earlier post where it was clear what I meant by "date".

 

I'd also like to recommend a file naming convention for uploaders. username_articletitle_date, or some variation thereof. Some way to know at a glance what it is, when it was written, and who it was written by.

 

So I'm not really sure where the confusion came from unless you only read that one post or something. Is there somewhere I mention it and it's not clear?

[Dae314]

1) Only skimmed the FAQ

2) Haven't looked at anything else yet ^^

3) Skimmed this thread also

4) Will try to minimize such in the future, but I don't think I should notice anything else since I have enough info to do an article .-.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Haha, okay, I just wanted to make sure. Sometimes I retcon myself and forget to update stuff, so I wanted to make sure I had my bases covered. If you do see any incongruities or bits that are unclear later, let me know so I can fix it.

 

Since we're still working out the kinks, I'd say rely more on the documentation in All Important Information and not this large thread where I've probably changed my mind like six times per page. The FAQ should be visible to everyone and cover all the bases. If necessary, I can open up the viewing permissions on that entire folder. I'll take another look at the FAQ later to see if I can shrink it down any and make it a little more user friendly, but I wanted to make sure I got everyone's questions, haha. Stuff like article guidelines (which I need to update) and how to use the table of contents do have their own separate documents, so you don't have to search the FAQ for that.

 

Anyway, I made a mistake and lied about a thing. The proper button to hit is "Activity" (if it's not visible to the side, hit "More"), not "Recent". Recent only covers stuff that you've opened already, but Activity covers what I actually meant--new stuff on the drive that's been shared with you regardless of whether you've opened it or not. I tend to snoop through all the folders/documents and assumed incorrectly. I reflected this correction in the FAQ.

 

Again, to see new stuff on Drive, it's Activity, not Recent!

 

Anyway, we only need three more articles to make the minimum count per category. :3 Articles are still due on Tuesday, 12 March. I'll drop a note in Drive or something. I know people are working on building a buffer, so hopefully we don't end up tripping over our own feet after first publication, haha.

[Dark_Angel13]

So to see new stuff I go to recent and ignore Activity completely, got it!

[† Emotional Outlet]

Yes, do the opposite of what I say, haha.

 

It's not as imperative for content writers to keep an eye on what's going on in Drive overall. As long as you know what's going on in your section--and it is significantly fewer folders that way, especially if you only want to do one category--you should be fine. Meaning if you don't care to write for Anime & Manga, it doesn't matter if you don't see that someone dropped in a new article there.

 

Anyway, does anyone have any requests as far as collating the articles into a downloadable format, or is PDF good enough? What if Flash animation though.

 

(That last bit was a joke.)

[Dark_Angel13]

Yes, do the opposite of what I say, haha.

 

You got it!

[Hawkester]

Anyway, does anyone have any requests as far as collating the articles into a downloadable format, or is PDF good enough? What if Flash animation though.

 

(That last bit was a joke.)

 

Why not make a news show whilst we're at it.

[† Emotional Outlet]

"Kamestu Informer--bringing you the news you crave at the top of the hour, every hour."

 

I'll have my fake pile of papers that I tap and shuffle every two seconds. It'll be just like real life, haha.

 

Anyway, I was reading about how other places do their newsletters and I know some people have approached me with some concern as far as being able to generate content every two weeks, so I have an idea that might work or make things incredibly convoluted.

 

Instead of doing all six categories with twelve articles (Anime & Manga, Art & Literature, Entertainment, Gaming, Graphics, Tech) every two weeks, we could alternate between three categories at a time with six articles. Far as word count goes, that would take it from roughly 6k words every newsletter to about 3k.

 

To outline some benefits:

• Lessens the workload for both content writers and editors
  
• Lengthens deadlines from two weeks to one month
  
• Shortens the newsletter for reader benefit (fewer words = faster to read)
  
• Makes the PDF compilation more worthwhile
  

And some downsides:

• Timeliness of news
  
• Potential to forget stuff because of procrastination
  
• Readers have to wait longer for specific categories
  
• If more than one person is working on a category, have to wait longer for their turn to be published
  

So if we do split it, how do you guys want to split it? I was thinking Anime & Manga, Art & Lit, and Entertainment as one, and then Gaming, Graphics, and Tech as the other. And then that brings us to what's going to go first. After that initial choice, it won't matter any more since we'll just alternate between the two.

 

Alternatively, we could constantly shift the categories, but that sounds like a headache and a half. Also really disorganised and chaotic.

[† poetictragedy]

What are the categories that people are having trouble finding content for? From what's currently on the drive, it looks like Anime & Manga, Art & Lit, and Graphics are covered at least for this issue. As for the others, it looks like people just haven't submitted anything yet. If newspapers can report new things every day, I don't see why we can't find new content to report every couple of weeks.

 

Unless this is about volunteers not having time to write anything, which is a different matter.

 

Honestly, I don't think we should split it up. But I'll go along with whatever.

Edited March 4, 2013 by poetictragedy

[† Emotional Outlet]

Some of the Tech people seemed a bit cagey about having content every two weeks. There's definitely new stuff out there every day, if not every minute, but I don't know how closely people follow the news. It might also be a bit of a reluctance to put out something they think people don't care about, I don't know.

 

I don't mind either way, just throwing stuff out there. It's going to be roughly the same amount of work for me either way, haha.

[Dae314]

Aren't we releasing twice a month?

Assuming "month" is 30 days, twice would mean a release every 15 days.

1 week is 7 days. 2 weeks is 14 days. We're pretty much releasing every other week . Although not strictly.

[hagi]

when is the deadline for the next issue?

[† Emotional Outlet]

Dae: Yes, we are intending to publish on the 1st and 15th.

 

I don't understand where your apparent confusion is stemming from. Is it my usage of "every two weeks"? It's more clear than "biweekly" (twice a week or every two weeks) or "bimonthly" (twice a month or every two months). I understand that a week is seven days and there are months with 30 days and months with 31 and February has 28, 29 on leap years. I understand that a day is not a perfect 24 hours.

 

Would you prefer an update schedule that more readily adheres to the concept of "every two weeks"?

 

hagi: This issue's articles are due on the 12th, second issue will be due on the 29th. The deadline reminder on Drive will be updated once the first issue is updated~

[Dark_Angel13]

Okay I'll finish editing my article and put it back on the drive lol or you could just do it for me since it was minor commas stuff