Write news, win a 7800 from XFX

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2005/10/12/news_competition_xfx/1.html

 

Which is it?

 

Ha, good point!

Nonetheless, a good idea to have a draw to increase submissions, sent a couple submissions so far! Basically being at uni means I don't buy the paper, so use internet news instead, and I often see a useful story!

But as you say, you have limited people, aren't you going to get an overload? One thing I would suggest is that to make things simpler for you, add formatting capabilities in the submission box, so that you can simply copy and paste everything rather than retype?

 

Things still need to be edited, MrWillyWonka...so if we're going to spend the time to clean them up and get them front-page worthy, we can apply some formatting as well.

 

Obviously proof-reading is a must too

I might have a go - I've got this wonderful article in that I've been meaning to write for ages. It's about the effect of peanut prices on the global markets, and how this affects overclocking abilities in the latest generation of video cards...do you think there'd be interest in an article like this?

Seriously though, having the ability to submit news articles (presumably they're screened first, right?) turns BT into more of an community and less of an oligarchy - good move, chaps.

Now, all I need to do is find some juicy snippets to win me that graphics card.

 

OMG i am so gonna write so much news

 

The problem with allowing formatting means that the page becomes a lot more insecure, with people being able to drop any old shite in to our database.

BTW, the card is the Extreme Gamer Edition 490/1300MHz version.

 

Ill see what I can do; Ive already gotten on the front page once, and darnit, I need a PCI Express graphics card to compliment my FX-55

 

The two comments aren't mutually exclusive.

If you're writing consistently high quality stuff, it will get on the page. Stories which get on the page are eligable for the draw. The more you write, the more likely you are to be picked out of the draw. Therefore, the prize will be won by a reader who fulfils those criteria

 

True, but they do seem to contradict since the consistency requirement is nulled by the random draw factor.

Surely only people who submit published stories every X days should be in the draw.

Picky perhaps, but accurate.

 

Y'all are analyzing this WAAY too much.

Write stories, win kit.

 

me too!

 

Edited rules for the pernickity.

 

so it's no longer a draw, just the best story?

time to get writing!!

 

Hmm... time to dig thru the depths of /.

Not that I plan to, but are we theoretically allowed to pimp our own mods/guides if we feel it would be beneficial/interesting? I know we occasionally showcase something that stands out in the forums.

Self-indulgence aside, great move on your part. I'm hoping the next step is user-published reviews... provided, of course, that their quality is up to par with the normal bit stuff; chances are this wouldn't include video cards as the "bit test bench" standards would be all out of whack. Cases and accessories and whatnot would work out well though.

 

I agree with Firehed, I'd love to see the ability for us users towrite somre reviews of smaller products, suh as MP3 players and the like.

Great move on this idea, by the way, I'll keep my eyes peeled for interesting news.

 

Timing for this is pretty good. I was actually planning on starting a semi-regular series called 'The Low End' to submit to various sites. Its an idea I have wanted to pursue for awhile. The basic premise is to provide reviews and article from the perspective of a user with low-end hardware. Often times when the latest and greatest roles out, many people are left behind. Their hardware struggles with new title in a vain effort to stay "in the game" are silent battles fought everywhere. Reviews of new titles, especially games, are done with fairly high-end machine in order to convey the best possible experience. I want to try to convey a realistic experience for everyone that has been left behind the curve.

I'm one such person.

I do have some questions about submissions. If I were to want to include pictures (and I do) in an article, how should hosting be approached. I have access to hosting that will be good enough for an article in early presentation stages. However, I would feel I would be abusing a friends trust if the pictures were still hosted with his service during publication. Will image hosting be handled by bit in the case of a publication? Should we host images beforehand in order to make previewing articles a bit easier? Perhaps just note where a picture should appear with a small description of the picture?

Another question is do you mind if we submit our content to other sites or do you prefer this to be exclusive? Same for forums?

 

Hi Lockman,

Unfortunately, your idea is for an article, or indeed, a series of articles. Readers wanting to pitch ideas should post them in the Feedback forum: http://forums.bit-tech.net/forumdisplay.php?f=3

This competition is for news stories. Have a read of the first story as a guide:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2005/10/13/linksys_dect_cit200/

It was edited from the original - I added a couple of extra paragraphs and the photos. If people want to include photos in their story, it needs to be hosted somewhere and you can just include the URL in the story.

All submissions considered for publication go through an editing process. We will add or substract as necessary, so don't be worried that your ropey HTML will be output directly Any notes or comments, if properly labelled, will be read and excluded from the final story.

 

iv sent one in about apples new creation the ipod video

Here's hoping i get it published

Will we notified via email if it is read or has been read but not quite there and could be sent back to us with pointers? as the article i sent was more than 5 minute job and a link

phil

 

Out of curiosity, how do you post links?

I just wrote the URLs out, and it looks like Wil converted it to nice looking links.

Can we just use the tags? Or <a href="whatever">?