[imc-melbourne-work] Melbourne Indymedia Suspends Publishing?

[takver]

I think we need to stop open publishing on Melbourne Indymedia ASAP to
reassess what we want to do.

Over the last week I have attempted to get the site back on track with
features and moderation. But one person can't manage the site. All it
takes is one irate user, like Parrot Press, to undermine the site and my
efforts.

Basically, irate users and spammers have become more persistent in their
attacks and without a software upgrade or a collective of several people
to actively moderate posts and do features, the site is unworkable. If
numbers are insufficient to moderate the site effectively, then the only
responsible action is to stop open publishing.

I think this is the responsible thing to do for our loyal readers and
contributors, many of whom have openly complained about spam and
crossposts being published and unmoderated. If we suspend publishing I
suggest we link to  Sydney IMC for people to post stories. 

If or when open publishing is turned off, I shall probably join Sydney
IMC to help with moderation and features.

==Australia wide Indymedia==

Cameron from Sydney IMC has seriously suggested that an Australia wide
site be developed with various newswires according to our needs and
moderated and edited by IMC ppl across Australia. I am now thinking this
could be viable. 

If this proposal goes ahead I would like to see for Melbourne:
* an open newswire and a promoted newswire. 
* userids to enable priveledged posting, 
* posters being able to choose a comments option: all comments, approved
comments, or no comments.
* an event calendar for each city/region

I would also like to see at the very least one newswire on the Australia
wide site being fully catalogued by Google News, and for this to happen
we must show we exercise editorial control over those postings -
basically ensuring articles are factual and of a reasonable standard.

== Suggested statement as Front Page feature:==

Melbourne Indymedia Suspends Publishing

Open publishing has been suspended on Melbourne Indymedia as numbers in
our editorial collective are insufficient to manage the site effectively
and responsibly. We realise that MIM still plays a vital role in
reporting activist news from Melbourne, Victoria and further afield. To
this end the present collective will be assessing options for how best
to provide an activist news service in the future. If you wish to get
involved, please <a
href="http://melbourne.indymedia.org/contact.php">contact us</a>, or
subscribe to our <a
href="http://melbourne.indymedia.org/mailinglist.php">mailing list</a>.
<p>
While open publishing is suspended, our collective suggests if you have
a well researched, well-written story about Melbourne events, you should
post the story to <a href="http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/">Sydney
Indymedia</a>. We thank our many loyal readers and contributors for
several years of grassroots journalism and media activism and hope we
can resume reporting with an even better interface at some stage in the
future.<br>
<i>Melbourne Indymedia Collective</i>


=======================

Discussion, ideas?
-- 
in solidarity
Takver