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

[Anna Helme]

i think it's a good move, your text for the front page reads well too.

takver wrote:
> 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?
>