Expand Spout Off?
Folks, I need your thoughts about one of our most popular features -- Spout Off.
We began Spout Off about 15 months ago, and it has been a great hit with our readers. So great that I'm thinking about expanding it.
Right now, we sometimes receive up to 100 Spout Offs a day. Those Spout Offs are edited down to a dozen or so that we publish in the next day's edition of the Northwest Florida Daily News.
I should mention here that not all of the Spout Offs are publishable. Some of them, frankly, are crude, or bigoted, or inappropriately criticize people. Those kinds of Spout Offs go into the trash.
That stated, many Spout Offs are worth sharing, but aren't published for lack of space.
So here's my question: Would readers be interested in having the Daily News publish any extra Spout Offs online?
Let me know what you think about expanding Spout Off.
And by the way, for those of you who who blogged to me a month or so ago about comics, stay tuned for my column in in the Daily News in a couple of weeks, in which I will let you know whether "Cathy" stays or goes.
posted by Patrick Rice @ 7:21 AM
36 Comments
36 Comments:
I’ve had dozens of my comments published, on six occasions I had five on the same day and many other times I’ve had multiple comments in the same paper. I think I get published more than some of your paid reporters.
As you can probably guess I’m all for an expanded Spout Off in any form. My suggestion, if space permits is to put an additional Spout Off column in the front section that deals with national and international spouts and keep the one on the local section for state and local spouts.
I left my first spout off today and guess won't know until tomorrow if it gets published. I usually open to the local section first just to read those comments. I like anonymous' thoughts about expanding them to the national and international spot in the paper although I realize space is limited... online would be the obvious way to go.
I would love to see the spout off expanded. It does get annoying to not have your spout off printed (I understand the volume issue this is not a criticism) If having them online would allow for all to be listed thereby having your opinion heard even by a few would make it more popular. I enjoy open dialog on the most current topics and wish that there were a more instant aspect to posts. Similar to the News Journals website. As of now when we post a comment to the current events they aren't posted for hours and in some cases the next day when the story is no longer on the websites front page.
Expand it! I believe its a good forum to let off steam, share thoughts, and just get a feeling of how others think. If it went to a full page it wouldn't be too much for me. Good idea Pat.
I think that it's a great idea to expand the Spout Off section but only online. Keep the "best" dozen or so in the printed paper and the print the overflow online.
Anonymous made a good point re national/international and local...the place for national/international would be with the editorial page, I would think.
Yes, expansion would perhaps serve as a conduit for those that have revealed conduct of elected officials, without fear of reprisal. Anonymous complaints are not investigated. I'm not saying publish humiliating rumor or innuendo, but, but at least prompt an investigative reporter to start digging.
I think I may have a great idea. Why not create a discussion board? You could state a topic and allow all readers to post in reply to both you and others. I do this all the time in my online classes through UWF. This could definitely save some space because it can stay confined to one page. I enjoy reading spout off and also your blog. So therefore, I definitely can't wait to learn of Cathy's fate! ;-)
The theory of the "spout off" is very good. However, in practise it it turns out that a lot product is just brainless drivel. At least it is anonymous so that people are not embarrassed. I get a good laugh at many of the comments.
Local comments can have some impact on local happenings if the servants of local governments concerned read the comments. Comments on national and international subjects do not provide any benefit to other than the commenter. They do allow the commenter to "get it off his/her chest" in an anonymous forum. It does not matter if the commenter has even a vague idea of what they are talking about.
If you have to space to devote to more Spout Off than I guess it could not hurt too much. The major hurt would be people who read incorrect comments and actually believe them to be true. This is the same thing that goes on with so many of the current e-mails that we see forwarded so frequently. At least there we can set the e-mailer straight by referring them to Snopes.
I have long thought that this newspaper does the readers a disservice by not commenting on incorrect Letters To The Editor. The newspaper should place a parenthetical comments at the end of any published letter/spout off that states incorrect material. I am not talking about opinion, just straight facts.
Now see, I have spouted off on one of my pet peeves.
I find the Vox Populi to be quite frightening. Perhaps an expanded 'Spout Off' will encourage more readers to reconsider the benefits of a monarchy.
Expansion is long overdue, this is the second day in a row I didn’t have any of my remarks printed. If you put them online consider a limit in the number of words so we don’t get long-winded rants. A lot of the popularity is due to the succinct nature of the comments where people get their point across without a lot of drivel.
I always read the spout off first! They're short, to the point, and offer many different views on topics. I would love to see it expanded!
Pat, do this for me, do this for the good of journalism: don't worry about what we think, because we don't have the facts, your journalist's do. I know your only reason for thinking about doing this is to get site visitors, we get it: you're losing money. If you want more readership or probably more appropriately, "viewership", then keep your journalist's out there bringing us the stories -- whether they be in text, photo, audio, or video form.
Bottom Line: We don't need more "Spout Offs". We need more facts and ethical journalism. And today more than ever.
What, and give even more people the opportunity to demonstrate how ignorant they are? Good idea, Pat! Maybe it could replace the comics or Op-Ed page. Go for it!
I'd love to see more Spout Offs published online :)
Publish the Spout Offs on line and give the readers the opportunity to comment on them.
Sure, go for it! Also, put the spout offs on the Website while you're at it. :)
Yes. Definitely. You should have one spout off section that limits the length of the rant where people CAN leave their name if they wish and keep the one that is anonymous too. Not everyone is capable or has the time to go into great detail about an issue with a letter to the editor but would like to be heard.
YES!!! Expand the Spout Off!
Maybe in a smart way, where people are led to an online forum to discuss the comments.
I would love to see Spout Off expanded. It is an amazing study of a cross section of the general public that never ceases to amaze me. I agree with one comment that a National/International column would serve very little purpose other than to let off steam. I would prefer that an expanded column would stay local in order to benefit the community at large.
No, please, no! The comments are pure drivel and are a complete waste of newsprint. I read your newspaper daily for NEWS! Anonymous postings belong in on-line blogs, not in a reputable newspaper.
My wife and I enjoy the Spout Offs to the point thay ehy are a "first Read" for both of us. Please increase the space allocated for this very timely forum. It's better than any editorializing and should be mandatory reading for all politicians.
Pat, Please no more in the paper. For those who enjoy this stuff, maybe you could expand them on your web site. Thanks.
The NEWSpaper is for news! Expand the Spout Off section to "The Breeze" forum or elsewhere on the Daily News website.
Put more spouts on the editorial page in place of the political cartoon, they’re a lot funnier than the toons.
Yes!Please expand Shout Off.
I like spout off very much. Just to read all the whacked ideas that surface in some people is entertainment.Docdon
Enough already!
Honestly Pat, they are interesting to read but some of them are PURE ignorance! Rep vs Dem, Gun lovers vs Gun victims, Parents vs Nonparents, etc. and all blame each other for today's problems.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy reading them but not for entertainment. It simply reminds me how much more today than the past, we, the oh so educated, cry and complain about what is going on around us and never take a hour from our busy day to attend a city council meeting or to write to our mayor and like them know that we are displeased with their actions. Instead we whine and do nothing.
Pat, honestly keep it the same. Or increase it and move it all to the editorial section. Please add more UNBIASED news.
That's why I buy your paper. And does nothing ever happen in Santa Rosa or Walton Counties? I hardly ever see stuff from them. I'd like to know what's going on in more of Northwest Florida from the Northwest Florida Daily News, not just Okaloosa County.
Yes, expand Spout Off to online. I enjoy reading it. I might not always agree with the views, but still reading everyone's opinions and views. I feel it gives anyone a forum to express themselves and give them a feeling that their views will be heard.
Do like the idea from "fellow argonaut" about posting a topic (pertaining to a Northwest Florida issue) and then allowing readers to discuss it in a forum. Maybe then some of our local politicians will pay attention to our views. Not everyone can attend city council, county commissioners or school board meetings due to conflicting work schedules.
I like Spout Off. I think it is the right size for the paper. I'd like an online area to view the rest and perhaps submit other comments.
I also think your Local news section should have more news than any other part of the paper, but what do I know? Just what I like.
Yes, please expand Spout Off.
And can you give us a way to make rebuttals to specific comments?
I see so many good reasons here to expand Spout Off that I won't waste your time elaborating!
Spout Off is the best thing you have done for your paper in a long time. I'd read a full page of it any day. Some comments are stupid, but others get you to think and a lot of them are hilarious, even when you disagree.
I'd love to see a Spout Off for national and international news - that's a very cool idea. It's fun to read and gets us involved. Maybe we'll get some news besides the number dead in the latest car bomb.
Also, online - can you post some of the debate quotes? I care about this election, but I keep missing the debates. I don't want the analysis - just the direct quotes.
Tom
I support expanding spout off in the paper. If not in the paper, expand on-line.
Please expand Spout off.....maybe I'll get something published one of these days.
Thanks.
Is that why Casey Brooks is gone? So you can have more "spout Offs"? All that ink about Cathy staying or going and nothing to let us know about Casey or for that matter Joni Williams! Not even a final column from them.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home