Heya,

One thing has been bothering me since some time. However I've stopped paying attention to it, until recently when I asked a friend if he would consider joining II. He looked at the site, then at the enquirer's front page and blatantly answered: "Why would I join a game with almost no visible updates?"

I tried to convince him that the game has incredibly updates, a very dynamic developer and quite a lively user crowd... And I'm still trying...

His main objection (the same as mine at some point) is the 1st page of the enquirer which is terribly (by lack of a better word) outdated.
Currently the last 3 announcements are:

• Introducing Improbable Labs (Dec 09)
  
• Season Two Announced (June 09 (sic!))
  
• Winners of the Drunken Karaoke contest announced! (Jan 09)

While lots of interesting and engaging things have happened in the mean time, of which no mention at all are to be found...
Look at it from any which way, but that page does have the possibility to attract and convince interested newbies more easily. I'm not talking about fully tech-immersed tech update pages, but simple short attractive articles about updates (and other events)...

Solution?
I do know and fully understand that CMJ has other and/or more pressing priorities than keeping the front page announcements up to date. Which is why I suggest he allows the mods the necessary privileges to maintain that particular page, making it much more appealing to newbies.
Maybe adding a special side-page for CMJ's valiant coding efforts an updates?

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"I see," said the blind man to his deaf daughter while picking up his hammer...

There's a rather good reason for that... CMJ hates Twitter with a burning passion of magnitudes usually found only at the heart of the sun, or your local nuclear fission plant.

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"Censure acquits the Raven, but pursues the Dove." "So, that means i'm -always- innocent, right?"

*wry* For this particular mod, that would require solving the permissions hell that I've been in since shortly after I acquired my Enquirer account and rashly played around with account options where I should not have: while I'm logged in, I don't even see the front page!

I log in to post to the Forum, and I log out to see the front page, and that's how it's been.

(There really is no way to haul yourself out of the fix once you're in it. Moral of the story, guys: don't make my mistake. Just leave your account settings alone!)

No one ever that half-witted twits on twiiterhead were need to announce updates etc.
Twitter is for 99% a place where a bunch of ego-centrics try to convince the world that their boring life bring them interesting insights. No programmer ever needed such a misapplicatation to announce updates!

• If you have low level MySQL access: copy and paste the settings of a new account.
  
• If you don't: beg your friendly sysadmin to do this as a personal favour!

That would quickly and easily solve your inability to change settings on the front page.

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"I see," said the blind man to his deaf daughter while picking up his hammer...

Or, just put the MOtDs where the announcements are. Quick twitter free fix?

I must say that MadMad's friend isn't the only one to have had second thoughts because of that. I looked at the lack of updates and was Most Alarmed, but decided to give it a shot anyway (thank goodness). It wouldn't surprise me at all if it had turned rather a lot of people off.

I LIKE this idea. It seems like this would give people who's first impression is the enquirer a better idea of the dynamism of the Island's updates.

I found the enquirer after I started playing, and if it had been the other way round it may have turned me off to it.

Ditto everything Syd said.

I really think this is important to fix. We point new people at the Enquirer all the time, and this is where they land... definitely a turn-off.

I agree with Yrk's idea ... and even better, how about having the MoTDs update more often? If I hadn't been reading the Enquirer, I would have had no clue there were Titans coming out, or that the commentary system was going to change, or that there were suddenly lions, or or or anything like that ... it'd be nice to have some sort of heads-up immediately visible on big changes like that, especially before they come out! Sorry if that makes me seem fussy or something.

Chiming in on this:

The Enquirer was originally meant to be a sort of in-character Island newspaper, with dev news released in the MotD. This was back before I realised a couple of things:

1) These days I code far more than I write,
2) If I stopped to talk about everything I was coding, I'd only get half as much coding done.

So yes, it's a problem, and no, I'm not sure what to do about it.

1) Speaking of writing, are we ever going to get a part 2 of the "I am the Watcher" story? PLEEEEEEEEEASE? (Imagine those are puppydog eyes)

2) And don't think we don't appreciate it. But I know a lot of people that don't read the enquirer, that get sudden cases of "WHAT'S GOING ON!?!?!" when something suddenly appears. Like the new commentary system. Maybe have an "Upcoming Stuff" portion of the MoTD? A quick rundown of "what may or may not be about to happen tomorrow, or within the next few weeks"?

C) I like the idea of putting the MOTD on the Enquirer Front Page. At least have relatively recent postdates, so the latest thing on the Front Page isn't the Contest from 12/09.

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Isn't sanity just a one-trick pony anyway? All you get is one trick: rational thinking. But when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh, the sky's the limit.

So. Should we:

1) Turn the Enquirer into an in-character newspaper, complete with interviews, articles, letters pages and so on;
->For which we'll need an editor or two, and I'll need to reinstate the link to submit articles (which is all of two minutes' work);
2) Create a new newspaper with a different name, which will be in-character, and keep the Enquirer for game-related updates and chat;
3) Other.

1) Yes, you are. One day.
2) I really, really need to make the MotD redirect module work, don't I? Since disabling the popup, few people actually bother to read it. Also good idea about the upcoming stuff.
3) Maybe.

Sir, if you are looking for an editor, I would like to apply for the job.

I am a highly qualified news reporter looking to move into an editorial position. My current employer, the Improbable News Network, can attest that I will stop at nothing to get at the truth. I was the one who scooped the world on those scandalous goings-on in the dojo that recently led to a complete turnover of staff!

My motto: The people have a right to know!

I thought about applying, and then realized CMJ would probably start recruiting if he went with that option...

but since Junebug set the standard, consider this post my official application (until a more official option becomes available, at least).

I would also be intensely honored to be an Enquirer editor, soo... what the other two said.

I vote for two, and have a suggestion when it comes to the MotD Discussion.

How about a Weekly/Monthly/Bi-monthly/Whenever you find a new Cool Thing/Whatever/ Behind The Scenes type of thing on the Enquirer homepage?

"So, time to prepare for a new foe to face! I'll be done with Titans pretty soon, then I'll release them into the wild, set for tweaking. Good luck, you'll need it! Meanwhile, I've begun to work on a new chatspace..." etc. etc. etc.

The MotD can be used for other things, and the days when they DO some out, along with the polls and such you've got going on now.

Umm ... does it need to be either/or with options 1 and 2? Could we have the in-character bit (say) at the top, and the updates etc down below (or whatever arrangement works). So headline could be either, with a brief summary and a link to the main article, then in character stuff, then tech/update etc stuff.

What would happen with the Forums if it does go either/or?

Hmm .. an editor huh? Le'me think ... someone who ...
1. Has been around the Island for ages
2. Is known to be interested in books and writing and litcherary stuff
3. Is known to be suitably pedantic sometimes.

Ooh, ooh, I know... (OK, it's not for me to say, but I really hope she'll put her hand up, and be considered.)

Ah, I have something else to add. I've seen the monthly bit before, in other games, which was why I thought it might be suited here; It was generally accepted. Hell, one took it away and people got pissed. It might be welcome. Yes, no? *looks around*

Would like to see MoTD as front page of forum. (Though I hate how forums in general are organized, and find them off-putting to newbies by default.)

Would like to see character-edited periodical of some kind. There is some room for a Basic-Training-esque column on updates to the interface. Colonel's Corner, or something. Can put a newspaper stand in each outpost, with "column submissions here" slot. Recommend multi-level editorship, to allow sufficiently dynamic personnel turnover (can make lowest level positively chaotic, for fun). Maybe make newspaper a physical object you can carry into the jungle for personal hygiene purposes. (Which reminds me, why are Danquest items not physical?)

Don't care which one is called Enquirer. On the other hand, I suggest "Improbable Islander" as the name for the in-game paper.