QOTD: Do You Want Reader Submitted Content?

[Raidur]

I kind of like the idea, to an extent. There would also be the issue of people (unknowingly) giving false information.

 

[B-Unit]

Wow, grow up tools, its a great idea. If you dont want to read the articles from the unwashed masses, then dont. Its obvious that Toms really only has time for major reviews on the newest CPUs and GPUs, but thats it. Weve lost the great monitor, PSU, and input (read:mice, keyboard, joystick, gamepad) device reviews of the past. This is a way to get those things back. Now it would have to obviously be overseen, and as someone else said, unexpected or extreme claims would need to be verified, but overall I think it would be a welcome addition to the content we already receive.

 

[B-Unit]

Wow, grow up tools, its a great idea. If you dont want to read the articles from the unwashed masses, then dont. Its obvious that Toms really only has time for major reviews on the newest CPUs and GPUs, but thats it. Weve lost the great monitor, PSU, and input (read:mice, keyboard, joystick, gamepad) device reviews of the past. This is a way to get those things back. Now it would have to obviously be overseen, and as someone else said, unexpected or extreme claims would need to be verified, but overall I think it would be a welcome addition to the content we already receive.

 

[grimreality]

If Toms did accept user content, I'd pray that it would be heavily moderated and require good editors. Too many people these days either do not know how to spell or use proper English, or they just do not care. Aside from that other points that people have brought up are a big concern as well, like "fanboyism" and unsubstantiated claims.

I know that if I were given the chance to submit my own content I'd lace it with imagery and other such subtle things demanding that BestOfMedia bring back the late great Tom's Games, complete with Second Take, game reviews, game previews, and everything else it used to have, exactly as it used to be. Viva la resistance!

So yeah, you'd have to watch out for sneaky little jerks like myself.

 

[resonance451]

I think that contacting certain users by reputation is alright, though not something completely free-form.

Personally I think if you guys go back to your old standards this site would be a lot better. By that I mean separating editorial from news, staying away from pseudo-fact, etc.

With heavy screening, this could work, but there's a lot of IFs involved.

 

[resonance451]

I'd personally love creating content for the site given my extensive experience in both personal and professional computer building, but my greatest interest is in the standard of your articles. While I'd like to contribute content of some sort, I'd also be interested in helping moderate.. with all due respect, some of your current articles sorely need it.

 

[curnel_D]

I think it'd be cool. But under specific circumstances. Such as a new URL and dedicated site. Then you can have a slice area on the TH.com page that mimcs the forum slice, except with user created news and hardware/software coverage. And of course, strict guidelines for this information such as sources, legibility, and topics. Not to mention moderation in language, goals, and copyrights.

If you look at it in scope though, it may be too large of a project when there are already a number of american sites that are dedicated to this. So it'd be cool, but only if Toms has the resources to do this kind of thing without taking away from other areas of the site.

 

[rigaudio]

Sure, I'd love to see some user-created content, as long as it meets the literary standards of TH.

 

[eddieroolz]

I think I'd leave the job of articles to the editors. There's just too much Mac Zealots around here to be a neutral forum - no, that was not a swipe at ya, Tuan 😛.

 

[Proximon]

We already have user content on the forums. Some of this gets stickied and is rather famous, such as the Intel temp guide written and maintained by Computronix in the overclocking section. There are many of these, and they add a great deal to the prestige of TH. I'm unaware of anything stickied in the forums that doesn't belong there, although there are certainly fine efforts that have recently been ignored.
These all undergo a kind of peer review, and at the end of the day that seems to work out well.
If someone uses a search engine and finds a review on Tom's Hardware for that computer case they are looking at, TH has a responsibility to ensure that review is accurate.
If they do a search and come up with a random post on the TH forum, then there is an understanding that accompanies that. A user can be reasonably expected to understand the limitations of information gathered from a public forum.
So, it seems to me user content published on Tom's Hardware is going to fall into two categories: 1) Amateur content that only damages TH rep, despite any disclaimers. 2) Quality journalistic efforts that probably deserve more credit (and recompense) than they are getting.
If you carefully screen out the first one, the second one isn't going to happen very often. If you allow both, the first one will negate any benefits you get from the second.
Rather than put time into this, I would prefer to see the TH staff interact more with the forums and more actively manage the many useful and informative threads there.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]Keep it to the forums, or if you are going to have user submitted content, then as previously suggested it should be in its own section CEALRY stating that it is USER submitted content.[/citation]
+1.

 

[demohr777]

Yes, but only as a separate segment. Perhaps a volunteer editorial board staffed by trusted geeks and proofreaders could be added so as not to burden the regular staff.

 

[Master Exon]

I'd say make a new forum section, then give the spotlight to good threads.

 

[brendano257]

I think it would be great, some users post stuff similar to this idea on the forums. Jaydeejohn puts some good stuff on the forums from time to time, and I occasionally read it when I see them on the sidelines. I don't think it's a bad idea at all. As long as it's somewhat looked after, making sure there isn't outrageous claims and such.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]JMcEntegart[/nom]Being the .co.uk editor, I'm interesting in hearing which articles you think are more professional/informative![/citation]
Well,a lot of them are being posted here too a few days later.
Some stories of here get posted there too.

I've only read the UK site of tomshardware a couple of times, but every time I did, they where thorough, well tested, and very informative.
The uk site has less articles, but also less more common stuff (like t-shirt or coffee mug talk).
The best articles I found posted there where the motherboard, overclock, and processor articles, as well as the graphics card articles.
I know it doesn't take long before stories get mixed from UK to the main (US) site or reverse.

 

[raffish315]

Readers sometimes can have deep insight and unique perspective, I support this idea as long as Toms has a nice screening procedure.

 

[San Pedro]

Maybe if, as someone else stated, you had a forum for it, and then only featured the well-written and worth whiles article on the main page it would be good. But I could see more really bad articles being submitted than good articles.

 

[mpasternak]

Reader submitted wouldn't be too bad as long as it were properly edited, and pass stringent quality control.

Else it's just forum posts being thrown up and might as well just make this place a forum and get rid of the articles all together.

 

[scooterlibby]

I have, at timed, been shocked by the grammatical laziness found in articles authored by Tom's staff writers. Also, some recent articles are merely cut and paste press releases (I'm thinking of the recent report that unquestioningly parroted the laughable driver improvement claims of Nvidia). That said, allowing reader submitted content would only compound this problem. We have the forums for that.

 

[scooterlibby]

The glaring mistype in my previous post should be proof positive that we aren't to be trusted!

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]scooterlibby[/nom]The glaring mistype in my previous post should be proof positive that we aren't to be trusted![/citation]
If I was the editor I'd ficks it up for you.

 

[samprasfan]

It would be interesting, but would need to be heavily moderated. You'd almost need an editor working full-time just to review submissions before posting, otherwise people might as well just leave that sort of thing on the forums.

 

[Ephebus]

NO!

Keep the populace away from the main site.

 

[Scotteq]

I don't like the idea - Some of the most prolific posters are the people with the biggest agendas.... There's too much Fanoi spew already, and I shudder to think of one of them legitimizing his views via Tom's.

 

[NaNoSoLdIeR]

If the reader submited content passes a screening process so that only no biased content comes in. It would be great I would even consider write something myself.