QOTD: Do You Want Reader Submitted Content?

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As long as the authors of independent submissions adhere to basic testing methodologies, are not affiliated with any particular component manufacturer, and are able to clearly represent their ideas there should be no problem. Frankly, I'd love to read more case reviews (hint hint).

The only concern I really have is on impartial quality materials being written (I'm not a total grammar/spelling Nazi, but we've all seen horridly written articles before). I like reading Tom's articles because I don't feel like someone is trying to sell me something, and I trust the competence of the people reporting. It's going to take awhile to really separate the wheat from the chafe, but I think it's a worthwhile goal to have user-created reviews available.
 
The only problem with writing articles in the forums and there are some great ones, but they get lost in the mix. Maybe if you had a moderator that trolled the forums for great user reviews or opinions and then brought those to the forefront of the site... Also This voting system on the user opinions, it needs to order them by this. So the top rated comments can be heard and seen first.
 
[citation][nom]Blessedman[/nom]Also This voting system on the user opinions, it needs to order them by this. So the top rated comments can be heard and seen first.[/citation]
Reordering the comments would destroy any discussion.
 
Separate section, with an editor to sort through some of the crap. It might also be good to have a screening/sign-up process (such as chatting with the editor for awhile or submitting a couple preliminary articles) before articles could even be submitted; that would cut down the need to moderate large amounts of articles coming in from questionable sources. I REALLY like this idea though!
 
Forums are already in place for this.

Please keep Tom's a trustworthy site...

You might be able to get this to work, but I don't think it's worth the effort. The forums are doing a good job already and user submitted content would have to be completely separated from the rest of the site... keep it on another site maybe that you can access via a link that redirects you?
 
I'd give it a large yes.

I say make a new forum section, but give some of the better content some front page attention. Maybe have a little box under the news with 3-5 of the better user written articles.
 
I think a lot of concerns expressed here are valid, specifically fanboyism and anti-fanboyism. Personally i think its a good idea, as long as it is on a seperate section of the website, doesn't appear as main page articles, and all submissions are at least read by a tomshardware employee/article writer to check for overall quality/validity etc.

Personally i have to agree with tomshardware, there is so much gear out there and sometimes literally no info on it, outside of basic forum posts. If someone were to take the time to snap a few photos and give their impression in a clear and concise manner, to me thats better than nothing when trying to decide whether or not to purchase an item.
 
Maybe the editorial team should just pay more attention to what's happening on the forums. Some of the sticky posts are of good quality, while some discussions reveal interesting and useful tidbits :)
 
Nope, no user comments. The last thing we need is articles full of ignorant and overly opinionated fanboys. The internet is already running rampant of them and I wouldn't even consider wasting my time coming here to listen to some 18 year old that doesn't know crap about computers mouth off about what he likes and doesn't like, we've got enough sites with that junk.

I come to Tom's for the facts backed up with numbers and real world testing results etc, that's what the site is good for, keep it that way. If we wanted to get the news from random people we could just watch all the crap blogs on youtube.
 
[citation][nom]djcetra[/nom]Nope, no user comments. The last thing we need is articles full of ignorant and overly opinionated fanboys. The internet is already running rampant of them and I wouldn't even consider wasting my time coming here to listen to some 18 year old that doesn't know crap about computers mouth off about what he likes and doesn't like, we've got enough sites with that junk.I come to Tom's for the facts backed up with numbers and real world testing results etc, that's what the site is good for, keep it that way. If we wanted to get the news from random people we could just watch all the crap blogs on youtube.[/citation]
I take it you've never heard of Kevin Parrish?
 
I think THW has excellent user feedback (comments in every article), so I don't know if reader content has a place. You all hear what we have to say in every article and as others have mentioned, you have a forum.

I don't mind either way.
 
No. Content will become diluted. I will go to Ars if I want user opinions. Please keep this in the forums.
 
[citation][nom]echdskech[/nom]I like the idea, but there should be some way to make sure the good ones are not drowned in crap.[/citation]
Like a voting system, separate it into a popular section and a new section and a "rising star" section. Without the "rising star" section it would be very easy for some of the newer but good stories to get lost. Let it measure popularity against time and maybe even divide that into sections so all of them get a chance. It would be difficult to set up structure but its a good idea none-the-less.
 
Great idea.

I'll do a review on some AMD stuff.

That way they might get a fair go they wouldn't get if Tweedledee and Tweedledum did it.

Dirk ... send me a couple of 965's and I'll crank up the BBQ and haul in some dry ice ... w00t !!!

Yeah ...
 
I feel its never silly to use the resources available to you. So long as it can be done efficiently.

I would imagine with a bit of thought a good strategy for how to process user submitted articles could be worked out. On the flip side I'm an optimist so go figure.
 
The short answer would be no. Please don't turn Tom's into another Web 2.0 mash up garbage pit that the rest of the Internet has turned in to.

I understand that the community is at the core of what the Internet is all about. I also understand that the product of a under/mis informed community is typically terrible news.

Tom's should really focus on editing and recruiting and not waste a ton of resources on trying to make another Facebook/MySpace/Twitter.

If you really insist on being a community site please keep it separate from the original Tom's as I will not be visiting another Internet user generated site.
 
No. Not that sites with reader content are bad, but the reason I go to Tom's is to get content that I don't have to wade through to find the few sensible pieces. The function of editing is more valuable to me than the function of generating content! Not editing in the sense of correcting the spelling, but ensuring that only reasonable content on topics of interest appears.
It's why I prefer the New York Times to blogs - I trust the editors to pick out the interesting 2% of what's out there. They don't do anything near a perfect job, but better than other sources and I don't have the time and energy to read and evaluate all 100%.
If reader content were edited and had to pass stringent criteria for fairness, relevancy, and the ability to communicate clearly in the chosen language, I would try it out. But that very editing would probably be seen as censorship and ruin the experiment.
 
Maybe consider specific positions open to people with marketable skills and adherence to testing methodology as associate editors or somesuch? I don't think a wide-open field is good sense; but certainly qualified individuals who are capable of writing clear, intelligent articles could bring a lot of positive reviews to the table. Yes, I mentioned cases earlier, but look at some of the recent 'reviews' which amount to little more than three sentences a piece! Surely we could do better with a review of hardware--even if it means keeping certain people specialized into particular niche roles to help out.
 
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