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I'm a US-based journalist with a team of young, hungry, underemployed aggressive reporters at my disposal. Starting a new metro newspaper makes zero sense toda

I'm a US-based journalist with a team of young, hungry, underemployed aggressive reporters at my disposal. Starting a new metro newspaper makes zero sense today, but launching a voting site for a city and then backing it up with a cadre of investigative reporters who would dig deeper into the stories that made the front page is something I've dreamed of getting off the ground for a while. I was hoping Reddit's open code would give me the vehicle, but it's now clear that's not the case unless I get a hacker on my team. Any takers? Pligg sucks. Drupal will work but it's kind of a pain. I'd been anxiously awaiting this announcement because I hoped the Reddit code would give us something to work with. However when I visit code.reddit.com, all I see is stuff I don't understand. I'm no hacker, but I've developed Drupal and WP sites. However I don't know the foggiest about Python, Subversion or any of the other things listed under the dependencies. This is very disappointing. How do they expect their code to be deployed when it requires a hacker to set it up? If anyone on here is interested in getting involved in what I believe would be a groundbreaking journalism effort, shoot me an e-mail at methodista@lawnparty.net Note: I have no funding at all. Simply a concept and the means to launch a handful of trained journalists at news stories that merit more attention and follow-up. With all the talk of "citizen journalism", surely this could be an interesting way to tackle metro news, no?

mrkurt 18y ago
If I were you, I'd start by creating a new sub-reddit for your city: http://www.reddit.com/reddits/create http://www.reddit.com/reddits/create Couple that with a Wordpress or MovableType blog for your own content, and you can at least get people working in the right direction.
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  I've thought about that. However, I think branding and having a sense of identity is very important, in fact, as this isn't a tech play, but a content and community play, I think it'd be crucial, so being on reddit.com or wordpress.com to me seems like we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot from the get-go. I'd have to have to hack a Pligg install, but that's about what it's come to at this point
  - ph0rque 18y ago
    Then use slinkset.com, customise it to your own tastes and with your own domain. That's what I did with news.ezlearnz.com.
    - brandnewlow 18y ago
      What's the procedure like for "taking over" the domain. Cost? I don't see that info on their site. Update: Nevermind. Found it. I'll look into it.
DougBTX 18y ago
> How do they expect their code to be deployed when it requires a hacker to set it up? I think their plan to remind people in hacker communities who are bored with Ron Paul stories that they still exist, rather than create competitors. Though that might be a straw man. Also, if you want to manage programers, it would be worth your while to read the Mythical Man Month. Right in the first chapter, it explains why it is harder to produce software that runs on other people's hardware (software as a product) than it is to make it run on your hardware (in-house software). That certainly applies here.
dejb 18y ago
If you've already used Drupal why don't you take a look at Drigg. I haven't used it yet but it looks pretty good to me. If you aren't a hacker I think that will be the only way to achieve what you want while still having the flexibility for your site to do other things.
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  Have definitely looked at Drigg. It shows a lot of promise, especially if they can get multi-level taxonomy going. The patch is in the works but hasn't been committed yet.

mrkurt 18y ago

If I were you, I'd start by creating a new sub-reddit for your city: http://www.reddit.com/reddits/create http://www.reddit.com/reddits/create Couple that with a Wordpress or MovableType blog for your own content, and you can at least get people working in the right direction.

brandnewlow 18y ago
I've thought about that. However, I think branding and having a sense of identity is very important, in fact, as this isn't a tech play, but a content and community play, I think it'd be crucial, so being on reddit.com or wordpress.com to me seems like we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot from the get-go. I'd have to have to hack a Pligg install, but that's about what it's come to at this point
- ph0rque 18y ago
  Then use slinkset.com, customise it to your own tastes and with your own domain. That's what I did with news.ezlearnz.com.
  - brandnewlow 18y ago
    What's the procedure like for "taking over" the domain. Cost? I don't see that info on their site. Update: Nevermind. Found it. I'll look into it.

DougBTX 18y ago

> How do they expect their code to be deployed when it requires a hacker to set it up? I think their plan to remind people in hacker communities who are bored with Ron Paul stories that they still exist, rather than create competitors. Though that might be a straw man. Also, if you want to manage programers, it would be worth your while to read the Mythical Man Month. Right in the first chapter, it explains why it is harder to produce software that runs on other people's hardware (software as a product) than it is to make it run on your hardware (in-house software). That certainly applies here.

dejb 18y ago

If you've already used Drupal why don't you take a look at Drigg. I haven't used it yet but it looks pretty good to me. If you aren't a hacker I think that will be the only way to achieve what you want while still having the flexibility for your site to do other things.

brandnewlow 18y ago
Have definitely looked at Drigg. It shows a lot of promise, especially if they can get multi-level taxonomy going. The patch is in the works but hasn't been committed yet.