Dear RMNews Agents!!
I have received several messages from our readers in the last few weeks, reminding me that we DO have a "Pig in the Poke" Doctrine here in the Rumor Mill News Reading Room.
What is the "Pig in the Poke" Doctrine?
It is a rule aka "a gentle reminder" that ALL RMNews Agents should endeavor to provide Subject lines, aka HEADLINE -- that gives the reader an idea of what is in the message.
The RMNews Reading Room isn't like a normal newspaper. When you are reading a normal newspaper, you don't HAVE to worry about having a headline that tells what the story is about because people can "speed-read" the first few lines of the article and get an idea if they want to read the rest.
Here in the World of Rumor Mill News, it is not that easy for a reader to decide if they want to read an article. A reader makes the decision to read an article based on the subject line OR on the consistancy of GOOD articles which have been posted in the past by a particular Agent.
However, if you are a NEW Agent... or an old one who has never heard of the "pig in the poke" doctrine before... please remember that the Internet is NOT like a newspaper, you can't glance at the article and eliminate it from your "morning read." On the Internet, the READER makes an INVESTMENT in each article they choose. What is that investment? TIME!! Depending on what kind of computer, ISP, time of day, or quanitity of people in THE READING ROOM, each article can take from 5 seconds to two minutes or more to open!!
Many readers.... myself included... don't have this kind of time. In the morning, we are dashing off to work... in the afternoon, we are trying to grab a few headlines while we are gobbling down our lunch... and in the evening we are trying to read a few headlines while cooking and/or eating dinner!!
In other words, RMNews Readers (as well as the RMNews Publisher) chooses which articles we read based on the quality of information given in the TITLE aka Subject Line!
In the future... please take a few minutes to think about what you want your article to be titled! Try to choose a title that is both interesting AND informative!
As always, RMNews reserves the right to change your subject line to better reflect what is actually IN the article.
I have also inserted a few ZAPPER REMINDERS (Remember... Zapper is on vacation from his job as the Forum Facilitator... so you have to put up me, RAYELAN... which is different from Rayelan the RMNews Agent!)
This is an old reminder about Subject Lines, in particular about the subject line of a post that is a reply to another post:
SUBJECT LINES -- ALL AGENTS MUST READ THIS!
Posted By: RUMOR MILL NEWS
Date: Thursday, 29 March 2001, 11:35 a.m.
SECOND NOTICE TO RMNEWS AGENTS:
The poor overworked publisher of Rumor Mill News is getting too many complaints about things!
One of the things, about which the poor overworked publisher receives numerous complaints, is the SUBJECT in the SUBJECT LINE.
People are tired of having to open up a message whose subject line merely says:
re: THE PREVIOUS SUBJECT
The people who have complained say that this practice does not tell the reader what is in the new posting -- it is like buying a pig in a poke
People have also said that this kind of subject line makes people think that the second post was posted by the original poster.
NEW POLICY!!
From henceforth -- any replies whic have the original subject line will have their SUBJECT LINE REPLACED BY RUMOR MILL NEWS!
In our usual subtle way -- we will try to convince you that titling your reply is better than having rumor mill title it for you.
If this doesn't work -- we will start deleting all posts that do not have ORIGINAL SUBJECT TITLES!!
PLEASE DON'T POST LINKS ONLY!
Posted By: Rayelan
Date: Sunday, 21 April 2002, 1:18 p.m.
I have asked agents NOT to put up a post with ONLY a link in it many times. Usually I will send an email to the agent, but I have also posted this request as a response to an agent who is posting ONLY links!
I have also stated the many reasons why I and our readers DON'T like clicking on a message and finding only a link which has to be clicked again! Remember, some of our readers have slow computers and they have to wait for several minutes for a link to open!
In the future, if you are thinking about posting ONLY a link, please don't post it! If you want to write the reason you think this link should be clicked... please do so. If you have a webpage and you have posted an article that you want Rumor Mill News readers to read, please give us enough of a taste for it that we will WANT to click through and read the rest of the article! But PLEASE, in the future, don't give us "pigs in a poke"... in other words, links that we have to open before we know what is in them!!
Rayelan
Some Gentle Posting Reminders
Posted By: ZAPPER
Date: Thursday, 2 May 2002, 12:29 a.m.
In Response To: Forum Prime Directive, "The Right to Disagree" (ZAPPER)
1. Please, no "pig in a poke" messages. Post something more
than just an URL. Include enough informative information to
help the reader decide if he/she wants to take the time,
trouble, and, for some, expensive bandwidth to click on your
link. Rayelan addressed this on April 21:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=19213
2. Please use a Subject that informs about the content.
3. Please be cognizant that Rumor Mill News Forum is not a
"chat room". It is closer to "a newspaper" and has the
primary
purposes of uncovering "the big picture", and of
informing readers.
ZAPPER
PLEASE DON'T POST LINKS ONLY!
Posted By: Rayelan
Date: Sunday, 21 April 2002, 1:18 p.m.
I have asked agents NOT to put up a post with ONLY a link in it many times. Usually I will send an email to the agent, but I have also posted this request as a response to an agent who is posting ONLY links!
I have also stated the many reasons why I and our readers DON'T like clicking on a message and finding only a link which has to be clicked again! Remember, some of our readers have slow computers and they have to wait for several minutes for a link to open!
In the future, if you are thinking about posting ONLY a link, please don't post it! If you want to write the reason you think this link should be clicked... please do so. If you have a webpage and you have posted an article that you want Rumor Mill News readers to read, please give us enough of a taste for it that we will WANT to click through and read the rest of the article! But PLEASE, in the future, don't give us "pigs in a poke"... in other words, links that we have to open before we know what is in them!!
Rayelan
And Finally!
For all the New RMNews Agents -- WE DO have Guidelines for posting!!
Here is a link!
Forum Prime Directive, "The Right to Disagree"
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=11133
Posted By: ZAPPER
And we DO have a PRIME DIRECTIVE!!
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=11142
THE RUMOR MILL NEWS PRIME DIRECTIVE
Thank you for making my job easier!!
RAYELAN
Substituting for the vacationing Zapper as RMNews Reading Room Facilitator!
Serving Freedom
and Liberty
