Topix Editors asked repeatedly for a discussion space and it has arrived.

We have created a new playground for editors. Your cruise director, Topix Ed, is there waiting to chat about any questions you have or any suggestions you would like to make about the editing platform. He's all ears. Actually, he's no ears, but he's got a clipboard and a pencil.

Feel free to jump into the existing threads and start threads of your own. I like to think of this new news page and forum as a kind of "Editor University" where we can all learn from each other. Many of our seasoned editors have some spiffy ideas on editing and we've got brand new Editors coming on board every day. Our hope is that by putting you all together in this virtual mosh pit, you can gain a sense of community among yourselves and build upon your already overflowing pool of talent. Let's face it, this is a news community. We like to talk here. We live to talk here. Let's have at it.

We've got a major publication writing a piece about Topix, and guess who they want to talk to.

YOU.

We're looking for a couple Editors that work on local pages (as opposed to topic-driven pages) that might be interested in speaking with some journalists about their experiences editing on Topix. If you fit the bill, give us a shout. Fire off an email to editor (at) topix.com and include your name, page(s) you edit, contact information and the best times to reach you.

Let the deluge begin!

Today we spotlight Stargazer1, editor for three Chicago suburbs, Plainfield, IL, Romeoville, IL and Lockport, IL. She's a great example of a Topix Editor that is also active in the forums associated with her pages. She's got some great tips, guys. Enjoy!

Why did you want to become a Topix editor?

I have been active with online forums and message boards since the mid 90’s when I got my first “Internet capable” computer. I was on a bulletin board that was sponsored by a local newspaper and was the moderator of a forum, and also participated in a forum for and about poetry and poets. I am a news buff and have been writing since I was in high school.

Where else do you find articles, outside of Topix?

I subscribe to several electronic versions of technical publications, professional publications and local newspapers that don’t always show up in the Wire. The local news channels also have web sites that I utilize for news stories and information that I think would be interesting to discuss.

What are some editing pitfalls you've learned to avoid?

Well, the new feature that dims out the stories that have already been posted to the news helps prevent duplicates. Another tip I picked up from one of the other editors that was featured is to post the most important story of the day last so that it appears at the top. One thing I discovered on my own was that when posting a story from the web, it is helpful to edit the title to take out any excess information about the location it was from, such as the web address. This is redundant information since it usually appears in the body of the article or at the end. The title should be the main focus of attention.

What is your prior editing and writing experience?

I was a moderator for a local bbs forum that was sponsored by a local newspaper, for other users of the bbs to submit recipes and cooking tips to for publication. I wrote my first poem in 6th grade, and when I got to high school, I took Journalism. I was bitten by the writing bug! I became a contributor to my high school newspaper, and had several articles and short stories published. I have had 3 poems published already, and participate in an online poet’s community where you submit your writing, whether poetry, short story, haiku, etc, and others can comment and give criticism. I didn’t get started on the blogging scene until about 2 years ago and don’t really do too much in that area. But I do have a few stories started, mostly fiction, and a few non-fiction. I have been encouraged by writing instructors to submit my stories for publication, and I’m considering that option but haven’t followed through yet.

What question would you like to ask other Topix editors?

How do you get your readers interested in posting comments to a new story if you don’t understand or have a great interest in it yourself? I try to stimulate exchange, but if it’s a subject that I am not familiar with or don’t have an opinion on, I have a hard time getting it going.

What do you do when you are not on Topix?

I work full-time, take care of my home, and dabble in the online auction scene. I just completed school in December, receiving my Associates Degree in Microcomputers for Business and I am considering returning to school in the Spring to complete my Accounting studies. In the summer I have my garden to tend to and of course the birds that frequent my backyard feeders. My husband and I got started with Ebay about 4 years ago and in the warm seasons we frequent yard sales and flea markets, and also attend many auctions in the area looking for treasures.

What is your editing environment like? Do you post from work or home?
Snacks, routine, etc?

I usually post from home, sometimes in the morning, but usually in the evening. My environment consists of my office, that I share with my husband and son; and my cat, who likes to lay on the desk right next to my hand. I always have my coffee, no matter where I am posting from. When they make a waterproof laptop computer, I will probably start posting from the hottub!

What other internet sites do you visit regularly?

I regularly check out the local newspapers online and also local news programs. I also go to Urbis.com, a writers’ community, and communicate with distant family on myspace.

What advice would you give to other editors in making a great page?

Read the forums and learn what the readers are talking about. Then try to tailor the articles you post to their interests.

One of the things we like the most about your participation is you seem
really able to focus on keeping local news pages truly local. What advice
do you have for other local editors?

I use Google to find stories for my towns, by searching on the city and state, followed by the word “news”. It usually brings up quite a few sites that have news about my towns, and many times they are publications that are not local and have a different perspective on things. Makes it interesting to see how people looking in from the outside view our towns.

You are also a prolific forum user. How does that affect your editing? How
have you used that to your advantage?

I see what news items get reactions. Then I try to find similar types of articles on the web, sometimes locating a news story about someone local that has been in the news in other areas, such as a college student or a former resident that has moved to a new area. Many times when an article is written about someone, especially a student or a professional person, their hometown or former residence is mentioned. When I post a news story, I try to find something to add in the form of a comment to get the ball rolling.

What question do you wish we'd asked you?

“How much should an Editor be expected to contribute to the forums in the way of time and participation?”
I think that if someone is an Editor, they should at least spend some time reviewing the stories on the Wire and putting the ones that show the most potential for interest at the top of the News page. I have been to many, many forum pages that have editors, some as many as 20, and all the news stories were posted by Roboblogger. It makes me wonder if there aren’t forum users that only want that “badge” on their profile without actually doing what that honor enables them to do. An Editor can do more than post the stories that the crawl finds. An Editor can also take tips from other users, post stories that are found on the web from other sources, and can also write their own stories and post them just as if they were from one of the many sources that the other news comes from. It’s a great opportunity for someone who is creative and likes to write.

We're rolling out even more Newspages as we speak. Thanks to the hard work and toil of our engineer tasked with news node creation, we are flush with new possibilities. These nodes are brand spanking new and have no editors, so if they strike your fancy, apply to edit!

On the health news front, we have a new node devoted to fibromyalgia at the request of a fellow Topix user, though our feedback form.

One of our extremely prolific forum users suggested a page for Dario Franchitti. Along with that, we've added a bunch of new Nascar driver newspages, like Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier.

If YOU have a news page you think we are missing or (even better) you want to edit, fire off an email to our team at topixadmin (at) topix.com OR use this feedback link.

At the end of last week, we launched a nifty new addition to your wire results. Some of you have probably already noticed, but in case you haven't, allow me to be the first to tell you. There are now video results in your news wire. That's right, I said VIDEO.

Depending on how much is available for the page you are editing, you will see less or more of this in the wire, but there is a handy way to refine your results to show only video. In the wire search box, type: cat:/news/video-feeds

This search will come in really handy for those of you with fast moving wire pages. At the moment, we are not equipped for editors to upload their own video, but we'd love to explore that a little more down the line. For now, let's see some news pages pop with this new toy. When you use it, link us up in the comments to give other Editors some examples...and competition.

Who doesn't love a good makeover? There is a reason that television shows centering around makeovers and transformations are so popular. We love to see the ugly duckling bloom into the beautiful swan.

Editing Topix pages is like your own internet mini makeover. A page without an Editor is pretty cool, but as savvy and hardworking as Roboblogger might be, he's no replacement for the magic touch of a human Editor. You guys are the ones that turn a ho-hum page into something to be proud of.

I present to you, a post by our own Roboblogger. This one happens to be on our Beekeeping page, but it could be anywhere.

As you can see, the story is kind of a fun one, but looks pretty dry. There is nothing fancy here to grab your eye at all. If only we could edit it. WAIT! WE CAN!

With a little makeover magic, we get a very different look and feel for the post, and one that adds much more interest to the page. The change took all of five minutes. The title has been jazzed up a little to add some zest and shorten it for the sake of the page layout. A quote from the article has been pulled out and placed in the summary using the quote editor tool. Finally, a search on Flickr for a photo of a bee covered in pollen yields this little beauty, which is used under Creative Commons license and attributed to the original photographer with a link at the end of the summary. Nice, huh?

Now, you may not have been aware that you can edit Roboblogger posts, but you sure can. Have you ever gone to your page to post a story and didn't because Roboblogger had already been there? Chances are, even if he posted the story, it looks more like a "before" picture. You can do better, so feel free to give him a hand and edit his post.

Many editors go this extra mile already, but if you haven't delved deeper into the editing tools yet, there is no time like the present.

We interrupt this blog for an unabashed solicitation from our Editors.

We realize that this is primary season. You may have already had your day at the polls, or maybe your day is coming, but this is America. Any chance to vote is a GOOD chance to vote.

As it happens, Topix is a finalist for CNET's Webware 100 Awards. How about throwing one of those spare votes you have laying around our way?

We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog.