Weekly Edition
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Real-time letters to the editor
The LWN.net Letters to the Editor page has suffered in recent years; the
delay between when a letter is sent and when it is published is too long,
especially for non-subscribers. We have recently hacked up a new letters page which displays letters as soon as we get
them into our system; the first new letter to appear there is a note on
"intellectual property" we just received from Richard Stallman.
Enhancements (such as an RSS feed) will come soon. Have a look; we're
curious to hear what you think.
(Log in to post comments)
Looks good Posted Dec 7, 2004 22:16 UTC (Tue) by shredwheat (guest, #4188) [Link] I like the looks of it so far. As new letters are added, I would appreciate a summary quote on the regular news page. Otherwise I fear I'll be overvisiting the page for fear of "missing one". If this makes editing the weekly editions easier then this is a big bonus.
Looks good Posted Dec 7, 2004 23:12 UTC (Tue) by tomsi (subscriber, #2306) [Link] I agree with the suggestion of some kind of a summary. Maybe a list beneath the "Recent Features" on the left side.
Another idea is that when a letter refers to an article, have a link to the letter on the article's page. If it is easy to implement, that is...
Tom
Need stable URLs for each letter Posted Dec 7, 2004 23:50 UTC (Tue) by dwheeler (guest, #1216) [Link] This set of letters has the same problem as some blogs - over time I can't find the article. I think each letter should have a "stable URL" that will be fixed, and then the "Letters" section can include links to those URLs (possibly including a few of the most-recent letters, as long as those transclusions also give the stable URL). Many blogs do this already, so people won't have any trouble understanding this approach.
Need stable URLs for each letter Posted Dec 8, 2004 0:09 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] Each letter *has* a stable URL; the "comments" link at the bottom of each points to it.
Need stable URLs for each letter Posted Dec 8, 2004 0:09 UTC (Wed) by mattdm (subscriber, #18) [Link] Yeah, I was just going to point that out. It's not particularly intuitive if you're just looking for the stable URL, not comments....
Where does one find it? Posted Dec 8, 2004 8:11 UTC (Wed) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link] I like it. But the only link to the letters page at the moment seems to be in the article.
I think we need a link to the letters page on the front page. Dunno if anyone else has any ideas about how to do it, but I'd suggest in the "Recent Features" column. Every time a letter is received, the link is updated to have a description of the letter, and moved to the top of the features.
As someone else suggested, this then tips everybody off that a new letter has arrived :-)
Cheers,
Where does one find it? Posted Dec 8, 2004 14:53 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] I'm probably going to put a link into the top navigation bar, replacing the penguin gallery link until we can find some time to maintain the latter...
Where does one find it? Posted Dec 8, 2004 16:29 UTC (Wed) by james (subscriber, #1325) [Link] Great idea. I was going to suggest that.
I'd like to see the Grumpy Editor linked from up there, too: maybe a new column in the menu grid would be a better idea...
Thanks,
James.
Where does one find it? Posted Dec 8, 2004 16:37 UTC (Wed) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] The top navigation is pretty crowded as it is already; I'm not sure I want to add more boxes. Will have to ponder. Meanwhile, the grumpy editor can be found off the "Archives" box (on the net) or near the coffee pot (in real life).
Real-time letters to the editor Posted Dec 8, 2004 14:21 UTC (Wed) by ordonnateur (guest, #6652) [Link] I assume there will be a link to the letters page in the weekly edition? --Well, assuming that is that there are new letters most weeks. Then I could do what I do with most of your content, check the weekly edition for anything I may have passed over on my daily (and sometimes more frequent) browsing.
It is probably best if letters older than a week are passed on to another index page with stable links. That way there is an archive but also an easy way to catch up with what is new/current.
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