Editorial direction of GP Rejects

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CaptainGetz12
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by CaptainGetz12 »

Jocke1 wrote:
eytl wrote:Well ... maybe it's time I stuck my head above the parapet yet again.

I'm genuinely interested in people's feedback as to what you think I should do; you guys were my long-suffering audience for 15 years, after all.

I would definitely read your blog about all things Enoch.
Hope all is well otherwise.


I wouldn't mind seeing a blog or something like that either. As for the old content, that would involve talking with whoever owns the old domain now.

Regardless, I wish you the best in whatever you want to do.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by DemocalypseNow »

CaptainGetz12 wrote:As for the old content, that would involve talking with whoever owns the old domain now.

Content and domain are not linked in any way. It is completely at Enoch's discretion whether the former profiles are authorised to be reposted or not.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Rob Dylan »

I think I'll write an article on Sergio Perez's McLaren stint in 2013. With 4 points under the pre-2003 system it only just avoids being a rejectful year, but I still think it was an interesting missed opportunity in a mediocre car that foreshadowed the continuing struggles of McLaren into the present day.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

Rob Dylan wrote:I think I'll write an article on Sergio Perez's McLaren stint in 2013. With 4 points under the pre-2003 system it only just avoids being a rejectful year, but I still think it was an interesting missed opportunity in a mediocre car that foreshadowed the continuing struggles of McLaren into the present day.

I remember when he said he was aiming for the world title that year, a declaration that people may laugh at now and even at the time there were those questioning such a remark (it made sense in the context, I mean who wouldn't have that ambition when they're in a team as successful as McLaren?). I wasn't expecting that much from him but it really was a dire year for the team, with continuing poor form leading into 2014 drawing comparisons with the mid-2000s decline of Williams. Still, I look forward to seeing what comes out of this! :)
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dr-baker »

A small update on my writing of the profile for MasterCard Lola. I did go through a period of several weeks where I made no progress with it. Mostly because of some disappointment in my life, but which I am getting over now (not life-shattering disappointment, just life-having-to-go-off-on-a-different-tangent disappointment). Anyway, I am making further progress now. References to other mid-1990s reject teams are being made. But I am currently having to research further, as there are gaps in my research (the research linked to in my signature), mainly around their testing in 1995. So I am trying to find out more now. So it will be a while longer yet, but progress is being made again!
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Rob Dylan »

OK, this word count is going to be pretty big for the Perez 2013 article. Is there any recommended limit I should bring it down to for the finished product?
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dr-baker »

Rob Dylan wrote:OK, this word count is going to be pretty big for the Perez 2013 article. Is there any recommended limit I should bring it down to for the finished product?

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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by MartinJS81 »

Alex Rossi counts, in my mind - at least for now, Haas could do worse for 2016. Others who never contested a qualifying session were there, because they were entered or contested official practice sessions. Rossi has done those in two different races - though his name isn't as good as 'Ricardo Londono-Bridge'....
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Faustus »

Just last week my fiancée asked why I didn't keep any photos from my time at Arrows. I wish I had bothered to take some photos at work or kept some sort of diary. I think an article by someone who was involved could be interesting to some people, providing a real insight into the hard work involved, especially if it's not something produced, glamourised and sanitised up by the teams or sponsors. Sort of like the 'Secret Mechanic' articles on Autosport but without having to protect names and with more swearing.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Wallio »

Faustus wrote:Just last week my fiancée asked why I didn't keep any photos from my time at Arrows. I wish I had bothered to take some photos at work or kept some sort of diary. I think an article by someone who was involved could be interesting to some people, providing a real insight into the hard work involved, especially if it's not something produced, glamourised and sanitised up by the teams or sponsors. Sort of like the 'Secret Mechanic' articles on Autosport but without having to protect names and with more swearing.



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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dr-baker »

Wallio wrote:
Faustus wrote:Just last week my fiancée asked why I didn't keep any photos from my time at Arrows. I wish I had bothered to take some photos at work or kept some sort of diary. I think an article by someone who was involved could be interesting to some people, providing a real insight into the hard work involved, especially if it's not something produced, glamourised and sanitised up by the teams or sponsors. Sort of like the 'Secret Mechanic' articles on Autosport but without having to protect names and with more swearing.



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What Wallio said! What your fiancée said! Do it!
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dinizintheoven »

In the immortal words of that hidden backwards message that was actually a random collection of noises when Judas Priest's cover of "Better By You, Better Than Me" was played backwards:

Do it. Do it. Do it.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Nuppiz »

dinizintheoven wrote:In the immortal words of that hidden backwards message that was actually a random collection of noises when Judas Priest's cover of "Better By You, Better Than Me" was played backwards:

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Offtopic: I actually have never found those words in that song when played backwards. What I have found though are "I asked her for a peppermint, I asked her to give one" in Exciter, "I heard some music" in Invader and "I took my life" (!) in Beyond the Realms of Death.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by mario »

Faustus wrote:Just last week my fiancée asked why I didn't keep any photos from my time at Arrows. I wish I had bothered to take some photos at work or kept some sort of diary. I think an article by someone who was involved could be interesting to some people, providing a real insight into the hard work involved, especially if it's not something produced, glamourised and sanitised up by the teams or sponsors. Sort of like the 'Secret Mechanic' articles on Autosport but without having to protect names and with more swearing.

As others have said, I think that would make for a fantastic set of articles and I'd love to see you lift the lid on what life was like in the paddock in that era.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dinizintheoven »

From the GP Rejects Faceache page, a few minutes ago:

Nuppiz, Biscione, maybe someone else? wrote:Thank you to all who have donated to our efforts to remain online. The forums continue in good health, and while unfortunately we still have not secured publishing rights for F1 Rejects' original back catalogue of content, there is a strong possibility of new pieces of content finally emerging in the coming months.

While that does give some hope to those reading that page, the very first thing you could do is repeat that on the front page of the website - along with deciding a Reject Of The Race for Italy to be as up-to-date as possible. Because, at the moment, it looks like gprejects.com was set up, and then left bare, just waiting for the day when Enoch really does say yes to republishing the old F1 Rejects content - and that's still if he does. And were that to happen, would this still make GP Rejects little more than a legacy site?

I'm not the only one to be thinking this way - I know dr-baker is as well, because it came up in conversation at Donington the other day. I suspect his all-new Lola article, as well as the definition of "What Is A Reject?" is in line to be part of this new content, and the sooner that can go up, the better.

We were both still rather miffed that our efforts (and tommykl's and watka's) to make the GPR Goes To Battersea podcast didn't end up on the front page. As we all left the pub that day there was an optimistic sense of "Yes! We've done it! We've actually made new content for GP Rejects! It needs no longer look like the cupboard is bare!" - only for it to languish on a single thread in the much-less-visited HWNSNBM forum (and I realise the inherent irony in this gripe being posted in the same forum, but at least it's the place where admins are most likely to be looking for comments about the site itself). At Donington we discussed a second Formula E podcast - a season preview, for some time in early October, seeing as some of our predictions for drivers who might join the series actually came true and we can assess their prospects and their inherent rejectfulness in a way that those who remembered the old F1 Rejects podcasts might still enjoy. With all the ex-F1 drivers on the Formula E grid, including some who might return (Jean-Éric Vergne, for instance), I'd say it's well worth a mention as part of the main remit of the site.

And continuing from the "What Is A Reject?" article, I would further suggest that the profile of Justin Wilson that was recently posted on the forums becomes part of the main site. Death has always been a touchy subject in motorsport, and not one we're ever going to escape from completely - but as I understand it, only a driver who died in an F1 race while still under reject status as sanctioned by the original criteria is given the "honorary unrejectfication", and whose career would appear as a Reject Centrale article rather than as a full profile - the most obvious example being Roland Ratzenberger. Jules Bianchi would also now fall under the same criteria as, it was the accident in the F1 race at Suzuka that caused his death, even though it was awfully delayed. But, consulting a Wayback Machine copy of the old site, there were drivers who were given full profiles who were killed in motorsport accidents after their F1 career had finished. Ettore Chimeri, for instance - one F1 race on 31 January 1960, and then he was killed in a sports car race in Cuba only 24 days later. Jo Gartner gained a full profile for his ineligible-for-points drives for Osella in 1984, and was killed at Le Mans in 1986. Tragic though it is that Justin Wilson has joined those two, twelve years after his F1 career finished, I'd say it's as clear as day that he's eligible for a full profile - and we've seen it's already written and goes into far more detail than many of the original F1 Rejects profiles ever did. And really, for those who get the whole idea of what this website and community is all about, what better tribute can there be?
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dr-baker »

dinizintheoven wrote:A lot of a good stuff

What he said. While the Lola article is still a work in progress (real life, y'know?), I am wondering what is happening to content. Has my "What is a Reject?" article been accessed/read through?

By the way Jim, I need to liaise about Skype details and stuff sometime, don't I?
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

I am in agreement with dinizintheoven's post.

First off, I am extremely grateful as a long-time F1 Rejects fan (and not-quite-as-long-time F1 Rejects forum contributor) that this community is allowed to continue, even if it's under the somewhat less fashionable "GP Rejects" banner. This is the only F1 forum I use on a daily basis, and with good reason: The level of discussion has generally been quite good. There have been moments of strife in the past but we're dealing with human beings here, and human beings are renowned for sometimes being a defective product. But anyway, I'm thankful to our new overlords about euthanizing the old forum and giving birth to the new one to allow this great community to continue.

That said, yes, while the forum is still as active as ever, the main body of the website leaves much to be desired. It was good at first with ROTR updates. There was no other content really, but as mentioned before, the old content is in Enoch's hands and the new content is only beginning to trickle in now in unpublished form. But now, the ROTR section hasn't been updated since China and no official ROTRs have even been announced since Britain. Enoch tended to announce ROTRs a couple of weeks afterwards but it's been over a month since Hungary and there's still no official winner. I guess it could be a case of Biscione being new to this role, and for that I can forgive him.

As for the podcast, it is somewhat disappointing that the Battersea podcast didn't earn a place on the main page. It wasn't quite Jenoch quality, but then it would be a big ask for the first post-Jenoch podcast to be of anywhere near equal quality. Heck, even the dynamic duo's first few podcasts paled in comparison to their later work. Still, I was happy to see that there was a podcast at all, especially after my own rather embarrassing resurrection attempt from several months ago and I look forward to the season preview edition.

I do hate to criticise because you guys are doing a great job with the day-to-day running of the forum, but I do feel a few small things can be done to make it seem like this website is more than just an internet forum.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Rob Dylan »

I started on the Perez 2013 article, but after moving into a new flat there have been multiple complications for the last month regarding the internet which means I have none. But when I get it back I'll get right on to finishing the article and getting published. Because getting anything published is where it starts and it gets the ball rolling, so to speak.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

By the way, I have begun researching a Joe Kelly profile (this guy). I've completed a summary of his relatively short motor racing career and have gathered a few sources, though I'm on the lookout for a few more just in case. I make no promises on its completion but hopefully I'll see this thing through to the end. Wish me luck! ;)
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by AndreaModa »

I don't want to jump on a bandwagon or anything, but I'd like it noted that I've had similar feelings as far as main site presentation and content is concerned.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by AdrianSutil »

I've only recently returned after a bit of a lay-off for 'family reasons', so I can't really comment on the site and what's being planned for it. I'm just glad it's back up and running tbh.

About Faustus' potential Arrows article, I would actually pay real monies to read that.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dinizintheoven »

dr-baker wrote:By the way Jim, I need to liaise about Skype details and stuff sometime, don't I?

I need to get it working first! Kick me if I don't.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by girry »

dinizintheoven wrote:And continuing from the "What Is A Reject?" article, I would further suggest that the profile of Justin Wilson that was recently posted on the forums becomes part of the main site.


It's still lacking in the picture department though (as in, there are none) - and with me having no clue whatsoever about the picture copyright laws and so forth, I wouldn't count on myself at finding them.

I'd echo that Faustus' take on Arrows would be a fascinating read.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Nuppiz »

Well, the Facebook post was made by Biscione - I don't think I even have the rights to post on our Facebook page apart from with my own profile.

As for the new content, I cannot comment much either. While I may have put the wheels in motion by asking for access to F1Rejects' files last autumn, I feel my role in the sites transformation under the new banner has been grossly inflated. Basically what happened was that I was given the key to F1 Rejects' backend, but I quickly realised my skills weren't enough to fix the then-ongoing problems so I passed on that key to someone who I trusted and knew to be a lot more skilled. And that someone was Biscione. He was able to fix those problems, and when we received word that the site was about to close for good, take a proper backup of everything (I was able to backup the forum through the ACP, but those backups didn't function properly once we tested them out). Biscione then registered the new domain and built up the site. I only tested out things and gave my comments, and donated money to cover costs.

Currently I have little other function beyond being an "upkeep administrator" running day-to-day administrating and moderating which honestly doesn't require too much skills. And to be honest, F1 doesn't even interest me enough that I'd be willing to do a whole lot more for the site (I think this is pretty obvious for anyone who is a regular on the chatroom). I have other things to keep myself busy.

Sure, had I not first gained the trust of Jamie by working as a moderator and administrator and being the guy behind PMMF's transformation, this forum might no longer exist. But most of the work carried out since last October has been done by Biscione.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Wallio »

First off, we have a Facebook Page? Never knew that.

Second, I must admit to being remiss in my research, for potential articles. That being said, Rob Lomas, was nice enough to send me some articles regarding the Ford BDA engine, which hopefully will kick start my writing of my "Reject Powerplant" article.

I have no comment on the content on the site, or lack there of, I'm just happy the forum is still up and the people who post are still here. I've learned so damn much from this place, its unreal.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Londoner »

I'm considering writing an article dissecting Sauber's 2014 season, which was their most rejectful campaign in their entire history. However, I'll probably won't start writing this until around Christmas time, and who knows when I'll be able to finish it.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by girry »

Just something I thought of - anyone up to write some kind of a collaborative article about the 2010 debutant teams' efforts & their drivers and the eventual demise of HRT and Caterham? After all, their paths are/were something rejectful that almost everybody on this forum has followed since the beginning, thus little history-digging would be required, and it would be easy to provide something of a personal take on the topic, making it more interesting than a traditional what-happened-and-when article?
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Wallio »

giraurd wrote:Just something I thought of - anyone up to write some kind of a collaborative article about the 2010 debutant teams' efforts & their drivers and the eventual demise of HRT and Caterham? After all, their paths are/were something rejectful that almost everybody on this forum has followed since the beginning, thus little history-digging would be required, and it would be easy to provide something of a personal take on the topic, making it more interesting than a traditional what-happened-and-when article?



Ah see, this is a good idea. An oral history, from the fan perspective? We call that in the history biz "populist history". Love the idea. As you mention, little research would be required (so long as we are front up about it being a "memories" article), and if everyone submits a page or two, we could have a lengthy article with no major
workload thrown on one person.

I'm in.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by dinizintheoven »

I suppose I could revisit the idea I had for a similar article where I was concerned I'd get my facts wrong (despite running it past Mario at the time for confirmation that I wasn't wrong).
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Ataxia »

Just to refer to AndreaModa's comments in the Formula E thread, what I think we need to do if we're to get any original content out there is to take stock of what we've got already. I know that current, active members have produced pieces that could be easily taken and posted as articles, but I'd like to suggest we put together some kind of list of written articles, so that anyone interested in writing something doesn't perhaps tread on the toes of an existing piece. For example at this stage, I'd like to write something about Super Aguri's two-and-a-bit years in F1. Thing is, I don't know if anyone else has written anything.

I also think that, should it be agreed that we take GPR to the next level and bring in our own user-generated content, that we set a numerical target of articles before we begin to put them on the main page. I feel like this is something that needs organising so that we have a clear target with regards to content, and a bit more direction with regards to what we actually produce.

Perhaps having driver and team articles once again would be a strong idea, although that raises the question whether we should wait and see if Enoch wishes to post his articles, or we produce our own. Season previews/reviews are always a nice addition, and perhaps we can utilise the more technical-minded members by creating some interesting articles on "rejectful" innovations within the sport.

I know, I'm waffling, but I feel like this needs to be sorted sooner rather than later...by the time February rolls around we'll have been in this new gaff for a year, and we still haven't really decorated the walls yet.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

With regards to your first point, Ataxia, I'm going to start compiling a list of articles from the old site along with the new articles that have been written or are being worked on now and post them in a separate thread.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by AndreaModa »

Fair play Ataxia, I've been wanting to say something for a while. I guess that throwaway comment in the other thread wasn't well disguised. I like your ideas very much and I too would love to contribute at some point or another.

However it's all pointless if we can't actually get it on the site. Who is able to edit the site? Does it have a CMS that certain members/admins can be given privileges to? Or does everything need to go through Biscione? Because we can write and write and make lists of things until the sun goes down but if the organisation isn't in place then it's all a waste of time.

And if we're all writing away but reliant on one guy to upload anything and everything, and that guy happens to have his own life and matters to worry about, then nothing will get done. You know, if you look back to when the forum went through those phases of crashing and having security compromises before the new site, Biscione was writing (broadly) the same things I'm writing now, and talking about Jamie having full control and none of us able to do anything.

Case in point - why is the China ROTR still on the front page?

I'll end by being honest. Quite frankly, when you consider the prestige the old site held, the front page now is an embarrassment. We could, and should be doing far better. If that was one of Enoch's concerns about re-releasing his material to be published then I'm afraid all we've done is confirmed his beliefs.

Enough of the negativity from me. Here's what I would like to see before anything else is done:

1. A run-down of who can currently edit the main site (not forums), what it is made up of (do page templates exist?), if it has a CMS then what are we running with. (I seem to remember Biscione championing Drupal a while back, much to my consternation as a WordPress fan!)
2. If we have the ability to give certain members admin privileges to the CMS, then a list needs to be drawn up of members. I'd suggest the current forum mod team would be a good start. They would publish all submissions from anyone, considered good enough for the site, and carry out general maintenance when required.
3. A minor point, but from within that site admin team, someone needs to run the social media. It was raised before and we ended up talking about the English football pyramid, but it needs sorting.
4. Then we draw up the list and get writing.

No doubt someone's raised this in the chat already, but I've PM'd Biscione these points too.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Butterfox »

Especially alarming is that fellow forum-member f1gast's UnracedF1 is beginning to post content before we did :shock: (no offence meant, f1gast)
Sure, articles for this site would require a lot more work considering the high standard of the legacy we carry. But it is indeed true that the leadership of this site has had the habit of having the efficiency levels of the Belgian bureaucracy. (though good work has certainly be done regarding the forum, i do acknowledge those efforts.)

Though i have lot of free time, i'm not exactly good at profile writing and research and my judgement is not esteemed high enough to get more responsability on the forum. I could perhaps help in social media, as that does not require intelligence (except for not going into discussions with others) though then again the fact that i just put up the inactive F1 Rejects Racing Team page up for deletion is not a good credential. Though to be fair that page had lost all of its purpose(somehow it still keeps on getting likes). But again, that was a good example of a do-able idea not happening because we couldn't even get to the planning stage.
I do have plenty of time to review written articles and all, but then again, my judgement is considered rather poor, and the only reference i can give is writing concert reviews (mostly from the Groezrock festival, as i stopped other activities for that site) and re-writing others reviews for the same festival when i think they messed up. Then again, that is dutch, which is my native language, and therefore significantly easier. Though the judgement from my collegues was generally very good, the standards i've been compared to aren't really high.
But i'm defenitely willing to give the writing in english a try, if somebody who is good at research and bad at writing needs help.

But the idea is clear, we need plans. We can no longer be satisfied with ideas alone, or we end up with a profile at UnracedF1.
First thing to do is set up a company structure, like every well running organisation has. Putting the responsability on just one person is simply risky, as that person has a life.
This forum can not forever build on its legacy, if such legacy isn't even available. It's not like we've become a group of close friends over the year. What made us decide to join here in the first place are the articles. The legacy is enoch and jamie's decicion, but we do need to start to get results. If we don't, i predict this forum will simply bleed to death. (Maybe with the exception of our fictional universe).
We do have talents like mario onboard and people with experience like faustus. It's not like i want to pressure them to become more involved, but are we going to just let their talent and knowledge go to waste?
A good company structure serves the purpose of combining talents. Our structure is not effient. I'm not saying Biscione is not capable, because he certainly is. It's just that he does not posess godlike abilities like being everywhere anytime.

First thing to do: write a list of who is capable of what. Who is capable of doing research? Who is capable of writing articles? What are peoples specifc talents? Who has a lot of free time and who hasn't? When does the person has free time and when doesn't he? If we have such a list, we can team up people effeciently and get things done. Some people might prefer working alone on a subject, other people might prefer working in team. And when things don't go to plan, they have a good view of who is available to help them out.
Judging by the level of the posts on this forum, a lot of people are at least capable of creating half-decent articles, which saves a lot of time for the final editor. I'm strongly in favour of adding the possibility of co-writers as the main writers and main editors have lifes too.
Step 1B: decide on an official structure of who has which job, and an official reserve structure, of the people who can additionally help when this is needed.
Make sure to have at least 2 people with administration rights as a backup to the main administrator. So at least a few simple things like posting the ROTR and featured pictures and stuff like that can keep running, to at least give readers the feeling we're active.

Step 2: create a structure for the type of articles we want, and a template of how those articles arestructured. Again, this saves a lot of time for the final editor.
Are we going to keep us strict to the F1 Rejects rules? I suggest we do add 'reject technology' as a third big category.

Step 3: concrete deadlines.

But you know what will happen? We won't even be able to decide on who is going to make a document for step 1.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Rob Dylan »

Well I'll happily stand up and be counted in saying that I can write articles for the website. At the end of Summer I started a big article on Sergio Perez's 2013 season at McLaren, but complications with moving house meant I didn't have internet for over a month. In other words all ability to research was completely wiped out. This is coupled with the fact that my availability to do such research and writing is mostly restricted to the holidays. However, I get a long break between the two semesters at university this year, so I'll make it my deadline to have this Perez article finished and handed in to the board by the end of January. This will be done :!:
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by AndreaModa »

This wrote:Especially alarming is that fellow forum-member f1gast's UnracedF1 is beginning to post content before we did :shock: (no offence meant, f1gast)
Sure, articles for this site would require a lot more work considering the high standard of the legacy we carry. But it is indeed true that the leadership of this site has had the habit of having the efficiency levels of the Belgian bureaucracy. (though good work has certainly be done regarding the forum, i do acknowledge those efforts.


I've been proof-reading and editing the Unraced F1 articles for f1gast. Easy, simple and it's brought results. With the collective brains here we could do so much better!

But let's put it this way. If I were calling the shots here, I would say this: I don't want to see any more posts from people saying "I've been thinking of doing an article on..." It's not constructive and doesn't help the situation. We're not at that point yet. I want an official response from Biscione and some actual action before we even consider what sort of articles are going to be written. If he's in the chat, get him to post on here. Send him emails, get his attention.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Nuppiz »

AFAIK only Biscione can edit the main site at the moment. I don't recall ever getting login info for that.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by DemocalypseNow »

OK, let's get down to addressing some points.

Yes, it's true, there's no coherent direction at play here. There is a big thing I am working on in the background, but it doesn't have anything to do with writing articles, so that still needs addressed.

Before, there was a lot of "yes, I'd like to write this and that," but only two articles have actually been forthcoming, and neither were quite up to the standard of the old profiles (i.e. lacking in length/depth, no references).

What I can confirm is that "This Day In Reject History" will be moving from the forum to the website next year. That is going to happen.

I think we also need to move away from the idea of doing "profiles" at all, and perhaps shift across to articles instead. Articles can be somewhat opinionated, don't require the same intensity of research with a fine toothcomb like the profiles do.

As for those old profiles...I'm starting to doubt they'll ever return in their original form. Without permission, they cannot be reposted verbatim. I (or we) might begin a process of rewriting the profiles using the factual information contained in the old copies.

I'll maybe try and write a few more thoughts again in the next day or two.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Salamander »

I'd like to contribute to the site but I don't have the time or willingness to write an article of any form, but what could be an option is if we got a few random members together maybe once every couple of weeks, gave them a topic to discuss (or maybe they can pluck one out of thin air) and then edit that together into an article on the site. Because I've noticed we do tend to have quite interesting discussions now and again on the chat, which could be a draw for any motorsport fan seeking to broaden their horizons, perhaps.

We could also rotate regularly who's involved, so the old fogies like me aren't dominating everything, which can also give an avenue for newer members to get stuck in. I would also be willing to basically act as an editor before putting the articles up on the site.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by girry »

Yeah I agree with moving focus from full profiles to articley stuff, full profiles require so much work. But re-writing full profiles based on Enoch's old ones? To be fair, that does not sound like a good idea - it would just feel like totally exploiting his efforts, and the end result wouldn't be as fine, either.

Imho the one thing that needs to regularly get updated on the main site is the Reject of the Race, since we're doing it on the forum anyway. If it's just about lack of people updating, then I'm sure we should find at least someone who could take the responsibility of posting our picks on the main site a few days after each race.

Not to forget about the podcasts.

---

Another thing I was pondering about is creating a full list of Rejects, adding it onto the website AND trying to cough up at least a couple of paragraphs and tidbits about each of them (ie. not full profiles, but something interesting), preferably past what Wikipedia says. This would make the website serve an actual purpose (lets face it, now there's none) - serving as an information source for the less-known F1 drivers. It would be a big task, but not impossible - if people think it's a good idea, reckon at least I could be quite productive at that.
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Re: Editorial direction of GP Rejects

Post by Bobby Doorknobs »

giraurd wrote:Another thing I was pondering about is creating a full list of Rejects, adding it onto the website AND trying to cough up at least a couple of paragraphs and tidbits about each of them (ie. not full profiles, but something interesting), preferably past what Wikipedia says. This would make the website serve an actual purpose (lets face it, now there's none) - serving as an information source for the less-known F1 drivers. It would be a big task, but not impossible - if people think it's a good idea, reckon at least I could be quite productive at that.

A full list of rejects does exist here, so the only thing left to do in that regard is to write those short paragraphs. For the sake of everyone's sanity I suggest that one person at the very most do one letter, all the As, for example. The whole list is asking too much for any one person, it would definitely need to be a collaborative effort.
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