After an Liberal Democrat Voice conclave, an appropriately coloured smoke signal has arisen from the chimney at LDV Towers, indicating that we will no longer put the word “Opinion” before contributions from readers to our site. We think it is obvious that what people write is their opinion (not necessarily shared by the LDV team) and the label was starting to look a bit “clunky”. We will still flag up such posts as being in our “Op-Ed” category.
The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.
You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways:
1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen some news no-one else is mentioning? Just drop us an email at [email protected]. We also welcome photos for our photo library.
2. Share our content with other people. Like a story you see on the site? If so, please let your friends know about it. Whether it is by sharing it on Facebook, sending a tweet, adding a link from your blog, saving it on a social networking site or anything else – the more people share good stories, the wider the audience they reach.
3. Donate. We keep our costs to a minimum, but our hosting costs have gone up as our traffic has grown, and any additional funds beyond that can go on better Conference activities and more internet advertising to promote our site and stories.
4. Write for us. What’s on your mind at the moment? Do you think you have a solution for a problem that nobody else has put forward? What do you think the party, its ministers or parliamentarians should be doing?
You can read our guidelines for contributors in full here, but here’s a short excerpt:
Contributions to the blog should be c.300-500 words – though this is advisory, not mandatory – and should be sent to [email protected]. If your post is too long, readership drops off quite sharply so there is a real advantage to brevity.
For guest posts we normally ask that they are original and to be published first on this site, though we are happy for you subsequently to post a copy elsewhere with a link back to the original.
If you refer to organisations, quotes, other online articles or evidence to back up your argument, please do include relevant links in your post.
Please state your affiliation to the Liberal Democrat party – ie, if you’re a member / activist / councillor, etc. and any short description that you would like us to use. This can include a weblink, such as to your own website or blog.
The site’s success is down to far more than just The Voice’s team. Readers like yourself are a keep part of our success. If you’re already doing any of these four – many thanks. And if not, why not try one of them this month?
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11 Comments
Croydon Borough Council (Fairfield ward). The Tory Councillor here was recently elected. Mr. Gavin Barwell is opposed to the Brighton Mainland 2 railway development that can bring added economic benefit including jobs and societal benefits like lifting the morale of Croydin residents. I would like all other parties including Lib Dem to give us full support in this matter as the Cross Net 2 will not cross Croydon Borough.
Thanks
Croydon Lib Dem Member
Excuse my ignore, but I have always wondered what an OpEd is. Am I the only one to whom it is not obvious?
Hi Allan
Good question. It’s where someone, including readers and editorial team, express an opinion – as opposed to news items, LibLinks etc etc
At 549 words this post exceeds LDV’s own length guideline.
But why should anyone worry if readership falls off when people pen similarly lengthy articles? Maybe that’s because some discover after the first few paragraphs that the article doesn’t interest them after all despite its early promise. On the other hand some contributors say in comments that the length guideline constrained their ability to develop their argument properly which implies a real loss to readers and a constipated debate.
i do not usually look at adverts, but i am thinking of buying a lawnmower.
Gordon
I’m reminded of the reported words of Churchill which I paraphrase: ‘if you want my long speech I can prepare it in an hour. If you want my short speech it will take two days’.
It’s a question of editorial judgment, that remarkable spirit which is hard to nail down. Some people write long articles which are pure crap. Some people write long articles which are sensationally brilliant. We try to decide which is which. We are all too conscious of the fact that our judgement is not infallible (if we forget, we are reminded daily by our readers). We often publish articles over 500 words if we so decide.
Someone should advise about new members, recruitment and retention.
Like Allan Brame, I have always struggled with the meaning of “Op-Ed”. I assume it stands for “Opinion – Editorial”, but am certainly not sure, and Paul Walter’s comment here doesn’t seem to clarify that at all. What I am sure of is that it sounds pretty pretentious, and I am surprised that it is Op Ed that seems to be surviving, rather than Opinion, which people can actually readily understand.
LDV is a brilliant site and a lot of this is down to the editors. Without them acting like a referee the quality of the debate would be low.
Op-ed comes (I believe) from the fact that opinion pieces in newspapers were (and sometimes still are – see the FT) opposite the editorial page of the paper.
Nick Thornsby 1st Aug ’15 – 12:48pm You are right, but the FT readers may go stright to the Lex column on the back page.