Submitting latest news articles on Triond is sadly no longer “latest news”.
So we are all members of Triond…
I have been a member of the Triond community for approximately a year and a half. I have found it to be a great place to publish a variety of articles. I also enjoy reading many articles when I get the chance. So for those of you who are on my friends list I apologise first hand for not commenting on a regular basis.
However, despite myself making numerous friends and reading some excellent articles by fellow writers on a vast range of subjects, I am somewhat concerned on “turnaround” times from submitting to publishing.
I understand that Triond has a small staff base and it would be almost impossible for them to proof read articles sent.
But what I am concerned about with Triond is their slow publishing times on news related articles. Let us face it there are many writers on Triond who comment on the news and publish a wide ranging mixture of news articles.
The fact that many writers are also practicing journalists or people who enjoy reading and then publishing their own version of the latest news, they face a problem when trying to publish first hand “breaking” news. I have on many occasions discovered breaking news stories and then submitted work almost immediately to Triond.
Unfortunately I am left very frustrated on occasion as I see my “breaking news” articles published 24 hours or even later – so no longer “breaking news”.
With such a concern many on Triond may ask is, “Well if you are writing breaking news articles then you must be doing so for monetary reasons to get instant hits on your article”.
Whilst this may be true for many writers, another reason – and often valid reason to argue against the first question many may ask is this: “Well who wants to read a news article that is over 24 hours old?”.
People like to read and watch the news. That is something a majority of us writers do. We enjoy keeping tabs on world affairs and affairs closer to home. So why would anyone really wish to read a news article they have no doubt seen or heard of in their local papers, online elsewhere, on the television or the radio?
My argument would be not many – unless of course there are readers who wish to see if there is a different take on a story. The latest headlines regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden is a perfect example. The varying amounts of speculative stories on his death – mixed with facts and let us be honest, fiction to a degree – were dozens.
So, I would be interested to hear people’s views on Triond and their publishing times on news stories. For ground breaking and latest news articles I am afraid Triond just does not cut it for many – myself included. Even though I do still try.
When it comes to speculative news and a fresh and original “spin” on a popular news related story, such as the Bin Laden scenario that lasts for days and even weeks – then yes, we can make exceptions.
Plagiarism Concerns on Triond
On another alarming matter there are many writers who complain of plagiarism and theft of their articles. I myself have seen two or three of my articles taken and obviously put through some form of translation device program and then translated yet again into English.
The sad fact there is much of what is published is classed as acceptable – when anyone with a fair degree of English education can clearly see the article is haphazard and terrible to read – sometimes even understand.
Many of Triond writers mention this in the Questions section. Also many have made comments on articles as well as brought such a topic up on the forums. This all in the hope that Triond can do something about this and perhaps look into ways of vetting articles. Granted, the staff level is low and perhaps such software developed to automatically check every article maybe does or does not exist. I do not know I am not an expert. But if it does then maybe Triond neglect to use such software due to cost?
But in any event I would be interested in hearing fellow writers opinions on this – and maybe even Triond themselves.
If they do not then I fear they see such articles as an ideal way of boosting their own finances and caring less to Triond’s flagging reputation – and us the contributing authors who earn them their money – amongst the Search Engines.
Peace and love to all fellow Writers.
Stuart Craig Fawcett
