Orble News - by jon

Orble Editor Stars

March 30th 2010 00:29

Orble is trialling an Editorial Star rating system for posts of a high quality which cover current affairs.

The aim of the system is to encourage more posts of a professional quality and to attract more readers to use the Orble homepage as a regular source of news and a starting point for exploring the Orble Network.

Posts which are given a star rating will also get a few extra votes to help them up the popular list.

Orble admin will allocate stars, however there is no way to view all the new Orble posts created every day. To help us find star-worthy posts I've created a nomination system. Click on the "Stars" link underneath each post (when you are logged in) to nominate a post for a star. It's fine to nominate your own post.

Posts which are allocated stars will also attract extra revenue, from $3 to $30 per post. For more information see this page.

Note that Editor Stars should be seen as a bonus or prize for good work, not the main way of earning money on Orble which will remain to be advertising share by a significant margin. We'll obviously be limited to handing out a set amount each month.

Admin will not be able to enter into discussions about why certain posts where not given stars -- it would simply take up too much time -- however the guidelines at the moment are:

1) The writing should be of a professional quality.
2) The topic should relate to current affairs.
3) The post should have broad appeal.
4) The topic should not have been covered on Orble before by a quality post.
5) The amount of effort/research that the post required should be non-trivial.

As always let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Thanks,
Jon.

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Comments

33 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by katyzzz

March 30th 2010 01:59

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Good ideas there Jon, and a great incentive.

Comment by Journeywoman

March 30th 2010 03:24

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I like it, though most bloggers aren't professional writers so you may not be handing too many out.... which makes me like it even more. Think I'll be sticking to my target audience though.

Jon on that note, would you be able to put Great Hair Style Tips on the Beauty page? Just noticed that it wasn't listed there. Thanks in advance

Comment by jon

March 30th 2010 04:21

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Thanks for the feedback guys.

JW -- you can allocate your blog to a channel yourself -- click on the modify link and go from there.

Comment by Journeywoman

March 30th 2010 04:34

Great Hair Style Tips
I Dream of Hollywood
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Brilliant, thankyou

Comment by Lisa Johnson

March 30th 2010 17:48

It's All Geek To Me

Jon,
What do you consider current affairs? My area of concern is mostly education, I think education is a current affair.

I also think articles that are reported in in the New York Times are current.

What are the criteria for professional?

Thanks for the site. I have enjoyed posting on here very much.

Comment by jon

March 30th 2010 21:27

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I'm looking for posts which will serve to draw people back to Orble for their daily fix of news - that obviously covers a lot of ground and could include education if the topic was of enough interest.

Professional means of a high-quality -- well written. Good enough to appear in a mainstream newspaper or magazine.

Comment by David Jobling

March 30th 2010 22:52

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This is a really fine incentive, but I often wonder why certain blogs are listed in the popular Orble music pages - when I can rarely find anything related to music on them; this is one of those things that makes me wonder how decisions are actually made, yet I don't want to rock the boat as such because Orble is a great way of getting information out there - in my case it's music gigs and releases mainly on one page, local news on another and Cultural events or concerns on another.

I sometimes cross post where it can be seen as relating to more than one or all three topics, but when a site that has virtually nothing on music is always pipping my site at the post in the music lists - it really makes me wonder why. Is there a clear and reasonable explanation?

Comment by silverautumn

March 31st 2010 01:36

Cinema Three
Projecting Projectionist - Film Reviews from a Small Town Theatre Employee

This is great! Thanks!

Comment by jon

March 31st 2010 21:31

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DJ -- can you send an email to support -at- orble.com with more specific information and I'll have a look. It's possible that some blogs are allocated to the wrong channels as the moderator can choose where they are placed.

Comment by Bryn

April 6th 2010 00:51

Horrorphile

I guess graphic bloodletting and screams in the dark are unlikely to warrant a Gold Star, huh?

Comment by jon

April 6th 2010 07:14

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A review of a new movie would qualify -- even a horrific one. Also anything with interviews etc would definitely be in with a chance.

Comment by Bryn

April 6th 2010 07:37

Horrorphile

Okay, good to know ... I have a Q&A coming up soon.

Comment by katyzzz

April 6th 2010 09:36

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You're no 1. Bryn, you should worry. Happy Horror- ing! Gold stars await you.

Comment by ?

May 1st 2010 19:32

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The system sounds great. I simply can't figure out where to see how many stars (if any) my posts have been given, and I'd like to know weekly or at least monthly how much (if any) revenue my blog has earned. The "Paid" link just takes you to the explanation, which tells you to go to the "stars" information on the News page, which tells you nothing at all.
Am I missing something?

Comment by jon

May 2nd 2010 22:59

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If your post is given a star it's shown underneath that post. The total amount is shown on your profile page.

When I get a moment I'll write the script which allocates a dollar amount to each star which will be shown on my.orble.com.

Comment by Anonymous

May 3rd 2010 14:52

Web Tools Blog

Hi again.

Thanks for the responses. Checking the adsense $ was never a problem, although I think the directions on adding adsense stuff is a little sketchy. Is it necessary to add blogs as channels? Do I add the blogs as domains? If I just give Orble my pub.xx number, does revenue show up in my adsense account?

What I think causes some bloggers to desert their blogs is lack of timely reports on revenue. If I'm blogging for 2 months, regularly posting 3 posts/week, and after that two months see a total of $6.50 in adsense revenue, I'll jump ship. There might be $150 in my Star-revenue, but I don't know it. And since payout doesn't occur until $200, (or so I understand) that's a real shame.

Even though I blog mostly for the enjoyment, and to keep myself current, a regular reminder that it's also giving me a little residual income helps keep me going.

When I freelance, I check almost daily to see how much I'm making with my CPC articles. It's fun.

Ben

Comment by Whitney

May 3rd 2010 15:02

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If you get a star, how do you know which post earned you a star

Comment by Whitney

May 3rd 2010 15:10

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Is it $3-$30 or $3-$5 per star.

This post says $3-$30 and the 'Paid Blogging" tab says $3-$5

Comment by jon

May 3rd 2010 22:27

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I'll try to keep it around $3 to $5 per star -- as a post can get up to 6 stars that could go up to $30 per post.

You'd only expect 6 stars for quite an exceptional post -- the most I've handed out so far is 2.

Comment by jon

May 3rd 2010 22:28

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Stars are displayed under each post which has been awarded them.

Comment by jon

May 3rd 2010 22:31

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Ben -- that's good advice. I'll have a look at making the instructions a little clearer.

With regards to the stars - it's a new program. I've not written the script to convert stars to a dollar amount as yet as it's only 1 month old. I should get around to it in the next week after which you'll get a dollar amount on your my.orble.com page.

Comment by David Jobling

May 3rd 2010 23:09

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I'd been blogging since 2008 and saw a return 2 years later. Obviously with income around 00.60c per day it's going to take a while - I was getting quite sckeptical about it about half way - but now I feel less pressured because I finally got payment; but it was a long stretch of faith in the middle.

Comment by Star Program

May 3rd 2010 23:18

Web Tools Blog

Ahhh... now, I see...there was nothing to see. Fact is, after 33 posts, I don't yet have any stars... Would someone write a formula for star-catching, please?

A link or two to posts that garnered stars would also be appreciated.

Thanks.

Comment by Whitney

May 4th 2010 13:14

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Gotcha. I guess I read it wrong. I got confused as the 'Paid' section says per star, and I guess this post says per post.

What exactly constitutes as current affairs?

My opinion piece about the iPad gave me a star. It had some facts, but was most opinion. Was it just because it was related to something current?

More direction of what current is may have more people striving to reach what you are looking for in a post.

Comment by jon

May 4th 2010 22:48

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Stars should be considered a lucky prize rather than something a particular articles earns through measurable achievements.

I'm only ever going to be able to give out a certain number of stars and read a certain number of posts so it will always be a large part of what I happen to see and what I happen to like at the time.

If you would like to see posts which have earned stars in the past click on "stars" on the home page. You'll also have a better chance of getting one if you nominate your posts for a star.

Comment by katyzzz

May 5th 2010 04:19

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Does anyone share my opinion that the side images of posts was more productive for most of us.

Frankly I get sick of not being able to find my favourites, I don't have time to go looking, and certain obscene looking ones confront us daily.

I would just like to see the new posts rolling over, now you have to go find them, and I'm not into movies much, which seem to be the main thrust of current affairs.

Orblers, do make a comment, PLEASE!

Comment by jon

May 5th 2010 22:20

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Katyzzz -- are you talking about the old home page popular posts list -- or your own blog?

Comment by katyzzz

May 5th 2010 22:41

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Jon, the old home page

Comment by jon

May 10th 2010 22:30

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The idea of the top 5 posts for each section was to give more posts a decent amount of exposure.

Also you can still see the popular list by clicking on "Popular" -- or the old style popular list is still displayed on you "My Inbox" page.

Comment by katyzzz

May 10th 2010 22:38

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Jon, I understand what you are saying and you have certainly done a class act, but the emergence of each post at its inception, giving people a preview of all posts, has gone which means it is far more difficult to follow individual bloggers who may not emerge amongst the most popular.

I think that is a shame, but as no-one else is commenting, for whatever reason, it seems that the old way is gone for good.

Comment by jon

May 12th 2010 22:51

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Katyzz -- If you click on "All Posts" you'll be able to see every post which has gone up.

You can now also use your inbox to "follow" individual bloggers so that you never miss a post from your favourite writers.

To follow a blog click on "follow this blog" on that blog's homepage. Then all of it's post will appear in your inbox. To view your inbox click on "Inbox" on the Orble homepage.