Sometimes it seems that the News Section is totally dominated by new Armor related releases there are a number of reasons for this: Firstly, the majority of the users on the site are Armor Modellers. Secondly, the manufacturers of both types - the big companies (injection moulded) and the smaller (resin) manufacturers are releasing an enormous amount of tempting new products.
Thirdly, Armorama, is a fairly 'broad church' in that we cover (very well) all aspects of military modelling - Armor, Aviation, Figures. Dioramas and Warships...

What this thread is for, is an appeal for more news items that (IMHO) are getting a little neglected.

The areas that most concern me are:

Aviation

Warships

Diorama material

Science Fiction Kits

Now before we go any further, just remember one thing:
ANY REGISTERED USER OF ARMORAMA CAN SUBNIT A NEWS ARTICLE - I don't have a magic workshop full of elves scouring the 'net looking for stories - that's the review section... Therefore, those who contribute news are individuals such as yourselves and in many cases manufacturers or retailers who send us a lot of interesting 'snippets'....

A few criteria which should be noted:

a) The news story has to be that - news. The fresher the better...

b) It should be submitted using the step-by-step procedure on the news page (if not, PM or e-mail me)

c) Please try and be simple and coherent in your items. It isn't a lot of fun for me to have to edit a news story which is full of typos and non-existent grammar. Few manufacturers (the people we depend on for advertising to keep the site running) want to see their products badly presented either.

d) Don't think it's a job for 'experts' - all of us have expertise in some area, many of us go to Hobby Shows for example - talk to the manufacturers. They will be delighted to get their products highlighted here.

e) As a simple 'rule of thumb' think of it as communicating to your fellow members - extend your enthusiasm to others!

Any further questions about presentation or the technicalities, just ask me!!! thanks, Jim

Well that was a wasted thread...

Jim

I think you should be more dramatic.
You should type a title that gives a little more impact
This is not really strong this is polite.



Try? NO MORE FUTURE WITHOUT NEWS CONTENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
or
THE WORLD WILL STOP TURNING WITHOUT NEWSCONTENT!!!!!!!!!!

Further I`m afraid I can`t be of much help about news. At least not the news type you are asking for. Would reviews of figures count too?

Not a wasted thread at all !

In the past I was actively contacting diorama related vendors and manufacturers in order to get my hands on news items and issues to review.

Since the "Vendors Topic" started, it became clear to me that some people where contacting almost all the vendors and manufacturers that I had contacted in the past. I felt there was no use and no need to bother those companies with more email regarding news and review issues. One Armorama contact per company is enough. As I found out, two or more contacts can only harm the relationship between the A-Staff and the companies. I don't wan't the companies to accuse us of not communicating.

Therefore I stopped actively contacting vendors and manufacturers in the dioramas scene (except for one that is).

I feel that it's the duty of those who have established contacts with mfg's and vendors to talk to them about the news items in the neglected areas. In the past I had some good and prommissing contacts, but those contacts have been killed by the "new road" we walk these days. At first I was very, very disappointed, but now I feel it was a change that had to be made. An afwul lot of good (and some bad) reviews and articles came out of it. I guess it paid off. Since we've established quite a few good contacts these days, it's the task of the responsible staff members to ask for news items in the neglected areas as well.

my two €urocents

maybe we should determine the websites that will worth to follow and members that will check those websites for news.then we can make a list that some people will check some certain companies or websites . ( for sure News will be open to all news met BY CHANCE )
for example; A will check X,Y,Z companies or sites and it will be his/her responsibility to bring the news about their products. B will check P,Q,R and will do the same their products. otherwise; I see something new on a website but I dont attempt to bring it to Armorama because i think another member (staff or not) will bring it here and my news attempt will be a dublication.

just my 2 new turkish kurush ( Turkey will have new MONEY SYSTEM in 2005)

Engin,you raise some interesting suggestions in your post.However, I don't think it needs to be quite so structured. To put it another way, I can find my way around the principal manufacturers/retailers of armor or figures fairly easily. I don't though have the time (or the knowledge base) to do the same with Warships or Aircraft. What we are needing is REGULAR contributors in these two areas in particular... Thanks, Jim

I can go on reviewing Gundam kits for the sci-fi category. Gimme some time to work on them

Lol...Jim welcome to my world. If you go thru all my topics started you will find quite a few that went unreplied. I think often members tend to just read the site topics but don't see a need to reply to the info or request. Also I do tend to wonder how many of our users take advantage of the "Latest Posts" page and how many just browse the forums page. If a lot of them are browsing then they may not ever see the Site Talk posts.

Suffice to say....

1. We need as many members "inter-acting" on the site as we can get. This includes posting, submitting content, moderating, and volunteering as staff members.

2. Hopefully this is an area that our new Content Scouts can help out with as well.

Cheers,
Jim

But you are recruiting the Elven army... sorry i mean content scouts... :-)

I think the reason you didn't get a reply was 'cos your post was very similar to Staff_Jim's content scout post...

I think we all know how you feel about "wasted posts" though, I posted a comment about DML suppliers which was not only hardy read but also not replied to... I can only assume that folks have no opinion on this...

One of the reasons for this thread was my real concern that the warship and aviation modellers are not getting as 'fairly treated' in the news section as others. Although it has to be said that Naval and Aviation modellers have some incredible (specific) sites out there we could not compete with as far as volume of news and articles.

The volume of new releases is another factor - Armor and figure manufacturers are producing VAST amounts of new material - for every new warship kit there are 20 new armor kits/accessory sets..(or more)

I would like to see News contributors (particularly in Warships) who are really 'focussed' on their subjects - my knowledge of the (current) Naval Modelling world is ZERO... Thanks, Jim