Hi there my fellow N4G users. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all well. I'm writing this blog as a comment about the blogs being submitted to this site and how some people really need to re-evaluate their roles as members who can approve or report user blogs on this site. Now, some will see this as speaking directly to them because I've disagreed with their reports, and that's fine if they want to feel that way as it's part of the reason I'm writing this blog. Nevertheless, I'm going to outline some things that I think people should ease up on, or are flat out wrong about, when it comes to reporting blogs as well as moments when people should scrutinize the content a bit more.
Grammar/Punctuation/Sentence Structure: This is almost always listed under "Other" as a report when it should be listed under "Low Quality." Regardless, we have to remember that these are blogs. They aren't professional editorials, reviews, or articles. No member of this site is being paid to write user blogs (unless they win the monthly contest, and even then it's not the same) so we have to remember that. We also have to remember that there are a large number of users whose native language is NOT English, so holding their blog hostage with a report on their grammar, or sentence structure, is just wrong and really looks like an abuse of power. Granted, blatant errors such as uNnEcEsSaRy capitalization and obvious spelling errors should be pointed out, but only in the interest of understanding the content, not because you want to get your inner English teacher out and find improper use of a semicolon to be irritating. These are blogs. User blogs. Treat them as such and don't expect Pulitzer prize material or Graduate School level dissertations.
Interest or lack thereof: A blog should be reported for legitimate reasons. Reasons such as being too short for a blog post, spam, writing a blog that is a copy/paste of an article, and complete illegibility. Reporting a blog because you don't find it interesting is not a legitimate reason. Just because YOU don't find it interesting or worthy of approval, doesn't mean that the community feels that way. These are blogs. They are completely opinion based and not meant to be taken with the same seriousness as genuine, fact based articles. No one is forcing you to read or approve a blog, but you shouldn't punish the writer just because you don't think it should be approved. Now, if the blog is a blatant troll blog, or an attack blog, then you definitely have the right to say that it's not worthy of approval, but we have to remember what blogs are all about and cut the writer some slack every now and then.
Now, so I don't appear to be picking on any individuals who think that that's what this blog is about (it isn't), allow me to explain what we shouldn't be doing in blogs.
I recently saw a blog where the author decided a line-break after the end of every sentence was necessary as it makes the blog easier to read. I'm sorry, but it actually makes your blog look amateurish. This site is for people 13 years of age and older, not little children who need big letters and lots of spaces in between to read what you're writing. Just because I don't think that people should be too demanding about perfect grammar/sentence structure, doesn't mean we don't bear some responsibility in trying to appear that we know how to write well.
Spam and copy pastas should be completely avoided as well. This is a gaming site, so we don't care that you have third world escorts waiting for us and we don't need to see your failed article submission trying to circumvent the system by using the user blog section.
Blogs that are blatantly trying to anger people, or deliberately attacking them, will always be failed on site by mods. The community will almost always report the blogs, but they don't even have to as the mods will insta-fail them on site and you'd have no one to blame but yourself if that happens.
To summarize and finalize this blog remember this. User blogs are opinions that everyone is entitled to have. Just like you wouldn't be too happy with someone telling you that you expressed your opinion incorrectly, so to do others dislike that attitude towards them as well.
Shift Up has released Stellar Blade day one update 1.002 on PS5, and those who preloaded the game should be notified of this update.
I can't believe they're censoring this game on day 1. Games just aren't the same.
/s in case it's needed. I'm fine with them making these changes that they might not have known is culturally insensitive to some people in the big ole world. But that's just me.
Poised to make its mark, Stellar Blade is a stylish adventure but, will it cut through the competition to soar past comparisons?
Shenmue: Reclaiming the Path is a fan game using Dreamcast-era visuals, and tells a new story within the Shenmue saga taking place in both Hong Kong and Guilin. Its expected to release on September 16th.
Something about recreating old school graphics in an era of HD high poly photo realism just hits a spot. I'm not nostalgic cause I mostly played GameCube and GB/A, but it's a visual style that gets over looked even by indies.
Yeah, no. Blogs needs to have good grammar. If you're going to have a blog featured on the main page of a website, you can take the time to proofread. They're rarely ever FAILED over bad grammar, but reports usually lead the authors to take serious steps to fixing the readability and errors in their post.
And I really don't recall ever seeing a report that said "I'm not interested in this blog", but then my involvement with pending blogs is spotty. Any specific examples?
While I do understand where you are coming from, the Monthly Contest throws all of these arguments out of the window. I can't say for certain, but I imagine that user reviews and user blogs generate some level of click-through for N4G (maybe the mods can confirm this?) and the Monthly Contest is there to encourage quality content. Win-win: N4G's operators make money off the blogs/reviews, and blog posters are encouraged to hold themselves to a higher standard.
The reality is that the "user blog" is no longer a blog. I wish they would change the name, actually, to "user editorial" or something like that. A blog is a personal site for a person to dump their thoughts, regardless of inherent quality. Obviously, the blogs that are approved (and the ones that win the Monthly Contest) are more than just a random dumping of sentences. There's a quality that is expected.
Again, I'm not saying "you're wrong!" as if your thoughts on blogs are incorrect. I'm saying you're wrong because the "user blogs" aren't really blogs anymore on N4G.
There is nothing professional about blogs. Normally it's based of highly biased views. Whether it's gaming or politics, it usually is just a rant.
The art of journalism was killed with the birth of the blog.
I'll put my two cents in here directly.
As someone who is one-half of the team that reads every blog and decides on winners, grammar and spelling are part of how I determine winners. They're not the primary element, but if I come upon a blog with so many errors that it's apparent the user didn't take any time to work on it? If it detracts from what they are saying? It's unlikely they will be in the finalists list, let alone a winner.
Now, having said that, having poor grammar or spelling is not a single determinant as to what can or can't get approved as a User Blog. We also don't prevent people who report such things, it's within their right.
Personally, I'm not going to take much interest in a blog, user blog or blog from another gaming Web site, if they can't take the time to review their writing and make it easier for me to understand and follow.
"...I recently saw a blog where the author decided a line-break after the end of every sentence was necessary as it makes the blog easier to read. I'm sorry, but it actually makes your blog look amateurish."
If you refer to the latest chickergamer blog you are totally wrong. I can assure she can wrote a lot more professionally you can figure and remember, there is always a style in everything. She just use an awesome idea and then she apply to her post.
If you refer to other post, sorry.
Ps I agree with other point you raise anyway, but I'm sad to notice how much the chit-chat gain more attention over real gaming related post/blog/article etc