Shoutwire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| URL | http://www.shoutwire.com/ |
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| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Community |
| Registration | Free |
| Owner | Justin Bunnell |
| Created by | Justin Bunnell |
ShoutWire is a news and information web site that allows its users to vote on or "shout" submitted stories. It was created in late November of 2005 by the team behind SpikedHumor. The main page of ShoutWire is directly integrated with TorrentSpy, IrcSpy, and any other site using the ShoutWire feed.
The purpose of ShoutWire is to create a central database with links to various articles, covering a wide range of subjects. ShoutWire allows users to add to the database by submitting their own links. These user-submitted links go into an archive and are promoted to the front page when they receive a certain number of 'shouts'.
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[edit] Comparisons to Digg.com
ShoutWire's layout and general purpose has often been compared to digg.com.
ShoutWire has received criticism from Digg users for blocking stories from being submitted with the word 'digg' in them. ShoutWire maintains that this is because of persistent and aggressive spamming from Digg users. Currently there is no reference to Digg on Shoutwire at all.
ShoutWire's defenders point out that, while Digg focuses mainly on technology related stories, ShoutWire's purpose is to offer a wider range of content. They insist that the site was never intended to be a direct competitor to Digg and was meant to offer users a chance to post their favorite articles, on top of serving as a universal news/info feed.
Unlike Digg, ShoutWire employs a volunteer team of editors/admins. This means that the frequent digg problems of re-submitted articles and false information are less common on ShoutWire, as incorrect and old stories are usually deleted before they ever see the front page. ShoutWire also run a strict "no advertising" policy and often delete stories that link to blogs, or stories that are clearly advertising products. Some people argue that the deletion of blogs restricts free speech, but ShoutWire stresses that the majority of blogs they delete are just "blog bouncers" and "link jackers", which just link to a source article and add a couple of paragraphs of opinion with the sole intent of leeching traffic. ShoutWire maintains that "quality" blog posts will be left alone.
ShoutWire allows its users to edit their comments, as opposed to Digg, where comments are permanent. Both sites employ similar rating and story-problem submission systems. Shoutwire also uses a feed configuration tool which site administrators claim can be customized to display news content on any website. Recently, Shoutwire added an implementation of Google Maps to display the locations of the users that shouted a specific story based on IP addresses. Users can opt out of being displayed on this map.
[edit] Controversial Content
Shoutwire has been criticized by many in the blogosphere for allowing material that could be considered racist, prejudiced, or religiously biased to be promoted to the front page. This is likely the result of small special interest groups submitting the content in question, then recruiting like-minded individuals to assist in the promotion of the material.
Technically, these articles do not violate ShoutWire's submission policies, but site moderators seem to be quite active. While no official announcement has been made on the subject, staff comments on several articles indicate that there is an effort to clamp down on the controversial content.
[edit] Editorials
A feature that differs from similar sites is the editorial section. This is a column where editors submit their own views on a news story or personal experience. Sometimes, ShoutWire editorials report news and include multiple source articles, while at other times they have more of a resemblance to a newspaper opinion column. This has led to heckles from ShoutWire's detractors, many of whom consider much of the content to be opinion masquerading as news. The editorials are posted by a team of international volunteers under nicks such as: xxoozero, Dockwats, bulshoy, Virellek
ShoutWire's editorials have caused debate amongst the site's user base. Some say SW editorials are little more than amateur journalism, while others consider them to be worthwhile media that generate worthwhile discussion. Editorials go straight to the front page, but users can use the filters feature to omit them if desired.
