Sydenham News

Post by **admin** » 6 Mar 2008 11:17

Ok - I'll be the first to break the news here ...
http://www.its-happening.biz/sydenhamne ... /index.htm

A brainchild of one of our regulars. Over to him for more ... ???

Admin

sydenhamnews · Post by **sydenhamnews** » 6 Mar 2008 15:28

The correct address is www.sydenhamnews.co.uk
The address used in the previous post will change before Monday so please used the correct address of www.sydenhamnews.co.uk

The site will officially launch on Monday at 6am and will give the latest Sydenham news, audio and video.

News and events news, video and images can be submitted to: sydenhamnews at hotmail.co.uk

Post by **admin** » 6 Mar 2008 15:46

That's the objective of this community site. Something we have been trying to do for the last nine years. Why did you decide not to help - but set up a rival site?

Admin

sydenhamnews · Post by **sydenhamnews** » 6 Mar 2008 16:33

I don't think this is the place to discuss such a matter.

MartinH · Post by **MartinH** » 6 Mar 2008 21:52

With that attitude I think you've started off on the wrong foot!

simon · Post by **simon** » 6 Mar 2008 22:07

sydenhamnews wrote:I don't think this is the place to discuss such a matter.

Where is then sydenhamnews?

Juwlz · Post by **Juwlz** » 6 Mar 2008 22:57

I'm confused. Is this a rival to Sydenham Town? If so why was admin plugging it?

By the way there will never be a rival to Syd Town in my view! Get outta town wannabee!

Ronski · Post by **Ronski** » 6 Mar 2008 23:42

I'm not sure if having 2 sites is better than a single site, this site has a great lively forum & also lots of good information about the area. Having more video content would be nice so why not have it as a sub-site of this one, you'd get more traffic no?

Anyway I'll reserve judgement until I see the new site, either way good luck to both of them I say.

Post by **admin** » 7 Mar 2008 09:24

Juwlz wrote:I'm confused. Is this a rival to Sydenham Town? If so why was admin plugging it?!

Reporting it - not plugging it. The editorial policy here should be neutral about reporting anything about Sydenham. Having said that we do try and support people doing good for Sydenham. I have good relations with the webmaster of the Sydenham Society, the other local community sites and the new SE26 Magazine. The more we can all bring to the community the better.

Which doesn't mean uncritical support. When the Sydenham Society campaigns on an issue - whether I agree with it or not - I feel bound to ensure the other points of view are represented so people can make an informed choice.

So we will report on Sydenham News (and presumably they on us). I hope this will be a symbiotic relationship. Its just that I try and be open here about how the site operates. Whereas Sydenham News will not talk to me about their plans or intentions. Which I find strange.

But personal views of webmasters are notoriously touchy. And of no consequence. Its whether the websites are of value that counts. And as most of this site was created by you - well have you given enough value

Admin

sydenhamnews · Post by **sydenhamnews** » 7 Mar 2008 12:09

www.sydenhamnews.co.uk

It is fascinating that there is all this criticism when the site hasn't even been seen by the community. Those local people and officials that have seen it for research purposes have given positive feedback and their involvement will be seen through the site over the coming weeks and months. The general feedback was that www.sydenhamnews.co.uk was something different that served a section of the community that felt neglected. It is felt that Sydenham News is different from this forum and I would ask for people to reserve judgement until they actually see the site.

No formal request has been submitted by Sydenham Town for a meeting to discuss the website and how the two could work together. We will be officially approaching Sydenham Town next week once the launch is completed. Yes we have a forum but the nature of the forum is different from this one. Sydenham is big enough to have several community websites and we don't see Sydenham Town as a 'rival' but just another outlet for the community to air their views.

The way we will report Sydenham news will be different from Sydenham Town and at the end of the day people can have a choice where they wish to get their news from. We are confident in our website and our similar websites have been a success in other areas running for 11 years in total.

We welcome all feedback on our site and progress but would like people to actually see it before criticising it.

LivesNearby · Post by **LivesNearby** » 7 Mar 2008 12:50

Personally I don't trust an organisation that hides behind Hotmail instead of using their own mail server...

Jules · Post by **Jules** » 7 Mar 2008 12:55

blah blah blah.

poppy · Post by **poppy** » 7 Mar 2008 14:08

If it provides lots of properly researched news and features (to professional journalism standards) and is independent of the council I like the sound of it.

The only local paper I have seen around here is the South London Press (altoughh I think there are Shoppers etc around, I have never received one) and it covers too large an area so I never buy it. I am really not interested in the latest murder in Streatham!

There is a huge gap in the market for something that covers Lewisham borough and includes events news covering Southwark, Greenwich and edges of Bromley and Lambeth boroughs.

I am intrigued about who is behind this....

user1000 · Post by **user1000** » 7 Mar 2008 14:40

sydenhamnews wrote:www.sydenhamnews.co.uk

No formal request has been submitted by Sydenham Town for a meeting to discuss the website and how the two could work together. We will be officially approaching Sydenham Town next week once the launch is completed.

My goodness, how self-important! We are not worthy!

Post by **admin** » 7 Mar 2008 15:20

sydenhamnews wrote:No formal request has been submitted by Sydenham Town for a meeting to discuss the website and how the two could work together.

Not exactly true.

First I shared ideas with you for developing an audio and video section here. I had hoped you might want to contribute your special skills. Secondly at our subsequent meetings you made no mention of your own plan. Thirdly when you registered your domain I did make a polite request by email with no response. I then PM'd and hope it would all come out when we met last night. But it didn't.

ST is here to help you. ST promotes any and all websites in Sydenham without distinction. Personally I want to work and help anyone get their voice online. But secrecy and saying things that are unhelpful creates hopefully unnecessary concern and suspicion (see above).

My apologies if I have not been formal enough. But as you know my glass is always empty

Admin

Annie · Post by **Annie** » 8 Mar 2008 14:54

Just wanted to say I love Sydenham Town Forum, it's the only one i have in my favourites, i like the community spirit, the friendly banter, and even the arguements its like belonging to a family.

Plus best of all, i like sharing a pint or 10 God Bless U !

Falkor · Post by **Falkor** » 8 Mar 2008 17:58

Hello, hello, hello...what's going on here then...? Will Sydenham Town website be in competition with Sydenham News and vice versa? Sydenham Town has got access to the Sydenham Society, so they will no doubt continue to attract the lion's share of visitors.

Damn, I wish somebody would start a site like this for Bromley or Oprington.

Hey Stuart, you obviously obviously know what you're doing, mate... can you please point me to a good web host and package for starting my own site just like this one? What tips and advice can you give me?

Stuart, what about if I was to credit your bank account with the appropriate amount, could you then create a duplicate site to this one, albeit with the title renamed to Orpington Town Forum? You can then email me the various passwords (etc.) and I'll take over from there...piece of cake!

Post by **admin** » 8 Mar 2008 19:04

Hi Falkor,

Part of the mission here is to give everybody a voice. That includes helping people or voluntary organisations create an independent voice if it is for the benefit of the community.

The great thing is you can do it for free or almost free. The software running this forum is free. There is other free software for setting up updateable news/event/diary stuff without having to know any HTML. If you or anyone else wants to start something somewhere we could setup a workshop. In a few hours it can be up and running.

That's the easy bit. Getting anybody to visit is usually harder. It took many years to build up to the 2,000 pageviews/day we get now. (Full stats at http://www.sydenham.org.uk/stats).

Anybody out there PM me if you are interested in a workshop - let me know. I'll try and set it up for a Saturday.

Admin

Falkor · Post by **Falkor** » 8 Mar 2008 19:57

Stuart, you ought to be fined for having a monopoly on Sydenham! You didn't know I worked for the European Commission. I'll pardon you on 3 conditions:
1) You share your source code with all other parties.
2) You pass your website domain over to Sydenham News.
3) Er... Number 3...
Hey, no, forget it! I'm fining you £1.4 billion.

Seriously, Stuart, you think you could have a workshop ready to get us started with the basics? As long as it doesn't take up too much of your time then I would def. be interested! The problems I had with starting a forum section all came down to: type of web host and getting the email server to work. I gave up in the end.

That's the easy bit. Getting anybody to visit is usually harder. It took many years to build up to the 2,000 pageviews/day we get now. (Full stats at http://www.sydenham.org.uk/stats).

We can talk business when I get to that stage then...

danstevens · Post by **danstevens** » 10 Mar 2008 09:07

just had a look at sydenhamnews.co.uk and my view is (you say you welcome feedback) is that it is utter rubbish. Badly designed and poorly implemented. I suppose you could forgive the problems with design and usability if it had some really good compelling content. But no, full of irrelevant, out of date rubbish with an abundance of annoying, crass adverts. Why on earth am I greeted with a live stream from the BBC on the home page? If I wanted to watch the BBC i would turn the TV on.

So in a word.

Rubbish.

Actually it's so rubbish I thought it was a joke. Maybe it is.