Unknown News wouldn't be half what it is without help, and help is always wanted. Helen & Harry, your hosts here, have no social skills and no "leadership" qualities. There's no pay and the editor's a bitch, but on the bright side, we don't do meetings, and we don't do pressure.
If you have the time and inclination to help, your help is needed. Just get in touch and we'll make you feel welcome.
The easiest way to help is just by spreading the word. Spread the word that we exist, and even more importantly, just spread the word that alternatives exist. If you're doing that, you're already helping.
But if you want to do more, if you want to do some "heavy lifting" around here, here's what we especially need:
• HTML wizards: We handle our day-to-day coding, but we do it by hand, and we really don't know what the heck we're doing. An expert de-bugger, someone who could poke around under the hood when there's a problem, could be a lifesaver. Just check this page once in a while, for my occasional cries for 'help!' in the third column.
• Imagination: If nothing on this page sounds like fun, but you'd still like to be involved, drop us a line (unknownnews at myway.com) and tell us what you're interested in.
• Original material: We're always interested in conversations, well-written news, and reviews of noteworthy works of art or merchandise. Again, though, we're very selective, and we reject a lot simply because it's not the sort of thing we're looking for. Please read our guidelines before sending articles, or just query us at unknownnews @ myway.com.
• Printing: If you have ‘affordable’ access to a photocopier or print shop, we’d love to print up a few thousand fliers — something folks could leave on bus seats, in cafes, at libraries ...
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It breaks our li'l hearts when folks "help" by suggesting additional things we should do. We're doing all we can do already.
But it makes us cyber-jump for joy when we hear from volunteers who are self-motivated and want to help make the website better!
"Self-motivated" is probably the key require-ment. We're lousy leaders, and we can't offer much guidance (there isn't the time, and we don't have expertice in most of the areas where we're asking for help ... hey, that's why we need help).:) |
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• Newshounds: We love people who send links to newsworthy news and interesting opinions. These links could come from your regular or irregular surfing, or (if you'd rather) you're welcome to visit the links we use in our surfing (links we sometimes can't get to as often as we'd like). We're pretty picky about the news we use, so we suggest contributors read our guidelines, and start slow -- send one or two links, not twenty or thirty.
• P.R.: We don't know diddly about publicity, so Unknown News doesn't get much publicity. We're no good at "selling" ourselves. So even when we have a terrific article or some genuine breaking news, the news rarely "breaks" beyond our website. If you have some horn-blowing experience or interest, please give us a shout (unknownnews at myway.com).
• Research: Sometimes there are questions of fact we can't resolve with a few minutes of Googling. If you'd be available for in-depth research into oddball questions on short notice, we could really use your can-do-ability. Just check this page, for my occasional 'help!' screams.
• Translation: News happens in French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, all sorts of languages besides English — but it's all Greek to us. If you're fluent in English and another language, and you're willing to bring news across the language barrier, please drop us a note (email unknownnews at myway.com) and briefly explain what the article is about. If it sounds like Unknown News to us, we'll ask for a more complete translation (which can be line-by-line, or just a summary, if you'd prefer).
So... What do you want to do?
If you'd like to help, drop us a note (unknownnews at myway.com) and check this page once in a while. When we need help, we announce it here, in the third column.
Your support keeps this website alive. Thank you!
—Helen & Harry
Unknown News
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Here's the help we're especially hoping for, right now:
PR: I tell ya, I hate even using the term "public relations," let alone the initials. But I'm an abrasive, cranky old dame, born with a completely inoperative schmoozing gene. I am simply unable to play the schmoozing game, either in real life of via email, and to a certain extent it's schmoozing that gets a weblog notice.
So there are some things that would be really helpful for our website, but I'm utterly unable to do these things:
Emails to other weblogs, with polite chatty, and personalized notes (i.e., not a mass mailing) suggesting they link to a specific Unknown News page or article.
If you're calling radio talk shows already, why not sneak in a reference to a good article you've seen at Unknown News, "and that's unknown news dot org," Rush.
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We're looking for a really frightful illustration (drawing? photograph?) of a really monstrous cop, for our "Stinky Badges" page. Ideally, we want an illustration that will look scary as heck either large (on that page) or small (on the main page, as a picture link to the "Stinky Badges" page).
We can't offer a cash prize, but I'll cheerfully send the illustrator a few bumper stickers of his/her choice. To inquire, send us an email: unknownnews @ myway.com.
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