Personally, I like change. That might surprise some folks who know me. I used to wear holes through my shoes. I'm not giving up my discontinued model of car. And the front page of the website I work for hasn't changed in the three-plus years I've worked here.
Not much has changed in the basics of Newsvine - rules are the same, features are mostly the same, Viners still make the place what it is - but the site has grown. A lot. Discussions, the heart of the site, have gotten massive. And in light of that, the basics are going to change. A lot.
Sometime after this month of February, Newsvine is going to open up Beta for 'New Newsvine'. We can talk more about that over here.
Here's something that hasn't changed: the rules.
I'm being very careful to not make any guarantees about this next version of Newsvine, but I can promise the Code of Honor is sticking around. And at least until then, Sally and I are going to keep enforcing the Code of Honor how we've been doing it. You're free to disagree - a fair amount of folks are petitioning for a change.
I came up with the title before I fleshed out this article. By 'asylum' I don't mean the traditional houses for orphans or lunatics [though there are no prohibitions on either registering!], I mean it's not a sanctuary or a retreat. Perhaps compared to the rest of the internet, it's more comfortable, feels safer; I hope so, anyway.
I mean that you are not guaranteed a stay here. People get banned from Newsvine every day. The 'New Newsvine' might cut down on that substantially, but people are still going to get banned. That's not going to change, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's pretty to think that maybe we could communicate the rules so well that no one ever broke them; prettier still to imagine that every ban or suspension would discipline a Viner that everyone in the community unanimously agreed needed it.
This may seem dismissive of criticism, insulated by authority. I think it's important for myself and Sally to acknowledge that while we're Viners, we actually do kind of have asylum here as long as we have jobs. The price of authority is often perspective. So please, be encouraged to continue asking questions, making suggestions, petitioning. I can't stand 'love it or leave it' sentiments.
Keep that in mind when 'New Newsvine' starts rolling out. If you like it at all, help build it.
Lately I've been having a lot of conversations with people who do our jobs or similar ones - including awesome new coworker EveryBlock Marina - and one of the things I keep hearing echoed is that we're lucky to have people so attached to Newsvine. It's a refreshing, validating reminder. Newsvine can be so many wonderful things.
But it's not an asylum. Follow the rules.
Edit, 2/22: While Newsvine is not an asylum, it's also not asylum, as mightyj points out in this comment, and would have made more sense as a headline.
