UPDATE: Letter to the Editor about CBM Front Page Fairness - Answered by Galactus

UPDATE: Galactus answers Superzero below

I want to start this EDITORIAL off on a positive note; I LOVE THIS SITE! It's a community of like-minded, passionate people coming together over something we all have a great love for-- comics and comic based movies. What really sets this site apart from others is the fan based content. We are the ones who pluck the news from other sites and upload it on to this one to share with everybody else. When you think about it, it's a pretty cool little idea.

When you think about it even harder it can cause some problems as well. Friendly competition is a good thing, but have you really looked at the names of the authors on the main page? Not a lot of variety there. If this is a user based site and everyone gets a fair chance of being on the front page then why is it that we only see the same five names over and over? I've been on main before and this is not a crybaby rant about not getting there. I'm just trying to figure out where all of the NON editor stories are? I understand editing and it's finer points quite well. It's a time consuming and tedious process, sometimes it's a huge pain in the ass as well. A true editor needs to be OBJECTIVE and non-biased, which is something I'm not seeing a lot of. I don't expect this to make it to the main page and I'm fine with that. It's an EDITORIAL piece, something that should NEVER go on the front page of ANYTHING, unless we're talking about "The Daily Bugle" I guess. I know that quite a few people work very hard on their stories and deserve as much time and consideration as those who are the editors. I'm not bashing anyone either. RorMachine has a great grasp on what he's doing and I really enjoy his articles, same thing goes for EdGross and Hawksblueeyes too. I just question the fairness of some of the editing process is all. I know the rules of the site and stick to them at all times. I love being able to "help out" on this site. I love posting my articles and the articles of others to my Facebook page to share with those who have no idea what this site is about. Like we learned in Kindergarten: "Sharing is good." We also learned to be fair. Let this be a plea to those who are in the power to do something about it. Try a little harder to include the varied and creative voices that come to this site. It's the thing that brought me here in the first place. If you decide to only use the same writers/editors over and over again then the only logical thing to do would be just removing the "user based content" portion of the site. Fair is fair.

Thanks for your honest criticism Superzero, and allow me start off by being nice too. Thanks for your readership and proclaiming love for our little site. I say "ours" because I really do believe this site is a communal project, and we do rely on user contributions more than any other fan run site that I know of. Every article contributed to CBM goes straight to its proper article type section (see tabs in news section) without any editing first. When the editors see what has been submitted, they front the best stuff to the main page "what's new" tab that displays on top. They also do their best to "fix" stuff that may not be up to par or delete things that really don't belong. This is editing. Now, a little perspective. CBM gets hundreds of thousands of visitors a day, of those many contribute articles to the site. Besides about 6-7 part-time VOLUNTEER helpers, this site is run by myself and Nate (my business partner). I appreciate and take note of what you're saying. You're not the first, nor will you be the last to want certain improvements--which in fact you'll be seeing rolled out in the next two months. But please consider the other side to your argument, and something that is just naturally true with such a large user-generated website like ours... Not everybody's contributions are front page material, and while we do our best to champion user submitted articles, not all of it will get on the main. And here's the REAL kicker. It is incumbant on the contributor to write interesting stuff WORTHY of the main. Sometimes the articles we see have so many spelling errors and punctuation problems that it isn't worth the effort even to edit it. Other's don't fit the CBM theme or just aren't of interest to the broader audience. So we may purposely leave them under the tabs. The volunteer editors have been made such because I can (usually) count on their contributions to be top notch. That is why their articles go straight to the front page, and that is why you see so much of their articles highlighted. Most of them also contribute daily. Not so with everybody. I think they do a pretty good job trying to help the better contributions get seen, but we are only human, and yes, some good articles don't make it to the front--although they can be easily found under the proper tab. BUT HEAR THIS ALL YOU ASPIRING WRITERS & EDITORS... I have said many times before, and I repeat again, I will make editors of any contributor that stands out and consistently produces good stuff. I just did this for two users yesterday. Now, articles by BleedtheFreak and HelaGood go straight to the main. Why? Because they do good articles that don't need editing. And they did enough of them that they caught my eye. So there is an open call out for good contributors who want special privileges to add to our site, and if you think I'm overlooking you, give me an alert to check you out. Oh, and don't forget to use the ad management tool we give you so you can make money with us as well. Regular contributors make between $200-$1100 dollars a month with google adsense. No other site offers you that either. It's our way to thank and reward you for good efforts. So it's up to you to get on the main. Go for it!

Watch for those new features and community improvements that we will be rolling out through the end of the year. You've already made the chatroom and new top story features a huge success, and we expect you'll love the other stuff we have in store. There will be lots more coming. As always, we want to provide the best place for our burgeoning CBM community, and you can count on us to listen to your suggestions.

Sincerely, Galactus