Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Issue: 20   Editor: Mika


COLUMN: Buzz Suggestion Box! Seannypoo
So, this is my first (and possibly only) column. I felt the need to write this considering the enormous amount of flak the Buzz has been receiving lately and I guess I just wanted to make a little speech. I want to make it clear from the outset that I am not using this as a means to antagonise the players who don't like the Buzz, but rather (quite genuinely) try to help make the Buzz more enjoyable for you to read. I have been told writing this column will do nothing but attract flaming and further incite hatred, but I have decided to write it anyway so that from now on in I can at least say "I did my bit".

The Buzz has always taken criticism since as long as I can remember. When I joined the Buzz for the first time, I genuinely wanted to try and make a difference and add somewhat to the community (as I think most people can guess that the community is quite a big deal to me personally). I listened to player feedback on the Buzz as a whole and tried to add what I thought players would like to the Buzz. For example, myself and Frick brought back Crew of the Week because we knew that the players liked getting trivia on crews. Some past writers have also tried to combat the problem; Pariss probably being the biggest of them. Pariss, it seemed, tried to pit himself against the rest of the writers and made a whole bunch of empty promises to the Bootleggers community, which only seemed to ruin the reputation even more in the eyes of the "people". What I'm getting at is, I can understand why you're all annoyed but what I don't understand is why you hate the Buzz with such a passion and seem unwilling to shift that opinion regardless of what we do.

I have been writing for the Buzz for quite a long time now, and I know myself that a hell of a lot of effort goes in to the Buzz from all of the writers. I'd be lying if I said I've never had to compromise things in real life to quickly submit an article. This is beginning to sound more like a cry for sympathy, but that's not it. I just want you guys to at least try and appreciate the work the Buzz staff (as a whole) does before I move on to my next part. I can put my hand on my virtual heart and say for fact that Mika does indeed bust his balls off to get the Buzz delivered to you guys as well as he can. So the problem does NOT lie within the Buzz management so stop pointing fingers at the Buzz in general. You could say that the problem lies with certain writers. I dismiss that on the basis that every writer in the Buzz has their own style, their spelling and grammar are pretty much top notch and considering that NONE of us are journalists in real life and do it all voluntarily, I don't think you have a right to bitch about the actual writers and I don't see how you can have the audacity to complain about a band of writers who are writing for YOU to enjoy. If they fail at entertaining you with their articles, you'd have to have some nerve to begin terrorising them or calling their work "shit" as they would have poured a lot of time into that article.

No, I don't actually think the problem lies with the management or the writers. I think the BL public has this problem; the ideas. The actual topics that the writers write about. I think players are sick of reading about crew wipes that occur throughout the week when they can just read it on the forum. I am talking out of what I have gathered and interpreted on the forum, here. So this is what I present to you, the players. Give us some ideas that you think would be cool to be featured in the Buzz. It's as simple as that. I am going to make a list of EVERY SINGLE article idea that is posted in the comments section of THIS article (so don't bother BMing me or posting it in the Game Forum) and I am going to cover EVERY SINGLE one personally. This project may take a few weeks or even months to complete (depending on the number of suggestions I get) as I will be implementing one suggestion a week. So try not to be too specific by talking about a problem that is occurring RIGHT now as it might be difficult to cover that later on. I am sure you guys are aware of the weekly articles that the Buzz does (Crew of the Week, Behind the Name etc.) well give me some ideas for weekly style articles now and specify the sort of stuff you'd like it to include. Failing that, offer some advice on how you think menial things like crew wipes could be covered. But anyway, I will cover all the suggestions you give here over time and will eventually write a summary on which ones work and which ones don't (I'll decide whether they work or not based on player feedback, other buzz writers' opinions on the Buzz forum and how hard it is to actually do what you suggest). That way, you can all see exactly which articles I will continue to cover and which ones I won't. This is your chance to have your voice heard. Other Buzz writers might take a liking to some ideas and cover them, but I know I most definitely will and just because I decide that a certain idea shouldn't be in the Buzz doesn't mean that a fellow writer won't.

As the title suggests, this is the Buzz Suggestion Box so give us as many suggestions as you like and have my personal reassurance that you will have your opinion noted.