Today, October 15th, the new MSNBC.com launches. You may havereadabout it. It's got a lot of folks talking. Here's Alex Weprin at TVNewser:
User interaction will be a big part of the site, with comments displayed to the right of stories instead of underneath them. The hope is to spur debate among commenters… civil debate. [Executive Editor Richard] Wolffe said that the commenting technology automatically converts all upper-case comments to lower case, and reminds the commenter to calm down.
If you've ever tried to leave an ALLCAPS comment on Newsvine, you might recognize that feature. There's a good reason for that; the new MSNBC.com's commenting system is based on Newsvine. So is the registration; if you have a Newsvine account, you don't have to register to use MSNBC.com.
Here's msnbc.com's Executive Editor Richard Wolffe on how Newsvine powers the new site:
We are really excited to be launching the new MSNBC.com with the compelling, engaging community platform that is Newsvine. The vine has been the home for our blogs - including the phenomenal MaddowBlog - for many years and has given us a great start to what will be a thriving home for the new msnbc family.
Newsvine Nations will serve as the foundation for an infant community in the form of MSNBC.com groups. If you're a Nation admin, you will probably experience an uptick in applications and membership for your Nations, and we encourage you (and your Nations) to participate. MSNBC.com groups can also be accessed from Newsvine. Suspension or banning from one is suspension or banning from the other. If you're familiar with Newsvine's Code of Honor, MSNBC.com's Community Rules are very similar. Address issues and arguments.
Newsvine's development team and staff have done a lot to prepare for this launch and still have plenty of work to do, but we won't be solely supporting MSNBC.com. We're really excited to launch this cool new product attached to a TV channel, but equally excited about the prospect of returning with renewed purpose to Newsvine. We'd love for you to check the new site out - there's a lot of opportunity for community-building there - but personally, we're excited to see more green on our screens. You'll be seeing more of us.
