FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Soo... what is "it"?

It's a whole new way of viewing FIRST news where you are the boss, combining social bookmarking, blogging, and syndication with a form of non-hierarchical, democratic editorial control. In other words, users choose what content they like, what they want to speak out about, and can promote their own news, all within their own control. While this isn't a new concept, it's the only web 2.0 news site for just FIRST information.

What makes this different than, say, CD?

It is a totally different way of finding new stories and promoting things you like. Instead of just telling someone nice job, you can actually help them out by voting for their post. The more votes a story receives, the sooner it will get promoted to the front page. To vote for a post, simply click the orange star. After you have voted the star will turn blue, and you will not be allowed to vote for that same story again. However, this is not intended to attempt to compete directly with CD, it is simply a different way of receiving the news.

Give me an example of what you mean.

Well, let's say you recently had a team fund raiser where you pied a team captain in the face. While that might not be completely appropriate for CD, the community decides what's cool and bad on FIRSTr. Assuming they approve, you would receive free exposure of this event, hits on your team website, and possibly more attendees for future events. Speaking of the future, you might decide to take up a collection for more pie-ing next time. It's a win win situation for everybody.

What now?

Check it out: http://firstr.org. Register if you are in the spirit, and hop right in on submitting and voting on content! RSS feeds are on the bottom right. And most importantly, have fun! It's not meant to be a strict, serious site, but a innovative, intresting place to get your news. Oh, and if you have any questions, go right ahead and ask them.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Talk about big font Tim :rolleyes:

Tim had me register a few days ago, the interface is really easy. It's going to take a lot of effort from a lot of people to get this going as well as it should be, and if it reaches it's potential it may one day be as useful as CheifDelphi.

When registering don't put a period in your name, as it messes everything up (shh I had no idea).

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Sweet. It seems like if you can keep a user base it could be a very useful tool to post team videos, teasers, etc to.

And not to be a spoil sport but, your use of the logo in the upper right is a logo rules violation. You need the whole nine yards, not just the graphic. ;)

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Cute cute... I approve!

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Thank you, and that is the basic principal and hope for future use :)
Basically, I am pretty sure it's OK because its not the standard FIRST logo (read below for more details), so the text is not necessary. I would leave in the text and use the standard logo, but that would require a large white box surrounding it that would ruin the theme. While removing the logo would loose a major part of the theme, if I receive a complaint from FIRST I will remove it in a heartbeat.

Specific (boring) deets: The graphic in the corner is a "Decorative graphic element", not the standard FIRST logo. It adds a "festive air" to the site, and is used in a situation where the standard logo would not be appropriate. Here is a direct quote: "Cropping the graphic elements is encouraged. However, the character of the composed triangle,
circle and square should be maintained," which the application in which it is used on FIRSTr complies with. Take a look at the Logo Standards Comprehensive guide (page 23) if you would like to read more about the way it is being used.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

The site looks real nice and Pligg is a great peice of software. I guess we will just see if enough people use it to make it a good site. It definatly has the potential.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Thank you for the offer, but at the moment all that I'm looking for is users and news. Without that, the site is worth nothing. Perhaps you could spread the word to other FIRSTers you know, such as teammates and friends that don't check CD? As far as moderation and such, since the majority of the decision making is done by the community, it is more of a server admin sort of management at the moment. If anything comes up though, I'll be sure to drop you a line :)
Agreed, Pligg is awesome. Comes with features I would never want to try and code myself, and keeps things secure with updates. As you said, the main thing is to get users to use it, so I hope that CDers like you hop up on it :D.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Maybe its a bug, but it seems like deleted posts don't actually get deleted? There are two firstr posts pingbacking the first The Blue Alliance episode, but one of them seems to be only accessible from the pingback link. If I try to digg it, I can't, because it makes me log in despite clearly displaying that I am logged in.

I don't know what's up. Try clicking the links on http://www.thebluealliance.net/2006/...trical-system/ and see if you can figure out what's going on.

Overall the site looks super slick. Really nice work. Is there any sort of API people can hook into if they want to put top stories on their website?

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

There are the 3 RSS feeds for published, unpublished and all if thats what you are looking for.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I had a dream like this...you get a cookie.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I registered for the username "chris", and it worked for a while last night/early this morning, but it doesn't work anymore. Any ideas?

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Also, I am curious how you implemented the on-hover website screenshots. Is there some sort of a webservice that returns a png or jpg screenshot of the specified website? If so, I've been looking for that for a while now. :yikes:

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I think its just a PHP script. The site is based off of Pligg. Try downloading Pligg and searching through it to find the specific code that creates the thumbnails.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Wow this is very cool- if you can get the userbase going it could be an AMAZING tool.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Great job! as a hardcore fan of digg.com, i think that this can be successful if we can get the CD User base to start using it.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

looks good :D

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Looks very professional. I'll try to use it for this next season. Kudos to getting it live before kickoff. One of the things that has irked me about CD is that it is difficult to get an idea of how important or useful a thread is before I visit it. This isn't a problem with CD but the BB system in general. Look foward to seeing if enough people use this.

Good job!

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

It looks amazing, like I said before. Im now starting to think of the practical uses. Obviuosly a site is worthless without content. There was a thread about mods wanting to cut down the number of teasers people post. FIRSTr would be a good place for those. Just an idea.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Great idea. :D

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Pretty neat. I like your website template.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Technically, this is an incorrect statement.

People who happened to be moderators voiced concerns that there were not very useful teasers. There is no consensus among moderators that teasers are a problem (ie: no need to take them off of chiefdelphi.com).

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Sorry, I should have said a moderator voiced the issue that some teasers that get posted really didnt need to be posted. I think FIRSTr would be great for those those as the ones that get dugg will get homepaged and the others wount.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

So, its been a few weeks. What's changed?
In addition to new users and content, the main new feature is called the External Vote Button (or EVB). It lets you put a button on your article/blog/story/etc that lets people vote right from your page.

It looks like this:

Where can I get the EVB?
Its actually quite simple, all the code you need to use on any HTML page is More information here: http://firstr.org/tools.php

Any other ways I can get involved?
News postings have been kind of lax, consisting mainly of FIRST official blasts or updates. The idea behind FIRSTr is to promote otherwise unseen projects and content by teams to a common medium.

We need you.

Here are the top ways you can help:

2. Register & submit new stories
3. Tell your team/friends/family about it
4. Sport the userbar in your signature

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I love digg. I love FIRST. What can be better than digg + FIRST?

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I digg it:p

(I could not resit a bad pun)

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

I've been out of the loop, especially around when you announced this Tim.

Looks pretty cool. I've added the 'Published' RSS feed to the news you can get on the portal, here.

-Brandon

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

So um... what happened to FIRSTr? The main page says it's "down indefinitely." Did I miss something?

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

It was unused and starting to be abused, so I took it down before things got too bad. I plan to do something else with the domain, but just haven't decided what or had time to work on it yet.

Re: FIRSTr: Like digg, but for robotics
 

Hey,
You guys might be interested in checking out the site I'm in the process of building. http://www.FirstObjective.org

I'm trying like mad to get users registered and to get people adding their own videos. My goal is to make something for FIRST that is myspacey and YouTubey combined.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thanks!
Roger