Upcoming website: IfEveryoneKnew.com - Help needed on writing articles though

I apoligize in advance if this in the wrong place.

What I have done currently is at www.ifeveryoneknew.com.... Only #1 and #3 are done, the rest are filled with dummy text as a placeholder at the moment.

I made a really elaborate description on Reddit when I started that should help describe what I'm trying to do:

This site will be geared towards the very ignorant, people who are not interested in politics and don't follow the news. Unfortunately they make up the majority in our country and for real change to happen we need them on our side. I find that when I link people to information that is accurate & interesting, it gets discredited either by the domain that its on (FIGHT-THE-NWO type stuff), the ads on the site (DEATH CAMPS IN AMERICA), stuff like that. So I bought this domain, IfEveryoneKnew.com, and I wanna initially just put 5 facts on it that I think would change how the average person sees the world. Each of these points have to be backed up by official sources -- government documents, congressional testimony, very mainstream news articles, etc. The point of this site is to be debunk proof. This high standard of proof is what makes this a very difficult task but I think it's worth it.

Another problem I want to address is when I link people to things is that in the age of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter... they're probably only going to read the headline, a few sentences, and if it doesn't grab their attention right then, they close the tab and go back to watching cat videos. So I've organized it in a way that I think wastes very little time in getting the most important points out there, and they have the option of reading more on any given topic they're interested in by clicking on it. The resulting text is short (in comparison to the information it gets across) and cites all its sources in case they don't believe it.

I feel like yet another reason much of our information doesn't take off as good as we hope is because there's a negative stigma about being aware of "conspiracy theories" and sharing them. All of us have made the leap and the stigma doesn't really affect us. But if the information is to spread on its own, we need to somehow not fall into the conspiracy theory trap and instead make it socially acceptable to spread this information without looking like a political junkie or a kook. So that's why I want to be very selective in the topics I cover... no UFO's, no 9/11 (its still being debated), etc. It all has to be pretty concrete stuff where theres no room for interpretation or argument. If all goes well it should be socially acceptable to share this site and difficult to make fun of those who do share it. The general design is meant to mimic something like a newspaper or textbook (trust me, I hate serif fonts as much as the next guy).

I consider myself a pretty good web designer but I need help with topic selection and doing the research & writing. You can probably tell that with the only point I have sorta-completed, it doesn't read like a polished article should. I'm not a very good writer but I'm trying.

But it's a big task to do alone so if anyone can help out, I'm all ears. I'm also not quite sure how to start #2, I usually start out with a back story but I'm really not sure where to start when it comes to media ownership. I know that over time there have been mergers, but where to actually start the article, I'm sorta lost.

Anyone interested in helping out? The tech side of things is the easy part, already got most of that sorted out (also got a mobile version in the works), but there's such an insane amount of material out there to go over when writing these articles. Even a few pointers on where to start or a couple sources would be appreciated. I can do it myself but it'll just take alot longer.

Well done to you for taking an active stance against ignorance. I have checked out your link to your site and subscribed to this thread, and hope to watch it grow.

-> There definately needs some colour put in. I do not say this because I am a girl and love floral print I say this because people are attracted to colour (especially certain colours) , bright lights etc. Imagery.
Imagery and sound and colour should play an important role on your website. Your website is designed for the quick grab of attention, so it should incorporate some known truths in regards to human attraction.

--> Personally, i would like to see on here some information about the evils in the home.Its great to make the public aware of whats happening at a Government level, but I believe that most people are self centred... If it doesn't affect them directly they simply do not care. Perhaps some information about the ORIGINS OF ELECTRICITY, Tesla vs. Edison, electro magnetic fields and free energy. At this time, I think promoting free energy etc will go far, and bringing awareness to people who have not thought about the fact they are spending hundreds of dollars a month for something they do not understand.

--> THE INTERNET - since they are on it, it should interest them. Mention of ETERNAL SEPTEMBER, graphic userface/ Google being a net dragged over a very very deep ocean indeed etc.How you never used to have to pay for it. Perhaps maybe a mention of how when you click and accept a facebook app, you are allowing that company to use all of your details/photos for their own purposes/facebook cannot control this.

-->I am at work so I should get back to it , sorry if this is all written too horrible to read, I work in security operations so I have one eye on this computer screen, one eye on my monitoring screen

Also as a quick note, is this website designed for americans only? I got that vibe.

Hi ayoss, it looks like you're off to a good start
You have the right idea and format: short, sweet and to the point.
I agree about the color and eye candy, it helps get attention.
I think you have made good choices about what not to include, as associations can ruin the credibility you seek to establish. Bigfoot, UFOs, 9/11 - all guaranteed to generate skepticism.

My # 1 issue would be the Federal Reserve system and the International banking cartels.
The Bailouts and things like the BCCI scandal are well researched and easy to present.
Follow the money and you will find the real conspirators.
Nearly all major stories and conspiracies will tie in with the financial world at some point.

Short videos (5 mins or less) on the home page would be desirable IMO.

What about including a short conspiracy quiz to help people find out what they don't know?
Games and tests are a good way to get interest and disseminate information.

Finally, I would ask what your motivation is. Do you plan to have a page explaining why you are doing this?
Will you include basic documents such as the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta etc?

You might try finding the demographics on what topics garner the most interest.
A few searches on ATS might reveal much about that subject.

Great sources would include:
Mother Jones
whowhatwhy.com...
Rolling Stone

You might send u2us to the members you respect most on ATS and invite them to participate.
You should be aware that it is against T&C to re-post from ATS to any other site.
Links however are fine.

Best of luck, ATA

Heres a good link for establishing some of the dates and such of the mergers and a brief history. link

I find a conversational style works well with these kind of short articles.
If I were writing it I might start out with a question to the reader like

"Have you ever got the feeling that news you are watching might not be as unbiased as it seems?" ... we'll heres why.

Or something along those lines

Thanks for the interest, everyone. I'll try to reply to everything the best I can...

Originally posted by moonpie86
Well done to you for taking an active stance against ignorance. I have checked out your link to your site and subscribed to this thread, and hope to watch it grow.

Thanks.

Originally posted by moonpie86
-> There definately needs some colour put in. I do not say this because I am a girl and love floral print

I say this because people are attracted to colour (especially certain colours) , bright lights etc. Imagery.
Imagery and sound and colour should play an important role on your website. Your website is designed for the quick grab of attention, so it should incorporate some known truths in regards to human attraction.

I'll see what I can do, but I was sorta aiming for your textbook/reference book type look to give it that "legit" feel. Some color might help though, I'll try some stuff out and see how it goes.

Originally posted by moonpie86
--> Personally, i would like to see on here some information about the evils in the home.Its great to make the public aware of whats happening at a Government level, but I believe that most people are self centred... If it doesn't affect them directly they simply do not care. Perhaps some information about the ORIGINS OF ELECTRICITY, Tesla vs. Edison, electro magnetic fields and free energy. At this time, I think promoting free energy etc will go far, and bringing awareness to people who have not thought about the fact they are spending hundreds of dollars a month for something they do not understand.

What is some of the stuff surrounding Tesla/Edison, free energy and EMF fields that you think I should include? I'm not too familiar with that stuff, other than knowing Tesla was waaay ahead of his time, Edison was a ripoff and that's about it.

Originally posted by moonpie86
--> THE INTERNET - since they are on it, it should interest them. Mention of ETERNAL SEPTEMBER, graphic userface/ Google being a net dragged over a very very deep ocean indeed etc.How you never used to have to pay for it. Perhaps maybe a mention of how when you click and accept a facebook app, you are allowing that company to use all of your details/photos for their own purposes/facebook cannot control this.

Hmm that internet idea is pretty good. I remember seeing some interesting stuff about how Google + Facebook got their startup money from companies and firms with ties to the CIA, and how important their data would be to TPTB. There was also a video from Fox News from maybe 5 or 6 years ago about how since the CIA/NSA/FBI can't legally gather all this data on people without warrants, they would purchase this data (transactions, call logs, etc.) from private companies as a end run around the Constitution, being as it only limits what the government can do and not the private sector.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
My # 1 issue would be the Federal Reserve system and the International banking cartels.
The Bailouts and things like the BCCI scandal are well researched and easy to present.
Follow the money and you will find the real conspirators.
Nearly all major stories and conspiracies will tie in with the financial world at some point.

I actually included it up at #1 initially, and started writing an article and doing research on it, but I felt like there was just too much I wanted to cover (the failed attempts at central banking from the colonial period up till now), that I was afraid it wouldn't be able to hold the visitors attention. I figure I got like a 5-10 sec window to grab their attention or not, and that's where they decide whether or not they'll read the whole page. But I was thinking of including the Fed + some other legit conspiracies on a Page 2. I'm thinking if I got them clicking over onto a new page, they're already hooked so the pressure of keeping them interested is a little less severe.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Short videos (5 mins or less) on the home page would be desirable IMO.

What about including a short conspiracy quiz to help people find out what they don't know?
Games and tests are a good way to get interest and disseminate information.

Finally, I would ask what your motivation is. Do you plan to have a page explaining why you are doing this?
Will you include basic documents such as the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta etc?

You might try finding the demographics on what topics garner the most interest.
A few searches on ATS might reveal much about that subject.

The videos sounds like a good idea, assuming they are professionally done and "feel right" in regards to the site. Quizzes and games are good ideas too for things to add down the road, but right now I'm trying to just get the initial 5 points done.

My motivation is mainly because I feel like if people knew about 5 or 10 real things that really happened, they'd start to really question what they are being told. For me, hearing about staged attacks or being lied into war sounded like crazy talk. The gov't is here to help us, right? Then when I learned about some of the things they admit to -- like CoIntelPro, MKUltra, Gulf of Tonkin, etc. it didn't seem so far fetched anymore. I think it'll get them interested and they'll start doing their own research and may even end up here on ATS like I have. This isn't a money making venture, I don't plan on ever putting ads on the site or anything like that. I do think it would be neat to offer downloads (flyers and stuff) that people can advertise with, but it'll be all free. People think I'm crazy but I think the best place you could stick a flyer is on the inside of a bathroom stall... I mean, they ain't going anywhere.

About the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc. I may include those as "Further reading" or something, but I don't plan on making them a central part of the site. They're great and I think people should read them, but my target audience probably don't share the same opinion.

I tried my best to pick topics which I think the avg non-political person will be interested in. I'd love to do a demographics quiz but the tough thing about that is given the nature of the material, I'm likely to just get trolled if I go posting this on your avg political forum or sports forum or anything. I'm not sure if polling the ATS audience would yield accurate data given this is a conspiracy-centered forum, but it couldn't hurt either I guess.

Originally posted by moonpie86
Also as a quick note, is this website designed for americans only? I got that vibe.

They are kinda my target audience atm, from what I find though most conspiracy type stuff does center around what the US government is doing instead of any others. I've taken steps to make it as accessible as possible though, if your browser or keyboard layout is set to anything other than English, the site should show a Google Translate widget in the upper right hand corner, with access to 30 translations or so.

Originally posted by davespanners
Heres a good link for establishing some of the dates and such of the mergers and a brief history. link

I find a conversational style works well with these kind of short articles.
If I were writing it I might start out with a question to the reader like

"Have you ever got the feeling that news you are watching might not be as unbiased as it seems?" ... we'll heres why.

Or something along those lines

edit on 25-2-2011 by davespanners because: (no reason given)

Thanks, that's like exactly what I was looking for. Diving into specific programs like CoIntelPro, Northwoods, MK Ultra, etc. are easy in comparison to trying to write about a series of events (like media mergers). It's really intimidating at first.


Hopefully that answers everyones questions.

I did the article today on MK-Ultra, you can check it out here: www.ifeveryoneknew.com... It's a little longer than I'd hope so if there's anything that you would change or cut or anything, I'm all ears.

Also moved it over to HTML5 and refined the behavior a little bit.

Got the site done!

#2 turned out much longer than expected so if anyone can help me bring it down in size, that would be a great help.

I also noticed that while the layout scales great from 640x480 on up, it looks real bad on small screens like iPhones and iPods. So there's now a mobile version that targets iPod, iPhone, and Android users. Hitting the normal URL should redirect to that version. I don't have one of those to test it on, but it looks ok in Safari when I scale it way down, so it should be fine.

Here on out I plan on adding some functionality like share links to specific items (you can already add #p2 or #p3 or whatever to the url to automatically go to that item), readability improvements, that sorta thing.

reply to post by ayoss


I'm thinking............Daily show with john stewart

Originally posted by ayoss
Got the site done!

#2 turned out much longer than expected so if anyone can help me bring it down in size, that would be a great help.

I also noticed that while the layout scales great from 640x480 on up, it looks real bad on small screens like iPhones and iPods. So there's now a mobile version that targets iPod, iPhone, and Android users. Hitting the normal URL should redirect to that version. I don't have one of those to test it on, but it looks ok in Safari when I scale it way down, so it should be fine.

Here on out I plan on adding some functionality like share links to specific items (you can already add #p2 or #p3 or whatever to the url to automatically go to that item), readability improvements, that sorta thing.

A simple solution for the iphone problem... purchase another domain and create a website specifically for the iphone and have a redirect script to send iphone viewers to that website. If your using a database to display data or created an rss feed it should be pretty easy to convert and guess what... You can stick a 99cents labeo and call it an app and sell it or make it a free app and promote it in the app store to gain more traffic.

your web site is very simplistic and I can see it as an phone app store application. Overall it is nice and it gets the job done. Very Simple and Straight Forward. However From a design Perspective looking over the code An ISsue that you may have down the line is updating information. A News web site like time.com for example or even this one constantly needs to be updated to give viewers a reason to come back. I was wondering what you used to develop this web site? You may need to use a proper CMS Which would allow the Contributers easy access to update the articles they submit (for approval if you want it like that) You also need to use data bases, XML etc. to establish an rss feed and to display key data in multiple media forms meaning when you update/Add a new article the update takes place on all possible platforms. You also need a place for debate or discussion of specific articles like a forum. I would suggest using wordpress or Vbulletin.... You can even use a cms like joomla or drupal. Or else updating will be a pain in the ass as well as archiving older articles.

You have good articles however overall its boring and you will not reach your target audience that loves to get its news from the dailyshow with john stewart.

Good Start, NIce web site... however the css accordion effect is not going to accomplish what you are attempting to create.

Once you established the layout and the code you will use for updating information etc... then you will be ready to take on contributors and if you need Writers on a monthly basis etc. unless they are you friends do not expect them to do so for free... you should payout 20 to 25 per word for an 1500 word article w/resources and have potential writers pitch normal columns which will essentially be blogs linked to your web site about different subject matters or themes. in order to pay this off you will need to include ads as well as maybe even use revenue from creating a ipad news magazine in an epub format...

You have to be creative. However if you are simply showcasing articles that you create then this web site is fine.

Thanks. I didn't want to keep bumping my own thread, so I didn't post any updates.

I posted it over on Reddit.com where it got promoted to the front-page. From there it racked in 30k views the first day, 50k the next, and it's been dying off since then... but Twitter links, Facebook 'Likes', and links from sites like Tumblr keep coming in. Judging by the feedback it seems to be having its desired effect, people outside of conspiracy theory circles are now discussing things like MK-Ultra, Northwoods, and CoIntelPro for the first time.

I addressed the iPhone problem... iPhones, iPods, and Android phones get redirected to a mobile version, which sucks less. I say sucks less because no one really wants to do alot of reading on a screen that size, but it sucks less than those devices trying to render the full scale version.

I see what you mean about the CMS helping update information, maybe that's something I can add in the future. Not to handle the main points because I want the main part/front page of the site to remain fairly static like IfAmericansKnew.org, which is where I got my inspiration because I think they do a great job bringing attention to the Israel/Palestine issue, but maybe I can make a news section down the road that just links to current news stories that pertain to issues raised on the main site. Other than that, it's always been intended to remain fairly static. It also makes it respond better to big spikes in traffic, serving static HTML requires less resources than something more PHP or SQL-heavy like a CMS.

I am thinking though of having an 'Edit' or 'Update' button on each item that redirects to a copy on MediaWiki. The MediaWiki stuff won't be automatically carried over to the main site (due to trolls, PR firms, other undesirables) but it should make it easier for people to contribute.

I'd love to have more professional writers submit stuff, but putting ads on it is something I've been pretty opposed to from the start because then it may look like a money making venture. I'd rather just pay out of pocket, if anything.

reply to post by ayoss


NOBEL... Keep up the good work and I'll bookmark your web site

I've done a overhaul with the mobile code... can anyone with a iPhone and/or Android and/or Blackberry give it a test?

I'm not sure if mobile devices supply the variable that JavaScript uses to test screen width (it works great on all tests I can run on the PC... but these are desktop browsers). If all works well, it should dynamically try to make the most of your screen real estate (assuming it can detect the width of the browser window).

I do expect there being a problem with the graphic for #2 since its slightly larger than the others and is generated differently but that's acceptable (it's only a line graph & #2 is the least read item). I'm concerned about the images for #1, #3, #4, #5 though and whether or not the top logo shows correctly.

This is how it *should* display according to iBBDemo2:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f87ab3806db0.jpg[/atsimg]

I like your clean coding style, the website looks good. I have a project idea that I can't code myself, so I'm going to need to put together a team of coders. I like the fact you don't care about advertising and making a profit, because my whole idea revolves around free knowledge and open source technology. It probably doesn't have much potential for profit, and I probably wont be able to pay the coders, at least, not in the early stages. That's why I need people who think a certain way. People who understand that open source ideology is the future. I may contact you at some point in the future, keep your eye out for a U2U from me. If you aren't interested that is completely fine also.

-> There definately needs some colour put in. I do not say this because I am a girl and love floral print

I say this because people are attracted to colour (especially certain colours) , bright lights etc. Imagery.
Imagery and sound and colour should play an important role on your website. Your website is designed for the quick grab of attention, so it should incorporate some known truths in regards to human attraction.

May I recommend you ignore that advice. The clean look you have is good, you don't need "bright lights" and sound "for the quick grab of attention". It's clear you already know that though.

On another note, you should find this website VERY helpful for research and ideas: www.wanttoknow.info...

I have sent you a u2u on how your app will look like with your site. You can obviously continue to use it and build it. I am sure you will find very helpful. Oh dont worry, about my avatar..your site is not on my watch list...

P.S.

Look forward to seeing your final product.



Sincerely
tristar

reply to post by CanYouHandleTheTruth


Thanks, that website has a ton of good stuff on it.

reply to post by tristar


Thanks for the U2U. I found out that the iPhone doesn't support that JS feature I was using to check window width to change the layout, so I ended up using jQTouch to make a mobile version of the site.

The site is final. I could make a email form instead of relying on a mailto link, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it stands now.

Here's how it looks on iPhone now:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fcc10759ea72.png[/atsimg]

If you ever have to do a mobile version of a website, I highly recommend jQTouch. It gives your webpage a native app look, complete with animations and all kinds of fun stuff that a native app has.

Originally posted by ayoss
reply to post by CanYouHandleTheTruth

 

Thanks, that website has a ton of good stuff on it.

reply to post by tristar

 

Thanks for the U2U. I found out that the iPhone doesn't support that JS feature I was using to check window width to change the layout, so I ended up using jQTouch to make a mobile version of the site.

The site is final. I could make a email form instead of relying on a mailto link, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it stands now.

Here's how it looks on iPhone now:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fcc10759ea72.png[/atsimg]

If you ever have to do a mobile version of a website, I highly recommend jQTouch. It gives your webpage a native app look, complete with animations and all kinds of fun stuff that a native app has.

edit on 1-5-2011 by ayoss because: added reply

edit on 1-5-2011 by ayoss because: fixed bbcode

edit on 1-5-2011 by ayoss because: (no reason given)

Excellent, well done. :-)