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Friday Dec 11, 2009

TheSite.org gets spanked by YouTube

What would you do if YouTube banned one of your videos?

I had to think about this when an email pinged into my inbox the other day telling me that our video, 'Bondage for Beginners' had infringed the YouTube Community Guidelines and been removed. The horror!

We've been building a steady YouTube presence (youtube.com/thesitevideos) for over a year now, and I thought it would be useful to repurpose some of our advice podcasts for the YouTube audience. So using a few select photos our Multimedia Assistant, Chris 'Deviant' Denholm, crafted a simple but effective photo illustration for the podcast.

The video was uploaded and the viewers started watching. Quite a lot in fact; it quickly became one of our most viewed videos. It was pleasing to see so many people were getting some cracking advice about bondage.

However, it seems even guidance videos can fall foul of the censors these days. The email I received cited 'nudity' as the reason for the video being banned. I watched the video again, eager to see writhing bodies and full frontal action! Strangely, I couldn't find any. All I got was good, safe advice about trying out bondage with a partner.

Judge for yourself and watch the video...

I still haven't heard back from YouTube about whether this was an oversight or whether they really don't like young people learning about bondage.

Maybe they didn't like seeing a dog in a Star Trek outfit – he's in the buff after all!

Chris 'Whip-crack' Chapman,
TheSite.org's Multimedia Editor

Posted by Chris ( 3:20 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[2]

Monday Nov 09, 2009

'Have you ever wanted to spit in Gordon's porridge?'

Interviewing politicians is a bit like interviewing celebs – they're often so well media trained it's hard to get anything interesting out of them. Luckily when I interviewed Conservative MP Tim Loughton  at the annual conference of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services on Tuesday, I was armed with excellent questions from members of TheSite.org's politics & debate forum.

 I admit I chickened out of asking "how safe is the school kid's milk?" on behalf of CptCoatHanger. However thanks to Flashman's Ghost, I had to try and keep a straight face whilst uttering the words "have you ever wanted to spit in Gordon Brown's porridge?" Fortunately, rather than giving me a cuff round the ear, Loughton seemed to find it amusing - phew - saying: "I've wanted to do some drastic things to Gordon Brown, I must admit." Sadly he didn't elaborate as to what.

 Before I risked the porridge question, I asked about Diplomas, Apprenticeships and the Conservatives proposed plans to force young people into compulsory volunteering. 

 I wanted to find out what will happen when the Diploma is scaled it back, which Loughton confirmed is definitely the plan. He stopped short of answering this problematic question (he is a politican after all), saying instead: "we're not going to scrap it on day one", which isn't particularly comforting news for anyone considering taking this qualification. Apprenticeships, on the other hand, look set to get a boost (thanks adogwithsunglasses) with a pre-Apprenticeship for 14-16 year olds and plans to treble the amount of Apprenticeships available to people at school.

Star Galaxy wanted to point out the target of sending 50 % of 18-30 year olds to university is "utterly mad", believing it's contributed to rising graduate unemployment levels. Loughton's response: "I'm against arbitrary targets. I want people to go to university if that's the right thing for them. The problem with ambitious targets is that it potentially devalues the university experience and treats people who don't go to university as second class citizens. It should be horses for courses."

Finally it turns out National Citizenship Service (the feared compulsory volunteering) isn't actually going to be compulsory (it's also not necessarily going to be called National Citizenship Service – a name hasn't been decided yet). Instead, it's sounding more like a version of the Duke of Edinburgh's award, with young people signing up for summer-long 'challenges' in their community.  According to Loughton, the idea was 'youthproofed' by teenagers from Leeds, Liverpool and London. He said: "We've been using them as a sounding board and they've come up with some really positive ways of promoting it. There's no point in us coming up with a scheme if young people then reject it."

 I was struck by the difference in rhetoric between Conservative and Labour when it comes to talking about young people. Instead of ASBOs and the Respect Agenda, Loughton's emphasis seemed to be on communication and community and being "positive for youth." This may turn out to be no more than another dodgy catch phrase of course – we'll have to see – but any move away from the demonisation of young people has to be a good thing, whichever party you vote for.

Posted by Emma ( 5:41 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[0]

Thursday Oct 29, 2009

Halloween fancy dress

There's no doubt about it, TheSite.org boards are a great place to source ideas for fancy dress costumes. When I was struggling to find an idea for a Disney party, I started a thread and you guys helped me put together an awesome Mickey Mouse costume.

So when Halloween comes around, a classic time of year for digging out the face paints, we look forward to seeing you get into the spirit, sharing ideas and showing off your creative flair.

To that end, this year we're running a photography competition to find out what ideas you've come up with on the fancy dress front. We're also interested in other imagery you can capture over the weekend.

We've got a bunch of fun goodies up for grabs that we'll post out to the best entries.

Just take a peek in the anything goes section of the boards to find out full details. 

It's not just me on TheSite.org communities team who likes a bit of fancy dress though. Jim V and Jo7 have also been known to get involved. 

But when you look at the three pictures together, we're hardly winning entries are we?

So please go ahead and put us to shame with your images. 

And, if Halloween isn't your thing, don't worry, the next occasion is just around the corner. 

I've already spotted a Christmas fancy dress thread in the style and appearance forum.

Posted by Helen ( 3:49 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]

Tuesday Sep 01, 2009

Seyi's placement

Seyi has been working hard on the editorial team for the past two weeks doing lots of research and writing some great articles. Here's what he's been up to:

Maybe this placement has distorted my perception of time. Or, more realistically, I reckon I've just had a good time, because my two weeks of work experience has felt like five minutes. I've been given the opportunity to immerse myself in all things journalistic! I unexpectedly got asked to sit in on an editorial meeting, which was a good insight into how TheSite.org staff develop the website and what level of thinking goes into keeping the website at its best.

I gave some article writing a go. I wrote the first one on my experience of drastically changing schools and another on my experience with a stammer. The first one (soon to be up on the shiny new Lifetracks true stories section!) was a fairly straightforward process as it was simple events entwined with a bit of rambling. The latter took longer, as there was a lot of material that sprung to mind that I could have put into the article. However, I doubt any visitor here is looking to read the next War and Peace, so some cutting down was definitely in order.

Fortunately, unlike some of my more unfortunate friends, who've had utterly dull work experience placements, I haven't actually had to make a single cup of coffee for anyone (fortunately for the staff!). The placement has been a fantastic insight into the world of journalism. Everybody here has been so friendly, and happy to put up with me whenever things didn't go quite to plan. I've discovered what goes on in the job besides writing articles, and most of all I've had a wonderful time!

 

Posted by Chris Denholm ( 1:39 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[0]

Wednesday Aug 05, 2009

Surviving the pig pox

It's depressingly ironic. Just over three months ago I shimmied into the YouthNet offices to start my new job as a journalist. The very first piece I wrote for TheSite.org was this one here on swine flu. Two months later, I was the very first person at YouthNet to come down with it. If I'd known that was the deal, I'd have made my debut with an article on coping with sudden and unexpected wealth.

Still, swine flu. I've had it and yet I live and breathe and walk amongst you. Because it is just flu, despite the near apocalyptic tone some branches of the media have taken. Influenza in any form is a nasty little bug, but the buzz on this particular viral is out of proportion to the average person's swine flu experience.

My own case started at around 3am one Tuesday morning, when I woke up, started being violently sick and carried on until eight in the morning, pausing only to fall into semi-sleep on a towel on the bathroom floor. My head pounded; I had a weird, diffuse red light in the corners of my eyes; every muscle in my body felt as though it had been roughly pulled out and pushed back into the wrong place. All that carried on for two days, two days where I couldn't stay awake for more than an hour and remained the same temperature as downtown Mumbai in the summertime. Then followed three days where my legs didn't really work, my voice failed and I was infectious.  I've never been so grateful to Facebook and Twitter for providing social contact at a distance.

I've had better weeks, obviously, but I didn't die. Flu is always going to be vile, but it's a fairly everyday disease. Swine flu, however, made my week of manky illness really interesting to everyone else. I was news. It was sort of like being famous, with everyone clamouring to know "what was it like? What was it like?" Well, it was like having flu. Don't believe the hype.

Posted by Anna ( 1:48 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[2]

Friday Jul 31, 2009

My time at TheSite

Jade has been our wonderful work experience intern for the past two weeks working on the editorial team. Here's all her gossip on what she's been up to:

Today is the last day of my two week placement as a student journalist on Thesite and I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. It might be a cliché, and a terrible one at that, but time really does fly when you're having fun- I haven't even clock watched!

Unlike other placements where I've spent hours gazing at the computer screen with nothing to do, Thesite is busy, busy, busy and very hands on. I've had a number of responsibilities including press watch and the daily poll, covering topics from nudist beaches to fake tan to the law. I often found myself voting on my own polls (sad, I know).

I had a great day with Chris, the editorial assistant, filming for his video on how to make money. Although initially recruited as his extra I did get to try my hand at filming, thankfully I didn't drop the camera and it was great to see the final result-even if my nose did look HUGE in all the close up shots (thanks chris!)

I also had a go at writing a rant. Picking a subject was difficult, nothing really rattles my cage and I'm generally quite a happy person! I soon got into the swing of things moaning about my spongy housemates. It felt great getting it off my chest and onto paper, I just hope none of them read it or I'll be looking for a new house next year!

I've established a very close relationship with Muhammad, the systems administrator, over the fortnight I've managed to break, freeze and generally destroy most of the office computers. Me and technology have never been the best of friends and when I first used Polopoly (the websites management system)  it scared the life out of me.  I've just about got the hang of it and I think at last we are healing our differences but all the same I think Muhammad will be glad to see the back of me!

Sitting in on the editorial meeting was a great look at what goes on behind it all, I even brought some ideas to the table, you never know some of them might be up on website soon.

All in all it's been a fab two weeks here, not to mention an invaluable journalistic experience. Everyone has been so friendly, (despite my lack of making cups of tea) and has really helped me out. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

Posted by Chris Denholm ( 3:49 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[0]

Friday Apr 17, 2009

Work experience at TheSite towers

Just a quick hello from me and now I'm passing you over to Rachael who has been doing work experience at TheSite.org towers and has managed to fit in loads of stuff in over a relatively short amount of time...

This is my last day of work experience at TheSite.org and what better time to divulge some inside information than now!  Firstly the office is massive, if you are lazy like me than getting to the printer is really good exercise.  When I first arrived I realised what a hive of buzzing activity it is.  People are always exchanging ideas and inventing new ways to make the website better.  I think this is reflected throughout the website in the way that the content is always changing and the information available for young people is always expanding.

One of the features that I was able to be involved in during my time here is askTheSite.  People are able to send in their problems and receive a tailored response full of decent advice.  Before I even came here I realised what a valuable resource it would be but seeing the process firsthand it soon became clear just how much effort and time went into perfecting one of the helpful replies.  I attempted to respond to a problem myself but quickly realised that it was quite difficult to remove any wording that could influence or be detrimental to the person with the problem.  It sounds picky but it’s really important to take care when responding to a problem from someone who is obviously feeling very vulnerable, incase you worsen the situation. 

A definite perk for me being here was that I was able to literally change how TheSite.org looked on a daily basis.  Call me sad but it was a proud moment to upload a new poll complete with an image.  Makes you feel like God.  Or maybe not.  Something I didn’t realise is how much the discussion boards influence the content.  I took part in ‘board watch’ which is browsing through the boards to see if a topic could inspire any new content such as a fact sheet.  It was very difficult to find a topic that TheSite.org hasn’t covered as it’s pretty comprehensive.  I even took the plunge and managed to create a Rant for you to read. Nudge nudge.  Why don't you have a go at submitting a rant yourself and get things off your chest.  It can be very therapeutic! 

I was also invited to take part in a new website called Lifetracks; it provides online consultation with young people concentrating on the topic of work and careers.  I really, really recommend that you join.  The questions asked are perfect for when you are stuck for something to do and it just makes you think.  Blatant plug but you can apply through TheSite.org's sister website do-it.org.uk. It would be great if new people joined and I promise once you get into it that it gets addictive.

Posted by Helen ( 3:39 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]

Friday Mar 20, 2009

Body gossip

Until this week, I've been reading and listening to TheSite.org's Body Gossip article and podcast with a fair amount of distance. I've been assuming that this content relates to other young women and not me.

I'm a size 10, average height (although I have a lot of short friends who think I'm tall which is a bonus) and the only time I've ever really worried about the appearance of my body (other than primary school taunts for being lanky) has been when I've lost a shed load of weight during particularly stressful periods of my life. But, in hindsight, I've probably secretly enjoyed the comments I've had during those super skinny times. This in itself is disturbing. 

Aside from this, my reassessment of my place in the body gossip debate is because I've been invited to model for an Alternative Fashion Week shoot. This has really shattered my illusion that I have no qualms with my appearance.

Firstly, the designer (who I've yet to meet - I was recommended by a friend) sent me an image of his T-shirt's that featured illustrations of really tiny waisted models. I immediately freaked and messaged him saying I didn't think my figure was what he was looking for. He's told me not to worry saying the images were massively exaggerated. Phew!

Secondly, every time I eat any kind of junk food - you know a bowl of chips in the pub or a cheeky mars bar, I keep seeing flashbacks to some of the awful people on American's Next Top Model telling girls to shape up or ship out. For  the first time in my life, I've seriously considered eating carrot sticks for lunch a la Liz Hurley in the run up to the shoot. As if I'm not aware that crash dieting is ridiculous. But more to the point, why would I need to? Admittedly this has also made me think about my overall fitness, which can't be a bad thing, but such vanity is quite cringe worthy.

Thirdly, I've turned into that girl who does my head in asking all my friends: "Do you think I've put on weight recently, what if the photographer laughs me out of town?" As my housemate pointed out, if he does have an issue when he meets me, then that's certainly his problem not mine. You may be thinking: "Why put yourself through it?" I've asked myself that question, but I guess curiosity will always get the better of me.

So, although none of my concerns are really serious when considering some of the eating disorders and body worries that other people experience, it has really hit home this week that anyone is susceptible to irrational body worries. Bearing this in mind, I think it's really important that we continue to talk about body gossip topics and question attitudes in the media, among our friends and perhaps most importantly, the conversations we have with ourselves.

Posted by Helen ( 11:56 AM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[2]

Wednesday Feb 25, 2009

The Jade Goody effect

There can be few postivies to come out of the recent sad news about Jade Goody, who now has weeks to live following a battle with cancer.

On Sunday 15 February, the News of the World ran an exclusive interview with her, revealling that her cancer was terminal.

The day before, albeit Valentine's Day, 18 people searched for 'cervical cancer' and found our page on smear tests. That was pretty average over the last month.  The day the story broke, 63 people did the same search. On the Monday, that number was up to 294, and although that was the highest figure, it has stayed far higher than before the Jade Goody story broke.

The figure has been echoed across other media, and other organisations involved in cancer screening have seen an increase in public enquiries. If Jade Goody has increased the awareness of cervical cancer, that must be a good thing. Sadly it has taken her life in doing so.

Posted by Olly ( 10:14 AM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[0]

Tuesday Jan 20, 2009

Be part of the future

Hi everyone,

As a result of funding from Vodafone and V, YouthNet is building a comprehensive new website to help young people make decisions about their work, training and study options.

As regular users of the boards will know we always try to involve our users as much as possible in new developments. However this time we're planning something much, much more ambitious. If you're under 26 we'd be really excited to get you involved in creating and shaping exactly what this new site will be.

I've always felt that the more users can be involved in new developments, the better a website can be, however, previous development has been constrained at times - limited by the time we've had available and the requirements of having to update an existing service rather than starting from scratch.

But there's no similar problem here. By starting with an entirely new website we can really get everyone interested involved in the real nitty-gritty of building a website. For us it means an opportunity to check our thinking with yours and share all the excitement a huge new project can bring. For you it's a chance to get involved with something that will be an important and exciting part of young people's lives. It's also an opportunity to see how things are born on the web, from a very YouthNet perspective.

So if you think you have an idea of what would improve your time at school or work; if you want to get into web development; if you think your opinion is something we should hear; if you want to write, draw, film or record the experiences of others - or are just a little bit curious - then this is a great chance for you. It's also a great chance for us to shape how we'll be doing all future consultation, including work for the good ol' Site.

You'll be volunteering through YouthNet, with the support of the communities team, and let's make one thing clear from the start - you're opinions will have a real, lasting effect on the future of our work and a website you may be using in a few months.

If you're up for it then all you need to do is apply through the project group member opportunity over on our sister site, do-it.org.uk and bear in mind the opportunity is based online and is available to everyone across the UK.

I'll look forward to working with you

Posted by Jim ( 4:37 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]

Monday Jan 19, 2009

'Monging out' - a response

On Thursday I posted a blog post asking about using the term monging out.  I posted it because it'd been pointed out that the word originated from a reference to people with Down's Syndrome; something I was unaware of and so were the people I asked.

This was not trying to be offensive or controversial, I certainly have no desire to upset or discriminate against people with Down's Syndrome or other illnesses. I'm not prepared to use personal experience as a defensive, suffice to say I have a lot closer connection with Down's Syndrome than many other illnesses.

But I'm also not going to go down the route of pandering to every Daily Mail reader who gets offended by the slightest thing we say on this website. If a word, that once had an association with Down's Syndrome, but is now in common use with no reference to that association, has offended one person... does that really mean we should drop everything to remove it?

So I did what I felt was best... crowd-source and ask our audience. And you have answered.  For that reason I have removed the word.

Olly

Posted by Olly ( 9:26 AM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[2]

Thursday Jan 15, 2009

Are we right to use the term 'monging-out'?

If you use the phrases “lynch-pin” or “on the nail” you are using phrases that derive from slavery. You probably didn’t know that, and now that you do, would you stop using those phrases?

It’s an interesting question and one we’ve had to tackle this week. The phrase in question was “monging out”, and it’s appeared in an article on looking after yourself, that has been on the site since September 2006. We received a complaint about the use of the phrase because, as the correspondent points out, “it derives from a perjorative term for people who have Down’s Syndrome, and refers to a sad period of our social history when adults with a learning disability were abandoned in front of the TV, if they were lucky.”

Perhaps it’s my ignorance, but I didn’t know that, and hadn’t made the connection. A quick straw poll in the office suggests other people didn’t get the association with Down’s Syndrome, and took the phrase to mean being a coach potato. Nor do I believe that writer intended to make any connection with people who have Down’s Syndrome. And, having been on the website for two-and-a-half years, with just one complaint, it’s doesn’t appear that large parts of the general population are aware of its origins either.

The correspondent complains that use of the word “only perpetuates negative stereotypes”, and yet if few people actually understand the connection, what negative stereotype is it reinforcing?  Those of a certain age know why the word spastic is generally deemed offensive in the UK, yet acceptable in the US. I remember being hauled up by a teacher for using the word ‘wally’ to describe someone, and then being told that it was offensive because it referred to an individual called Wallace who had been misunderstood. There is no real evidence that this is true (most accounts seem to suggest that it comes from a 1974 music festival in Stonehenge), but Wally is offensive enough that the Where’s Wally books were renamed Where’s Waldo when they launched in the States.

We certainly don’t set out cause offence on TheSite.org, but we’re here to reflect the lives of young people aged 16-24, and that’s as much about the language as the attitude. We’d never use the kind of language Prince Harry used to describe a fellow solider, and equally most likely steer away from the term Chris Moyles used to describe a ringtone he didn’t like. But our language has moved on far less in the last fifty years than at any point in its history, and the notion that a word was once offensive means it shall forever more be so seems is, in my opinion, a backwards step. Stephen Fry has the most excellent argument about why fretting about ‘correct’ language is dangerous.

It’s for that reason we’ve left the term in. But we’re happy to debate it and I’d welcome you comments on whether you think that was right.

Posted by Olly ( 3:38 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[14]

Skint gourmet

If December was the month for over-indulgence, then after a very expensive end to 2008, January has certainly been the month for surviving on left-overs, scraping pennies from the money box to buy a packet of digestives (no really, I experienced that yesterday when I went to buy biccies for a meeting) and whinging about the fact the credit crunch doesn't seem to mean food is getting cheaper.

So, an email from the Motley Fool giving me a price comparison for the cheapest supermarkets to buy fruit and veg from has been most welcome. I've also enjoyed reading threads in our food forum about what food you can buy with your last tenner, and have gone back to basics with TheSite.org's articles on eating like a pauper and easy recipes which tend to be cost effective.

However, the thing to really get my attention is any tips related to eating my favourite food - curry. So, I'm loving this credit crunch curry video - and trust me chick peas are really yummy. Seriously.

 

Posted by Helen ( 2:25 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]

Monday Dec 22, 2008

A creative end to the year

is exactly what we've had in the communities team at TheSite.org. The deadline for the design a T-shirt competition has now been called. You can vote for one of the five finalists over on our discussion boards.  Thanks to everyone who entered, we really had our work cut out deciding which entries would make the final.

Also on the boards, we've launched a new forum called Creative. As Jim V says: "We've built this corner of the forum to allow people to express themselves. That could mean poetry, scribblings, whole novels, music, art, film - whatever you've created yourself."

I'm particularly enjoying the photography thread which has seen a splurge of activity since the new forum was launched. Below is one of the images which caught my eye.

Take a look at the whole thread for more interesting images.

Posted by Helen ( 5:10 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[1]

Thursday Dec 04, 2008

Secret santa

This week we've had the joy of picking out a name for Secret Santa ready for TheSite towers Christmas party. I've picked out a boy's name this year, who I've been assured is a sports fan and Arsenal supporter. This is pretty handy as I live near the Emirates Stadium so I'm bound to find some cheesy chrimbo merchandise nearby. I just hope I haven't been led up the garden path and find out he's actually true blue Chelsea or a horrible Hammers fan! :P

Work Christmas parties are a funny thing and it's interesting to hear your views on them on the boards - some people can't wait, while others are well and truly boycotting them.  If you're worried about yours then check out our article on work christmas parties for some survival tips.

I'm quite looking forward to ours, but one thing that does worry me a bit is our annual caption competition. Last year I managed to win a prize for my caption for one of the photos, but this year I'm just horrified to see my own face up for scrutiny. Anyway, I'm letting you have a peak...



What caption would you put on this?

Posted by Helen ( 4:00 PM ) Link to this post  |  Comments[2]