Rant drive - engaged.

 So, last week I fed a breaking news story to OS - The Department of Justice medical marijuana memo, cross posting at the CMMNJ Blog and the NORML-NJ blog.

Before there were stories in over 1,900 newspapers, websites and radio/tv, before the memo was even officially released by the DOJ, it was on the Associated Press breaking news section ... and right here on OS.  

Having spent the week covering what is now recognized as landmark movement for medical marijuana, there is a little disappointment that my favorite blog site did not notice the event; from my blogs or others. C’est la vie though.

It begs the question: Is it worth it to break a story on OpenSalon?

The answer is: Not really.

One of the basic deterrents to using OS and an originator for news or ultra-current news commentary is the lack of search-ability of these blogs. For instance, if I post at celebstoner.com or the CMMNJ blog or the NORML AudioStash blog the posts will show up in a Google news search. Not so for an OS post.

Sure you can shamelessly self promote your ass off with Facebook, Twitter, rss feeds, stickers, videos, snarky posts on other blogs, massive emails and standing on the street corner with “will Blog for Food” signs.
But…if it ain’t on the google news feed - and it indeed pertains to news - then it does not find the maximum 'reach.'

In the end OpenSalon is less about news and more about the human side of the headlines. Opinions, personal experiences and windows into lives cracking open, in many cases for the first time, are the core of this realm. OS is also less about alerting the world in general to a story as it is having a conversation with a community about it.

The beauty here is that on this site these conversations are the story.

Still, it would be nice if OpenSalon made the individual posts appear in specific searches, such as the Google and Yahoo news feeds.

It would also be nice of the Editor’s Picks perhaps came in categories thus allowing a “man-in-the-loop” for these choices of what to indeed call “news” on the cover. (As a personal aside here: I also think there are way too many images on the cover now - Would much rather see WORDS than art!…since we are ranting here.)

Some of the commentary on OS definitely deserves to be elevated in reference to specific headlines and events. There are writers who post content exclusive to this site that easily holds up to ‘mainstream’ social and political commentary.

Here on OpenSalon we provide the content and the site provides the platform. There are some ways that a few technical tweaks could benefit the entire concept. Then maybe one day news or hardcore commentary could really originate on OS instead of “breaking news” being a standard headline for satire.