what's happening at the official site?

[faceless]

I just took a look at the official site for the first time in a few days and see that someone's gone mad with the posting. Hopefully they'll find a better way to organise stuff though - call me old fashioned, but surely dated stories should be listed in chronological order!

[nekokate]

I noticed the change, too. Whoever is in charge of the site seems to be rather obsessed with SpideredNews.com - is it possible that they've just set up some sort of feed that sucks all the anti-war articles from there and dumps them onto the front page of GG.com?

I remember George saying on his show last week that he is now getting so many emails through his official site that he has employed a "trusty assistant" to answer them on his behalf, so maybe the site is starting to become a victim of its own success, in that it's no longer such a direct link to the man himself.

[Mandy]

I hope the following helps : (no, this isn't an official GG answer, but from a "source close to the GG team" as they say in the papers) :

The site is becoming a victim of its own success. 000's of e-mails etc. That is why George mentioned the new person to look after the e-mails.

There is a feed from SpideredNews (c.f. http://spiderednews.com/Feeds.htm )
to gg.com to show more recent news .. i.e. make the site more dynamic.
It is not easy or practical to maintain a running news web site based on volunteers
who have day jobs .. and thus the link to the SpideredNews feed.

Generally the most recent news is at the top (as seen on SpideredNews) .. but sometimes "prioritisation" (e.g. a story which has extra relevance or interest) is prioritised ahead of the more recent stories.

Faceless, you do something similar in this forum by making some threads "sticky",
e.g. someone might say : why is "Galloway Archive" near the top when the last posting is "Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:10 pm".

News gets old after a few hours .. with 000's of stories a day .. so this "stickiness" avoids a site being just a "news ticker" .. for which there are a number of news sites out there.

[faceless]

I should have been clearer - my point is more that the non Galloway specific stories should be in chronological order, but that seems sorted better now. Also I realise the point of prioritising in posting news stories, but some aren't even related to topics he discusses - such as two today about building developments in Hull and Aberdeen.

[Mandy]

Sometimes the links between stories and discussions might be obscure .. but still there.

e.g. the two developments you mention are related to how money is spent : inner city development versus the planned marina, mall and retail park. i.e. developments highlighted might be good .. or they might be bad .. but it is a public interest to be aware that by choosing these types of developments on these locations, it might preclude (or encourage) other development in other areas.

In any case, the news on the site isn't always 100% GG specific .. unless you count the world as his oyster (which is a strange expression since I hate oysters .. well, never tried it .. ughhh).