"Editor in Charge"
San Francisco, CA
Fun Fact: I was kicked out of Girl Scouts because I refused to sell cookies.

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  735

The Spring/Forum

April 8, 2008

THE SEARCH FOR OFFICIAL RAFTERS
We have come up with a temporary fix for those of you looking for an easier
way to check out all of our Official Rafters. We have changed all their Fun
Facts to read as OFFICIAL RAFTER. What that means is this: if you go to the
home page and use the keyword search function, you can type in "Official
Rafter" (minus the quotes), and all of their submissions will come up. If you
look under the two rows of pictures, you will see a link that says "Search
Results" and "Next," which will take you through everything. Currently, there
are 48 pages to look at.

STILL MORE RAFTER SELECTIONS


Our Rafter selections continue. In case you missed it, we're announcing them
on the new home page under Our Current Favs. Check out our latest
Rafters: Mz J, Dantes, Tecmo, and Thinker: The Deep. Feel
free to deluge them with praise, congrats, 
or the ultimate flattery jealous
whinings. Rafters are chosen based on writing talent, interesting subject
matter and also the traffic they generate for the site. Rafter selections will be
ongoing, so stay tuned. If you haven't been chosen yet, it might be a good
time to increase your chances by submitting some new content. We intend to
choose 200 Rafters before our official launch, so everybody still has the
opportunity to be selected.

OFFICIAL RAFTER LIST
Previously selected Official Rafters include: Natalie Armstrong, Jenoa Scot
Briar-Bonpane, Christopher Bone, Dawn Bonner, Shannon Bullock, Robin
Burke, Candi Calderone, Jean Paul Cauvin, Zachary Collins, Eloy Corral, Austen
Cruz, Etnavibes, fisherking, Game Addict, David Gold, Paul Kaufman, Johnny,
Gregory Kern, Libby, Lit Lush, Vesperae Lux, Anna Nelson, Neil
Paris, Del Phillips, Ralphael Prepetit, Ms. Smalls, Mistress Snark, Tracey Swan,
Tyler Trumbull, Andrew Goldberg, Josh Edelson, Darrah du Jour, CR, Neil
Wagner, Kat, John Armstrong, Nels R. Thoreson, Doc in Blue, Supermom, Ben
Reynolds, Mz J, Dantes, Tecmo, and Thinker: The Deep.

BUH-BYE HALF-MILLION. HELLO, 700K.
This week, we hit 700,000 page views. Obviously, this site is taking off
exponentially. We're so pleased to have this kind of exposure for our Rafters,
and we thank each and every one of our candidates for their talents and
contributions.

Uh, HELLO????
We've been having trouble contacting some of you. So please let us know if
your email address has changed (you can write us at
questions@rafterjumpon.com -- include your Rafter ID number in the email).
Also, be sure to see that our communications are not being banished to your
junk mail file by your spam filter.

REALITY CHECK
We now have well over 1800 Rafter candidates, a fact that we're extremely 

proud of. Unfortunately, that means we cannot do any editing of typos,
grammar, punctuation, etc. If we did it for one, we'd have to do it for all. 

And this is an audition, BTW. Current site capacities do not allow you to edit
your articles yourself, so proofread carefully before submitting if you want to 

avoid coming under attack from the vicious Ninja Grammar Patrol that
frequents our site. 



THIS AND THAT
We've been getting lots of questions about how to make additional
submissions. For the time being, you can only do this by re-applying. We 

promise this will be easier once the official site launches. For now, just fill 

out the new app with your name, stage name and preferences, fun fact, 

geographic location and photo. The rest of the application can be filled out 

with See Previous Submission. Please include your Rafter ID number, which 

is in the top http bar (at the end of the bar) on your page. 



WE?RE LISTENING

Other questions and issues? Write us at questions@rafterjumpon.com. Be
sure to include your rafter ID number.




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  735

Comments

Click here to leave a comment

J-son on July 9, 2010

Ah "We've been getting lots of questions about how to make additional
submissions. For the time being, you can only do this by re-applying. We 

promise this will be easier once the official site launches."

J-Son-of-a-mother on July 9, 2010

Yeah...ditto, how do I sign-in and/or add stuff?

stupid on July 8, 2010

where is the login for "rafters"
this site seems a load of garbage. as a "rafter" i cant find the damn login button..getting aggravated..

Gee on June 14, 2010

Can anyone tell me how to opt out and remove my photos?

vip62 on May 25, 2010

regarding everyones photos..If you do not down size them, they may not post. The image could be too big to send and NOT show up. Make sure you resize them if at all possible to be able to get your shots to show up...this is just noted suggestion..thanks all

robert n on December 16, 2009

I filled out the app but no photos got posted, please remove that all, im in youngstown, ohio

Jalleh D. on October 21, 2009

I know how you feel. I have run into that snag too. I filled out the whole app. and every photo I uploaded errored too. I would like to get involved in this site, as I would like to use it as a medium to get my first book out there called poetry and Satire for the avante garde. To all who read this, if you are interested, go to lulu.com/booksbyJalleh. I have gotten nothing but positive feedaback and I am a first time author who is just trying to get my first book out, so I need all the help I can get (LOL).

Real on October 19, 2009

Same problem. Went to all the trouble of filling in your whole application and then every photo I tried to upload it errored, so I quit. I like your forum but can't get into it.

Lauren P. Rejniak on October 8, 2009

I was not able to load up a pic (even though it met size and formatting requirements) and three e-mails I sent to you have bounces back. That's frustrating.

Shayla on October 5, 2009

I've tried emailing the proper email address but it bounced back to me-- how do I delete my account now?

Zander Christenson on July 29, 2009

Hey, quit spreading lies about the little lady. Our lawler will be contacting you if you dont cease and desist this defamation of her fine character!

Lori Dennick on July 28, 2009

What level of validation of your authors do you undertake? I ask because known plagiariser L Anne Carrington AKA Lori Dennick is prominently advertised on the front page of your site right now. L Ann aka Lori is a convicted criminal who has been incarcerated for fraud, as well as caught plagiarising on more than one occasion. You can find her criminal records on the PA court records website. Google L Anne Carrington if you want the full story about her. Or go to here for some of her history.

http://www.idletard.com/blog/archives/9683

Grace on July 13, 2009

When they originally advertised for writers they specifically said the chosen rafters would eventually be paid. LIARS! Complete scam and anyone who continues to write for them is not so smart.

danica on June 16, 2009

eh, just another place to express myself. What more do you want?

Beau Avery on May 13, 2009

Cheerio, look two posts down at
"kkdoejr"'s comment. Since I posted my
two articles I could have created a
website of my own, with all the bells
and whistles.

Cheerio on May 7, 2009

How is it a scam? They're not charging us!

Beau Avery on April 29, 2009

I think it's a scam too. Where are the
updates about the "final website"? It
doesn't take nearly 2 years to create a
website of this nature.

rafter watcher on April 13, 2009

I think if you want to become an official rafter, you
better make there's a picture of you, along with
something interesting to say :P

kkdoejr on March 2, 2009

They are generating money from ads from you people who think you are competing for a place on board some SPECIAL website...This site has so much garbage on it....they are making adsense revenue and double click ad money of of all these pages and you will never see a dime ...go write/publish at a site you can make money on.

Anonymous on March 2, 2009

Great racket to make people think they must be chosen...special...to be a "rafter" every page here is to generate google adsense revenue and doubleclick ads etc. This site is generating new pages and views and making money- go write somewehere else that shares the revenue with the writer/publisher. What a farce...

Mamakind on December 30, 2008

*heavy sigh*
When? I think the last comment from the "Editor in
Charge" was in April... grumblegrumblegrumble...

Khisha on December 29, 2008

When will you guys be picking the new rafters, i noticed it was suppose to be up in spring 2008 so do you think everything will be ready?

Tiffany Amber Madison on November 20, 2008

I hope that this site is legit. Ive got safety on my work if it isn't though. You guys seem, sincere.

cheryl on October 23, 2008

I am not a "rafter" so I can't say if this site is legitimate. HOWEVER, I do know of a site that is legitimate. Use the link below to join TODAY.COM. They pay YOU $1 per post and you earn $2 for every 2000 clicks you receive. They also have a $5 per article feature as well. I have written for them since August and have already received two checks from them. I highly recommend them. The following link will take you to the site. http://www.today.com/ctr.cgi?idx_mem=1656&mode=vip

Grace on September 14, 2008

Hello people!!!! They got us to contribute work so they could then get advertisers so they could then make some cash off ofclicks on those ads. It's a big ol' scam... Oh well...

jester on September 6, 2008

I don't know why my photos won't load..could be operator error but I sure wish they would...what I am doing wrong? I really don't care if the site stays the same..I am having a ball writing..

Cynical on August 31, 2008

I am beginning to think that this site is being ran out of a minimal security prison, masterminded by bored inmates as a giant practical joke.

sam lacks on August 16, 2008

if im honest, i have given up on this competition as i dont know whether you big-wigs are looking for journalists or people that write things that attract attention but are on the whole inane, in the way that they dont provoke thought in the reader, but sales to the public.

Jon on August 13, 2008

So this “hot new media” channel is launching “soon”, is it?

Is there any more information about just exactly what sort of media channel all of these “rafters” will be contributing to? Is this going to be a blog network? News site? Ponzi scam?

Feather on August 8, 2008

How long does it take for additional articles to post to your page when you go through the submission again using current account?

Anonymous on August 1, 2008

Theresa~If you want to add another article, you do it as if it were your first "application". However, I have stopped playing along with this charade; I refuse to lose any more first rights (for work that I could get paid for elsewhere) on a site that is stagnant and poorly managed.

Teresa on July 24, 2008

I've been trying to figure out how I can add more articles? I have written several times through email and haven't received any reply. Can you tell me how to add more articles and will this ever become a paying site? Thanks...

Dantes on June 24, 2008

To the Editor(s):
With all due respect, I can only echo the concerns of my colleagues below, to wit: when will you inaugurate the official site? Since it's well past spring, a word of encouragement would be helpful. Thanks, and regards. . .

Dantes on June 24, 2008

To the Editor(s):
With all due respect, I can only echo the concerns of my colleagues below, namely, when do you plan to inaugurate the official site? As it's well past spring, a word of assurance would be encouraging. Thanks and regards. . .

Anonymous on June 13, 2008

I'm beginning to wonder if this site is going to happen? What happened to the 200 rafters and the Spring launch date? Any info to be shared?

bsravanin on May 8, 2008

Dear Editor,
Thanks for the website. It's beautiful. And thank you for approving my application. But the image I uploaded under "a photo of yourself" is missing. :-( Anything anybody could do about it now?

April Lentini on May 6, 2008

"problem loading page" when I submit my application. I have adhered to the requested size limits. Any advice?

Candi Calderone on April 25, 2008

Hey there...any update on the progress of the launch? Just curious...and excited, of course!

Editor in Charge on April 25, 2008

Johnny, I think we've resolved your issues. Please let
us know if there's anything else we can do for you.

Editor in Charge on April 25, 2008

Dantes, we are so pleased to have you on board. We
appreciate your talent, of course, and also the prolific
number of submissions.

johnny on April 24, 2008

Please disregard my last comment...thanks for the email!

johnny on April 23, 2008

Dear Editor...I'm sensing that my emails are not getting through to you...can this be confirmed by chance?

Dantes on April 23, 2008

Dear Editor(s): A belated thank you for having selected my work. To comment that I am pleased would be an understatement - I am literally overjoyed, and thank both you and the readers who've visited my posts. I am sincerely grateful!

Editor in Charge on April 12, 2008

Dear Mz J: The talent is all yours. The pleasure is all
ours.

Mz J on April 9, 2008

"Dear Editor"
Thank you very much for allowing me to be an "Official Rafter" I look forward to contributing to the entertainment...~Peace~Mz.J~

Editor in Charge on March 26, 2008

Dear Hopin', we generally choose four Rafters at a
time, usually once a week.

hopin to get chosin on March 20, 2008

How often do candidates get chosen...how many at a time do you choose...

Editor in Charage on March 9, 2008

Latest round of Rafters has been chosen and posted.

Candidate in waiting on March 1, 2008

Hello...is anyone out there? When are the next selections?

One of the candidates on February 28, 2008

When is the next selection?

Editor in Charge on February 26, 2008

Thanks, Truth Junkie. We pride ourselves on being
polysyllabic.

truth junkie on February 24, 2008

ya gotta admire being able to fit the word exponentially in this forum...

Editor in Charge on February 7, 2008

Mistress Snark, in response to your request, and
also the same request from others, we've come up
with a temporary solution for all of you to view our
Official Rafters more easily. Please read it above, in
the Forum.

Editor in Charge on February 7, 2008

Grace, there will definitely be much more
convenient technology in when the official site
launches. We are sorry that you are currently
having difficulty, but most of the time it is actually
working. Please write us at
questions@rafterjumpon.com and let us know a
specific comment that you left and where, so we
can check to see if it got kicked to the spam filter.

Grace on February 7, 2008

I don't want to keep harping on the comment thing but... I have left comments, seen them posted, gone back to the same article and noticed that they are no longer there. Very frustrating. Any chance the official roll out will offer some improvements? If you guys want to increase viewers people need to feel like they are having ongoing interactions. Thanks.

Mistress Snark on February 6, 2008

Thrilled all around then! Yay for March! I can't wait to see it all come together. :)

Editor in Charge on February 6, 2008

Mistress Snark, first of all, you're welcome.
Secondly, we are saving all site revisions until
March, which is our target month for launching the
official site. Thirdly, we're thrilled that you're
thrilled. And we're thrilled, too.

Mistress Snark on February 5, 2008

Thanks for picking me! (They like me! They really like me!)

Question--is it possible to set up a page where you keep the currently selected rafters and their submissions? I'd love an easier way to check out people who've been picked and leave comments and such.

I love how the site is progressing and growing and all that jazz. I'm very excited about where things are headed.

Editor in Charge on January 28, 2008

Swannie, this is the one proofreading issue that we
will correct ourselves if the contributor requests it.
Depending on the program in which the document
was created, our software does occasionally omit
some of the paragraphing.

swannie on January 26, 2008

Reading the entries/articles are hard on the eyes. The paragraphs tend to run on. And I'm almost sure it's not the writers' fault. Is there anyway that the editors/admin/webmaster can publish them the way they should appear -- with indentations? Otherwise, you're shooing away readers and other potential rafters like me.

Editor in Charge on January 17, 2008

Dantes, we know the spam filter is a bit of a pain,
but it is totally necessary. We were getting so much
electronic spam at one point that it would have
crashed the entire site. Thanks for your patience ...
and also for those comments!

Dantes on January 16, 2008

Dear Sir/Madame,

Kindly ignore my last post about the site not working. Alas, I have nobody to blame but my febrile fingers. I bolloxed up the word thingie one has to enter before posting. Again, my apologies!

Dantes on January 16, 2008

You need to have a look at your web site. I have (as you've suggested) attempted to leave a favorable comment both on one of your 'favs' pages, and on this page. I either receive an error message, or am beamed out to another galaxy. Something is kakutsa!

Editor in Charge on January 15, 2008

Grace, due to the spamming nazis out there, we
had to institute a spam filter. It occasionally
freezes, unfortunately, but, trust us, you don't want
us to remove it, or we would be overrun with spam.
We definitely appreciate your leaving comments,
and we apologize for the occasional inconvenience
that the filter causes.

Grace on January 11, 2008

Hey there... I have tried a couple of times to leave a comment and sometimes get an error message "Done but with errors on page". I'm sure you guys are looking for ongoing dialog and it makes it hard when you aren't able to easily leave a comment.

Editor in Charge on January 7, 2008

Michele, being only human, we did take a little
holiday during the holidays, but we are back on
track with our Official Rafter selections. Check out
the latest selections, posted just minutes ago.

Michele on January 3, 2008

I can't speak for Dave, but my curiousity was more focused on the next Rafters announcement versus when the actual site will launch. You said previously that you would make new selections every week or two, and it has been FIVE weeks since your last announcement. I am just sensing (below) that some people are getting discouraged by the lack of updates, and maybe could use a fresh carrot (or four) dangled in front of them;)

Editor in Charge on January 2, 2008

Grace, your headline has been moved to the proper
place on the submission and is now displaying as you
wanted.

Editor in Charge on January 2, 2008

PJ, as we've stated on our FAQ page, there will be
certain rights that we will reserve. Most sites
require some rights to protect their business and
also to make sure they have fresh content. We will
announce our rights policy before the official site
launches, and all Official Rafters will then have the
chance to decide if they want to participate further.
We anticipate that the policy will be agreeable to
most of our candidates, since we have a vested
interest in keeping our Rafters happy.

Editor in Charge on January 2, 2008

Renaissance Man, see below. We are on track with our
first quarter '08 launch plan.

Editor in Charge on January 2, 2008

Dave & Michele, we are on track with our first
quarter '08 launch plan. Site programming was a
little complicated than initially anticipated, and we
don't want to announce an exact date until we're
sure. When we know, our Rafters and Rafter
candidates will be the first to know.

Michele on December 31, 2007

The natives are getting restless...

The Renaissance Man on December 28, 2007

I beginning to wonder if everyone is wondering the same thing as me! Is this site legitimate? Is it ever going to launch? Are we all just stupid literary puppets?

Grace Leoni on December 28, 2007

Hey guys... I wrote an e-mail regarding this but no luck yet. My second article is missing it's title so it is confusing. Please add "What We Really Want from Our Government" as the title to my second article PLEASE? Thanks, Grace

PJ on December 27, 2007

I am concerned about your "requiring certain
rights" to the work produced by rafters. Unless you
are willing to pay a regular salary and benefits you
should not be expecting all the rights to the work
of your "correspondents". There are too many
companies making bank on the backs of other
peoples work. If you maintain your copyright there
is at least the potential to sell the work in other
venues.

Dave on December 18, 2007

2008 is almost here, any updates?

Editor in Charge on November 28, 2007

Yes, Wani, we announced our latest selections this
morning, and just updated this page to reflect it. Be
sure to get on their pages, check them out, and leave
comments.

Waniyetu Tusweca on November 28, 2007

Have there been anymore candidates chosen? I see new people on thehome page but no updates there or here. Please give us some information. Thank you.
~Wani~

Editor in Charge on November 19, 2007

Wani, thanks so much for submitting. The Rafter
selection process will be ongoing, even once the
site is up, as we see who creates traffic and who
doesn't. So, you still have plenty of time to make
an impression and be considered for selection as a
Rafter.

Waniyetu Tusweca on November 19, 2007

HI! Love the site. I am excited to see my own writing up! LOL! Anyhow, I was wondering that if you just found Rafter and just applied, then how are you going to catch up with the other candidates that have been here since like June? I mean you say you judge the applicant based on popularity and votes as well as professionalism and talent...just wondering...thank you...Wani

Editor in Charge on November 16, 2007

Lizzie, yes, it is pretty exciting. We plan on
announcing more official Rafters every week or two, so
keep checking back, and good luck!

Lizzie on November 15, 2007

How exciting and congrats to the four top choices! If nothing else, this experience has given me the confidence to get my writing out there! Any timeline on choosing the rest?

Editor in Charge on November 14, 2007

Rhoda, here's the plan. There will be no
compensation in the current audition/application
phase. Once the official site goes up, we will
confirming details like compensation, rights,
submission expectations, etc., with those Rafters
who are chosen. No one's work will be posted on
the official site without their consent.

Rhoda Rouda on November 13, 2007

I'm confused. How can you, or any of the chosen Rafters, earn any money?

Editor in Charge on November 9, 2007

Lizzie, thanks for your thanks, and we'd also like to thank you for sharing your stories. Thanks. Thanks a lot!

Editor in Charge on November 9, 2007

Dina, thanks for noticing! We figured nobody would miss scrolling down. We appreciate your enthusiasm.

Editor in Charge on November 9, 2007

Chely, thanks for bringing this to our attention. It's the first we've heard of it, so I'll have our programmer look into it.

Lizzie on November 8, 2007

I am so excited about this site. I have so many stories to share, and have never known where to start. Thanks for giving all of us that place!

Dina on November 7, 2007

Great change moving newer comments to the top of the pages. Thanks! I remain excited to see more and check in daily.

Chely on November 7, 2007

It has been brought to my attention that some people (but not all) trying to post a comment are given an error screen which in small print directs them to set up a wordpress account/username. Why?

Editor in Charge on November 6, 2007

Natakashi -- The current site is only an audition
site, so at the moment, we don't have the ability for
our Rafter candidates to manage/edit their own
content. Once the official site goes up, our Rafters
will definitely have that capability. Until then, if
you'd like to submit additional articles, you need to
go in and re-apply. Just complete the top portion
with your name, screen name, photo and fun fact,
and then the rest of the application you can fill in
with "See Previous Submission."

Natakashi on November 5, 2007

This site seemed like it was the site I was looking for to tell my stories. But I can't post any more or edit my entry. I wanted to know how do you do so on this site.

Editor in Charge on October 30, 2007

Chuck Destruction (Love the name!): So glad you like
the site. Don't be shy -- tell all your friends, and see
above, if you need tips on how to use our links to
publicize your work.

Editor in Charge on October 30, 2007

Jordan, yes, we did fix the comments feature, so
please be sure to get out there and let your thoughts
be known.

Chuck Destruction on October 30, 2007

This is great! I have been looking for an outlet like this for some time. I love this site!!!

Jordan on October 27, 2007

I'm glad the comments are working again!!

KrisP - MommaP on October 20, 2007

Thanks! I will be waiting, breathing heavily, salivating... OMG - I sound like a perv! LOL Seriously, I cant wait!

Editor in Charge on October 18, 2007

KrisP, you are too funny. As far as next moves for the
site, we are getting very close to making some major
announcements of an exciting nature, so stay tuned.

KrisP on October 17, 2007

To Kylie: I understand the concern about people ranting and having to read some garbage on here, but some are fantastic and I think MOST people can get past the bad spelling and enjoy. Oh, by the way, speaking of spelling, may I correct something for you?
You wrote: "I can't even find anything interesting enough to read about becuase there are so many worthless rants to wed through."

I think it is spelled WEED not wed. And then there is that word BECUASE... I would not worry so much about how people are spelling YOUR and YOU'RE when you need a dictionary next to YOUR computer! HA

HEY EDITOR!!!!
It has been months since this started, any news on when you are going to start the selection process??? <<
THANKS!!

Editor in Charge on October 16, 2007

JT, please write us at questions@rafterjumpon.com,
and we'll see if we can get those photos up for you.

Editor in Charge on October 16, 2007

Kyrie, yes, you most certainly did miss something
here. This is an AUDITION/APPLICATION site.
During this phase, we are allowing anyone to apply,
but once the official site goes up, we will be much
more selective. Also, part of the selection process
is going to be about how much traffic you generate
to your articles and for the site, so you absolutely
have some control over your own destiny if you
self-promote. Of course, nobody's going to notice
you if you don't get on board, so we encourage you
to submit.

kyrie on October 14, 2007

This is a great idea, and a well designed website... but I'm disappointed in the quality of the submissions. Is this going to be another massive, out-of-control site for morons to scream about their unintelligent, unfounded opinions? I'm a firm supporter of "freedom of speech" and the full representation of the public's opinion, but where's the quality control? Send back a submission when they type "your" instead of "you're." That's pathetic and no one wants to filter through garbage. I can't even find anything interesting enough to read about becuase there are so many worthless rants to wed through. This is just my honest feedback. I'd participate, except I feel that my submissions will also be lost in the large quantity of poor quality. Maybe I'm missing something here. Feel free to let me know. And good luck to all the real writers out there. Keep working hard! :)

JT on October 12, 2007

Can I remove my page from this site? I submitted
photos and a little bit of text, but the photos were
either lost or rejected. The text doesn't make much
sense without the pictures, so I'd like to just delete
it. But how?

Editor in Charge on October 3, 2007

Mmmkay, we're in development on the official site.
It's going to be very sophisticated technologically,
so we can't yet provide a firm date as to when it will
be up. But our Rafter candidates will know as soon
as we do.

mmmkay on October 1, 2007

I'm so excited for this site to launch(and to see who the rafters are :] )
Any set date?

Editor in Charge on September 27, 2007

Uri, we are NOT requiring rights for the current
audition/application phase. However, once the
official site is launched, we will be retaining certain
rights. Those rights are currently being developed
with our lawyers. We want to work out a policy that
is fair and reasonable for our correspondents.

Uri Meir on September 26, 2007

I think your FAQ is very unethical with respect to writers copyrights. I doubt that it's even legal to sign people up on such contracts without their prior consent.
It should be illegal.
It's definitely VERY unethical.

Uri Meir on September 26, 2007

disregarding anything that is on you FAQ, you do not retain any legal rights for id=572, and in particular do not retain reproduction rights in Hebrew for her writings up to and including Sept 23 2007, as they were previously sold to me.

Editor in Charge on September 19, 2007

Anon, write us at questions@rafterjumpon.com, and
we can make your name private.

Editor in Charge on September 19, 2007

Techie, thanks for the assist!

anon on September 5, 2007

how do i remove my real name from my submissions?

Techie on August 31, 2007

Hitting reload can definitely cause that to happen too! Whenever you submit a form on a website (be it buying something with a credit card or just leaving a comment somewhere), you should try not to hit reload right afterwards...

Editor In Charge on August 26, 2007

Angelika, I believe it has to do with the number of
times you click the "Submit Comment" button. If you
double-click, it comes up twice.

Angelika Pietruk on August 26, 2007

Hi there, I posted a comment on my site and it came up 4 times! Is there any way someone could remove three of them? Does this have something to do with pressing the reload button (as I did)? ...Anyways have a good one...

Editor in Charge on August 16, 2007

Whereas, thanks for the kind words. Keep checking
back; we're getting new Rafter candidates daily.

Editor in Charge on August 16, 2007

Whereas, thanks for the kind words. Keep checking
back; we're getting new Rafter candidates daily.

Editor in Charge on August 16, 2007

Anonymous: Requests like that should be directed to
questions@rafterjumpon.com.

Editor in Charge on August 16, 2007

Zelda, submissions can only be deleted by writing us
at questions@rafterjumpon.com.

anonymous on August 15, 2007

What can I do if I accidentally hit the city just below the one I intended? Any way to change it?

zelda on August 15, 2007

i want to delete my submission but cannot find how to. please advise.

Editor in Charge on August 7, 2007

Hey, Pete, thanks for your suggestions. This is only
the application site. We appreciate your comments,
and will review our rights policy once the official
site launches. We of course want policies that are
fair and reasonable.

Pete on August 5, 2007

I am guessing that you are after non-professionals to apply here.

I don't know of a professional writer or photographer that would allow the transfer of all rights unless there is significant compensation.

At least during the application process you might want to ask for publication rights, rather than ownership.

I know I would advise anyone who wants to be 'noticed' not to apply here and give away all rights to their work. (And yes, that includes myself, so I won't apply, even though it appears to have potential.)

editor in charge on July 31, 2007

Hey, Gameboy, we can't give you an exact date yet,
but we're planning to get the website up ASAP. And
even if you're not a writer yourself, what about getting
some of your friends to submit some gaming articles?

GameBoy on July 26, 2007

Lets get this thing rolling! Im no writer, but I saw your
Craigslist ad for Gaming Critics and was hoping to
read some amusing content. When is the launch?!?!

editor in charge on July 20, 2007

Vesperae, first of all, we should remind everyone
that this is just an application site at the moment,
and that the official site is not yet online. Due to
the great response we've been getting, we're
planning to speed up the launch of our new media
channel, which means we'll also be selecting our
first Rafters sooner than we had expected. When
the new site goes up, it will have many more
features that make communicating easier. We love
getting suggestions, and we will consider all of
them; there are some really good ones here. FYI,
we think it's great that we're already building a
community, even in the audition phase. As for your
other questions -- additional submissions are
welcomed, and encouraged, as they increase your
readership. We are definitely fine with submitting
only one story; we are in the process of changing
the application form to reflect this, and also to
simplify it a little. Story lengths are only guidelines
at this point in the process, but we do feel that they
are appropriate for this kind of format. We will add
that we welcome feedback from any and everyone,
and not just the candidates, as we are working on
building an audience here. If you feel someone has
submitted an unfair comment, then post a
passionate defense. We think controversy is good;
it is apathy that is awful.

Vesperae Lux on July 19, 2007

Questions & Suggestions


First of all, to anyone who is getting sick of seeing me post here - sorry. Typically, you'll find the scroll keys to the lower right on your keyboard. Use them (*poof*, I'm gone) and relax. :D


Questions

1) Multiple submissions - are these kosher?

2) Submission either over or under the 250-500 word limit specified on the application page - are these kosher?

3) Submissions of only one sample piece, instead of the two asked for - are these kosher?

I'm asking these questions because I see a lot of variation on all counts among the submissions thus far, and I find myself wondering about how fair it is to evaluate the work when not everyone submits based on the same criteria.

As someone who does a lot of freelance, I always assume that the client's restrictions are there for a reason, so I always do my best to respect them.


Suggestions

1) I really like the fact that all of our submission pages are open to anyone for comment and rating, but I would like to suggest that you set up a way to easily identify those who have submitted samples, as opposed to those who have not, in the comments section.

As I'm sure that most regulars will recognize by now, the critics with the harshest feedback don't have the guts to submit their own stuff for review, but more importantly, I'd love to be able to quickly go to the page of another contributor who has given me feedback. I've read everything that has been posted thus far, but if someone new comes along whose work I haven't read and/or viewed yet, or if I haven't read and/or viewed someone's work in awhile and they've just found mine, I'd really like to have this option.

I, and others, have used adding our Rafter ID # in the name field to accomplish this, and as discussed above in previous messages, by creating personal hyperlinks, but could this be standardized, perhaps with the addition of a new posting field below or after the name field where we could enter our Rafter ID #? I believe that it would be really easy for your programmer (again, when she returns) to convert this to the URL for our respective Rafter pages, which could then turn our name into a hyperlink when the message is posted.

The result would be that it would become immediately clear who has submitted, and who hasn't, and we could also find each other very easily. Cookies could also be used to auto fill these submission fields after we first fill them out whenever we go to post a new comment after that.

One other possibility would be to also add an optional field where you can enter the URL of a homepage, or a MySpace or YouTube page, etc., which could also help to flesh out the backgrounds of some of us.

2) Would it be possible to add a preview function for comment messages, so that we can avoid problems with html tags, and also get a chance to test how things will look before we post them? For message posting set ups like the one you have here, I always end up composing in a text editor on my machine and then copying and pasting the text into the submission box, mainly because the field is rather small and I can't get the best sense of how it will flow and look once posted.

3) How about adding a search index that sorts individual submission pages based on options selected by the user, which could filter and rank for "date added", "thumbs up count", "number of comments", and perhaps even by "writers", "visual artists", and "writers/visual artists"?


My $0.02. Thanks so much for playing along!

;)

V

Vesperae Lux on July 18, 2007

O.K. The "college professor" aspect of my personality compels me to add the following, just in case you have absolutely no idea what the HELL I'm talking about. ;)

1) Find or create the graphic that you want to use for your button link. It's easiest to either use an image that is already the size you want it to be, or to scale an image (in Photoshop or some other image editing program) to the size that you want it to be. If it's not the size that you want it to display at, you can use html tags to rescale it, but this involves including additional dimension tags in the code, as shown here.

2) Use one of the free image hosting sites of your choosing from this search. You'll probably only need to provide a working email address and a password of your choosing. I use xs.to, and like it, but you can use whomever you want to. Once signed up and logged in, the site should have an "upload utility", which allows you to browse for the image that you want to upload from your computer. Once you select and upload it, you should be redirected to a page that shows you the "direct" url where the image, all by itself and not on a webpage, is located. Copy this into a simple/plain text editor. Most browsers have one, and most computers also have a stand-alone simple/plain text editor. MS Word is O.K., but depending on your default font, it can skew quotes, which sometimes makes the code unreadable by some browsers.

3) On a separate line in your text editor, either type or copy and paste the url of the page that you want to link to by clicking on your image.

4) On another separate line in your text editor, copy and paste the following:

*L*a href="URL_of_the_page_you_want_to_link_to"*R**L*img src="URL_of_the_image_that_you_want_to_use_as_a_button"*R**L*/a*R*

5) Manually REPLACE:

*L* with <
*R* with >

and be sure that there are NO SPACES between the characters, EXCEPT for a single space between "a" and "href" and "img" and src".

The reason that you have to do this is because I can't show the code here with the "<" and ">" characters in context without your browser reading the character string as an invisible tag. (I thought I'd figured out a way around this using another layer of code that you can't see, but it didn't work in my first message about this.)

6) Copy the url of the web page that you want to link to, and paste over (replace) this:

URL_of_the_page_you_want_to_link_to

Make sure that you haven't inadvertently added a space between the quotes and the first and last character of the url.

7) Copy the "direct" url of the image that you want to use, and past over (replace) this:

URL_of_the_image_that_you_want_to_use_as_a_button

This is where you can add "width" and "height" tags if you want to, again, as in this example. Note that you can even experiment with your code and test it on the w3 example page!

You should end up with a string of code that starts with "<" and ends with ">". This is the bit that you will copy and paste into a message field, like the comment fields here.

8) Delete the stand-alone urls if you want to save only the code for your custom hyperlink button, and save the file for future ease in posting; you can just copy and paste now, whenever the mood strikes you! ;)


Hopefully this is a little clearer and more foolproof than my last two attempts at explaining this were...

Enjoy!

:)

V

Vesperae Lux on July 18, 2007

D'OH!!! :D

Didn't work. Let's try this...

*L*a href="URL_of_the_page_you_want_to_link_to"*R**L*img src="URL_of_the_image_that_you_want_to_use_as_a_button"*R**L*/a*R*

REPLACE *L* with <, and *R* with >, and be sure that there are NO SPACES between the characters, EXCEPT for the one space between "a" and "href" and "img" and src".

And, from the w3 tutorial site, here's a slightly more "advanced" example.

Hope that I haven't made things more complicated... :/

Vesperae Lux on July 18, 2007

Mas Geekification...

I got a nice email from the Editor In Charge today asking about the code that I used to make my little avatar link button, so I will try to post the information here, if others would like to do something similar.

Here's a "dummy" version of the code for a button style hyperlink:



NOTE: The image you want to use will have to be uploaded to a server of your choosing, of which there are many currently available that are free.

And please also note that the most common error in copying and using the code above is an extra space between the URLs and the quotes that enclose them, so make sure that you don't have one.

The w3 Consortium also has an excellent HTML tutorial and reference guide that is very easy to use, and is also very "non-techie" friendly.

Hope this helps!

:)

V

Vesperae Lux on July 18, 2007

Dear Editor In Charge,

Here you go:

South Park Character Generator Site :)

But beware.

This site is highly addictive, and one of the most pleasurable wastes of time that you are likely to find online. (At least if you're a SP fan.)

A significant amount of Photoshop was involved in the creation of my SP avatar, so you unfortunately won't be able find certain elements that I've used on the site. But if you have an image editing application and a little imagination, the sky's the limit! ;)

Have Fun!

:)

V

editor in charge on July 18, 2007

Okay, so apparently I need to learn some different
code. We'll get back to you on the South Park site.

editor in charge on July 18, 2007

Hey, Vesperae, love the cartoon character. If
anybody else would like to create their own South
Park character, here's a link to a site that allows you
to do it. < href="http://www.sp-
studio.de/">South Park link

editor in charge on July 18, 2007

John, you are indeed the first to broach this subject.
We appreciate the info, but milk toast is also a
(horrifying) bland dish. We stand by the more
common spelling, but we'd love to hear any
comments you have in the future, as you are
obviously a connoisseur of the English language.

John on July 18, 2007

I like what you are doing here with this site, but I have one gripe. On your opening page, you mention that you do not want a "milktoast" writer. Now you are not incorrect in using that spelling of the word, but I suggest you change it to "milquetoast," which is the original spelling of the word. As it was based off of a comic strip character named Casper Milquetoast, who was a "very timid and retiring man" according to dictionary.com. I apologize if that came off as holier than thou, but writing sites making mistakes like that is one of my many pet peeves. I also apologize if I am not the first to broach this subject.

Vesperae Lux on July 17, 2007

O.K. I got my geek-on and have updated my page with original illustrations via the wonders of code scratching. Just scroll down past my yammering.

If you care. :D

(With sincerest *Thanks* to Mere Being and Fargazmo, a.k.a. Timothy Aaron Fargus, for allowing me to test my rusty html out in their comments sections.)

Click on my Imaginary Friend. Go on. I dare you.

Vesperae Lux / Rafter 233 on July 17, 2007

Well that answers that question. Cool! :)

Vesperae Lux / Rafter 233 on July 17, 2007

Based on the varied and very interesting collection of submissions thus far, something tells me that there is a very high probability of achieving a groovy gestalt-ness here. :)

_____________


Just curious if html tags will work in the comments section, so if you will be kind enough to indulge me, a little test?


bold

italic

underline

The greatest website ever in the history of the world since Al Gore invented the internet. ;)

My email address.

Thumbnailed image link:

editor in charge on July 16, 2007

Hey, Robin, nice music video. Things are definitely
going well, which is why we're thinking that we'll
launch the official site much sooner than we had
planned. For the time being, this is the only place
for comments besides on the individual Rafter
pages. However, once we launch the official site,
the communication will be much more
sophisticated, with message boards, comment
threads, groups, etc. It's coming, so stay with us!
You can check back to this page for updates, and
any further questions can be addressed to us here
or at questions@rafterjumpon.com. Thanks!

Robin Burke on July 15, 2007

hey rafter team, it's still looking good. Every time I check in seems there are more people on board, and quality of layout is good, Nice. Is this the only place where people can discuss among themselves? it says forum but posts are old

Anonymous on June 19, 2007

Everybody, thanks for all the positive feedback. We
think it's all an indication of how great our new Rafter
submissions are. Keep them coming, and tell all your
friends!

editor in charge on June 19, 2007

Erin, we've been pleased with the submissions we've
received so far. We're thinking we'll select our first
official Rafters in the fall, so keep visiting and voting
for your favorites.

editor in charge on June 19, 2007

Marie, we're keeping the details on the new media
under wraps for now, but count on this: you will be
impressed.

Erin on June 19, 2007

When do you plan on launching the actual site? And when will the first Rafters been chosen?

marie on June 18, 2007

the content is very cool...
i have not found another place like this...

any hints on the upcoming new media???
sounds powerful

Justin on June 16, 2007

can't wait until the launch. WHEN. This will be my new
favorite place to be.

Kathy on June 16, 2007

This is really cool....I have been following this
weeks and I keep coming back for more!

kudos,

Adam on June 16, 2007

I love the new Who's On Board page! I can't wait for more site upgrades!!!

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