I am happy to announce that Bird's Word is opening a branch in SimDem! Many of you SimDemmers don't know us, but we are VoDs number one News and Polling Agency (we are the only one). It is run by Birdish, with Muggy as editor and Pigeon as designer. You may have a few questions, and I am happy to (attempt) to answer them in advance.
What will happen to the VoD articles and polling?
The VoD articles and polls will remain on the same schedule. They will come out at the same (albeit inconsistent) frequency. You can expect the quality to remain similar as well.
Will you do approval polling in SimDem?
No, not in the same way we do on VoD (where we calculate it and track it in a big graph). There are other news agencies who already do documented approval polling in SimDem (like the Gazette, who inspired me to do polling on VoD). The SimDem polling will be vastly different. There will be a lot of general opinion polls on controversial topics. There will be a lot of one-off approval polls (that won’t be documented on a big graph. And finally, we are hoping to work with Hackerman and Lon and use their Tea tabulator, along with our polls, to try and predict senate results before they happen.
How will your articles differ between SimDem on VoD?
On VoD we primarily focus on commentary pieces and interviews. This is due to my position as Justice on VoD, which results in me not being able to get deeply involved in politics there. The SimDem articles will largely be focused on opinion pieces, and a lot more political articles (with the occasional commentary and interview.)
Why?
Firstly, our current staff are far more active on SimDem than VoD. Secondly, I feel my position as Justice on VoD limits the scope of the articles I can write. Thirdly, SimDem has an economy and incentives for business, which makes it more interesting to run a business like the Birds Word there. Finally, I’m bored with a lot of free time.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to ping me on either server with any more questions!