Fool’s mountain now accepts open submission
Filed under:Letters | Tags:blog, submission, vision
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It is often said that we have one mouth and two ears for a reason, which is we should listen twice as much as we talk. It is great that our first ear is working well (we have got over 4,000 comments so far), but we want more feedback from our readers. Moreover, sometimes readers may have topics they want to discuss but we have not covered. So, in order to become better listeners and to let readers speak out more, we just added our second ear to this blog-Open submission for everyone.
To submit a post is simple. Just head to our Publish page and everything there is self-explanatory. The process is almost the same as writing a comment except you have more tools at your disposal (formatting, uploading files, tagging). And of course, you get the steering wheel. 😉 You don’t have to register for an account, although we encourage you to do so. At the very least, please provide a legitimate email address so may we contact you if needed (we won’t publish it).
Obviously, to fight spam and to ensure the quality of this blog, we cannot automatically publish a submission immediately. However, as long as the post is based on, as reader Zuiweng put it, “sound reasoning, reliable sources and mutual respect,” we will publish it. We also guarantee that the content will not be altered without your permission, except perhaps formatting/spelling corrections.
We hope everyone to submit their own posts but we especially encourage readers who disagree with us to do so. We expect every one of our writings to be scrutinized and challenged. As the Chinese proverb goes, “Real gold is not afraid of the fire of the crucible.” If we are wrong, we want to be corrected as early as possible and to learn from our mistakes. If we are right, we’d like to have the luxury to know that our faith is not untested.
Our site is called fool’s mountain for a reason. The East West gap is vast. We are fully aware that we are fighting against overwhelming odds. We truly appreciate people who kindly engage us in open debates. No matter you agree with us or not, in a sense, we are all in the fools’ club. We are both chipping away the mountain of ignorance and misunderstanding. Finally, to steal a slogan from Bob the Builder, I believe with persistence and determination, “Yes we can!”
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28 Responses to “Fool’s mountain now accepts open submission”
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- Global Voices Online » China: Submission Call
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July 16th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Oh this is great!
And is Bob the Builder the source of Obama’s slogan?
July 16th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Great development again CLC. Btw, the minipost looks much better now. =D
A side track, but site related question. How do I subscribe to one particular post’s comment, without making a comment to the post. The situation is, before I was able to fill in my email under the comment box and say “subscribe” to this post”, and I’ll always receive all the following comments in emails. Now, I must post a comment and click on “Notify me at following comments via email” to subscribe, but you know, sometimes, there just isn’t anything good to say.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:29 am
Hmmm, interesting but I got to say, this does have some risks. I would be careful because it seems you guys are a couple steps away from being just a forum.
But perhaps it would be good to let other people help cover other topics about China, besides the overdone hot button issues, because that’s in my view one of the gaps in perspectives on China. By that, I mean China is defined by a couple of narrow issues and that suppose to characterize the nation.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:36 am
Interesting initiative, it resonates with my concerns that the dialogue between “China and the West” is all too often a one-way street. I’ll keep an eye on this and I might stop by to post my own entry. But I hope you do not get hijacked by either murderous Dragon Slayers or suffocating Panda Huggers. Good luck!
July 16th, 2008 at 4:38 am
@DJ
Thanks, Obama caused some controversy by freely borrowing words from other people’s speech. I would not be surprised that he got his slogan by watching Bob the Builder with his two young daughters. 🙂
@opersai,
I added the function you requested. You may now subscribe without leaving a comment.
@yo,
Good point. We will be careful. Since all submissions are going to be reviewed by our editors, hopefully we can avoid the just being a forum trap.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:59 am
@Hemulen,
Actually I was thinking about you when I wrote the post. You commentated a while ago that one of our posts was so misinformed that you didn’t want to respond. I thought at that time maybe I should invite you to do a counter post so we can really get each other’s ideas across. So here you go. Welcome to our two-way street!
July 16th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Hhhmmm…. I am still waiting for Tang Buxi promised post….
July 16th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Good ,work.
but
Dose it have a spam filter on the open post? It’s too easy to get shot down if only with manual review.
It’s a good step anyway.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Thanks admin!
I’ll repeat yo’s concern though… I think saying that we will publish everything is perhaps going too far. We want to keep the “quality” of discussion high, and we need to have a mission statement in mind. I don’t think we should simply be a generic forum for discussion about anything and everything China-related. There are already numerous other sites/blogs/forums out there that are “about China”.
I haven’t thought this out… but my suggestion for posts that we should actually publish:
– reveal an aspect of China or Chinese not readily obvious in the Western world,
– be written with the objective of forwarding “the interests of China”. This can be interpreted in a broad way… but I don’t know whether we really want to invite posts from those who are either apathetic, or carry a destructive attitude towards China.
What do others think of the direction where this site should go?
July 16th, 2008 at 7:40 am
ha…
“…murderous Dragon Slayers or suffocating Panda Huggers…”
…that made me laugh.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:46 am
What attracts me to this site is that you give Chinese perspectives a voice in English, plus the few discussions I’ve followed are a little better quality than the average. I agree with Buxi.
There aren’t enough thoughtful Chinese voices *in English* online. Us language students can only learn Mandarin so fast, you know!
July 16th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Another bold move by those diligent mountain-movers – 敬祝宏业大展!
Perhaps no cultural / national group has as much international experience as the Chinese. Drawing on this pool of knowledge (as well as on the ever-growing flow of news and debates from the 祖国) and making it more accessible to all via the medium of the English language is a very worthwhile endeavour. Inviting readers, particularily those with opinions diverging from those of the editors/main writers, to contribute posts is an encouraging sign of willingness to foster debate. And the need for debate (constructive, factual and respectful) is obvious to everybody who has a stake in China (ethnically / culturally / historically / professionally / financially…)
On my wish list (ohh, those greedy ex-ex-pats):
– more links to Chinese-language sources, particularily to online forums, BBS, Twitter discussion threads. Places like Tianya’s zatan (“Miscellaneous Talk”) are very easy to get lost in and separating the pearls from the pebbles can be very time-consuming.
– we have read a lot of interesting stuff on China and its policies from people with long-time first-hand experience of the US and Europe. What about the Chinese experience in Japan? Tens of thousands of business people, scholars and students have intimate knowledge of life in the nation which has the deepest cultural and historical connections to China of any country, and whose path of modernization has served as a template or as a warning example to generations of reformers in China. What about the lessons of Japanese-style democracy, for example?
July 16th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
@BMY,
Yes, we have a spam filter in place.
@Buxi,
I share your concern. This is a new feature and we are still “crossing a river by feeling for stones.” We will revisit our policy as needed. We set the bar of guest submission as “based on sound reasoning, reliable sources and mutual respect” and all submissions will be reviewed by our editors, which mean you/DJ/Nimrod/Allen.
As you put it, we are “blogging for China,” not just “blogging about China.” I think readers know our position well. Obviously, someone just wants to shout “bad, bad China, go to hell” will not get the megaphone; but someone says “bad, bad China, but I genuinely want to make it better and here are my thoughts” will be respected.
Further steps can be taken to avoid this blog becoming a generic forum. For example, we may set up an opinion/letters page to accommodate guest posts so we can have a focus on the front page. Finally, when the day comes that we receive a flood of high quality submissions more than we can handle, then our mission is indeed accomplished and this blog can cease to exist. 😉
July 16th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Buxi,
Yeah, the quality is very important to me. If it becomes a “forum”, then any tom dick and harry can post anything, and that would be tough for you guys to find the quality stories in the bunch.
I also echo Joel’s point, that one of the biggest strengths of this site are your translations. It’s a great asset to this site(one not shared by many others), and I hope that stays the same without any dilution which might result from the focus being shifted to this project.
But I hope this works out, I think the positives of extra content(the biggest asset of a blog), is worth the risk of lower quality, but hopefully it won’t happen like that.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
@zuiweng,
Oh, wish list!
Actually I am greedier than you. I want everything you mentioned and more. I want more gifted writers to join us. I want web design/development wizards to help improve this site. I want more volunteers to translate Chinese content into English and to translate our English blog into other languages. I have put all my spare time and more into this site but my ability is quite limited. So again I plea for help. Write to webmaster@foolsmountain.com if you are willing and able.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
@admin,
thanks a bunch. Much easier now!
July 17th, 2008 at 1:55 am
@admin,
I really like the idea of a separate “page” for user content. If we make that available, perhaps as another tab on the top of the page… then my concern about front-page content would be resolved! And if anything catches our eye, we can highlight it from the front page as well.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:26 am
I think this is a great and useful blog. In my view, there are three areas worth covering:
1) Promote understanding between Chinese and non-Chinese. This is your stated goal.
2) Correct misperceptions in the old and new media. You’re doing it
3) Develop ideas and concensuses that point the way to China’s further reforms. As many people in this blog are bicultural and have a more balanced understanding of the East and West.
I don’t think a pure Western expert can provide useful advice to the Maindland Chinese. On the hand, there are good ideas and approaches in the West Mainland Chinese may not be familiar with. A bicultural person is in better position to understand the strengths and weeknesses of each society.
I always believe blogs shouldn’t be just used for commenting things, rather they can be used for developing ideas with build-in support if they come out of a concensus process.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
This is a bit off topic but can someone explain to me the reason for miniposts???? What’s the difference from regular post, because I don’t see one.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@yo, the minipost are usually very small, not too elaborate. It’s for those of us that’s not bold enough to write a full length analysis/commentary on the blog. Like to encourage a starter. =D
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I just submitted a guest/mini post, but I forgot to specify the tags, which are OIympics, China, democracy, reform. Hope the admin can add them to the post. Thanks.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
@admin,
I took a swing at the guest post, but I’m not sure if it got through.
March 27th, 2009 at 6:30 am
This is excellent .I think saying that we will publish everything is perhaps going too far.There are already numerous other sites and blogs .
June 8th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I kind of want to submit something to Fools mountain, but it doesn’t have much to do with current events, more like China of the past (deep in the past, before CCP took control). I believe in many ways, a lot of how we think about others and ourselves is due to history. Seeing the reality of life and how we came to be. However, if this isn’t a good place to do that, and there are others which might be appropriate, please let me know.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:12 am
No99: I don’t think any post here has to do with current events. It has to be related to China, somehow. Your post sounds very interesting and I’m sure it would spur some good discussion, so go for it!
June 9th, 2010 at 4:23 am
Hi Wukailong,
I do have problems with grammar and constructing good sentences. So, I hope if I submit anything, the admins can take a good look at any issues regarding those areas and let me know so I can improve on them, before making it public.