VolunteerNow Submission Form in eServices

[Eclipse]

Released today, apparently.

Is there any restriction on this app?

In my opinion, rank-and-file members should not be submitting articles directly to VN, without them being vetted by a commander or IO or both.

[RiverAux]

No different than how it was done before - sending an email to them. 

[Eclipse]

No different than how it was done before - sending an email to them.

I suppose - guess I don't like that idea, either.  That might account for the factual and photo issues we see so often.

Does anyone recognize the chain of command / staff postings anymore?

[Майор Хаткевич]

Wait, anyone can send in a story?

[SarDragon]

Wait, anyone can send in a story?

It's been that way pretty much all the time, clear back to the CAP News. Submitters were encouraged to vet them through the CoC, but direct submission was permitted.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Wait, anyone can send in a story?

It's been that way pretty much all the time, clear back to the CAP News. Submitters were encouraged to vet them through the CoC, but direct submission was permitted.

You would think...PAO, or CC...or something as a gate keeper.

[RiverAux]

Well, even if the infrastructure may allow anyone to send an email for fill out the form, but that doesn't trump the regulations that require, for example, IC review of mission press releases.  So, I don't see it as anything to worry about.  And if someone does send in something that they weren't authorized to send it, their name is on it, so it allows for pretty immediate correction and feedback. 

The PAOs have always had direct access to NHQ unlike just about everyone else.  Clear recognition of the fact that trying to route stories through the chain of command wouldn't work.  So, if a squadron PAO writes a story and gets squadron commander approval, they can send it right to NHQ.  No reason for CoC above squadron to see it since they wouldn't get pre-approval for anything from that squadron anyway (the squadron PAO could send that approved release right to the local paper). 

[JC004]

If you have a story on your squadron AE weekend, it should be approved by your CC/PAO.  If you have a story idea about something more broad or random, you should be able to submit an idea.

[Thrashed]

It has issues. The photo submission say only Jpegs less than 1MB. I uploaded a jpg under .9MB and it said "INVALID" photo. Hopefully, they can work the bugs out of this.

[SarDragon]

Was your pic <1,048,576 bytes (a real MB), or < 1,000,000 bytes, the figure used for most purposes? 1 (real) MB * .9 = 943,719, which will be too big when using the smaller MB figure.

[JC004]

Oy.  The BASIC JPG on my camera (Nikon D7000) comes in at about 2 MB per image.  Really, that should be allowed.  These are not huge photos, really, and they should be a good quality for a cover image or full-page if needed.

My RAW files on my camera come in around/up to 20 MB.

We are going to have even point and shoot cameras producing more than 1 MB (which apparently doesn't even work) and a lot of people with a point and shoot will either have NO IDEA how to shrink the image or will do it poorly.  They should provide some help information as well.  We NEED pictures coming in from the field - LOTS OF THEM - so we need to try to consider the people who took a great shot but aren't up on the technology. 

[Eclipse]

We are going to have even point and shoot cameras producing more than 1 MB (which apparently doesn't even work) and a lot of people with a point and shoot will either have NO IDEA how to shrink the image or will do it poorly.  They should provide some help information as well.  We NEED pictures coming in from the field - LOTS OF THEM - so we need to try to consider the people who took a great shot but aren't up on the technology.

Some sort of actual submission utility, vs. what appears to be a baseline attachment function would be nice.  Let the editors compress and crop the photos (though take away their keys to the Photoshop cabinet).  Disk space is essentially free these days.

Of course the reality is that we still have any number of wings with hosted cap.gov domains that limit email attachments to 500k, which, unless you're paying attention to how you author the doc, makes it a fairly big PITA to submit a 108 with a few receipts attached, let alone pics from your bivouac.

[JC004]

...
Some sort of actual submission utility, vs. what appears to be a baseline attachment function would be nice.  Let the editors compress and crop the photos (though take away their keys to the Photoshop cabinet).  Disk space is essentially free these days.
...

Fine.  Added to tasks list.

[Spaceman3750]

Disk space is essentially free these days.

That really depends (for example, my department at work is the proud new owner of two six-figure SANs/datacenters, try telling us that storage is cheap), but even assuming it's true in all cases, it's the bandwidth that's big bucks, not necessarily the storage itself.

[Eclipse]

Well, that's just it.  CAP should not be self-hosting, and when you consider that online disk space starts at about $.25 a GB, or you can buy a TB drive
for $100, that's pretty close to "free".

My point is that "we don't have the disk space for large pictures" should no longer be a response or an excuse.

I agree that bandwidth is the new constraint, theoretically, but should not be in this case, since we should not be self-hosting anything, anywhere, for any purpose, anywhere, for anything, at all, anywhere.

And in the case of our volunteer members, would likely be sitting at home on a nice, fat, Comcast or similar pipe.  People should not be emailing 100MB videos, but the average group shot of the airshow should be a non-issue.

[SarDragon]

We are going to have even point and shoot cameras producing more than 1 MB (which apparently doesn't even work) and a lot of people with a point and shoot will either have NO IDEA how to shrink the image or will do it poorly.  They should provide some help information as well.  We NEED pictures coming in from the field - LOTS OF THEM - so we need to try to consider the people who took a great shot but aren't up on the technology.

I have a Nikon Coolpix S3100, that I paid $100 for, that has a max resolution of 14 megapixels (3-4 MB pics). It's more than a point and shoot, but it isn't an SLR either. It fits in my shirt pocket. It has a fair number of adjustments that take it out of the point and shoot realm, but it's still simple enough that we should be able to use the pictures it generates without a lot of manipulation.

[JC004]

I considered one of those before I decided to hell with it and went DSLR.

[SarDragon]

It was great on our Europe trip. Really cut down on the amount of extra baggage. A DSLR, 2 lenses, a flash, and the little extras, take up a lot of room.

[JC004]

I take minions. 

[lordmonar]

I take minions.

Were they union?
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