Introducing YouCentral!

On a beautiful Sunday like today, we decided to sit back and reflect on what our readers have done to make SouthsideCentral the go-to place for what you just couldn’t find in the regional media. YOU folks have increased our readership by over 70% and it’s time to give YOU a voice to have your viewpoints heard.

We’re going to introduce YouCentral today. It’s our version of the “Letters To The Editor” that most newspapers have. But we’re doing it differently in our own SouthsideCentral style, of course.

You’ll find the link to the YouCentral submission page up at the top of every SouthsideCentral page including this one. Click the YouCentral link and you’ll get to the submission form.

I’ll recap the rules as of today here, and you’ll see the current rules on the form’s page…

• Write about anything you want. I don’t care if I totally disagree with you. This is your chance to get your opinion out on anything. Want to take a shot at SouthsideCentral? Go right ahead.
• I’m not going to edit anything you write, with a few exceptions. I’ll strike out anything that’s potentially defamatory to anybody because I’m not going to get sued because of you. I’ll fix any extremely horrible grammatical errors because I want people to completely understand what you’re saying. Finally, I’ll black out or delete any gratuitous obscenities.
• You stand behind your own words. You take responsibility for your own words. You’ll have the opportunity to reply to the comments that other people make on what you write, and it may not be pretty at times.
• If I thoroughly disagree with you, I reserve the right to follow your YouCentral with my viewpoint on whatever you write. You’re welcome to respond to that as well. The fun never ends!
• I’ve got to verify that it’s you actually doing the writing. That’s why I’m asking for a phone number so that I can call you and verify your identity. That’s the only time that I’ll use it and I’ll destroy it once you’re verified. I am also asking for a valid email address too because I need a way to communicate with you in case issues come up.
• Let’s be real. I’ll try to publish every YouCentral that I can, but that may prove to be impossible if they start pouring in. That being said, I’ll do my best. I’m surely not going to not publish your writings just because I disagree with you or if you call me an idiot. There’s no way that I can promise exactly when I’ll publish YouCentrals due to regular SouthsideCentral articles, but I will email you once your letter is locked into the publishing system. I’ll promote your YouCentral just like any other SouthsideCentral article.
• There’s no limit to the number of YouCentral articles you can write. If you are a good writer and know what you’re talking about, we may talk about being a guest writer down the road. Heck, I’m looking for permanent guest writers all the time.

Come on. You know you want to. Become semi-famous! Write a YouCentral today!