Miscellaneous | March 20, 2020

Site Update: State Of Listverse (March 2020)

fact checked by Jamie Frater

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The Coronavirus is impacting many of us now so it is time for us to make a public statement on behalf of Listverse so we all know where we stand. These are difficult times but I am sure we can all come together to help each other out. Knowledge is power – especially when the old guard of society appear to be on the brink of collapse (I’m talking about banking and certain other big corporations).

8 Listverse’s Place In The World

As most of you probably know, Listverse is run primarily by me (Jamie Frater) from Wellington, New Zealand. This is the land that the billionaires bug out to and our current government is very friendly indeed with those people, so let’s hope that means things will remain calm. At this stage aside from closing our country’s borders, all schools remain open, and all shops, businesses, and restaurants continue to operate. Shelves are full (there is even plenty of toilet paper) and people are smiling and courteous as always. Our current national infection total is 39 with no deaths. If things remain that way, I’ll still be here banging away at the keyboard and watching Seinfeld and Friends reruns. But while optimism is a good thing, so is preparedness—and to that end . . .

7 Virus Contingency

I am in the process of putting together some documents to ensure continuity on the site should anything happen to me personally. While I am in a relatively safe position at the moment, there is no guarantee that things will remain that way. Our submissions database is in a good state and is very easy to manage so if something does happen to keep me away from Listverse for a time, it should not cause a pause in our publishing schedule.

6 Writers And Payments

Yesterday I issued a statement to nine-hundred Listverse writers. The statement outlined our plans for handling submissions, editing, and payments. As a result of the virus and the shifting financial needs of many people, we are now committed to issuing payments for lists within one to five days of acceptance. Advanced payments have also being issued in some urgent cases. We are accepting submissions as usual and have seen a slight increase since our list on working the gig economy which is amazing. It is always our preference to be publishing lists by our regular readers. To that end you may have noticed a few lists creeping in that focus on the workings or lives of regular people. Now is definitely a good time for us to get to know the secrets and lives of those people who work every day to make our lives comfortable. We may soon be looking at a brave new world in which those jobs are even more vital than before, so let’s all give a big thank you to the people who do the jobs that we often take for granted.

5 Your View: Daily Forum

Yesterday we published a “Your View” on how the Coronavirus is effecting you. Would you all be interested in us publishing a daily extra “Your View” post to use as a general purpose public forum on how the virus (and other related issues such as the economy) are effecting you? It would be in addition to the two regular lists we publish each day and would allow us to keep the virus related content in one place. Alternatively we can just “sticky” the existing Your View to the top of the “Trending” section on the front page of the desktop version of the site. Let me know what you prefer (if any). I am also mindful that some people may want a safe haven from the constant bombardment of media on the virus in which case it may be better for us to simply continue as we are with occasional lists relating to the current events.

I should note that Listverse runs a Discord server which you can get to right here: Listverse.com On Discord.

4 Virus Terminology

The Chinese communist government is engaging in a propaganda campaign to eradicate the use of the term “Chinese” in relation to the virus which appears to have originated there. Officials have publicly stated that the virus is the result of a US bioweapon. President Trump has been firm in the use of the term “Chinese Virus” to counter these propaganda efforts from the communists. Unfortunately the mainstream media and a number of people online are actively helping the Chinese government – in some cases intentionally, in others through innocent attempts to do good. Because of a large increase in the number of anonymous commenters speaking in defense of the Communist government of China, we are having to monitor things much more closely than usual to ensure that genuine conversations about the virus amongst our regular readers are not derailed.

Listverse is run primarily out of New Zealand and I want to be clear that the site absolutely stands with the traditional allies of New Zealand: Australia, the United States of America, Canada, and the United Kingdom. I cannot stress enough how important it is that we stand united right now in the face of not just a terrible viral attack, but a potential economic collapse which is exacerbated by the trade war between the US and China and the oil war occurring between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Free speech is always welcome, but paid propaganda and shilling are not. If you find your comment in the pending queue, please be patient.

3 Commenting And Working Together

In light of the previous item I would like to ask everyone to please be extra generous in their use of charity when it comes to commenting here. We know there is huge division in society right now and the mainstream media is playing to that as hard and as fast as they can. We must rise above that. Listverse has long been home to an intelligent and friendly community. Let us come together now, left and right, people from all nations and say no to the hatred the media is attempting to foment amongst us. Their time is past. The best way we can do this is to presume, in all cases, that the people we speak to on here have only the very best of intentions. Let’s make the comments section a beacon of unity and kindness for all the readers who are either here already sharing our love of lists, or the new readers who will discover us over the period of quarantine that has arrived or is coming.

2 Can We Help

Obviously there is a physical limit to what Listverse can do to help you all out individually if that is needed, but what we can do is put out appeals or information. If you find yourself stuck in a position of risk with no one at all to help you, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. It may be that I can appeal to another reader who lives near you to give you a helping hand of some kind. I am single and live alone – so I know the risks that go along with isolation under those circumstances. I can’t promise to work miracles but if necessary I can at least try to help somehow. Of course let’s hope that this never becomes necessary, but if it does: we’re here – even if only to lend an ear.

1 Listverse Coronavirus Coverage

We have already published a number of coronavirus related lists and a few other disease and virus lists before that. We will continue to publish related content when new perspectives warrant it. Here is a rundown of the coverage so far.