Unless there is heavy limitation, Newsvine.com will function exactly like any random internet forum.

I'm disappointed too, I was expecting more. There are some interesting discussions but I think that it's mostly because the 'beta' is limited to the enthusiast crowd who -want- to see it work. I guess I'll give it some time and see how it evolves...

One thing that threw me off... Moral police! If they start moderating users this place is as good as dead.

Is your complaint that people aren't posting enough original news/reporting/informational type stories?
I think there is limited incentive for this when you have a restricted (beta) audience. Hopefully it will pick up when the site goes public.

By journalists, you mean professionals? What incentive will journalists have to post here? (This is not a rhetorical question.) A few possibilites:
1. Revenue sharing from ads, whenever that happens, but I'm not sure how signficant that would be.
2. To build up popularity and reputation.
3. To publish things that they can't get paid for. Obviously, if it is stuff they can't get paid for, it will be significantly different contributions than newspaper news.
I hope these are significant motivators ... I can't think of any others of the top of my head.
Again, hopefully there will be more motivation for these things to happen after there is an unrestricted audience.

Even if the pros don't come in mass, I think this still has a lot more to offer than most internet forums.
- There are appears to be more commitment to free speech ;) than most private forums
- The ratings system will help to combat the negative effects of that (e.g., trash talking). ;)
- The convenient synergy of writing, reading, discussing, and recommending/sharing (hope they add this soon) articles all in one place.

That would be great. My thoughts keep going back to the issue of motivation... which is greatly hampered by the currently restricted audience. Even after that changes, will ad revenue and building a reputation for themselves be enough motivation for amateur journalists? Yes, IFF they can get readers.

Problem is... How do high-quality writers get the initial readership which is needed to boost their ratings, reputation, and revenue? I have some thoughts on this, but I think I will post them on my column, as I would like to get some feedback on them and they are a bit off-topic from your point.

Your point seems to be that Newsvine should have more limitation. I don't get this. How is limiting things going to boost amateur journalist motivation to write articles? What kind of limitation did you have in mind? Limitation on readership / membership? Or limitation on who can be an author?

Simple, it wont. All we can hope for is a number of well versed writers joining this place... If you want unique editorial type content go sign up for the economist (economist.com) or pick up a Foreign Affairs publication in your local bookstore.

I posted the thought I alluded to above in an article, News Branches: a proposal. My idea was to have publications with editors within in the vine, but I was trying to give it some careful thought. In the meantime, I came across this idea of Guilds which has been proposed (its linked from my article or look at the tag newsvine-guilds). I was disappointed by the restrictions they wanted to put on who could be an editor, etc. Otherwise their idea is very similar to what I was thinking, but the motivations they are discussing sound more like "how I can be less bored by other users" rather than "how can we attract better writing for everyone at newsvine". Like you, I was coming at more from the latter perspective. Anyway please tell me what you think.