How a MinerBumping Post Is Made

There's no question that MinerBumping is a unique blog. In the world of gaming, there's nothing else quite like it.

MinerBumping is vital to understanding highsec. It also profoundly touches the lives of carebears who otherwise might drift through EVE without the slightest interaction with their fellow players.

Even a few minor mentions on the blog can change a carebear's trajectory. JackFrost Saissore was barely mentioned, but it altered his EVE experience forever (for the better, no doubt).

But how are MinerBumping posts created? What should an ambitious new Agent do to get featured on a post? Does MinerBumping reflect the truth of highsec, or should it leave the reader thinking, "meh, seems made up"? Today you'll get a rare, behind-the-scenes exclusive look at how an Agent report becomes an essential piece of EVE history.

Kills of the Week posts, of course, consist of the most obvious building blocks. Agents frequently send me killmails throughout the week. I review these and do some independent searching of New Order killboard stats, and then the magic happens.

Then there are Agents who send in full-fledged field reports. Sometimes an Agent will send in material along with a narrative to make it easier to follow. Other times, the logs are self-explanatory. The two most common tools used by Agents to report on their Code enforcement activity are Imgur for hosting screenshots, and Pastebin for hosting chat logs.

Although screenshots are preferred in most situations, sometimes they're not available. Luckily, the EVE client logs all chat, and the text is easily hosted in a Pastebin log.

Zosius > bio is on, you are free to go
Ellie Alvarsson > I'm actually astonished how terrible of people you are
Ellie Alvarsson > honestly
Ellie Alvarsson > I assume you put a screenshot of it on your website
Ellie Alvarsson > to show off the people you humiliate and steal from

From there, I simply grab the text as needed, cut off the timestamps, and modify the formatting for maximum readability.

As for screenshots, they may be uploaded as a single image, such as the ones you see in a Grab Bag post. If there's more than one screenshot, they may be uploaded to a small album on Imgur...

...Or, in the case of even longer conversations, a large collection of screenshots may be compiled. Then comes the editing task. As Saviour of Highsec, it is my duty to break down all of the emergent content and pare it down to easily digestible quantities.

And, of course, the most relevant portions must still be chopped up in such a way that I can interject my own thoughts after the reader takes each "bite". After all, people come to MinerBumping not only to see the truth, but also to be instructed on how best to think about the truth.

What about the integrity of this process? Should a carebear be taken seriously if they, like a reality TV villain, complain about getting a "bad edit"?

It's rare, but it occasionally happens. When a carebear presents a full log for review, it inevitably backfires. My job is straightforward: All I need to do is tell people the truth--that the CODE always wins.