We're cleaning and catching up on ye olde mailbag this week. And going forward, we're going to tweak our system a little. So read on for night-vision goggles, MOBs, how to get on the front page, and more!

Hey Bitmob,

I've been submitting articles at Bitmob now for a couple of weeks and I'm just curious as to how the "front page submission" process works.

I guess what I'm more curious about...is if there's a reason why none of my stuff has been on the front page and if it's just that I'm not a great writer (which I don't think I am, but enjoy doing it and hope that I am good) or if the submissions I've entered just don't fit into the personality of the website.

I only ask this because I really do enjoy this and am hoping at some point to begin sending resumes and applications out to different websites and magazines in an attempt to start writing for a paycheck.

Mark "Ixthus" Whitney

Bitmob: We sent Mark some pointers directly, but we've seen similar questions from a lot of you, so we thought we'd gather up some pointers for everyone here.

Front-page submission...it's pretty subjective because we don't want Bitmob to feel like it has a very specific style or template. We welcome and encourage creativity, so we want to leave it up to the staff and users to come up with interesting stories.

If one catches our eyes -- because it's well-written, insightful, funny, entertaining, etc. -- then we'll put it up for front-page consideration. It helps a lot if the grammar is strong, the story has an interesting topic/headline/lead, and the story is formatted well (short paragraphs so there aren't huge blocks of dense text, pictures to break up the text, etc.).

If a story is ugly or the writing's bad, even if the message underneath is great, those are barriers we have to break through first.

Hope this helps. Also, notice that staff page column on the right over there? It's been growing, and that's allowed us to feature a lot more community stories on the front page since we have more time for editing.

Hey Bitmob,

Just thought I'd give you the info about night-vision goggles [in response to a Mobcast from last month in which we wondered about which goggles the Army uses. -Ed.]. The standard-issue night-vision goggles are PVS-14's. I believe they're a generation 3 model, but I've heard of gen 4 coming.

They do not depend on emitting an infrared light to see. They detect and amplify the ambient light around, so there isn't really a range other than the clarity of the optics themselves. There is an infrared flashlight built in for signaling or when you're in a room with low ambient light. They work well under starlight with no moon. I think the $3,000 price tag is normal.

Without ambient light, the Army also uses a variety of thermal optics, but they are not worn, usually mounted.

Christopher Chase
Formerly: Captain, U.S. Army Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division

Bitmob: Thanks Capt. Chase! Our most reliable form of night vision still involves banging our toe on the door and then feeling for the toilet seat, but it's nice to know better solutions exist! Maybe the Modern Warfare 2 prestige pack will be a worthwhile investment after all....

Hey Jason,

I was just listening to my backlog of podcasts, and heard you exclaim your hatred of the term "mob" when used to refer to monsters in MMOs on episode 15 of the Mobcast.

I believe your quote was something to the effect of: "It's only one monster. It's not a mob"

I'm not sure if someone has sent you this information yet, or if you were already aware of it, but I figured you might be interested in the etymology of the term.

"Mob" takes its root back in the MUD days, where everything in the world (monsters, rooms, weapons, armor, etc.) existed as discrete objects on the programming side. MUDs were programmed in what was essentially a bastardized form of the programming language C, which is considered an "object oriented" programming language.

Monsters were one of the few objects in the game space that had the ability to move. Hence, they were sometimes referred to as "[m]obile [ob]jects." This was later shortened to MOB for the sake of quick communication.

I also personally take offense as what I see as the destruction of the English language, but I thought you may be interested to know there was a logical reason behind this particular term.

Jay Henningsen

Bitmob: We asked the called-out Managing Editor Jason Wilson to respond:

"You're making my point for me, Jay -- language should be clear by its context, and MOB certainly isn't clear in that context. Language that isn't clear shouldn't be used. I fear that such jargon keeps potential players from trying MMOs -- I know if I have to not only learn a game's mechanics but the jargon used by its players, I'm not sure I want to play that game. That's a lot of work.

"People, use clear, concise language, be it verbally or in print. It's just too much work keeping up with your jargon and slang."

That's it for this week. As for that change in Letters we alluded to earlier: We're now grouping Mobcast and Mailbag letters and questions together in our inbox. You guys give us so many topics and questions for the Mobcast that we can't possibly keep up with them, and some of them aren't all four-man-discussion appropriate, so don't be surprised if you see some of them addressed here.

With that in mind, send any questions or comments about anything for the Bitmob editors to letters@bitmob.com and then look for your answer here or on the podcast