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« Last post by mouser on November 02, 2005, 05:28 AM »
I've been giving some real thought to whether we should close the blog section.
nudone and i were recently discussing it and he said it was ok if i pasted our email conversation:
i'm actually thinking about whether the blogs system as it is now is
in need to refinement.. what do you think? my original idea was that
it was most important for the blog columnists to have their own mini
site, for their own complete control.. but sometimes i wonder if it
wouldn't make more sense to just have the blog content be posts on the
forum, where people wouldn't have to go to a separate page.. i don't
know - some people really like the blogs, as its a special place to go
and read things that isn't lost within the depth of the forum, but
others i think would rather not have to go to a separate page every
day to see if there is a new post... maybe a special blog section of
the forum? still thinking about the best long term solution.. what do
you think?
> There are certainly posts that have been made on the forum that would have
> made good blog articles and likewise there have been blogs that would
> probably have been served better on the forum - for the amount of extra
> attention they would receive (I'm guessing that the forum is read by a lot
> more people than the blogs).
> Maybe it's meant to be this way but I get the impression that visitors are
> more eager to reply on the forum (that's what it's there for, of course)
> than what they are prepared to do with the blogs. I tend to read absolutely
> everything on donatationcoder so I do notice that the replies to the blogs
> tend to be from the small clique of authors that are writing the other blogs
> (and Zaine). This does make me wonder on whether anyone else is reading them
> other than the columnists themselves (maybe you know from server statistics
> the true nature of visitor variance). Now I'm also aware from looking at
> other blog sites that there aren't ever that many comments left to a blog
> post, so I understand that blog/columns are treated in a different way to a
> forum - I'm just wondering what exactly is going on in the donationcoder
> blog area.
> I really don't know what the best option is.
> Not entirely sure how to put it but I respect all of the columnists at
> donationcoder. I don't respect them merely for being columnists, I genuinely
> respect them for what they have wrote. It's clear that they are all erudite
> and entertaining authors and that their posts are worthy of a special blog
> section and yet I know that I would feel equally impressed if their blogs
> had been posted directly to the forum.
> I'm sort of wondering what the point of the blog/columnist area is for when
> there is room on the forum for similar styled posts. Is it just an ego
> thing? This partly sums up why I've not been entirely confident in blogging
> anything over the past few weeks. I have felt out of my depth in some ways,
> many of the things I could have blogged would not have been much different
> to things on the forum - which does make me question on whether I have
> anything worthy of writing about that needs the 'blog/column' special status
> attached to it.
> I'm probably thinking a bit too much about it all. But it seems to be a
> dilemma with the blog thing in general. An interesting author definitely
> deserves an outlet and a blog can be a good place to do it. It makes 100%
> perfect sense that you should have a blog on donationcoder - it would be odd
> if you didn't. I just wonder on the validity of someone like me when I could
> just as easily post something in the forum. As I've said before, there are
> better qualified forum members than I that are writing about interesting
> software.
> I apologise if this has degenerated into a moaning session. Blogs are a
> funny thing for sure. I really don't know what I make of the concept to be
> honest. The only ones I take the time to read are those on donationcoder as
> I feel like I'm reading the opinions of people I know something about (as
> much of an illusion I know it is).
> Getting back to the point of do they need moving to a different area of
> donationcoder, i.e. onto the forum.
> I'd probably say no as there needs to be some differentiation between them
> and the forum otherwise they aren't 'special' in anyway. But, of course, if
> they are currently heading into some dark cul-de-sac then there is little
> need for them also. Only you know how well they serve donationcoder - are
> they bringing visitors back to the site or doesn't that matter.
> Regrettably, my tone probably sounds rather pessimistic. It's just my way, I
> never believe there are great numbers out there and yet all evidence is to
> the contrary. It still amazes me how the automobile industry survives as I
> don't know anyone who has ever bought a new car and yet I know there has to
> be millions of customers out there somewhere.
> Short answer is 'blog' equals 'confusion' to me.
> If I have a bit of divine inspiration on the matter I'll let you know.
> I suppose the bottom line is - if people enjoy reading the blogs then leave
> them as they are. Maybe you should hold a poll on the forum (and on the blog
> intro page) and see what the thoughts are for the voting visitors.
> What were your thoughts on the matter?
your thoughts on the blog were extremely good - and almost exactly
match mine. i'm tempted to make a post on forum about blogs and ask
you to just post your email message exactly. it really sums up my
feelings too, plus add to that the fact that they are a little bit of
a pain to move around and keep configured, and difficult to keep the
columnists posting regularly..
the forum and the blogs are different things, with slightly different
audiences, but there is so much overlap that one really has to ask if
its worth it having a separate blog section.. as you say, blogs only
rarely get a lot of comments, but it seems to me that you are also
right that the audience reading the blogs are much less than those
reading the forum, for a variety of reasons.. and wouldn't it be
better to have a bigger audience and more comments?
at the time we started, there wasn't that much conversation on the
forums, and the blogs seemed an ideal way to have some new regular
content on the site - but now the forums are just overflowing with new
stuff every day to read, so that issue is gone.
the case for the blog columns now probably is that
for those who like having a blog/column where people can go to read
their stuff, and see a nice archive of their posts. it's hard to do
that in a forum, where posts just get lost.. one way around that
would be to make a special section of the forum, if one wanted to keep
a collection of such things. i don't know if that really makes sense
to do..
maybe an alternative situation would be to try to identify a few best
threads/posts each week and list them on a special page.. or maybe
there's another way to figure out how to highlight some regular posts
to make them stand out..
the one thing that has been nice about the blog columns is reading
some extended thoughts, and looking forward to a column on a regular
basis.. but maybe we could figure out a way to encourage that on the
forum and find a way to keep the best part of that in the forum...
i guess i'm leaning towards finding a way to remove the blog section
of the site and if possible capture the best parts of it in the
forum..
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