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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 13:00:30 GMT -5
create a frontpage for the site, making us more visible to search engines If I google "classic comics forum", it already tops the results. How can you improve that? Google results aren't the same for everyone, if you are signed in to google the search results are tailored to your search history and navigation history. Since you have been to the site before, your search results reflect that. My top result on google is still CBR's classic forums since I have a longer navigation history there, the pro-boards is up there. However, someone who googles it and hasn't been to the site is likely to get different results based on their own search history, cookies, navigation history, etc. Other search engines operate differently though. -M |
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Post by Ozymandias on Jun 4, 2014 13:02:54 GMT -5
Interesting.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2014 15:28:54 GMT -5
So it seems that we're of two minds here:
1. Blogs sound like something that doesn't interest me, and
2. I am so into this.
But we're still not really discussing the pros and cons, which is at the heart of all this. What do we gain by shifting some of our content to blogs (with corresponding discussion threads) and what do we lose?
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 4, 2014 15:36:05 GMT -5
It's fresh content with maybe a little more substance, like an article, compared to some what short bursts.
Also, the idea of a rotating spotlight of people is a great idea to me. It spreads the commitment out making it more manageable.
Are we able to do polls here ? Those are always fun too.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2014 15:39:18 GMT -5
Are we able to do polls here ? Those are always fun too. Yes, but it wouldn't help. Essentially, if the pros outweigh the cons and we have people who want to do this, we'll do it. Why vote? And if the cons outweigh the pros, we won't do it. Why vote? |
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Crimebuster
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Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Jun 4, 2014 17:14:57 GMT -5
The main con I see is the same one that came up when we discussed having a sub forum for reviews. Having the reviews on the main forum means that people who come to read the reviews will be exposed to other threads they may find interesting and participate in. If the reviews can be read from the front page blogs without readers needing to go to the forums to see them, some of those readers may never go to the forums. So while we may end up attracting new readers to the site, it's possible those readers may not end up participating in the community.
That's all hypothetical, of course. There may be ways to cross-polinate the blogs with the forum so they feed into each other. For instance, on CBR, the comments for their articles on on the forums (though, oddly, this is not true of their blogs for some reason, which really are completely self contained). Something like that, where the blog post is available to be read but the comments are part of the broader forum, might work.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 4, 2014 17:37:38 GMT -5
I can't say how things would play out with me. I will say that I almost never went to the front page of CBR. I linked to the forums and seldom went anywhere else.
I've thought about blogging. But I don't really read any blogs regularly. And I'm never sure what I would write about. So...yeah...that's probably not a lot of help in the discussion.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 19:09:22 GMT -5
It couldn't hurt, if you have people willing to do it.
But I'm also of the mind that this place is kind of cool being a bit exclusive. Not that I don't want to see new members posting here, but I wouldn't like to see the place get like CBR, or the moderation staff here start to hate logging in every day because of all the drama a huge forum tends to bring.
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Post by Jasoomian on Jun 4, 2014 19:18:36 GMT -5
As I mentinoed before, unlike vBulletin, Proboards does not create RSS feeds of discussion threads. With that option, you could just throw together a blog from that, and featuring that feed, leave the front page on autopilot.
I think there's a concern that a blog could take away focus from the forum, and it's a legitimate one. I do think a front page is a good idea, though.
I think the way to go is put up a front page with a nice logo at the top. Have a couple sidebars with adservers (no video ads thanks); RSS feeds from google-news based on keywords like "comic book" or "batman"; maybe a twitter widget following classic comics creators; and hey why not a simple link list of editors' favorite forum threads.
Then for the MAIN "blog" feed in the middle of the page, the editors could just copy & paste a bit of content from their favorite threads and then say READ MORE and link it. Or just blog a headline , a picture and a couple sentences before linking to a relevant thread. (eg "DC releases stills from new Aquaman film! Check out shaxper's "Aquaman From the Beginning" thread!" LINK LINK). No commenting allowed on the blog.
It wouldn't even really need to be updated every day. But just having a simple front page like that and a decent domain name would definitely raise the visibility of the site.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2014 19:40:45 GMT -5
The main con I see is the same one that came up when we discussed having a sub forum for reviews. Having the reviews on the main forum means that people who come to read the reviews will be exposed to other threads they may find interesting and participate in. If the reviews can be read from the front page blogs without readers needing to go to the forums to see them, some of those readers may never go to the forums. So while we may end up attracting new readers to the site, it's possible those readers may not end up participating in the community. That's all hypothetical, of course. There may be ways to cross-polinate the blogs with the forum so they feed into each other. For instance, on CBR, the comments for their articles on on the forums (though, oddly, this is not true of their blogs for some reason, which really are completely self contained). Something like that, where the blog post is available to be read but the comments are part of the broader forum, might work. Oh, absolutely. The intention is definitely to have the comments done in a thread in the forum itself. Otherwise, we're just competing with ourselves, creating a separate discussion community. It couldn't hurt, if you have people willing to do it. But I'm also of the mind that this place is kind of cool being a bit exclusive. Not that I don't want to see new members posting here, but I wouldn't like to see the place get like CBR, or the moderation staff here start to hate logging in every day because of all the drama a huge forum tends to bring. I certainly don't want a HUGE influx of new people and, honestly, I doubt we would accomplish such a thing without advertising and such. I just want a steady stream of new blood so that, as members phase out over time (hey, it happens), the forum doesn't dry up. We're busy as heck now but, without the attention being part of CBR gave us, we could end up being eight old curmudgeons prattling on about Brother Power the Geek in five years' time. As I mentinoed before, unlike vBulletin, Proboards does not create RSS feeds of discussion threads. With that option, you could just throw together a blog from that, and featuring that feed, leave the front page on autopilot. But the RSS feed would be of the blogs, not the discussion threads the blogs link to. But this is a daily job for someone to do. We don't have a staff and even a volunteer can't be expected to sustain that kind of work daily for an indefinite length of time. I just don't see this realistically working. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2014 19:47:32 GMT -5
Okay, so my own personal PROS and CONS.
PROS:
- Easy for creators of old review threads to move their old posts over.
- Easier to navigate through individual reviews and find the one you're looking for without trudging through pages of discussion.
- A dedicated location for reviews threads (as some members had requested)
- More attention to reviews threads and other articles of note so that they don't get lost in the chatter.
- More opportunities for members to write in-depth articles and share them with the community, even if they aren't the kind that stir up a conversation. The attention an idea receives need no longer be based upon how much others say in response. Sometimes a great idea simply stands on its own, and there isn't much to say in response beyond "Wow. Nice job." Essentially, this expands the diversity of options we have for sharing with one another. Sometimes we're looking to invite conversation and debate. Sometimes we just have an awesome idea we want to share that may or may not trigger debate.
THE CONS
- Read the article, click to go to the corresponding discussion thread, read what's already been posted there, and then respond. Might be too many steps? May deter some members from jumping in to the discussion.
- As Slam pointed out, some may go right to the discussion forum and bypass the frontpage all together. Then the reverse problem may occur -- click on the thread, click the blog link to find out what the thread's about, read that, go back to read the discussion that follows, and then post. May be too many steps for some.
- Thus far, no one has come forward with the technical know-how to pull this off. I know basic html. That's it. So unless Wordpress has a template for this (and I doubt it does), this may all be moot.
Brainstorm with me, folks.
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Post by Jasoomian on Jun 4, 2014 19:50:20 GMT -5
But this is a daily job for someone to do. We don't have a staff and even a volunteer can't be expected to sustain that kind of work daily for an indefinite length of time. I just don't see this realistically working. Well, what I tried to outline was definitely *not* a daily job; it was all with an eye to assuring minimal effort. All of that stuff would be on autopilot except for the main "blog." Three posts a week -- say one each from three different people -- would be plenty. And ideally, putting up a post there wouldn't take more than a few minutes; much like a forum post. If you used blogspot.com or a similar service you wouldn't even need to worry about security updates for the software. Or you could just skip even that and just buy a domain name that forwards here. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2014 19:58:20 GMT -5
But this is a daily job for someone to do. We don't have a staff and even a volunteer can't be expected to sustain that kind of work daily for an indefinite length of time. I just don't see this realistically working. Well, what I tried to outline was definitely *not* a daily job; it was all with an eye to assuring minimal effort. All of that stuff would be on autopilot except for the main "blog." Three posts a week -- say one each from three different people -- would be plenty. And ideally, putting up a post there wouldn't take more than a few minutes; much like a forum post. If you used blogspot.com or a similar service you wouldn't even need to worry about security updates for the software. Or you could just skip even that and just buy a domain name that forwards here. Isn't this what I was talking about, then? And wouldn't that then make you the expert I've been looking for?  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 20:05:15 GMT -5
Maybe a less interactive front page, a couple articles written by boardies willing to write articles, no necessary attached thread.
Then the discussion forums, where the articles may or may not be discussed by anyone interested in doing so.
Maybe a sub forum strictly for discussing the articles?
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Post by coke & comics on Jun 4, 2014 20:58:40 GMT -5
I will note that when I peek at the CBR classics & collected, a thing that annoys me is a thing that annoys me about most forums, but was never true of the classics forum:
The threads started by CBR news that just link to articles on the front page feel like spam and clutter.
While not quite what you're suggesting, I fear that direction.
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