Did the blogs section change ENWorld boards?

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I've using the blogs for my reviews (to minor success) but other then that I really don't look at them. It seems there are some people almost spamming the blogs with many entries and that didn't endure me to trying to find ones that held interest to me.

Well, it's unfair to call it "spam" - after all, it are blog posts and the user has the right to post as much or as little he wants to post - and he might make a lot of good points.

But if I see that 7 of 10 (or whatever the number that's displayed when I click on "Blogs" and the blog page shows) blog posts are from the same guy, I am no longer really interested - and I totally understand why no one reads or comments on my blog, too. It's out of view to fast, and clicking through the blogs or users to get through the blog is just too much work.

If it was possible, the overview page on new blogs should allow only one entry per blogger, possibly indicating that he might have more "new" posts with denoting a small number in brackets.

 

[Crothian]

Well, it's unfair to call it "spam" - after all, it are blog posts and the user has the right to post as much or as little he wants to post - and he might make a lot of good points.

It's completely unfair to call it spam, but I'm still using that word. When I see a bunch of blog posts by one person in the same day it looks like spam.

 

[Scribe Ineti]

I tend to use my blog to post my campaign stuff. I don't care if people read it or not or comment on it or not, but the blog gives me a handy place to put all those posts without risking them falling far down a regular subforum page.

I also use it to post random ruminations or comments that I don't think would generate a discussion in the discussion forums. Rather than have my random ruminations drop out of sight, I put them someplace I can find them easily later.

I like reading the blogs, and I like reading the discussions. The blogs make me feel like I know the individual bloggers better, though, which I think is more important for how I see a community.

Getting a thread going in a discussion forum tends to open it up to all sorts of inane internet crap like trolling and pissing contests and so on, and sometimes I just don't want to have to wade through the crap to get to the thoughtful content. I've found that the blogs tend to cut down on the signal to noise ratio.

To each his or her own, anyway.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I don't read blogs. I don't read them in general and I don't read them here. There's no organization on a blog. With the forums if I want to read a 3e rules discussion, I know where to go. If I read a blog title "Challenging Myths" (as a completely random example) how do I know it is or is not relevant to my current desire to read some 3e rules discussion?

Also, I come to ENWorld to engage in conversation. I don't want articles. I don't want to be spoken to. I want to be spoken with.

The only form of article that I do care for is product reviews and they've missing for a long time. Even then, they could be implemented in a forum dedicated to product reviews with strict thread title requirements.

As for the front page, it has far too many links. The Wikipedia entry for information overload should point to the ENWorld front page. Not only does it have far too many links, they have no organization. There are groupings but there's no headings to attract your eye toward the groups that might interest you. I far preferred the smallish number of actual news items with short summaries over the current experiment. So I've stopped going to the front page. (Maybe I'll take further complaints about it to Meta. Or should I just blog about it?)

Dude, get out of my head!

Blogs can be OK, but I prefer the interactive nature of message boards.

And the link overload on the news page is, well, overload. I miss the EN1 new page -- short news blurbs or summaries with minimal links.

 

[Nifft]

If it was possible, the overview page on new blogs should allow only one entry per blogger, possibly indicating that he might have more "new" posts with denoting a small number in brackets.

With all the weight that my minutes upon minutes of experience browsing the Blogs section grants me, I second this.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Morrus]

I don't read blogs. I don't read them in general and I don't read them here. There's no organization on a blog. With the forums if I want to read a 3e rules discussion, I know where to go. If I read a blog title "Challenging Myths" (as a completely random example) how do I know it is or is not relevant to my current desire to read some 3e rules discussion?

Also, I come to ENWorld to engage in conversation. I don't want articles. I don't want to be spoken to. I want to be spoken with.

That's great! And I've tried to give you the choice of both! I don't mind if you don't choose one of the many options here.

The only form of article that I do care for is product reviews and they've missing for a long time. Even then, they could be implemented in a forum dedicated to product reviews with strict thread title requirements.

Check out the Meta forum. You might like something happening there.

As for the front page, it has far too many links. The Wikipedia entry for information overload should point to the ENWorld front page. Not only does it have far too many links, they have no organization. There are groupings but there's no headings to attract your eye toward the groups that might interest you. I far preferred the smallish number of actual news items with short summaries over the current experiment. So I've stopped going to the front page. (Maybe I'll take further complaints about it to Meta. Or should I just blog about it?)

Weird - that's the OPPOSITE of most of the feedback I've gotten. I guess I have to accept that whatever I do, it will please some and not others: there's no universal solution that will make everybody happy. Fortunately, I have the magic of Google Analytics to tell me what the majority are doing, and front page views are increasing massively at present. All I can do is go with what seems to work for the most people, and trust the silent majority who vote with their EN World viewing habits. .

 

[jmucchiello]

Weird - that's the OPPOSITE of most of the feedback I've gotten. I guess I have to accept that whatever I do, it will please some and not others: there's no universal solution that will make everybody happy. Fortunately, I have the magic of Google Analytics to tell me what the majority are doing, and front page views are increasing massively at present. All I can do is go with what seems to work for the most people, and trust the silent majority who vote with their EN World viewing habits. .

Actually, I've only looked at the front page because I've seen announcements in Meta that it was changed. Like Woas above, my bookmark for ENWorld goes straight to the forum list, bypassing the home page. So I don't care that the homepage is not for me. It has never been for me before, why would it change.

 

[joethelawyer]

i also didnt even know we had blogs here until this thread. i like them. i think that is what has been missing from the general discussion here lately. the general stuff which is non-edition-specific geared.

one suggestion. is there any way to show in the main first blog page just the subject of each one as well as maybe the first paragraph or two, sort of a preview, so that if i like it i can click somewhere and see more? some o the longer ones are a pain to scroll through. i want a page where i can quickly see the blog topics and get the gist of each one.

is that possible?

thx

 

[the_bruiser]

Wow. I had no idea there were blogs. I'm a serious long-term lurker who rarely posts, but my access point has always just been to click on 'forums' and then click on whatever subset interested me - now it's the 4E stuff.

Finding out that there's an entire other section called 'blogs' is initially disappointing - it gives me the impression that the most thoughtful and organized posters are instead putting their best work somewhere different than where I'm looking... Before I pass judgement, I'll figure out where these blogs are and see if I can just integrate it into my looking.

My initial thought, however, is that either (i) it's going to work kind of like the forums, in which case I'd as soon they be there, or (ii) it's not like the forums, in which case it's just going to end up being a loss toward the type of participation I favor.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I can see the possible uses and benefits of EN World blogs but I personally agree with Rodrigo Istalindir (and others who have posted similar thoughts). I think the blogs fragment EN World further.

Some people will use the blogs for things such as keeping their campaign articles all in the one spot or posting a series of linked articles. Others will just use the blogs to post stuff that really should just be a thread on General.

Just my 2 cents.

Olaf the Stout