News Reporting Poll, Take 2

[EricNoah]

I would wager there's no one out there willing to give Russ the deal I had at Gamespy. I believe this because after a while even Gamespy was not willing to give me the deal they had originally agreed to. In order for me to maintain my stipend, I was asked to plaster the site with more ads -- more kinds of ads, specifically "boxillas" (which look like kind of a text box which my articles would wrap around) and pop ups.

I chose not to do that. The money started to dry up big-time. And that, along with other factors I had been weighing for months, led me to leave the site in Russ' capable hands.

Russ has been doing the thing I never had the guts to do -- make the site work like a business. He's done it in three ways:

1) an affiliation with an online RPG store. I did the same thing with Amazon.com, until Gamespy told me I couldn't any more.

2) banner ads. I love the fact that the banners here are all for products I could potentially be interested in. No more "Love Pheromones" or "Girls in Bikinis Talking About Sports." So the situation here is better.

3) Natural 20 Press. This is the best thing that's happened to the site, in my opinion. Russ has provided many of our community members the opportunity to get published. He himself is learning what it takes to be "in the business." You benefit, then, because Russ can comment with authority on issues related to the d20 publishing business. Natural 20 Press products are a great synergy between fan and publisher, in my opinion.

I think Russ has done a great job of maintaining the site's integrity while generating the needed revenue.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

2) banner ads. I love the fact that the banners here are all for products I could potentially be interested in. No more "Love Pheromones" or "Girls in Bikinis Talking About Sports." So the situation here is better.

Or the one that suggested women should get a credict check on a man they were involved in- or something along those lines. Heh.

FD

 

[Orcus]

Morrus-

I know I am in the minority, but I have to say that to me it is MUCH easier to scan the news when it is in bullet point format. I didnt realize how much easier until you changed the page back to that format today. It really is MUCH easier.

Clark

 

[The It's Man]

Well, I prefer the more personal touch of the news. Then again I like to read . The 'new way' had me clicking on a couple of links, I'm almost sure i hadn't clicked on if it was bulleted.

If the need for the bulleted style is so high, how about this:

One of the posters make a bulleted piece of html of the news Morrus posts and send that to him so he can upload it as an alternative.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

Hey Morrus, I really like the new style. It's far more entertaining to read, etc. I agree with Orcus that it's easier to find things in the older style, but I prefer the new way anyhow. It's less important to me to find all manner of specific things than to have a good time reading the front page, and I don't mind if I have to go hunting around to find older stuff.

 

[Kershek]

How about making the commentary colored slightly differently so it's easy to skip over for the ones that don't like to skim? That way, both types of people could be happy.

 

[Morrus]

How about making the commentary colored slightly differently so it's easy to skip over for the ones that don't like to skim? That way, both types of people could be happy.

I'm trying to think of how I can combine the old layout with the new content. The two don't quite mesh, but suggestions (and examples!) are welcome.

 

[Suzerain]

***

 

[Ketjak]

Re: Re: Re: Re: What's the point?

Well, I hate to say it, but there's not much point repeating that it can be done without explaining how.

Morrus, this is my error. I thought I explained it well enough in the first thread on this subject. I'll dig it up if you care, but I don't: I can share it again, only more clearly and in a more refined manner than my original clumsy post.

I mean, you've explained your needs quite clearly.

Er, perhaps. I'll explain them again and try to show how a blend of the two formats will work for us all. The old-style news format with the new editorial format should be able to fit together.

Unfortunately, your ideal site would fold within a month.

I'm not so sure. My ideal site was in operation for over a year and a half... unless the money's dried up.

For what it's worth, I went ahead and paid $25 for a "membership" which will be worth it even if I only get a new title (that's a community-building tool, by the way - ensures a unique ID and displays status) and can use the search functionality (that's a community-building tool, too, since searching/archiving allows the community to reference past events ("history"), which is critical in an online context; online communities almost entirely exist in written form).

So, let's make a list. Here are my needs:

1. The site must raise a significant amount each month just to support itself.
2. If I'm reduced to just posting lists, the site will be closed with in a month. Same with just reproducing press releases. You can get a bit of code to do that - you don't need a human being.

I probably have other needs, but they don't occur to me right now.

I replaced your asterisks with numbers.

Your #1 is clearly a need.

Your #2 is not a need, it's an argument supporting #1, it seems.

I don't see the need to support a community - I see only the need to support the site, which I suppose implies the need to support the community (one can infer it from that, at least).

If #1 were your sole need, the site would truly become crappy because there are more effective ways to generate cash - at least in the short term. I argue, therefore, that one of your unknown other needs is "to foster a community based on the d20 system - its players, publishers, and developers - with a focus on Dungeons & Dragons."

Fair enough?

I'm looking for the same thing. I'm not looking to tear you or the site down. I need:

Ket01 - fast and easy access to news about d20 products.
Ket02 - fast and easy access to news about d20 publishers.
Ket03 - fast and easy access to news about d20 events.
Ket04 - a forum in which I can discuss or observe discussions about d20-related rules, news, or events.
Ket05 - recognized status of myself and others within the community (this is a basic need of any community, I'll argue whenever I get the chance).
Ket06 - a feeling of ownership of part of the community (again, another basic need of an online community - reference any online MMORPG (guilds, the corrupted "It's OUR World Now" slogan from EQ's early days), or even the "clans" from the FPS community).

One can argue that the site provides all of these things, and I would not argue against that. My main point is that the new format inhibits access to these things (though I noticed the links to the upcoming products now link to upcoming products, no longer to reviews of released products).

Ket01-04 are stated to be specific to this site's community formation, but any online community needs those same traits as they apply to the subject that interests them. An online dog show community will find news about dog shows more useful than, say, news about the next round of WotC layoffs).

So, I've put my money where my mouth is - I registered a few minutes ago. Next, I'll try to pull the news from a few days ago out of the archives and doctor it up so it's easier to extract the information, like I've been arguing could be done. Please keep in mind that since I don't regularly mess with HTML my effort will be sloppy and poorly done compared to what an expert can do.

When? Um, heh. I'm already late to something else, so perhaps tonight. Yes, I suck. My whole argument is based on the new format taking too much time to read, so I'll trade some d20 surfing for a chance to illustrate what I'm talking about.

(It's ironic, by the way, that you didn't have time for the new-style news and so resorted to the old-style... if time is a concern of yours, too, we should be working toward the same solution, not opposing each other.)

The two complaints I see are about precisely those two issues -- commerciality and personality. I consider both to be a necessity; you guys consider both to be abhorrent in some way.

One last thing - don't take this argument personally after you've literally opened the issue up for discussion. You need to be prepared for criticism in a medium in which you ask for criticism, or don't open it up. If anything, you should be proud that the community cares so much it's willing to argue for what it thinks is best.

- Ketjak
A Monkey God