News Reporting Poll, Take 2

[Morrus]

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

Aye; the site is _just starting_ to turn into "My best mate has just released XYZ, please buy it...from me." There used to be a veneer of objectivity, but its wearing off, sadly.

I mean to say that the feel of the site has changed from a news site towards (not yet fully to) an advertisement.

I resent that accusation.

 

[Morrus]

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

Do I think there's a way to present your content in a format that meets both of our needs? Yes.

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

I mean, you've explained your needs quite clearly. Unfortunately, your ideal site would fold within a month.

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

*The site must raise a significant amount each month just to support itself.
*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.

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.

 

[Morrus]

Re: Community

You've got about 20% of your respondants saying that they can no longer use your site effectively. Chances are, that's 20% of your current community that will start to disappear. Now look at comments to the effect of "I liked it, after I got used to it." For new users of your site, the "wall of text" is a barrier - the first impression is "this isn't useful to me."

Current "customers" will go away, and you've added a barrier to attracting new customers. It's up to you to decide whether you want this to be your personal site, or to be a tool for the d20 community. If it's for the community, that front page needs to be useful.

I diagree with your statistical analyisis - the number of people who responded are not even close to a representative sample, and the subject is skewed to attract those who dislike the status quo.

Traffic has been going up, not down; so I'm afraid that poeple aren't leaving in droves. You're very much presenting your personal opinion as statistical fact here.

Put the banter in the boards or a seperate "editorial" section.

Splitting up the news would double the time it takes me each day. Already it's a couple of hours daily just for the news; I can't increase that to 4 hours.

 

[Dragongirl]

Eric had his site up for who knows how long, you had yours up a year before you changed it. Was there a problem with it paying for itself before you changed it? Just asking. But if it lasted so long before you changed it, your statement about it folding in a month if you just did news doesn't make sense to me.

The end line is, it is your time and your site and you can do whatever you want. However you did ask for our opinions so I hope you won't get upset with us for saying them.

Personally I come here because it is advertised as a "news and reviews site", not as a chat site.

 

[Morrus]

Eric had his site up for who knows how long, you had yours up a year before you changed it. Was there a problem with it paying for itself before you changed it? Just asking. But if it lasted so long before you changed it, your statement about it folding in a month if you just did news doesn't make sense to me.

There's a vast difference.

Eric had a deal with Gamespy. They paid him a monthly stipend to run the site.

Traffic is much, much higher than it was before.

Even then, Gamespy had developed a habit of switching off things like the messageboards when traffic got too high. Today, the messageboards would be up about 5% of the time if the site were at Gamespy.

Gamespy had a whole bunch of rules which Eric didn't agree with and which contributed to his closing his site. I certainly don't agree with them either.

Thus, the site has to make its way on its own. And therefore costs money.

 

[Morrus]

The end line is, it is your time and your site and you can do whatever you want. However you did ask for our opinions so I hope you won't get upset with us for saying them.

I don't mind opinions, but some of them are just completely uninformed. That's OK, but I have to correct people when they make incorrect assumptions.

People seem to be asking for some ideal utopian free site. My question is: OK, that's cool. I like that idea. Where's the money going to come from? Are these the sorts of people who expect all services to come free - roads and public services without taxes, for example? There are real economic considerations that they just don't seem to want to acknowledge.

 

[dema]

Morrus I was just caught off guard. I got used to "you" Thing s feel different because this site used to be just a reporter, and not a person.

Advertise what you have too, if that gets you a click and some cash great. I would have plastered this page with click here to win that and click here to buy this awesome thing (like the DragonBone dice roller, can you find it? anyway)

 

[Morrus]

Eric had his site up for who knows how long, you had yours up a year before you changed it. Was there a problem with it paying for itself before you changed it? Just asking. But if it lasted so long before you changed it, your statement about it folding in a month if you just did news doesn't make sense to me.

Are we talking about the style or the commercial aspects now? The two a separate issues. The commercial aspects have been there since I took over - they didn't suddenly arrive last week.

 

[Morrus]

Incidentally - we have digressed completely from the subject of the thread, which was about the news style, not about commerciall stuff. The latter has been covered time and time again, and I really don't feel like getting into it once more. One day I'll post a FAQ, but for now, you'll just have to believe me when I say it is necessary. Or not believe me, as you choose.

But it's irrelevant. We're talking about the news reporting style. I'll be commenting no more on financial stuff in this thread!

 

[Galfridus]

I like the new style much, much better!

There, that should stand out.

I found the personality of the new style to be exactly what I was looking for. Reading bulleted lists may be more efficient, but it gets dry very, very quickly.

I notice that 70% of respondents have responded that the new format is "Good". I doubt you'd get a much higher percentage if Gygax was doing the news.