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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EricNoah" data-source="post: 269600" data-attributes="member: 4">That explanation, I think, is very helpful, Russ -- thanks.  I'm gonna ramble a bit here, and I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know from experience.  Bear with me.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I've never been big into "mission statements" but it never hurts to have something to look at and say "oh yeah, that's why I started doing this and why I continue to do it."  I'd love to see what you come up with.  In some ways you are in a very unenviable position -- you've got lots and lots of people who want a piece of that valuable acreage called EN World's front page.  Some of those people are fans -- they want to be mentioned in the Community News if they've made updates to their websites or created a neat new adventure or aid of some sort.  I think that's a great use of the D20 News area.  Some of those people are publishers.  And that's where it gets a little hairy.  When a publisher offers up a freebie, it's fun to be able to tell the fans about that.  When a publisher sends you a press release, though, they're not always all that relevant or useful to many viewers on your site.  I'm sure you, like I did, have often used your judgement to decide what is news and what isn't news.  I'd urge you to continue to be judicial about that.  Make the publishers do their own advertising.  You don't work for them.  It's great to hear you reaffirm that the site is about the fans.  You are not here to serve the publishers.  You are not here to sell their products for them.  Now, sometimes helping the publishers communicate with the fans is important -- not because it helps the publishers, but because it helps the fans.  They'll want to know if there's some neat new product coming up, or a freebie or a rules correction, etc.  Your site and my site are very different in some ways.  Because my site was pure "hobby" I could literally take it or leave it and it wouldn't force a major change in my life.  You, on the other hand, are attempting to make this a profitable business in some way, and as such that makes things even more difficult.  You will have a tough balancing act between wanting good relations with publishers and yet making sure your loyalty to your fans and to your own vision of the site stays true.  I don't envy you your position! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Now, how does site redesign fall into all of this?  I'm not necessarily talking about what pages link to what, more about how the news area of that main page is presented.  Here are some thoughts...First, I propose that you separate your D20 News "chunks" a bit more.  Press releases should be one category by itself, and it should get little fanfare.  Press releases are rarely news (rather they are advertisments disguised as news).  Give 'em a title, mention who they're from, and link to them on the message boards or wherever they have been posted so if people want more information they can get to it.  Or maybe even have one section of a sidebar called "This Week's Press Releases" with links.Other D20 News categories could involve official freebies/previews/web enhancements; corrections/clarifications; industry news (who got hired, fired, merged, downsized, the good and the bad); stuff like that.  And you already do that to some degree; what I'm suggesting is more emphasis on the stuff gamers who aren't into "industry news" would like to see (free stuff) and less on press releases.  I was about to suggest something radical -- not metioning every little update to WotC's site.  I mean, map-a-week, who needs to be reminded of that every other day.  But actually this is probably a really important role that EN World plays, so maybe gather more input on this.  Another area that might need some rethinking is the D20 Reviews/Guide.  This section is a great idea in theory.  However, in practice the d20 guide part of it ends up spouting the company's line a bit more than maybe it has to.  A lot of that stuff really screams "I'm helping these companies sell their stuff" perhaps uninentionally, when maybe it should be screaming "I'm keeping the fans informed."  One not-so-simple fix to this is to not use the company's canned  info about the products, but to write a more neutral/factual description that leaves the hype out.  A very laborious task ahead of you there if you decide to go that route.  But for example, if a company describes their forthcoming book as "A huge book filled to the brim with feats, prestige classes, spells, magic systems, vehicle rules, and other crunchy bits to make your half-ghoul characters really come to life!" you simply write "half-ghoul sourcebook."  Ok, some more ideas coming to mind, and kind of related to the above ... I get the feeling that some companies use your site (maybe the D20 Guide/Reviews section specifically) to subsitute for an accurate, up-to-date, informative company website.  My only advice there is to do your best to not let them get away with doing that.  Finally, I do know, probably better than anyone here, that with this site comes a bit of politics.  Ick, hate it, I'm right there with you.  Publishers telling you what to do, how to do things, why this company shouldn't nominated for X in the ENnies or why company Y shouldn't even have been invited.  Maddening.  I want you to know that I support any changes you might want to make with the site -- in design, in content, in scope, or in mission.  Because ultimately the site has to be Russell Morrissey's site, and it has to please you first and foremost.  If you're doing with the site things *you* love to do, we will be here -- because you're making the site better for *us.*</blockquote>

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