So, now that we've been here a while...

[Dagwan]

How is the new site performing? I know we've seen some new folks join, and some people who've been away from the old boards come back, but has there been a net gain of people actually participating? Some folks have left us, apparantly for good. (Alexandra/ Clowny for example no longer has an account here.) Are the posting numbers up? Down? I can't find any way to check that myself.

Just curious.

[Batmatt Beyond]

I'm actually in favor of keeping most of the discussion in the forums area to alleviate some confusion. That said, I do peek in on the groups for my current fave fandoms like Who Is the Doctor and Crime Alley. But, yeah, it's much easier to catch up on discussions by looking over the forums.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Yeah, the forums feel like my "natural" habitat -- blogs second, groups third.

[Alan M.]

My experience is very gestalt. I mainly am driven to discussions by the "Latest Activity" sidebar, and since that doesn't discriminate between forum, blog, or group, neither do I.

If that doesn't go back as far as the last time I've been here, I usually work my way through what's showing there, then scan the forum discussions list in the middle of the front page, then see which groups are at the top of the list (and therefore the most recently active) on the right sidebar and pop into the ones I'm interested in for each of those to see if there's anything new.

[John Dunbar]

ClarkKent_DC said:

Also, I don't understand the distinction between "blogs" and "forums" and "discussions." By that, I mean that here, which is a "discussion," in making a response, there is a quote function and the other little buttons to render text in bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, links, add an image, etc., and the responses are placed from oldest to newest, and there's a 15-minute window to edit what you write. But in responding to a "blog," there is no quote function, there is no 15-minute window to edit, and the responses are placed in reverse order, from newest to oldest. I don't understand why that's different -- I expect that goes to the very architecture of the site -- but it's confusing and not helpful.

I have to say "Hear, Hear" to this part. I find the "blogs" section to be the least enjoyable part of this site. While the content of the blog entries themselves is fine, I don't understand why the blog posts can't go under the General Comics Discussions Forum or where ever. I just looked at the Blogs section, and the first 10 would comfortably fit in the GCD Forum; Baron's "I Like Ham" blog post could probably go under General Non-Comics Discussions Forum. Again, please, don't take this as a criticism of the content of the blog posts themselves - they are good, and sometimes great - but I find it clutters up the front page, and yeah, it bothers me as a "Forums" guy that the "Blogs" are given a higher priority on the front page, when it seems you could combine the two. And just like Clark, I don't like that in the responses section of the blogs, there is no quote function and no 15 minute window to edit. What I dislike most of all is the responses go from newest to oldest. If you've been off the board for a day or two, or even several hours if there are a lot of responses, it's a chore to read the responses in reverse order. Nothing in this place should feel like a chore.

[The Baron]

John Dunbar said:

ClarkKent_DC said:

Also, I don't understand the distinction between "blogs" and "forums" and "discussions." By that, I mean that here, which is a "discussion," in making a response, there is a quote function and the other little buttons to render text in bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, links, add an image, etc., and the responses are placed from oldest to newest, and there's a 15-minute window to edit what you write. But in responding to a "blog," there is no quote function, there is no 15-minute window to edit, and the responses are placed in reverse order, from newest to oldest. I don't understand why that's different -- I expect that goes to the very architecture of the site -- but it's confusing and not helpful.

I have to say "Hear, Hear" to this part. I find the "blogs" section to be the least enjoyable part of this site. While the content of the blog entries themselves is fine, I don't understand why the blog posts can't go under the General Comics Discussions Forum or where ever. I just looked at the Blogs section, and the first 10 would comfortably fit in the GCD Forum; Baron's "I Like Ham" blog post could probably go under General Non-Comics Discussions Forum. Again, please, don't take this as a criticism of the content of the blog posts themselves - they are good, and sometimes great - but I find it clutters up the front page, and yeah, it bothers me as a "Forums" guy that the "Blogs" are given a higher priority on the front page, when it seems you could combine the two. And just like Clark, I don't like that in the responses section of the blogs, there is no quote function and no 15 minute window to edit. What I dislike most of all is the responses go from newest to oldest. If you've been off the board for a day or two, or even several hours if there area lot of responses, it's a chore to read the responses in reverse order. Nothing in this place should feel like a chore.

To be honest, I agree with you. I tried "blogging" as an experiment, but I know that most of what I have posted is not all that distinctive from what I post in the forums. Perhaps I don't fully understand "blogigng".

[ClarkKent_DC]

I'd like to clarify: I have no complaint with the concept of blogging. My complaint is specifically with not having the quote function, not having the 15-minute window to edit, and having the responses placed in opposite order than the way they are for "discussions."

I didn't even bring up that I don't like having only the 15-minute window, as opposed to being able to go in and edit at any time, but I also suspect that goes to the architecture of the site.

[Figserello]

The other disadvantage of the blogs is that they seem to have a finite shelf life.

No matter how good a blog is or how many posters want to revisit it and add comments weeks down the line, it stays 'invisible' to the front page, apart from appearing in the left hand column for a bit.

But I guess blog entries elsewhere in the internet are meant to only be 'current' for a short while too...