Comments on: My thoughts on the RPGBloggers Network http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/ A Role Playing Games Blog Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:50:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Stargazer http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-525 Stargazer Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:57:36 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-525 Sure, of course nobody can read really everything that the network churns out. That's why I add my favorite blogs to my feed as well. I saw this firehose effect more from a blogger's perspective: it was hard to get your blog known when there was a high probability that your posts didn't even show up at the front page of the network because you wrote them at the wrong time. Sure, of course nobody can read really everything that the network churns out. That's why I add my favorite blogs to my feed as well.

I saw this firehose effect more from a blogger's perspective: it was hard to get your blog known when there was a high probability that your posts didn't even show up at the front page of the network because you wrote them at the wrong time.

]]> By: Alex Schröder http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-524 Alex Schröder Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:50:20 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-524 I read all my blogs via RSS; therefore I never had the idea that I should read all the posts on the network. Instead, I was skimming the frontpage for interesting stuff (and like Mad Brew said, I'm thinking a lot more about titles and excerpts!) and if I liked somebody, I'd add them to my personal feed. And if I miss it the first time around, there's always the chance I'll find a second post I like and subscribe at a later date. And once I do, I'll get a backlog of at least 10 articles and read those, too… <abbr><em><abbr><em>Alex Schröders last blog post..<a href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/Comments_on_2008-12-19_More_Than_I_Can_Chew" rel="nofollow">Comments on More Than I Can Chew</a></em></abbr></abbr></em></em> I read all my blogs via RSS; therefore I never had the idea that I should read all the posts on the network. Instead, I was skimming the frontpage for interesting stuff (and like Mad Brew said, I'm thinking a lot more about titles and excerpts!) and if I liked somebody, I'd add them to my personal feed. And if I miss it the first time around, there's always the chance I'll find a second post I like and subscribe at a later date. And once I do, I'll get a backlog of at least 10 articles and read those, too…

<abbr><abbr>Alex Schröders last blog post..Comments on More Than I Can Chew</abbr></abbr>

]]> By: Stargazer http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-519 Stargazer Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:33:38 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-519 @Dave: Hehe, I totally missed those news, perhaps they became victims of the firehose effect. And I think I should use the mailing list for questions more often. :) @Dave: Hehe, I totally missed those news, perhaps they became victims of the firehose effect.

And I think I should use the mailing list for questions more often. :)

]]> By: Stargazer http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-518 Stargazer Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:28:14 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-518 @Mad Brew: The RPG Bloggers Network site was and still is the main source of readers. Most reader come to my blog from this page, so it was a problem to me for quite some time. I would love to change that but it's hard to even convince people to subscribe to one's RSS feed sometimes. @Mad Brew: The RPG Bloggers Network site was and still is the main source of readers. Most reader come to my blog from this page, so it was a problem to me for quite some time.

I would love to change that but it's hard to even convince people to subscribe to one's RSS feed sometimes.

]]> By: Dave T. Game http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-517 Dave T. Game Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:26:34 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-517 We might do a more in-depth "how the network works" post in the future, but to answer some questions now... Feedwordpress, the plugin that essentially powers the site, got an upgrade that smoothed out some issues, though my feeling is that it's also introduced some new issues but it's too early to tell. We also changed the way the pages cache. I can't give enough props to Graham of CriticalAnkleBites.com who is our resident tech genius and without whom the site would be broken and awful. We were doing weekly updates: <a href="http://www.rpgbloggers.com/category/rpgb_news/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rpgbloggers.com/category/rpgb_news/</a> That included everything featured, new members, and other updates, but no one was reading them, and the only comments were "thanks for linking my post" so we decided it wasn't worth it for the time being. They also were a lot of work. I'll see about posting some traffic stats soon. As we say in the FAQ: <a href="http://(http://www.rpgbloggers.com/faq-for-network-members/)" rel="nofollow">(http://www.rpgbloggers.com/faq-for-network-members/)</a> "How do I get a post “Featured!” ? Write a really good post. If one of the Board of Directors really likes it and thinks it should be highlighted, he or she will mark it “Featured!”" If there's anything else specific you want answered, let me know, though the mailing list is probably the best place to make sure I see it and so the answers gets out there. <abbr><em><abbr><em>Dave T. Games last blog post..<a href="http://www.critical-hits.com/2008/12/18/a-comparison-of-content/" rel="nofollow">A Comparison of Content</a></em></abbr></abbr></em></em> We might do a more in-depth "how the network works" post in the future, but to answer some questions now…

Feedwordpress, the plugin that essentially powers the site, got an upgrade that smoothed out some issues, though my feeling is that it's also introduced some new issues but it's too early to tell. We also changed the way the pages cache. I can't give enough props to Graham of CriticalAnkleBites.com who is our resident tech genius and without whom the site would be broken and awful.

We were doing weekly updates: http://www.rpgbloggers.com/category/rpgb_news/
That included everything featured, new members, and other updates, but no one was reading them, and the only comments were "thanks for linking my post" so we decided it wasn't worth it for the time being. They also were a lot of work.

I'll see about posting some traffic stats soon.

As we say in the FAQ: (http://www.rpgbloggers.com/faq-for-network-members/)

"How do I get a post “Featured!” ?

Write a really good post. If one of the Board of Directors really likes it and thinks it should be highlighted, he or she will mark it “Featured!”"

If there's anything else specific you want answered, let me know, though the mailing list is probably the best place to make sure I see it and so the answers gets out there.

<abbr><abbr>Dave T. Games last blog post..A Comparison of Content</abbr></abbr>

]]> By: Mad Brew http://www.stargazersworld.com/2008/12/18/my-thoughts-on-the-rpgbloggers-network/comment-page-1/#comment-516 Mad Brew Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:25:17 +0000 http://www.stargazersworld.com/?p=451#comment-516 I never really got frustrated with the firehose effect, as I saw it coming. Growing pains. That and I felt they were doing more for me than I was for them, so if one of my posts slipped off the RPGBN's rador... better luck next time. I never really tried to keep up with all the posts, I tend to weed out a lot by title and excerpt (which led me to think about better titling and excerpting). As far as the black box effect goes, I just assumed Dave and Phil chose the featured posts using either thru-traffic or their personal opinion. I would be nice to see a sort of graph that showed the number of members across time, where you could highlight a timeframe and view all the blogs that joined during that time and the exact date. Something else that might be nifty to see graphs of activity (overall posts, posts by blog, posts by category, where the traffic is going and coming from). <abbr><em><abbr><em>Mad Brews last blog post..<a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Madbrewlabs/~3/488636803/" rel="nofollow">Nightmares in Gaming with Strangers</a></em></abbr></abbr></em></em> I never really got frustrated with the firehose effect, as I saw it coming. Growing pains. That and I felt they were doing more for me than I was for them, so if one of my posts slipped off the RPGBN's rador… better luck next time.

I never really tried to keep up with all the posts, I tend to weed out a lot by title and excerpt (which led me to think about better titling and excerpting).

As far as the black box effect goes, I just assumed Dave and Phil chose the featured posts using either thru-traffic or their personal opinion.

I would be nice to see a sort of graph that showed the number of members across time, where you could highlight a timeframe and view all the blogs that joined during that time and the exact date.

Something else that might be nifty to see graphs of activity (overall posts, posts by blog, posts by category, where the traffic is going and coming from).

<abbr><abbr>Mad Brews last blog post..Nightmares in Gaming with Strangers</abbr></abbr>

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