Blog Improvement Discussion

Hi Everybody!

Hoptis asked me a while ago to paste in the selected bits of our e-mail discussions regarding the improvement of our little sub-forum. It's been a crazy week, so I haven't had a chance to get to it, but here it is:

As far as the suggestions for improvement, here's the short list so far:

* A direct link to blogs from the main page (and perhaps the forum list at www.bluelight.ru/vb as well) as well as/instead of the link in the 'Quick Links' section of the pulldown menu. Just as a means to improve visibility and access
* A 'Posting Guideline/Announcement' link (a la 'Other Drugs Guidelines') or other sort of Sticky post system for announcements
* A listing of who is moderating the area, so that posters can know to whom to address any issues/complaints


I was also wondering if there was a way to change the number of 'Recent Blogs/Comments' seen per page? As a nicety more than anything else. And if the poll functionality can be extended to Blogs? Not that we do much voting, but once a month we vote on the Topic of the Month, and the poll just looks more slick than the current setup.

From what I've heard, changes to the layout and what not in Blogs are not trivial, and as such I completely understand that these may not be able to be implemented, or if so not soon. I know how little time one can realisically can devote to BL . It's more of a wish list than anything else at the moment; nothing's broken, and none of the suggestions need to be implemented any time soon.

On the other issues, I'll try and look into all of those as soon as I can, some of them will be possible, some of them not. The polls one, at first glance, seems impossible but there are many workarounds for this, including the possibility of adding a notice to Blogs which directs people to a poll in a BL forum somewhere.

PS. Have you ever seen this?

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/contactlist.php

I'll update it this weekend to remove spork, though I agree it would be nice to have the mods listed somewhere in Blogs too.

Also you should be aware, the home page for the Blogs module is here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/features_blog.php

Have a look at the demo of version 2.02. I hope to upgrade our Blogs to this version by year's end.

Thanks for pointing out the contact list. In my nearly 10 years here I've never seen it, and think that it's great. I'll pass it on to the user who made that particular suggestion. The poll thing is probably the lowest priority thing in the pile; the way we are doing it now works well enough for our purposes.

Thanks as well for showing me the blog features list. I don't doubt that there are many features that I haven't used yet, and many more that most users don't use. I'll be sure to give that a good reading when I get a chance.

I think that's it for now. Talk to you soon!

That's pretty well it for now. Hoptis is on vacation for another week yet IIRC, but this should be a good place to discuss potential improvements to Blogs in a manner more public than PMs.

To add another note: this month the topic of the month really seemed to fizzle. It was a good idea, but I haven't been around enough to properly promote the cross-forum idea. Do we want to keep going on with the 'sub-forum' themed months, just do regular themes, or can the theme of the month altogether? Personally I'd like to see it tried for another month at least, but I don't know how well the cross-forum theme idea is working. I just need to get out there and start talking up Blogs in places other than, well, Blogs.

So yeah, let's discuss these points, and add some more suggestions as we think of them, shall we?

 

PS. Have you ever seen this?

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/contactlist.php

I'll update it this weekend to remove spork, though I agree it would be nice to have the mods listed somewhere in Blogs too.

i just had a look in the admin control panel to see if i could fix the 'easiest' problem, but i don't think i have access to the contactlist.php page. but anyway, hoptis, when you're doing that, you might want to reword this cos it's out of date:

On this page you will find the email addresses of the Bluelight staff.

 

You have to really look for the contact list.
I have found it a few times but it was more stumbled upon-

What do you think about asking NMI to feature Blogs next month as their Forum of the month?
I think 'Words' has been the forum of the month for 2 months now???

I have been bringing up and suggesting Blogs ALOT the last month or two to folks in TDS.......
I think for new and old users in TDS Blogs is a great place for some of the posts people tend to throw in there

Also, Dave, we might try to post in many forums in hopes that people see Blogs under our names and they realize Blogs is there. ACTUALLY it was b/c you had Blogs under your name that I realized there was a Blogs. Its a small way of getting out there, but it worked to bring me here.

Blogs on the main page- is this possible?
I think this would be an EXCELLENT idea.

Theme of the month- I really like the idea of a theme of the month. I say lets give it more time.......
I will put a signature on with Blogs theme of the month and we should each post something with the theme. I haven't done it this month, even though I love the theme, so I will come up with something.......

edit: I am working on my signature but having a problem, I msged Enki about it so hopefully will have that figured out soon
And I am going to go ahead and ask NMI Mods to consider us for next month.....

 

Cosmic Charlie responded- said it was a great idea and he would get started on it.........

 

Also, Dave, we might try to post in many forums in hopes that people see Blogs under our names and they realize Blogs is there. ACTUALLY it was b/c you had Blogs under your name that I realized there was a Blogs. Its a small way of getting out there, but it worked to bring me here.

Awesome! Does trolling count?

I'll do my best to do some forum-hopping. I'm so settled in my BL rut that I rarely step outside my bounds, but I'll see what I can do-- time permitting of course.

 

I thought about this after I wrote it........thinking I should have worded it differently- Or thought before just typing......and i went back to delete it and didn't b/c its pointless when
you can see it anyway
Stepping outside of your comfort zone can be really nice-

hope you are well

 

Thanks. I've tried posting in a few other places, and I remembered why I don't post in SLR Blargh.

 

hahahah ok ok.
Have a great vacation.

 

Thanks. I'll try to post an update or three if I can.

 

Cosmic Charlie has PMed me asking me to do the write up on Blogs for the Featrued Forum in NMI.........
Any suggestions from the Admins? since Dave is off enjoying German food ?I did PM Dave just in case he checks in and wants to add anything.....

 

Firstly, hi ocean

You're more than qualified to write the the featured forum blurb yourself, I'm sure Dave won't mind while he's away. I'm getting some time back so will hopefully get a chance to work on some blog stuff this weekend.

 

Dave and I have been back and forth via PM and he said the same.
To be honest I haven't really got anything yet- so ......i will soon.
Hopefully Monday as I am having company this weekend.
When I get something written up I will PM Dave with it and post it here if you'd like- for you guys to check out.
I think I am going to do it very casual and friendly- I can't possibly write like Samael/New

oh and- Hello Hoptis

 

I just linked up Blogs on the home page, if history is any indication, prepare for a torrent of new traffic!

 

AH! YAY! I gotta go check this out!

 

Um.....I don't see it anywhere. ?????
When it is on the main page are we going to be able to see how many visits we are getting?? Like the other forums?

 

http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/home.php

On the left, down ze bottom, where the PDA link is.

 

Okay there's now also a blog box in the top-left of Blogs home with a list of blogs mods, this will have to be manually maintained though by an administrator when staff change.

 

Ahhh.
I was on the Forums list page looking

 

* A 'Posting Guideline/Announcement' link (a la 'Other Drugs Guidelines') or other sort of Sticky post system for announcements

This one is going to be a bit harder to do, there is an easy option... we can set the random featured blog on the home page to a single blog, I assume it'll always bring back that person's latest entry. I could set it to one of your blogs or the blog of another account we create just for that purpose.

Okay that's all I'll be doing tonight, enjoy the extra traffic! :D

 

Thanks
I was excited for it (the extra traffic) and a little worried b/c Dave is gone, I have ALOT going on in TDS as you I'm sure are aware and I am STILL trying to get an NMI bit together- plus I have a friend coming up from out of town in two hours haha But the traffic is not too heavy.
I will be on as much as I can over the weekend........
As far as Guidelines go..I am thinking that setting up a blog for that would be good.....That thread dwe could put in Theme of the Month, Votes or whatever other projects we come up with.....