Blog quality

[Kenton]

One thing that could perhaps be improved is the visibility of the blogs - as has been brought up by all camps in this discussion, new posts aren't very visible on the front page, as opposed to eg the galleries. Perhaps the "Recent blog entries"

I'm not sure that will have much impact. There are many on here (including me) who never go anywhere near the front page - find it, frankly, a bit of a mess and, possibly for historical reasons, just use the "View New content" live link on top right of the VNC. Clicking that always refreshes the VNC to the current page which is where I live. Blogs, Galleries, etc may just be a couple of clicks away somewhere but Page 1 of the VNC changes faster than I can keep up with already and is only a single click to refresh.

 

Perhaps what is missing is a similar link at the top a VNC specific to a list of blogs but that lists them in the same format. Sure I know there is a link somewhere, but finding it and having it a click away is another matter.

[Free At Last]

I never see the front page either, the button on my "Favourites" tab, set up long ago, logs me straight in to Active Content.

[buffalo]

...Perhaps what is missing is a similar link at the top a VNC specific to a list of blogs but that lists them in the same format. Sure I know there is a link somewhere, but finding it and having it a click away is another matter.

1. On the left hand side of the "View New Content" page, click on "Blogs" under "By content type".

2. On the Blogs index page click on "View New Content".

 

btw. I never cease to be surprised by the number of people who say they explore specific fora from the home page rather than using VNC.

 

Nick

[richbrummitt]

I must be near unique as someone who reads blogs as much as, if not more than, the forum

[Mikkel]

I realize that some people use VNC as the main entry page, but I'm guessing the homepage is still the main entry page for the majority (judging also by the activity in status updates, which I assume most people are using from the front page). But Andy probably has some stats on that which could be intereting to see at some point.

 

On the VNC page, isn't it simpler to just use the existing blog tabs as indicated by Nick (and illustrated here http://www.rmweb.co....post__p__563522)?

[Dave777]

There was a poll set up back in June or July where folks could vote if they used View New Content (VNC) or the front page (where you view RMWeb via the list of different forums) after someone said in a thread that the majority of people view via VNC and I raised the query of where that info came from.

 

The poll started off with a lead for VNC but then the last I saw was the front pagers comfortably in the lead, but I then went on holiday for 3 weeks and when I came back the thread had disappeared.

 

 

We're covering a lot of well-trodden ground in this thread (I thought it had all pretty much been said before the thread was revived again this week, and some points have just been repeated from earlier posts (which themselves repeat some stuff that has been floating around since the blogs were created)), and definitely one 'root cause' is that VNC users will have greater visibility of the blogs via their appearance on their screen.

 

[Dukedog]

I've got to be honest and say that at the outset I was very dubious about the blogs idea, Like Kenton said a few posts back I had the impression that they were not easy to use or set up.

However I have proved myself wrong and now post 99% of my stuff in the blogs.

 

I find that in general the blog content of the forum is far more Layout/workbench orientated than the general forums with very little chaff. whereas in the general forums posts are easily "lost" amongst some of the chaff that inevitably appears (Not just on RMWeb but on most forums)

Out of 6 pages of VNC this morning I only found 3 threads of any interest to me. but, I tend to look at ALL the blogs simply because of the almost 100% modelling content.

 

Getting back to the OP.regarding "Blog Quality" , OK, there are the odd one or two that to be fair should not be there.

BUT, rather than have them dismissed out of hand would it not be a good idea to try and steer the members responsible in the right direction?

Those who are good at writing blogs could act as mentors for those without the necessary writing skills.

 

Just an idea that's all.

 

Cheers!

FRank

[S.A.C Martin]

The graph below shows Youtube viewer stats for a video that was posted in a blog entry on here. It lived sweetly but briefly - as I think most blog entries do (or maybe the entry was just cr*p ).

 

Mikkel, that's not how it works - Youtube's algorithm actively pushes certain types of videos as "related content" which you will find is where most of any Youtuber's views come from (that and appearing on the homepage as active or promoted content). The video's rise and fall was down to it being a new video which was promoted because it is new, and then being dropped because it didn't fit the category for repeated views.

 

The best videos on Youtube keep regular views, day after day. Those that crash and burn after a few days are ten a penny. Review videos and parodies do well because they will always be in some way relevant to someone at any given point in time.

[Kenton]

1. On the left hand side of the "View New Content" page, click on "Blogs" under "By content type".

2. On the Blogs index page click on "View New Content".

 

Already an extra click and seems to produce a strange list (no doubt configurable in some way) and the titles remain generally uninviting/uninformative. I know most of my interaction with the blogs boil down to the failure of the software to account for non-javascript browsers/users but interaction with the topics remain at least possible with some difficulty. The editor forces me to type raw html when I use reply and nothing really works - possibly why it is so difficult/slow to reply.

 

The incentive to go looking in the blogs should be the content that is there but just what is the point when there is no way to interact or it takes far too much effort? I still like the blog concept but what once worked no longer does. There may be many others who visit RMWeb with this problem and simply leave. Perhaps I'm the only one who continues to persevere.

 

I come home from work, put breakfast on and turn on the PC. The browser opens with the VNC page showing the latest set of posts, not a click has yet been made. I then scan through for topics of interest/participation opening each as a new tab back to 22:00 when I quit for work. Perhaps I am just a slow reader (certainly a slow typist) but there are usually enough tabs open to keep me busy/interacting until midday. Then I have a nap and return later to see what has happened during the morning.

 

I have never found Twitter or Status of any appeal so have never been there. I am sure it does appeal to some members but I suspect the number of members using it are limited to a certain group. Good for them, and if that is what they have time for ... It just isn't my cup-o-tea.

 

I don't think quality of content is an issue, I don't think that people start out with a dislike of blogs or topics. I think those opinions are all formed by the ease of use - for whatever individual reasons there are a number of us who simply find it so difficult to use that even a single click away may as well be thousands. It is so much simpler to continue to spend time doing what we are used to.

[Kenton]

We're covering a lot of well-trodden ground in this thread (I thought it had all pretty much been said before the thread was revived again this week, and some points have just been repeated from earlier posts (which themselves repeat some stuff that has been floating around since the blogs were created)), and definitely one 'root cause' is that VNC users will have greater visibility of the blogs via their appearance on their screen.

This is simply the nature of forums. Topics are always posted that go over old ground time and time again. How often have we seen on here something like "Help, I'm new to soldering" and then the old hands and those of us who do soldering every day come back with the same old answer relentlessly hoping that everyone might get the message, or someone puts up a pointer to a similar thread posted and answered last week/month x n times and take your pick, or posts links to external sites - some with dubious - some with incomplete - some with not so useful information. This is just the way forums work and probably always will be. We have been around a while, seen it all before and made our opinions known keeping the new thread alive and at the top of the VNC for all to see. When it drops off the nth page then it is lost only to someone bothered to search for it. We all are aware of the limitations of the search.

 

On the subject of why those stats changed it might simply have been that posts to the topic dropped off in frequency taking it further away from VNC user's short attention span, whereas it was pinned to the top of those using the index page. As always there are statistics and the analysis of statistics, make up what you will.

[Mikkel]

Mikkel, that's not how it works

 

In this case it is :-)

 

I used this example because more than 90% of the initial hits came from the embedded player on my RMweb Blog. The normal pattern for the vids I post on the blog is that during the first couple of weeks almost all the hits come from the blog. Then gradually the % of hits from Youtube itself (related content etc) starts to rise, until it becomes the dominant source of traffic for the videos.

[richbrummitt]

... for whatever individual reasons there are a number of us who simply find it so difficult to use that even a single click away may as well be thousands. It is so much simpler to continue to spend time doing what we are used to.

 

The oh-so-human resistance to change.

[RedgateModels]

 

The oh-so-human resistance to change.

 

but still moan about it

[Kenton]

 

The oh-so-human resistance to change.

That glib remark just shows how little you understand of the problem. I keep referring people to the blog that I created in the early days (before a software update locked me out of editing) - The blogs software is my issue not the content. I believe to a lesser extent it is the same issue for others the software not the change of format and definitely not the content.

[buffalo]

That glib remark just shows how little you understand of the problem. I keep referring people to the blog that I created in the early days (before a software update locked me out of editing) - The blogs software is my issue not the content. I believe to a lesser extent it is the same issue for others the software not the change of format and definitely not the content.

Kenton,

Yes, the software could be better, though it has improved greatly over the early release whilst losing one or two very nice features on the way (e.g. tag cloud, favourites list, etc.). However, I do not believe that the problems you often refer to have much to do with why many people don't get on with the blogs, see, for example Ruston's earlier post. Most of your problems seem to be of your own making because you refuse to have anything to do with Javascript. Now, I respect and understand that decision as I only allow Javascript with a few trusted sites. It must be terribly frustrating not to be able to do things that we both know are quite possible without Javascript, but the fact is the blogs can work fine for the majority of folk who happily allow Javascript (whether through concious decision or ignorance of the potential issues).

 

Nick

[Dukedog]

I know I am going wildly off topic now but seeing that kenton and others have software problems and do not run Java, can some one Briefly and in Luddite terms explain what the potential issues are?

 

I for one don't know the answer Am I missing something?

 

Cheers!

Frank

[buffalo]

I know I am going wildly off topic now but seeing that kenton and others have software problems and do not run Java, can some one Briefly and in Luddite terms explain what the potential issues are?

 

Frank,

 

Firstly, it's Javascript, not Java. Whilst both are programming languages (used to write executable programs) they are quite different animals.

 

Javascript in this context is executable program code that is embedded in web pages. These bits of code actually run on your computer, unlike the rest of the web page which is merely formatted for presentation by your browser. Such programs could include "malicious code" that might do nasty things to the stuff stored on your computer (like deleting it, etc.). For this reason, many people think it is wise to only enable Javascript when you can trust the web site not to do anything so nasty (there are options in most browsers to diable Javascript, or to enable it for certain sites only).

 

Most Javascript is quite innocuous and does things like fetching the popup data when you hover over a user name.

 

If you are feeling brave (but otherwise ignore) take a look at the "View source" or "Page source" option in your browser. Most of what you see is the basic web page code written in a language called HTML. Some of it is another language called CSS. Both of these just tell your browser how to layout the page. Sections that are enclosed in

<script type='text/javascript'>...</script>

 

are Javascript code.

 

Nick

 

edit ps. unfortunately for those who avoid Javascript at all costs, many features of the built-in editors in the IP board software are controlled by Javascript...

[S.A.C Martin]

 

In this case it is :-)

 

I used this example because more than 90% of the initial hits came from the embedded player on my RMweb Blog. The normal pattern for the vids I post on the blog is that during the first couple of weeks almost all the hits come from the blog. Then gradually the % of hits from Youtube itself (related content etc) starts to rise, until it becomes the dominant source of traffic for the videos.

 

Ah, I see. Fair enough Mikkel, my apologies.

[Kenton]

</p>Kenton,</p>Yes, the software could be better, though it has improved greatly over the early release whilst losing one or two very nice features on the way (e.g. tag cloud, favourites list, etc.). However, I do not believe that the problems you often refer to have much to do with why many people don't get on with the blogs, see, for example Ruston's earlier post. Most of your problems seem to be of your own making because you refuse to have anything to do with Javascript. Now, I respect and understand that decision as I only allow Javascript with a few trusted sites. It must be terribly frustrating not to be able to do things that we both know are quite possible without Javascript, but the fact is the blogs can work fine for the majority of folk who happily allow Javascript (whether through concious decision or ignorance of the potential issues).</p> </p>Nick</p>

Nick, unfortunately that is not quite the case.

 

In the early days the editor used to work in both the topics and the blogs without introducing additional code. Also nearly every image button worked throughout the site. A classic example is the "follow/unfollow button" in the topics. Following an "upgrade" by the software providers they seem to have made a deliberate attempt to ignore non javascript alternatives - this is an amazingly easy thing to do (providing the alternative rather than simply ignoring it) and most well written sites provide for this. This change has nothing to do with Andy or anything he can do - other than to flag to IPB the issue which they will undoubtedly just ignore.

 

So I now cannot even get in to edit my blog let alone all the other issues with it. Even if I was desperate to do so. On top of which I think I get the same garbled html that some others get in the editor. It simply is not translating the contents in the text box back to plain formatted English.

 

The big issue with Javascript and Silverlight are not directly with the main hosting site but to a great extent with the unwelcome attention of other sites google etc who use javascript to collect data on the sites you visit. Without wishing to introduce any degree of paranoia to the level I have I would suggest a little light reading of http://noscript.net

[buffalo]

Nick, unfortunately that is not quite the case....

I'm not sure what the perceived disagreement is. I fully agree that the software writers seem to wish to avoid non-script methods wherever possible and that this is a Bad Thing.

 

...On top of which I think I get the same garbled html that some others get in the editor. It simply is not translating the contents in the text box back to plain formatted English...

That is something that I've only ever seen momentarily, and very rarely, before it gets translated.

 

The big issue with Javascript and Silverlight are not directly with the main hosting site but to a great extent with the unwelcome attention of other sites google etc who use javascript to collect data on the sites you visit. Without wishing to introduce any degree of paranoia to the level I have I would suggest a little light reading of http://noscript.net

Again, I agree, but as Frank asked for simple explanations, I didn't go any further.

 

Nick

[Mod5]

Gentlemen whilst this may well be very interesting to some it is not discussing QUALITY of the blogs. It has gone so far off topic that many could be excused for their posts as it isn't immediately obvious what the thread is about anymore and that is despite a number of requests to stick to the topic.

 

So with that in mind I think it is time to close it. If you want to discuss the finer points of Java or whatever script or even psychoanalyse why some use blogs and some don't then another thread is where it can be done.

 

So unless Andy feels the need to give someone else a nudge because their quality isn't what it should be (not that the culprits have taken any notice) this is closed for now.