Andy Y Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 The blog facility was set up on RMweb for modellers to have a different channel to communicate about their modelling, prototype info or meaningful discourses. It does wind me up when I see stuff like these which isn't ever going to be of interest to anyone bar the writer. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/890/entry-7919-all-quiet/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/961-marble-rose-silverfox/ Such things just waste the reader's time and devalue the whole concept of placing the author more in control. There's masses of good stuff to see and I would suggest potential blog authors take a look at others offerings to gauge what's actually good and work to create similar levels of interest. I would like to ask members to report pointless entries so that the admin team can take a look and remove them to save wasting anyone else's time. I would also ask that if you're linking to an external blog that the RMweb blog entry is reasonably substantial so that the reader knows what they're likely to see if they follow a link off-site. e.g. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/3/entry-7909-a-change-of-eras-for-beattie-well-tank/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/206/entry-7897-beer-cake-toy-trains/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2011 It's just saying something for the sake of it! Once I've done my science planning I might clean my shoes and think about my Well Tanks!! Many thanks as always for your and the admin team's time. Regards, Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruston Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Perhaps make creating a blog into a priviledge that can only be awarded after a spending certain amount of time on the forum and making some worthwhile contributions? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 You are right Dave; it's just that it would involve quite a lot of work to retrospectively apply the relevant permissions and shift users between different groups to make it happen. It is only a minority and using the delete buttons at this end would be quicker and more convenient for the vast majority of members. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2011 Perhaps make creating a blog into a priviledge that can only be awarded after a spending certain amount of time on the forum and making some worthwhile contributions? What about threads? Should they be included to as there is a lot of stuff on here that isn't needed. Might clean things up a bit. Regards, Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catkins Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 What about threads? Should they be included to as there is a lot of stuff on here that isn't needed. Might clean things up a bit. Regards, Nick But without the threads, how do newbies get the rights afforded to the members of longer service? I will agree that some of the tread topics can be archived, ones that havn't been replied to for six months, or needless duplications, where the poster hasn't been bothered to use the site search function. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 I think Nick means the comments against a blog entry. That doesn't take up much server space as such. I should maybe look at the capabilities for blog authors to prune superfluous comments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2011 I think Nick means the comments against a blog entry. That doesn't take up much server space as such. I should maybe look at the capabilities for blog authors to prune superfluous comments. Yeah that is what I was driving at, sorry should have made that clearer. And that sounds like a good idea, as I know I am guilty of the 'lovely work' comment; I'm trying very hard to 'thank' the post if I like it and don't have anything decent to say! Regards, Nick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I wasn't at all sure folk could find my elderly blogs and so I deleted 80% of of them and diverted into a long running carriage thread instead. I found a thread is more inviting to folk who want to get involved and add their own findings and ideas, So for instance a discussion on a particular type of coach becomes topical for a while until we move onto the next vehicle. In addition, I can keep it tidier by pruming out my own material when it becomes superfluous. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I toyed with the idea of using a thread instead of my blog that I use for announcing updates for my website, but the response I got was that I should keep going with the blog idea. Largely thanks to my blog (and signature if I haven't updated my blog for a while) I get a nice steady stream of visitors, around 20 a day if I haven't got any fresh material, rising to around 150 per day in the week following an update. This makes it feel worthwhile me updating the website and it is therefore fantastic that RMWeb provides me with the opportunity. Whilst people are unlikely to learn anything or get any tips for viewing my blog, I do hope that they enjoy looking at my photos. I try to stick to the formula of an explanation of what the update includes, a direct link to the photos within my website and one of the better photos from the set. I did used to also speculate on what my next update might include, but as I have never followed through on any of this speculation, I have stopped doing that as I can imagine it would be quite annoying for the reader! I think you raise a good point Andy and have every right to take hard action! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2011 One of the ongoing weaknesses with blogs is their anonymity in VNC. The Good Ship RSS Fetcher loyally drags in a link - but quite often that link doesn't specify just whose blog has been landed. While we know at once in VNC who has posted the first and the latest contributions in a thread, that is not true with blogs, and they may in some cases see fewer readers than fine ideas and models merit.There are exceptions - Chris Nevard's blog is called, helpfully, "Chris Nevard's Blog" or unambiguous words to that effect, so the VNC viewer has a pretty good idea what he might find, which is important. Similarly the Ouse Valley Viaduct chaps have a blog title that leaves me in no doubt that it's them - and worth a visit. I admit to being a lifelong nameist, but blog titles really matter, it seems to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 But, Andy with the greatest respect, what did you expect? A blog in the wider world is often used as a simple my Diary type of entry as in "what I did today, or what I'm thinking now" Those of us who have been around RMWeb for a while have seen them develop here into a slightly different format but not really that different. I'll take one example of a brilliant thread/topic that could so easily be in a blog format, Jazz's workbench. Those of us addicted to it willl know it runs just like a diary of what Jazz is working on - Some of its content could be considered not much different from those you used as illustration - with the main difference that there is also wealth of very useful modelling. Perhaps these bloggers have still something to add and can also develop to be interesting. I have to add that I really do not care though. The blogs are still a mess AFAIC, I find them difficult to navigate and near impossible to use due their dependency on Javascript, especially since they were upgraded. I know there is content in there but frankly just cannot be bothered with them - they have never really caught my imagination. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 with the main difference that there is also wealth of very useful modelling. Is this not Andy's point? I'm not familiar with Jazz's workbench topic but you make it sound like he peppers some day to day activity amongst his genuine modelling that makes up the majority of his thread. In my view this is great as it can still be very interesting, and maybe put his modelling practice into context. The ones Andy highlighted were just people putting some mundane thoughts down on a blog. Interesting to them, but it doesn't benefit anyone who reads them, in fact it just wastes their time. I don't really want to read about someone's shopping list... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Brinkly Posted November 9, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 9, 2011 I have to add that I really do not care though. The blogs are still a mess AFAIC, I find them difficult to navigate and near impossible to use due their dependency on Javascript, especially since they were upgraded. I know there is content in there but frankly just cannot be bothered with them - they have never really caught my imagination. I do share you view regarding blogs, I tried one and just didn't get on with it. I prefer a thread, but there are a lot of updates which perhaps are not needed. I do agree completely, sometimes just having a 'I'm still here' comment is fine, but I have seen blogs, and threads, where the author has written three or four updates within minutes of each other, each update has been barely 20 words long and this is something which I feel as a community we need to address, because I feel I am missing a lot of decent stuff at the moment. Kind regards, Nick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfwit Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I have to say that I really don't like the entries which comprise of a teaser then invite you to 'click here for full content'. If Mr Nevard and DesA can cut + paste (or however they do it) the full entry from an external blog into an RMWeb blog then why can't everyone else? As for the 'today I went to the shop' entries - get shot of them. I try and make sure that my blog entries have some substance, and I expect others to as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Can't agree more Paul. Smacks of using the forum purely as a source of traffic to 3rd party websites, which if done using a thread post would generally be considered 'spam'. I've pretty much given up on writing entries on mine, primarily due to the area being swamped (to my perception) with these 'non-content' missives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.A.C Martin Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I really do hate the general disliking of the blog section on this forum, because people "don't like the code" or "there's a lot of froth". There's tonnes of useless threads created on a daily basis with few replies - why don't we get complaints about them too? There are some terrific blogs on here, but not enough people put the time and effort into coding theirs to make it easy to navigate. I've put my blog in the firing line several times on this forum whenever this subject comes up, and clearly my thoughts on how to organize a blog are not worthy of further examination on those occasions as it's always overlooked to some extent (probably because, hand on heart, my modelling is not very interesting or good enough). But just for the record and putting my money where my mouth is, here's how I've done my blog - and the reason for no entries in the last month or so was the start of my new job! Lots of material incoming, probably not all interesting for everyone, but I enjoy writing and organizing it, dammit. If anyone wants the code for the blog's index, I'd be happy to send it in a PM or post it on here between code tags for everyone to benefit from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
micklner Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I wasn't at all sure folk could find my elderly blogs and so I deleted 80% of of them and diverted into a long running carriage thread instead. I found a thread is more inviting to folk who want to get involved and add their own findings and ideas, So for instance a discussion on a particular type of coach becomes topical for a while until we move onto the next vehicle. In addition, I can keep it tidier by pruming out my own material when it becomes superfluous. I agree . I dont bother with blogs simply because the time it takes to read the forum posts if you manage even half of them. I then have never have time to go through another list. The same applies to galleries I dont want to trawl yet another list on the off chance there maybe something of interest. Keeping it to one list would keep it much simpler and much more user friendly. What I dont understand is the sheer amount of non railway modelling posts that appear. I think these shoud be reviewed and if there is no relevance start pruning some of these. e.g there are 91 pages on E bay madness !! How many people ever read page 1 ?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 10, 2011 e.g there are 91 pages on E bay madness !! How many people ever read page 1 ?? Since ebay madness rightly appears under Wheeltappers, I don't think it is any more objectionable as a topic than discussing football or other off-topic trivia. It is a light-hearted look at ebay things people have spotted today that are bizarre, overpriced or just plain wrong. Reading the thread from message 1 would certainly get no-one anywhere! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted November 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2011 What I dont understand is the sheer amount of non railway modelling posts that appear. I think these shoud be reviewed and if there is no relevance start pruning some of these. e.g there are 91 pages on E bay madness !! How many people ever read page 1 ?? I agree with that - what about the 743 pages of 'Early Risers' which now runs to 18,557 replies - and I hadn't read any of them until just now - the most recent relate to a visit to the dentist, cleaning the bathroom and baking cakes. Whats the difference between these and the blogs referred to earlier. Sorry if my comments upset anyone - that's not the intention - I'm just pointing out that if decisions are made to delete irrelevant blogs should the same rules apply to irrelevant topics as well - and then where will it end ?? Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 We do have non-railway related stuff and that's what the Wheeltappers is basically for which obviously quite a lot of people enjoy taking part in. It's easier to by-pass a Wheeltappers topic if you don't want to partake. There's an assumption that a blog should be of reasonable quality rather than just "I'm buying one of these, fullstop" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 10, 2011 I think there are two distinct categories of entries here. Wheeltappers, which cheerfully disclaims any relevance to our hobby, operates as a social area for light relief, venting life's frustrations etc. There are certain headings within it that I read, enjoy, make contributions to, many that I don't. RMWeb Blogs are not intended for that purpose, and the fact that it takes several clicks to get into a blog from VNC means it is most frustrating to find the blog isn't of interest, or worse still has a current entry that doesn't even relate to the hobby. Some blogs - possibly a majority - contain good stuff, but I remain unconvinced that good blogs would not also make good threads, with a potential for much more interactive response from us all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Max Stafford Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Mike. Early Risers is a bit different. It's basically a group of friends who enjoy a bit of idle chit chat in a thread specifically intended for that purpose. It does no harm, it's safely out of the way in Wheeltappers and sometimes we even discuss modelling! Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I dont bother with blogs... Here we go again, this thread is just turning into a endless series of "Blogs are a Good Thing" versus "Blogs are a Bad Thing". We've been there before many times and we all know that some of you can't be bothered, don't care what you're missing, don't understand how they work, etc. Let's stick to the point. This thread started with Andy reporting that he is taking action to remove the dross that gets in the way of finding the often excellent material in the blogs. From my point of view, this is most welcome. Nick edit: simplified after getting hopelessy confused with a multiquote. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.A.C Martin Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Well said Nick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.