mrbiotech

Join Date 11/2002

Blogging on WinCustomize

I'm really amazed at the positive response to the Blogging poll. I stand adamantly in the "No, this sort of thing should be in the message boards, not the home page" and feel like my comments in FrogBoy's blogs may have precipitated the formation of the poll.

Here's my justification: WC is a community-based site, not the personal opinion site of any one person. While it's true that the message boards and commenting systems permit the average community member or theme user to post their opinions, the same is not true of the front page of WinCustomize, reserved for news items reflecting the community (new software, contests, updates, etc). The liberties taken by Brad for his "articles," however informative, defy precedent established by the majority of theme community websites (DeviantArt, customize.org, litestep.net, skinz.org), and are akin to Steve Jobs making commentaries on Apple's downloads page, or Bill Gates editorials on the front of microsoft.com.

I'm not saying that his blogging is bad: the articles are enjoyable and some of the information valuable. The place is incorrect, however, as the remainder of the community is not permitted this luxury, relagating OUR subjective comments to the forums or on specific submitted works. Brad, I'm just politely asking that the venue of the blogs be changed, in fairness to this great community you've helped found, and out of respect for a site that has always maintained a family-type atmosphere. Elitism isn't a pleasant hallmark, but a good example speaks volumes.

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MindlessPuppet

Join Date 12/2001

For those people who don't check the forums and whatnot it gives an idea of who the people who work for Stardock are, which is always good for a community. It would be more elitest in my mind for them to be impersonal.

At the root of every blog entry there is some relevant news, so I don't see how there can be a problem or even perceived as being personal. Frogboy doesn't make post saying how some chicken he ate gave him gas, or anything totally irrelevant to the community like that.

Many sites use the blog-esc format for their frontpage. Also, I imagine it's a bit more enjoyable for the actual news posters to add their voice instead of just spouting out random assortments of facts. In many instances being professional and impersonal destroys communities, for example GameSpy's takeover of the PlanetQuake network.
[Message Edited]

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

WC version 3 doesn't really accommodate blogging at all appropriately.

For want of a better place [remembering the forums are generally frequented by regulars only, not the casual passer-by, the News section is more 'appropriate' and accessible to 'the great unwashed'....

WC version 4 will, I believe expand people's interactivity options by amongst other things provide blogging connectivity with JoeUser.....[think's that's the plan....haven't seen the details as yet].

One of the 'perks' of a citizen's promotion/elevation through the ranks is the capacity to post 'news' items.....the only stipulation is that they are NOT.....

Obscene...

Slanderous/libelous...

and ARE.....

Truly relevant to the skinning scene as a whole.

Frogboy's alleged 'blogging' here fits the criteria, and, as I commented on the post is informative and also illuminating, coming from the CEO of the company that provides us our home [and the majority of our skinnables themselves]...

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MarkMcQ

Join Date 03/2001

+18

I think the informal news round ups are great.
Otherwise you're presenting the exact same content you could probably get on any other of the eleventy million skin sites out there.

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I like the blog-news style very much! I just wish Frogboy would make use of the "Click here for full story" link. It's always nice to know the fine details of things, which a lot of the times don't need a news item on their own, so make a blog, talk about them all...and there you go!

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CerebroJD

Join Date 01/2003

Yeah....its more personal this way. How many comments do you think would be obtained if it was just a factual news article? Probably like 3. This way, it gets other opinions out in the open, and gives frogboy a chance to tell people what he really thinks, as well as providing the facts for people to see and comment on.

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kona0197

Join Date 02/2003

+86

Just my 2 cents but I think Blogs should stay on Blog sites. I don't come here to read blogs..

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My 2 cents? If you have a blog, you should syndicate it...

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

#6 by Skinner kona0197 - 7/21/2004 8:32:21 PM
Just my 2 cents but I think Blogs should stay on Blog sites. I don't come here to read blogs..

A simple solution is don't read them. I enjoy Brad's blogs on the front page. I'd rather read those, than "just the facts".

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I find this exceptionally surprising!

This type of behavior is not condoned at any other site (besides, obviously, personal sites). I don't mind seeing actual news. It's the editorialization, the loss of objectivity, and the fact that it's only coming from the CEO of StarDock. Perhaps I wouldn't feel so strongly if we saw other individuals blogs in the "news" section. The WC4 option to facilitate does seem like a more equitable solution.

I do beg to differ on the relevancy on some of the recent blogs. The 4-5 blogs posted regarding the Konfabulator issue seemed more an attempt to rile up a community than to present news. Again, a very one-sided depiction of the story was presented in the guise of a news item. That's the definition of "yellow-journalism!" This is not one man's site, it is a community site, and the treatment of it as a pathway for personal opinion isn't merited.

I lose respect for those that like their news "pre-flavored." I don't want to search every blog for the "root" of the information. Give me the data, and let me formulate a position. Again, this is obviously a personal matter of preference, but I beware of those that like their opinions handed to them they're fodder for zealots. This is one of the reasons I believe the front-page blogging

On the user classes: from what I gather, status is obtained first by purchase of a subscription, and apprentice or higher are only obtained by nomination or appointment. This type of system is conducive to people who will essentially say anything to appease the admins in order to improve a favorable standing according to purely subjective criteria. That's indicative of elitism.

I hope that WC4 further alleviates the situation, but my worst fear is that so many are vying for favor that nobody will admit to the situation. Jafo, your objective analysis above is appreciated, but I still see reason to press the issue.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

apprentice or higher are only obtained by nomination or appointment.

A fair swag of promotions came about specifically through suggestions via members [none of whom were site Admins/wizops]....brought to our notice usually with comments like 'citizen X has been active in a positive sense on the site and also has significant skin contributions....what do you think?'. This is hardly 'elitism'....but just the way the system is supposed to work.

Elitism would be where Admins only were charged with promotion choices, which is not the case, though we DO tend to be 'in charge' of 'expulsions'.

Personal status/standing within the WC community is entirely in the hands of the individual, and 'significant' promotion is not achieved through fee or favour.

Were it simplistically a 'personal choice' issue [eg totally within my hands or that of another single entity] I'm confident some 'rankings' would be significantly revised.

But.....Wincustomize.com [its community] is a Democratic entity and not 'elitist' at all....

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boggling...

[Message Edited]

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I like the personalized blogs on the frontpage, but I really didn't see them as blogs until I saw the poll. I thought of them as editorial pieces like you see at the beginning of just about any magazine and guess what...editorial pieces tend to be personalized and opinionated and just like magazines, if you don't like the content, skip the articles that are of no interest to you or stop buying the product.

Essencay still doesn't really know what a blog is, just like reading Frogboy's editorials

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indeed

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

Same here Essencay..... I never thought of them as blogs (silly word), but as editorials. Yes they're biased, but I'm not "having my opinions handed to me" ..... just because Brad thinks something is so, doesn't mean I think it is so. He's not brainwashing me.

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Personally I think there are a lot of issues with the site that have been kind of dangled out there indicating a dislike over all in general for the site and the operations of the site.

But that is just my personal opinion.

It is also why I am not saying much because I do not like beating around the bush and y'all don't care for my being direct

hehehe

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btw: I used to have to explain to my son when he would get to going on about "It's not fair"

But then again he was 5 - 12 years old at those times he would digress from the reality of things.

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The squeaky wheel gets the hammer...

It does appear that many "direct" speakers take the brunt of the overdog worshippers (remember JamMeister33?).

Speaking of "overdog worshippers," remember that great blog Brad wrote about a year ago (in relation to TGTSoft's StyleXP vs. WindoBlinds)? Curious how the tables have turned.

Jafo- the nomination process described on this site explicitly details that the contributions of the promoted individual are community-wide, larger than just this website, but it's quite evident that nobody is monitoring external sites or activity for said contributions, as all the promotees are people I only see regularly at WC. That is elitism, or the neglect of the letter of the law. There are plenty of active themers contributing to the bbLean, xoblite, GeoShell and Aston communities that are not promoted here because they're not as active here as at DevArt, LiteStep.net, lotsoskins, skinz.org, or astonshell.com. This means that the contributions of those promoted are essentially, and solely, at Wincustomize.com. I'm not intending the word elitism to be an insult, it's an apt description: only people from the WinCustomize pool are contenders.

Essencay, it's hard to avoid what's on the main-page of the web-site constantly. These editorials (Frogboy has titled them Blogs himself) are pretty much posted in entirety directly at www.wincustomize.com, the gateway for other functions here, meaning the only way to bypass them entirely is to not visit.

It's painfully obvious that I'm the only one fighting this battle, and although I feel very strongly about this issue, it's clear that my opinion is not shared, and is thus irrelevant to WC and frogboy. As far as lending a read, thanks, but no thanks.

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

the only way to bypass them entirely is to not visit.

Oh come now.....that is a little extreme. my limited intelligence and naivete would simply have me not read the item as I have that choice.

I don't read EVERY thread here, either....but mainly just the potentially 'problem' ones that may need a little control exercised.

As for 'fighting this battle'......I think some neither require nor deserve the effort....

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CerebroJD

Join Date 01/2003

I go to the front page on WinC about twice a week. Maybe. I go there for two main reasons: I'm on a different computer than usual and have to log in (in which case, I'm there for about 10 seconds), or else, I go there SPECIFICLY to read the news items and, even more specificly, to see if Brads got any new editorials.

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MindlessPuppet

Join Date 12/2001

There are plenty of active themers contributing to the bbLean, xoblite, GeoShell and Aston communities that are not promoted here because they're not as active here as at DevArt, LiteStep.net, lotsoskins, skinz.org, or astonshell.com. This means that the contributions of those promoted are essentially, and solely, at Wincustomize.com.

Go figure. WinCustomize isn't meant to be the ALL encompassing website for the entire modding community. And they shouldn't promote for things off WinC that'd just be silly. You don't see DeviantArt daily featuring items that aren't on their site. There are plenty of modding sites that are just plain bad because they try to cover too much IE skinbase.
[Message Edited]

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NightTrainthedark

Join Date 07/2003

+255

I see it just like essencay does and it's good to know that someone is behind the curtain. If you are not interested in reading it then don't read it.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

Just one point: Take a look at who posts all the news pretty much. Yet there is a "submit news" link at the top. If there was more news that was relevant to the site, there'd be less compelling reason to put editorials up there.

1) I think people like editorials in general.

2) I think many people besides myself have noted how stale the news pages on skin sites, especially WC, have become. Product releases get pretty dull after awhile and I'm often in the absurd position of having to write up news items on "competing" products because they don't bother to make news items here (or elsewhere for that matter).

3) I don't like hidden agendas. That is, I coudl have posted various links to news items on other sites about the Dashboard thing or whatever but I think that would be unethical to ively choose what to cover. By blogging it, my own biases are available for someone to see and take into account when forming an opinion. Selective news items, on the other hand I think are sneaky.

but like someone else said, ultimately, you don't have to read them.

And in WinCustomize 2K5, coming this Fall, this site will be VERY VERY different from what it is today. Many users will be able to write their own articles, tutorials, etc. and have them syndicated onto many sites.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2419

BTW, another feature in WC2K5 will be sub-domains:

Skins.wincustomize.com

Articles.wincustomize.com

Tutorials.wincustomize.com

etc. So peolple will be able to jump to the chase. Like I said, what you see here today is nothing compared to W2K5. I can't even compare it to another site because it's just so different.

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CerebroJD

Join Date 01/2003

WC2K5

What a mouthful! We'll have to think of some way to say it. "Wicky-too-kay-five"

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Koasati

Join Date 07/2001

+21

What a mouthful!

DO you always move your lips as you type?

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