Comments on: The Circle of Blogging http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/ Random babblings from a few digitally inclined people Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:11:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: The Taco Prophet http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-566 Fri, 04 Mar 2005 23:48:45 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-566 I never really saw why there had to be such a disconnect between forums and blogs. They lend themselves readily to one another, really. Blog: write an article, have people respond. Forums: post a topic, have people respond. Why don't blog entries correspond to forum topics? In a sense, the forums are the real meat of things, and the blog is a sort of headline view of what's going on there... what topics have been posted by our staff that they want to particularly draw your attention to? Been thinking about this for a while, and have been meaning to do it for some time on my own site, but... you know, I'm lazy. I mean I have kids. Yeah. That's not an excuse, that's the real reason. Sure. I never really saw why there had to be such a disconnect between forums and blogs. They lend themselves readily to one another, really.

Blog: write an article, have people respond.

Forums: post a topic, have people respond.

Why don’t blog entries correspond to forum topics? In a sense, the forums are the real meat of things, and the blog is a sort of headline view of what’s going on there… what topics have been posted by our staff that they want to particularly draw your attention to?

Been thinking about this for a while, and have been meaning to do it for some time on my own site, but… you know, I’m lazy.

I mean I have kids. Yeah. That’s not an excuse, that’s the real reason. Sure.

]]> by: Hardflip http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-554 Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:54:30 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-554 Forums should stay. If you think a blog worthy discussion appears in the forum, when you'd rather have it on the blog, why not just move it to the front page as a blog entry? With people's replies turning into comments, perhaps. Forums should stay.

If you think a blog worthy discussion appears in the forum, when you’d rather have it on the blog, why not just move it to the front page as a blog entry? With people’s replies turning into comments, perhaps.

]]> by: Kelmon http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-553 Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:01:05 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-553 Well, I'm more in favour of keeping the forums, under used or not. I'm not sure what to expect from a Blog since I perpetually exist in an Internet time roughly 2-years behind everyone else, so I'm still coming to terms with the whole concept. However, you know where you are with a forum and since I don't tend to frequent any others I guess I'd kinda miss these ones if they were to go. Given a vote, I'd vote for them to stay. Well, I’m more in favour of keeping the forums, under used or not. I’m not sure what to expect from a Blog since I perpetually exist in an Internet time roughly 2-years behind everyone else, so I’m still coming to terms with the whole concept. However, you know where you are with a forum and since I don’t tend to frequent any others I guess I’d kinda miss these ones if they were to go.

Given a vote, I’d vote for them to stay.

]]> by: Pig Monkey http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-551 Fri, 25 Feb 2005 03:59:49 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-551 I like the forums. I don't go to ForumPlanet anymore, so they're my chance to sorta keep up with the old community. If you don't want to deal with them, perhaps just take off the link and never mention them again. Then only us 1337 enough to type forums.aelon.net will visit them. I like the forums. I don’t go to ForumPlanet anymore, so they’re my chance to sorta keep up with the old community.

If you don’t want to deal with them, perhaps just take off the link and never mention them again. Then only us 1337 enough to type forums.aelon.net will visit them.

]]> by: Cyrris http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-550 Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:42:38 +0000 http://www.aelon.net/2005/02/the-circle-of-blogging/#comment-550 Well, for starters, forum activity does actually seem to be rather independent of the blog. And the expectations for activity on a blog are generally lower than that of a forum (one blog post a day is a lot on a blog, not so much on a forum) - so maintaining what is commonly considered an "active" blog is, in my opinion, easier than maintaining an "active" forum when both mediums have the same number of regular contributors. Forums require more self-sustainability, which we don't have, and won't have unless we get a lot more regular posters pretty quick. That said, if we were to try and breathe some serious life into them again, I don't want it to come at the expense of quality. The very reason I made Aelons forums was to have an online community that was generally free from the useless posts and morons that make up most of the others. To be honest I'd rather kill them rather then watch them turn into just another internet forum. The fact is, the blog is my primary concern on this website. If we're to keep the forums, we not only need more regulars and more activity, but we also need to make sure that both those things stay at the standards we've set so far (which are pretty high). Forums that require a big effort just to keep active are pretty hard to keep going in the long run, though. They really only work when people post because they feel like it, not because they feel obligated. Well, for starters, forum activity does actually seem to be rather independent of the blog. And the expectations for activity on a blog are generally lower than that of a forum (one blog post a day is a lot on a blog, not so much on a forum) - so maintaining what is commonly considered an “active” blog is, in my opinion, easier than maintaining an “active” forum when both mediums have the same number of regular contributors. Forums require more self-sustainability, which we don’t have, and won’t have unless we get a lot more regular posters pretty quick.

That said, if we were to try and breathe some serious life into them again, I don’t want it to come at the expense of quality. The very reason I made Aelons forums was to have an online community that was generally free from the useless posts and morons that make up most of the others. To be honest I’d rather kill them rather then watch them turn into just another internet forum.

The fact is, the blog is my primary concern on this website. If we’re to keep the forums, we not only need more regulars and more activity, but we also need to make sure that both those things stay at the standards we’ve set so far (which are pretty high). Forums that require a big effort just to keep active are pretty hard to keep going in the long run, though. They really only work when people post because they feel like it, not because they feel obligated.

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