Improving blogs?

[Nick]

As it currently stands, blogs are really nothing to be desired.

There was a time, when blogs were new, where they were thriving with activity. People posted a blog for what seemed like every hour. And the overwhelming majority of them had an average of what had to have been at least six or seven comments from readers.

Now, that isn't the case. Only a handful of blogs are really updated, and they're all updated by the same core group of people. These blogs are *usually* high in content and pretty well written. The feedback? Not too much, if any. The reception is piss poor at best.

I have two suggestions:
1. Increase the visibility and focus of the blogs. Make them stand out more.
2. Open them up to more people.

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

I'd definitely say increase their visibility. As it is they have a very small and often unnoticed area. I'd suggest something like creating a board type thing that links to the last blog posted instead of where it is next to like the celebration things at the bottom of the forum. I can go all day without even noticing that small area to be honest.

I'd also be up to opening them up to more people, but the question is what people? How would that be accomplished without "cheapening" them?

 

[Salzorrah]

Also, I would say that making them have the same features with posts have could also be cool too, like the like system and the CSS padding bug feature, but I'm sure you guys are working on it anyways haha :3

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

Maybe something can even be done with how blogs are organized? Because frankly based on what I see I'd rather my blog just be a thread.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

These are some improvements I drafted awhile back that I believe blogs should have:

• 'Like' system for entries/comments
• Multiquoting enabled for comments
• Recoding of the "categories" blog section
  - What I mean by this is if you look at this picture, you can see that even though I classify blogs to be in a certain category, it doesn't give me an entire count as to how many entries I have in each category; rather, it's just 0 across the board.
• Voting polls in blogs
• Instant notification when you are subscribed to a blog and they post an entry
  - Similar to how when a person quotes something you say and you get a notification that can bring you directly to said quote, there should be a system like that which brings you to a subscribed blog when they publish an entry. That way, people who are interested in specific people's blogs can be brought right to the entry instead of having to sift through the masses of blogs.
• Option to see how many people are subscribed to said blog (most likely would be OP viewable.)

I've brought these up to HQ numerous times in the past, but the implication of it has fallen on the back burner; as of now there are higher priorities in place, but I'd still like to hear what people think should be done to improve the visibility of blogs because as a blogger this affects me greatly.

 

[gimmepie]

The visibility thing is definitely an issue, if you could include the blog section in with all the boards like was previously suggested that would fix things up though.

 

[Livewire]

Blogs are due for a huge upgrade, and it's coming when we roll out PC 2.0/v5. I understand it might be slow, but redesigning the interface of not just blogs but a ton of other PC features isn't exactly a quick fix. Give it some time.

And I would hope that with the upgrades, we'd get the increased visibility for blogs that we want.

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

Blogs are due for a huge upgrade, and it's coming when we roll out PC 2.0/v5. I understand it might be slow, but redesigning the interface of not just blogs but a ton of other PC features isn't exactly a quick fix. Give it some time.

And I would hope that with the upgrades, we'd get the increased visibility for blogs that we want.

Any sort of time frame for that? Not expecting anything soon but it'd be nice to even get a tentative schedule.

 

[Klippy]

Any sort of time frame for that? Not expecting anything soon but it'd be nice to even get a tentative schedule.

It's being worked on now. There is no official time frame on its roll out as of yet.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

So what do you guys think would be the best and most effective way to showcase blogs on the site? As of right now, I don't believe putting it at the bottom of the main forum page does it justice.

 

[Nah]

I think someone suggested giving blogs their own space in the forum index along with the other sections. That sounds like a good place to start. It's really easy to overlook blogs when the only way to enter the blog area is through a tiny link at the bottom of the page and a tiny link at the top of the page.

I wonder if it would be possible to have some sort of blog event? Not so much one based around people who have access to blogs, but rather around blog comments or something? Give it a forum-wide announcement at the top of the index page like for the Smash Bros tourney? Idk. Not like I'd have any ideas anyway.

 

[ANARCHit3cht]

I think the biggest culprit really is their lack of visibility. While you might have an awesome idea for a blog post--you're better off figuring out how you can convert it to become a thread otherwise you're probably not going to get any views/comments/etc.

 

[Taemin]

Blogs are due for a huge upgrade, and it's coming when we roll out PC 2.0/v5. I understand it might be slow, but redesigning the interface of not just blogs but a ton of other PC features isn't exactly a quick fix. Give it some time.

And I would hope that with the upgrades, we'd get the increased visibility for blogs that we want.

Oh my god, an upgrade. I've always wanted there to be a way to notice them without actually hunting them down. I was about to throw my two cents in regarding making blogs more visible, but this sounds really cool, and I wanna see what's done with the blogs after this rolls out before I really say anything else.

 

[antemortem]

I always wished for some sort of sidebar that would show the latest and hottest (ones with most views / comments) blogs so that they were visible except for literally a line of text at the bottom of the board. I'm sure very few people use the Blog button at the top of the board and browse the newest blogs - if you do, you're a saint - so some more visibility would be absolutely stellar.

 

[gimmepie]

I've always thought of blogs as an extension of user profiles, not really as main feature of PC. We aren't a blog hosting service, if someone really wanted to create a personal blog they would use wordpress or something. As far as PokeCommunity goes, I think the best place for them currently is just as another part of profiles.

That said, we are revamping things (previously we called this "PC 2.0" publicly) in the future and we're actively making huge strides in fixing the community up. Blogs are 100% on the roll-out list for the first major wave of changes, which includes redesigned profiles. It's our intention to make blogs more visible on profiles, but I would prefer not to make them more just like "stumble upon a random blog!"-visible. That's just my opinion. When the time comes to make that decision, it'll go through a lot of channels (including supporter and eventually user feedback) to come to a good solution.

Also pretty much everything said in this thread is planned in terms of missing features on blogs.

One idea for making certain blogs more visible is to maybe have them broken into two categories. If your blog post is just personal, it shouldn't really be given more exposure. But if you're blogging about something related to, say, playing Pokemon ORAS, we could have a section in the ORAS forum where it says "related blog entries by users", and just do that for all sections. That way relevant blogs get attention, but personal ones can still be sought out by friends of the user posting it.

random thoughts blah blah blah

I don't know about other people, but there's some stuff there I don't really like. First and foremost amongst them is the idea of adding blogs to peoples profiles. I quite like the way we have blogs at the moment in the sense that all the blogs are neatly packed together and once you are in the blogs section it is easy to navigate. I don't want to have to go to a random person's profile to see if they even have a blog. I want to be able go to the blogs section, see all the available blogs and open the ones I want to look at.

A section in the various boards for "related blog entries" could be alright to me, but really it wouldn't even be needed if you just kept all the blogs in one nice and easily categorised (visible) spot. Besides, what about blogs like the Daily Bloggity that cover an enormous range of topics? Some of them possibly don't fit with a PC section and in there are also personal entries. You'd just be creating a lot of unnecessary work for the staff, or if the bloggers had to post entries in those sections themselves, for the bloggers. If anything that last possibility could be a huge deterrent.

We aren't a blog hosting service, if someone really wanted to create a personal blog they would use wordpress or something.

PC might not primarily focus on blogs, which is understandable enough since it's a forum not, as you say, a blog hosting service. However, there is an active and growing sub-community of bloggers that are choosing to use PC. An effort should be made to support this sub-community, rather than decisions being made about it that we don't necessarily agree with by staff members who probably have very little to do with the section. Basically, the original intention of PC was certainly not to promote blogs or anything, but the blogs have become more of an attraction and an active blogging community has formed. I think all efforts should be made to support that community as though it was a section no different from General Chat or Culture and Media and if you simply stick blogs onto people's forums I don't think you're giving that community what they're desperate for which is more visibility and accessibility.


Sorry if that came of as snarky or overly wordy, that was far from my intention.

On a happier note, I'm really pleased about all the new features you have in the works for blogs. I've only just gotten into blogging myself but I'm really enjoying it and think that those features will greatly improve the experience.

 

[Salzorrah]

Somewhat out of the blue right here, but have you guys considered the thought of having blog staff? Hear me out, we have BSS, and tbh, they are a pretty sizable sub-community, just like bloggers, Besides, they could help oversee the blogging community, as well as plan events and such, while helping other new blogs in the limelight? It doesnt really need to be big, just 3 to 5 people could be appointed, and maybe that could be added over with the revamps for the blog section, since your number one priority would be visibility?

 

[curiousnathan]

Somewhat out of the blue right here, but have you guys considered the thought of having blog staff? Hear me out, we have BSS, and tbh, they are a pretty sizable sub-community, just like bloggers, Besides, they could help oversee the blogging community, as well as plan events and such, while helping other new blogs in the limelight? It doesnt really need to be big, just 3 to 5 people could be appointed, and maybe that could be added over with the revamps for the blog section, since your number one priority would be visibility?

I don't think the blogging community is that big to warrant new staff. If it were 10x as popular and was overflowing with entries everyday, perhaps more hands would be useful. But at the moment in its current state, I don't think it demands new caretakers.

Plus, blog owners essentially moderate their own blogs. So if someone were to break the rules, they have the power to deal with any problems. The only thing they couldn't do would be warn or infract, and hstaff are more than capable of doing so if need be ( which is usually few and far in between anyway).

 

[Salzorrah]

I don't think the blogging community is that big to warrant new staff. If it were 10x as popular and was overflowing with entries everyday, perhaps more hands would be useful. But at the moment in its current state, I don't think it demands new caretakers.

Plus, blog owners essentially moderate their own blogs. So if someone were to break the rules, they have the power to deal with any problems. The only thing they couldn't do would be warn or infract, and hstaff are more than capable of doing so if need be ( which is usually few and far in between anyway).

Oh, I meant that when the revamp happens, I didnt say, like right now lel. But I see what you're going with this, and that's true :3 I guess, this could, not saying it should, but maybe, something to ponder over in the future?

 

[curiousnathan]

Oh, I meant that when the revamp happens, I didnt say, like right now lel. But I see what you're going with this, and that's true :3 I guess, this could, not saying it should, but maybe, something to ponder over in the future?

Yeah totally! We'll just have to see if blogs are given a greater emphasis on PC or are kept as a "side feature" of sorts. There's been some contrasting views in regards to this so we'll see I suppose. From then on, who knows.

 

[Mochika Rage]

Didn't there used to be competitions where you could get a blog? I don't know if you do them [still], I haven't really been paying attention. But you could do that, right? Like, probably after the updates.