Stolen Notes, the Cantr blog...?

[UloDeTero]

Not sure if it's been suggested before, but please take the poll: Should we change the webzine into a blog?

Changing Stolen Notes into a blog would be a huge change, with many potential pros and cons.

Articles could be more easily categorised and searched. The layout would be a lot better. A blog would include an RSS feed. It could have extra little things like polls, images etc.

On the other hand, articles wouldn't necessarily be separated into different issues, so submitters may get a bit 'lazy' without deadlines.

What do you think? What are other pros and cons? And would the change be worth it?

[Rebma]

Well, if it's turned into a blog and that gets rid of individual articles, won't that mean more work for you? Having to post whenever something is sent?

At any rate, I see a blog turning out as more of a fancy off-site forum than anything else, not sure why.

I'm not going to vote until others say some more, mainly because I'm on the fence about this, and I don't see real harm. I mean you could still say "You have till *date* at which point I submit all new content?" But still....

I think I'm leaning more towards keeping the Zine....but then I think, on blogs you can comment on how totally awesome the thing you just read was, but not on the Zine.

Eesh. I'm not much help, am I?

[*Wiro]

Nice idea. I like it, I don't think the no-deadline thing would keep people from making posts. In fact, the deadline sorta pisses me off. x3 Laziness ftw.

And I don't like having lots of posts at once, just now and then. Would be much more fun than having to read it all at once, and then be bored for a few months again.

[Doug R.]

I'm unsure also. I like that you could comment on it, but then again, you can do that on the forum if you really liked something too. I'm also worried that it would just become another forum. I don't do blogs or read blogs, so I really don't understand the concept much.

[UloDeTero]

*chuckles and nods*

The way I see it working at the moment, we'd still have issues (or at least categories named "Issue 17" etc). Basically, everything submitted would have the relevant issue number 'label' put on it. As editor, I would be mainly responsible for assigning these labels/tags. So yeah, maybe a little extra work.

(FYI, under the current system, I still need to "post" items to the webzine system in order to publish them)

Note that each article would become a post, separate from everything else. You could read them in order, or organise them by topic,issue, etc.

And, yeah! The comments!

[Rebma]

If you think you can handle the extra work, and that this won't be turned into an off-site forum, then I approve this idea with at least 85% surety ..

[Dudel]

If you think you can handle the extra work, and that this won't be turned into an off-site forum, then I approve this idea with at least 85% surety ..

Same but I'm only 75%

Edit: But I'm stull not sure. Untill I'm 100% about something I'm uncertain, thats just Dudel.

[SekoETC]

I voted yes since although earlier deadlines made me work harder, now I've gone idle past two deadlines already and feeling guilty about it doesn't make a difference. Better to contribute when you feel inspired to create something rather than feeling like you have to.

[15454]

I voted no. I'm just a fan of reading something that comes out on a scheduled basis.

[nitefyre]

only if all the older articles aren't lost

time for change anyway so you do have my blessings

[DylPickle]

I threw my vote away, into the not sure section. Really, it's whatever is easier for the contributors that counts, right? Readers like me probably won't care how it's delivered. Though you'd have to keep up the in-game announcements every couple months so people remember it exists and go check it out.

[formerly known as hf]

I missed this whilst I was away. here's my thoughts:

Yes, but only if:

• There's a regular supply of articles - I'm thinking one per week at the least
• It's anchored into the forums here. i.e: Any comments on the blog are similarly comments in a thread here - we'd have a separate forum for blog releases.

The first means more work for editors. You'll have to start pinning people down to a whole range of dates and juggling entries as and when they come in. Good luck

The second should be fairly easy. Doesn't phpBB have a 'news site' extension or something like that which could be used for this?
The second would also avoid blog spammers (they'd require a forum login) and would answer Doug's issue which I agree with - comment threads on blogs can be fun, but they're usually inane and annoying. Having them mirrored here would allow people like me to dip in as and when something interesting seems to be happening...

[Piscator]

One article per week? Were there ever (more than) 13 articles in an issue?

[nitefyre]

Given that the not sure/No votes are about even as the Yes to blog votes, another possibility is what has been described as a fan-work forum section moderated by an editor:

I was thinking and discussing with a few people, considering the lack of interest/input, that perhaps the best way is neither a continuation of the Zine as a blog or issue-oriented, but rather being encompassed into the forums in a "Literature/Gallery Section." This could provide for more user interaction and a readier, steadier (public) inflow, but alas it would still be very well kept by a moderator allowing only pertinent pieces.

There is also a new zine available, which seeks to highlight some of the hits as well as some new articles, especially various types of puzzles. An interesting trend seems to be a shift from more historical articles to more short stories, though with strong consistent series throughout, including Tips & Tricks, Poetry, Comics and, of course, Statistics. I was talking to Ulo and it seems as if this may be the last Issue of this quarterly release variety, especially given declining interest in the Zine. It'll be interesting to hear what GAB and CD have in store for the Zine.

[Doug R.]

Given that the not sure/No votes are about even as the Yes to blog votes, another possibility is what has been described as a fan-work forum section moderated by an editor:

Ideally, the editor would be the only person allowed to make new posts, while anyone could post replies. I wonder if that's possible with the forum set-up. I'll have to look. This sounds like a reasonable idea.