Fine with me.
[quote="Mindblower":274zi9bg]Silly question here - what's the advantage of using a Blog over a Forum to post articles, Mindblower![/quote:274zi9bg]
Hey MB - Please read through my post, which is 9 posts above yours.
[quote:274zi9bg]All the newsletter content you view is actually compiled in HTML, the language of the web. As it stands now; the articles need to be converted to HTML and then published to the site. That chore is labour intensive and the onus is largely on Dave. We cannot all help share the workload and it places huge demands on Dave's time
On the other hand, because a blog format accepts text, we would all be able to publish articles directly ourselves and alleviate a lot of Dave's workload. Plus, because we would not be reliant on Dave's busy schedule and the associated time constraints, we shall be able to post articles at any time.
What this will all mean for you, the members, is generally increased content; more frequent articles and more up-to-date news and commentary.[/quote:274zi9bg]
[quote="Rohnski":2n8urol4]Sure go for the new format, it is your publication.
Since you have cleared up the social sites format question, I hope you avoid my other pet peeve with online content. Too many sites let automation split articles into multiple pages. Too often, the second page is just a short stub. Yes I know it is to encourage clicking on advertising, but it is a PITA.[/quote:2n8urol4]
I have no intention of purposely doing this. Quite a bit of the DCT content is lengthy, so it will have to be split, but I will not unnecessarily split it for advertising income!
[quote="Mindblower":34g2m2ls]Silly question here - what's the advantage of using a Blog over a Forum to post articles, Mindblower![/quote:34g2m2ls]
Well, the main difference is "who" can post the content. A blog is "post by few but read by many" and a forum is "post by many and read by many" or disseminate information vs gather information, so the content is more structured. There are many similarities but a blog is more granular as it allows on the fly categories and tags. Blogs generally have more features or addins that target the "disseminate information" model.
There are options to integrate forums into blogs and blogs into forums, but (to me) that is an unduly complicated solution. I plan to make the final product as seamless as possible - there will be little difference visible between the two from an outside viewpoint. I looked at the integrated solutions and it just seams to me that putting all my eggs in one basket isn't a good idea.
In this instance the blog software is going to be used to manage the content of the site and the forum will remain the same. Visibly it will be hard to tell the difference between the two, meaning the blog will be styled like the forum, just as the main site is now.
[quote="clifnotes":1t1yr2lz]You should move to the blog format. I know from personal experience how difficult putting together a newsletter is.
Wordpress takes away most of your worries, and lets you simply write.
If you still want to publish a newsletter email (text), just send it once a week as a notification with a list of articles they'll find when they arrive.[/quote:1t1yr2lz]
Hi Clif!
Thanks for the kind response, it means a lot!
I am comfortable with the existing format and not sure if I would like the blog format. Like others, please do what works best for you.
I'm cool with it!
[quote="Michaeleen":1ewyzmzs]I am comfortable with the existing format and not sure if I would like the blog format. Like others, please do what works best for you. [/quote:1ewyzmzs]
Hey Michaeleen - We can appreciate your familiarity with the existing format but can assure you the changes will not be overly dramatic at all. You will still receive very similar email notifications, the only exception being that instead of accessing an entire newsletter all in one go you will be able to pick and choose which articles to view in full; either read them all or just the ones that sound interesting to you.
Cheers....Jim
I say go for it, it will save you time and money, and we will still have the forum ,the best of both worlds.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to our input,most people would just do it. thanks, Mark
Beware of change. When you are successful with what you are doing, anything else is a big risk. You have way too much competition to diddle around with another set of formats... and new ideas.
But I would definitely get rid of the ancient system of Smilies... Only idiots and newbies consider them a positive...
And I avoid your members posting because of the risks behind the smilies.
Nobody cares about them. Very old hat.
Whatever works for you is ok with me
Go Blogging. The dance of the future.
As long as we can stay detached from the social networking sites,go for it.Nothing pi$$es me off more than the pop-up asking if I want to "shop with my friends" when I'm trying to buy Ram over at Tiger for a computer upgrade!! Can't anybody do anything on there own anymore,without bringing half the world along with them? It's pathetic! Apologies for the brief rant.
I think a blog format would be easier for the user to get up to date information. It is more difficult to search through the forums, unless you are looking for a specific topic. As long as the forums do not go away, I think it would be a good move.
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