Monday, September 24, 2007

Quick Blog Question For Contributors and Readers

Do you think it would be helpful to put a daily cap on posts? For example, if (decided number) posts have already been posted, we wait until tomorrow to publish our posts. I'm fine either way, but I have heard from a few contributors and readers that the amount of knowledge on here is a little overwhelming. Please comment and let me know what you think.

8 comments:

Grabloid said...

I agree with putting a cap on. I think that this blog is completely amazing but find it overwhelming to start reading the posts because there is so much information. I don't have a personal computer (though I'm buying a laptop soon...) and have a limited amount of time online here at work or at the SLC library, so I don't have time to investigate everything the way I would like to. I'm glad that people want to post all the amazing things they have in mind, but I think that limiting posts would give readers time to think about the posts a chance to respond to them. It is even somewhat discouraging when there are no comments on posts. Why post if nobody is going to respond?...hopefully someone out there is investigating and thinking about all of this stuff deeply...but they sure aren't sharing their thoughts with us. I think this blog would be much more valuable if the posts sparked a full conversation on the comments pages. Some of the posts don't even stay on the main page for more than a few hours so anybody who visits it only once in awhile is not very likely to investigate all of the past posts that aren't on the main page. What does everybody else think?

Grabloid said...

P.S.
At the same time I love the fact that all of these ideas are being archived in one place and that I'll be able to refer to it and it will be full of amazing things to check out.

Rikker said...

I'm still on the fence about a formal cap, but I'm not opposed to it either. For now I'll just try to be thoughtful about how many posts have been posted lately. Or keep myself from posting again until I've done more commenting on previous posts. :)

I do agree that the posts whiz by a bit too quickly. One temporary fix would be to increase the number of posts that stay on the main page (currently at 7, I believe). Sure, it makes the page insanely long, but at least it's not "out of sight, out of mind" so quickly.

Another idea would be a weekly "recap" post which will remind us what interesting things have been said. I'd be happy to write that. Say, each Sunday.

In all, I'm really enjoying the blog.

The only other thing is that I know many folks (contributors and readers) are involved in a specific class at UVU. So there are frequent references to 'we' or 'our discussion' that I'm not party to. I understand the situation and it doesn't bother me, but I'd appreciate a sentence or two of introduction or background that doesn't assume participation, where possible.

Torben B said...

Great points guys. I'm probably the worst at being thoughtful about the amount of posts recently :) Also, I'm pretty bad at bringing things up from UVU and not giving an introduction. I shall repent :) For the time being, I'm still on the fence about the formal cap. I'll wait and see what everyone thinks. I'm more than happy to cater to the crowd. Everyone's comments are appreciated! I think the idea for the weekly recap is genius. I can also easily extend the amount of posts on the main page.

Grabloid said...

I like the weekly recap idea...while also just being conscious about how many posts have gone up recently.

Anonymous said...

A cap could be a good thing I am a little slower in putting a post together, but it does seem that there are a lot of new posts every time I check the blog which is cool but at the same time I have less time to investigate each post and usually pick one that interests me the most for an in depth look. A cap is possible but sometimes when you have something on mind you just want to post it then and might forget later or might not have as much time later. I have to say, I am a fence sitter as well on the subject.

Scott Abbott said...

I guess I'm against a formal cap. But I talked with Torben the other day and voiced my opinion that I'd love more personal stuff, more conversation. So no cap for me, but more thinking.

Torben B said...

Ok... I'll make the executive decision :) I think we'll do away with a formal cap, but try to be a bit more conscientious of the amount of posts already posted each day (PLEASE don't let this discourage you though. Keep posting!) I think the weekly recap is a GREAT idea. Rikker, are you still willing to put that together? I think that some good things have been addressed in this comment thread. Let's try to comment more and really get the "thinking" going in the comments. I think we've all done a much better job since this little conversation. You guys are all awesome. I feel like each one of you encourages me to stretch myself and open my mind to the many intriguing facets of language. It's great to be among good company.