Burnout, Direction, And So On Comment Count

Brian

Okay: we are in MGoBlog's annual season-over-I'm-burned-out period. Posting slows and for the next few weeks you're not going to get many 5000 word exegeses; I will get the OSU UFR done sometime before Christmas.

At that point I'll look towards the summer and various improvements that can be made to the blog. Last year's project was the move off blogspot to the current digs. This year's projects are still up in the air.

A list of things under consideration:

  • The addition of a rating system for diaries and posters in general that will bubble high-rated things up to more prominent positions and bury low-rated ones.
  • More prominent access to diaries and the like; a better page for each user.
  • Creating a full-fledged recruiting wiki.
  • Similar to the above, adding in player pages and so forth.
  • A revamp of the comment system.
  • Improving the interface for posting diaries and comments.
  • Fixing the stupid bug that never sends emails to some people who register.

A couple things I'm committed do doing:

  • Restoring tags to all the posts moved over from blogger and all the posts from this season I was too lazy to tag because Drupal made it a pain to do so from Windows Live Writer.
  • Creating a local streaming video solution so I can host UFR clips without someone shutting an account down.

I know there were a number of complaints when the site first launched but I figured a good portion of them were just the natural tendency to hate change; anything that's still bothering you is an issue. If you've got something you're wishing for, leave a comment or send me an email and I'll add it somewhere on the list.

Oh, yeah: how is the performance of the site? It seems slow to me but has gotten better of late. Is it a problem for people?

Comments

evenyoubrutus

December 4th, 2008 at 4:40 PM ^

Could you do a series on Wolverines in the NFL draft this year? That might make for a few interesting posts, although this particular season could be a little less exciting than most.

Sgt. Wolverine

December 4th, 2008 at 5:07 PM ^

An iPhone version would be cool, as long as it doesn't take a lot of effort to maintain. I think there are enough mobile devices out there to make it something worth considering, anyway.

I have accessed the site from my iPod Touch, most recently i response to a friend who expressed his disappointment in RichRod's telling fans to get a life. I pulled up the full quote from the post here about the foofaraw, and he changed his tune after reading it.

bhallpm

December 4th, 2008 at 4:53 PM ^

It's your writing, Brian, first and foremost, so make sure you focus on that. Course, I do like comments section and Cover it Live platform.

Lastly, I have no money and very little guilt, so I click on your ads. Remind readers to do that.

Keep up the great work.

MichFan1997

December 4th, 2008 at 4:59 PM ^

when you create a players/recruiting wiki, this would be like a section of the site where we get any needed info on a player? and if this happens, can we make sure we put career stats and such in them? i'd rather just look at stats on here if possible so that i wouldn't have to go to other sites

Yostal

December 4th, 2008 at 5:17 PM ^

Maybe, from time to time, reiterate your expectations for diaries, commenters, and message boards, what you expect and what the other users of this site expect from a poster. I think that the users do a fine job of policing people to maintain the level of quality and high level of thoughtful discourse, but it occasionally needs to be reiterated from the top down.

I do like the Cover It Live and would hope that you might do it for a few hockey games, even if hockey is one of the hardest sports to LiveBlog.

But mostly, just keep rolling and doing that think you do.

GNM

December 4th, 2008 at 5:18 PM ^

I'm not sure a rating system is such a good idea. The intent here is to separate the wheat from the chaff, I think. The problem is, the rating will be done by the same people who produce the chaff. The composers of the bad diaries you hope to push to the bottom of the pile will be the same people voting on which diaries are best. It might be better to leave everything up and let people weed for themselves.

helloheisman.com

December 4th, 2008 at 5:33 PM ^

Brian, if you want enhancements done cheaply and more timely, check out http://www.rentacoder.com. I've had full sites designed there dirt cheap, good quality. It's probably worth it to get help because there's so much you could do to turn this place into a one-stop Michigan site, versus just a blog with a crude bulletin board system.

AC1997

December 4th, 2008 at 5:50 PM ^

I wish there was a way to get the site to work consistently on IE. That's what we use at work and thus what I use most often to access the site. Most of the time all of the posts are shoved to the bottom of the scroll and I don't get the headers at the top of the site. Every now and then it will start working normally again.....but it rarely lasts.

I agree with the poster who said the writing is key. you have no idea (well, maybe you do) how many times I refresh the site looking for new material. With things around the office slower around the holidays I could use some distraction. I'm sure there are dozens of topics people have sent you that you're going to address over the coming months, but that's what I'm most interested in.

The other projects will probably be nice additions to the site, but will affect a smaller portion of your audience than just good, solid content. Off the top of my head, here were some topics I've thought about or seen discussed by other readers:

-- How many more games would we have won with a league-average special teams performance?
-- What one player who left early would have made the most difference this season?
-- What will the depth chart look like next year? (Post recruiting season)
-- What would have happened if Lloyd were still coaching?
-- What would have happened if Les Miles were hired?
-- Is it possible to do an UFR for basketball or hockey?
-- Clearly the Barwis hype machine went overboard in the offseason and contributed to heightened expectations. But did he have a positive effect this season based on the stats?

BleedingBlue

December 4th, 2008 at 6:34 PM ^

for Blackberry please.
Upgraded comments section would be nice.
Scrolling on with my joystick mouse on my laptop takes for-ev-er for me for some reason. could be my computer.

Yes, I said joystick

Maybe an archives by topic for your posts?

Thanks for being a sherpa through the blizzard of a season!

WolvinLA

December 4th, 2008 at 6:41 PM ^

I kept thinking a blackberry app for mgoblog would be awesome, until I realized that I would likely lose my job if that were created. If you do that, keep it a secret from just me, thanks.

Actually, not that I got the Bold (which is dope) I can use the normal site just fine, so I may already be on the out and out.

Farnn

December 4th, 2008 at 6:46 PM ^

I'm a little iffy on the idea of a ratings system, there are already some people who feel its a little cliquey here(I'm not one, but I know some feel that way) and that would make it worse.

One thing I think could be cool, and I don't think it would be too much work (and if it is,forget about it) would be allowing more in the profile section. Right now you just get a post history, but I think it would be nice for people to post a bit about themselves if they want.

Enjoy the more relaxed months ahead.

mspeters

December 4th, 2008 at 9:23 PM ^

I wholly endorse the filtering of whatever the supreme commander and benevolent dictator of this website deems necessary.

Of course, it only seems logical to have the option to sort by ratings or not.

I'm shocked that your shocked. Nice plate though...

helloheisman.com

December 4th, 2008 at 11:07 PM ^

Enjoy Life --> I think you've been corrected on this before, but here it is again. PENULTIMATE does not mean what you think it does. It means second to last. Unless you actually did mean to say that Brian is the second to last blogger on the planet, you should invest in some new words. Replace penultimate with paragon and you're on the right rack.

ndhillon

December 4th, 2008 at 6:49 PM ^

that OSU UFR is going to be hard to get motivated to do. With nothing pending for Michigan football outside of recruiting, you could push that UFR back all the way to next year.

Good luck!

pz

December 4th, 2008 at 7:40 PM ^

1) Site is relatively slow, but it sort of always has been since the change. There are several Michigan blogs that are consistently slower / problematic for me (mvictors, RBUAS, SMZ) - not sure what it is with Michigan blogs being slow!

2) How do I get rid of the "Apture Dashboard" that pops up in the frigging corner every time I come to the site? I have closed it out, but that obviously doesn't work. I have no interest in creating an account there. PLEASE!

Route66

December 5th, 2008 at 8:41 AM ^

I thought maybe it was just my system or something! Glad to hear I am not alone. That and the fact that I have to scroll down past mgo.licio.us to read the first entry. Other than those two minor things, life is good here on MGoBlog!

mvp

December 4th, 2008 at 7:56 PM ^

Speed for me is fine on a decent connection. The only issues I've had are with connections that are slow for other stuff. That being said, I've never done anything from a mobile device.

I like the clips of the diaries and mgoboard. It is nice to have the option to view both most popular and newest. It is probably just me, but it is always frustrating to go to the mgoboard page, then have to click on the one folder.

jmblue

December 4th, 2008 at 8:17 PM ^

I also vote "no" for the ratings system. It seems to me like it would just discourage more people from posting, as newcomers' posts would get buried underneath those of the "big name" posters.

Laura63

December 4th, 2008 at 8:32 PM ^

Hey Brian, if you're looking to fix/add/change the site, I would love to see you add a rumor mill. It would spice up the dead period between end-of-season and end of recruiting, spring training, between games, and etc.

For example, what's with McGuff missing the team bash?

Laura63

December 4th, 2008 at 8:33 PM ^

Hey Brian, if you're looking to fix/add/change the site, I would love to see you add a rumor mill. It would spice up the dead period between end-of-season and end of recruiting, spring training, between games, and etc.

For example, what's with McGuff missing the team bash?

Don

December 4th, 2008 at 10:19 PM ^

I bet I'm the only visitor who preferred the old Haloscan version, but that's because MGoBlog 2.0 is glacially, irritatingly slow for me, even on broadband. The only site I visit with any regularity that's worse is HuffPo. Maybe it's because I'm using FireFox...

I heartily endorse Laura's idea of a Rumor Mill. That's what the internet tubes are for.

Sgt. Wolverine

December 4th, 2008 at 10:29 PM ^

No, your saintly demeanor is because you're using Firefox. I prefer to blame any and all site problems on those poor souls who are forced to labor within the rickety framework of Internet Explorer. I'm not actually right, but this is the internet: I don't have to be right; I just have to be extremely convinced that I'm right.

CincyBlue

December 4th, 2008 at 10:35 PM ^

I agree with the Mobile site. Also I think it would be great if you had a seperate side page for us recruiting junkies run by TomVH.

It would kill the likes of Rivals and Scouts! We love the rumors, interviews, and the might happens.

MERCURYHAZE

December 4th, 2008 at 11:28 PM ^

I like on other sites when a link is included in posts or stories that a new tab opens in the browser when the link is clicked rather than redirecting the current page away to the linked page. That way we don't have to keep shuffling back to mgoblog after we click a link and are done with it.

Kind of a run-on sentence but I don't know how else to phrase it. ha.