A year o' SW blogs
May. 18th, 2006 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanOne of the nice perks of Hyperspace membership is a free blog on starwars.com. Since starwars.com noted yesterday that their blog system has been up and running for a year, I figure it would be nice to point out what has worked and what hasn't.
Pluses:
1. Access to lots of SW fans--Here, SW fans have to surf their way through LJ blogspace just to find my humble corner of the universe. There, most if not all people slogging through these things are SW fans. It also helps that there is a relatively small number of people who update frequently, making it easier to find new blogs.
2. Foolproof posting--No worries about HTML tags or fussy things to get your stuff posted. This Mac user is also glad it works with any platform.
3. The ban buttons--Want to get rid of a troll? Ban the sucker! Using it a couple of times has kept my starwars.com blog relatively wank-free.
4. Mods--Having mods around keeps flame wars to a minimum, prevents the blogs from turning into a mini MySpace, and keeps away the sort of guys you see getting busted on Dateline.
5. Blogging With The Stars--Here you can read posts by various EU authors, artists, Lucasfilm employees, and others who have toiled in the GFFA, including folks from licensees like Topps or Wizards of the Coast. Recently Don Bies started his blog. Unfortunately not everybody updates very often, but I can tell you Karen Traviss updates all of the time.
Minuses:
1. Limited space--I've used only 21% of my blog space but still, there's far less I can post there than I can here. I'm inclined not to post as often as a result. Don't even think of posting photographs or other types of multimedia. I can use the memories function on LJ to my heart's content while I can only put five entries in my starwars.com memories or favorites. No one has said yet what happens if you use 100% of your blog space. How do they plan to archive older entries that you don't necessarily want to throw out? Comments are limited to a measly 750 characters, which means spam-o-rama if someone has a lot to say in response to an entry.
2. No trackback--Actually, this is a disadvantage on LJ as well. It would be nice to know who else is linking to and reading your stuff.
3. Limited notification of replies--You only find out if people respond to your entry, not to any of your comments. At LJ, you're notified of all replies to posts and comments.
4. Limited design--The current design of the blog doesn't bother me, but there's not a lot of room for customization either. I guess that takes up too much bandwidth.
5. Cliquishness--Ah, there's a reason why I'm not posting this over on starwars.com! It seems to me there's a caste system where the VIP bloggers are on top, followed by the mods, followed by everyone else. If you look on the blog rolls of any VIP or mod, they only have other VIPs and mods. Most of the "featured blogs" on the blog page are…VIPs and mods! They have profiled regular schmoe bloggers on the main starwars.com page, but those tend to be the really popular guys who update every day.
While I'm on the topic, most of the entries featured on the popularity list or on the main starwars.com page are TERRIBLE. Rarely are they thoughtful or well-written yet for some reason they get lots of replies so they get placed upfront and center.
And don’t get me started on how they've blown off Saga Journal's attempt to get a group blog.
Not sure about:
1. Categorization--This makes blog entries easier to find by interest but it can also be limiting, especially if your entry falls into multiple categories or doesn't quite fit in with what they have listed. The catchall "miscellaneous" isn't going to grab a lot of eyeballs.
Finally, on an unrelated note, here's a preview of this fall's Sculpting A Galaxy:
http://insighteditions.com/product_info.php?cPath=upcoming&products_id=54&osCsid=67ac70cc9c77c9d564daefa4f1670e13
Pluses:
1. Access to lots of SW fans--Here, SW fans have to surf their way through LJ blogspace just to find my humble corner of the universe. There, most if not all people slogging through these things are SW fans. It also helps that there is a relatively small number of people who update frequently, making it easier to find new blogs.
2. Foolproof posting--No worries about HTML tags or fussy things to get your stuff posted. This Mac user is also glad it works with any platform.
3. The ban buttons--Want to get rid of a troll? Ban the sucker! Using it a couple of times has kept my starwars.com blog relatively wank-free.
4. Mods--Having mods around keeps flame wars to a minimum, prevents the blogs from turning into a mini MySpace, and keeps away the sort of guys you see getting busted on Dateline.
5. Blogging With The Stars--Here you can read posts by various EU authors, artists, Lucasfilm employees, and others who have toiled in the GFFA, including folks from licensees like Topps or Wizards of the Coast. Recently Don Bies started his blog. Unfortunately not everybody updates very often, but I can tell you Karen Traviss updates all of the time.
Minuses:
1. Limited space--I've used only 21% of my blog space but still, there's far less I can post there than I can here. I'm inclined not to post as often as a result. Don't even think of posting photographs or other types of multimedia. I can use the memories function on LJ to my heart's content while I can only put five entries in my starwars.com memories or favorites. No one has said yet what happens if you use 100% of your blog space. How do they plan to archive older entries that you don't necessarily want to throw out? Comments are limited to a measly 750 characters, which means spam-o-rama if someone has a lot to say in response to an entry.
2. No trackback--Actually, this is a disadvantage on LJ as well. It would be nice to know who else is linking to and reading your stuff.
3. Limited notification of replies--You only find out if people respond to your entry, not to any of your comments. At LJ, you're notified of all replies to posts and comments.
4. Limited design--The current design of the blog doesn't bother me, but there's not a lot of room for customization either. I guess that takes up too much bandwidth.
5. Cliquishness--Ah, there's a reason why I'm not posting this over on starwars.com! It seems to me there's a caste system where the VIP bloggers are on top, followed by the mods, followed by everyone else. If you look on the blog rolls of any VIP or mod, they only have other VIPs and mods. Most of the "featured blogs" on the blog page are…VIPs and mods! They have profiled regular schmoe bloggers on the main starwars.com page, but those tend to be the really popular guys who update every day.
While I'm on the topic, most of the entries featured on the popularity list or on the main starwars.com page are TERRIBLE. Rarely are they thoughtful or well-written yet for some reason they get lots of replies so they get placed upfront and center.
And don’t get me started on how they've blown off Saga Journal's attempt to get a group blog.
Not sure about:
1. Categorization--This makes blog entries easier to find by interest but it can also be limiting, especially if your entry falls into multiple categories or doesn't quite fit in with what they have listed. The catchall "miscellaneous" isn't going to grab a lot of eyeballs.
Finally, on an unrelated note, here's a preview of this fall's Sculpting A Galaxy:
http://insighteditions.com/product_info.php?cPath=upcoming&products_id=54&osCsid=67ac70cc9c77c9d564daefa4f1670e13
