The Social Software Weblog posted a bit about comScore‘s “Behaviors of the Blogosphere“. Halfway through the report, I was shocked. Ranking high in a graph titled “Top Blogs Ranked by Visits”, I found sites such as Drudge Report, Fark, and Slashdot. First I thought, “these sites aren’t blogs, what are they doing in this report?”… Read more »
Year: 2005
Bringing Communities Together: Under One Login
Problem: I frequent several different communities on a regular basis and I must maintain an individual profile on each of them. Solution: One login to rule them all. The monolithic dark lords of all that is digital tried to solve this problem; but they have failed… Users did not want to sell their private lives… Read more »
Beyond the Blog: Blogging Alternatives
Blog Blog Blogidy Blog I suppose I’ve been a blogger longer than I realized. In August of 1996, I started making weekly web updates regarding the progress I was (or wasn’t) making on a computer RPG project. Back then, we just called them websites. Actually, to be more accurate, we called them Web sites as… Read more »
What Happened to Winamp?
Winamp used to be this nice little mp3 player. This weekend I got tired of Winamp bugging me to upgrade, so I did. For the first time in a long time, I started exploring the new features in Winamp. That’s when I discovered ShoutcastTV. I’ve been a Shoutcast Radio listener for a long time now…. Read more »
HTML Based Forms… and how they suck…
This is a rant… I hate HTML based forms. Since I started scrapping together bits of html a decade ago, forms have not significantly changed. They are still the same clunky limited user feedback interface they have always been. We’re building 2K5 website with the exact same level of technology we had in 1995. The… Read more »
A Few Good Forum Ideas
I’d like to share a couple of forum structure ideas that have made managing the Gearbox Software Forums a little easier and an idea we’ve yet to try. Internal Combustion Many message boards offer a forum dedicated to allowing users to flame. For example, the Xterra Owners Club used the traditional and cleverly name, “The… Read more »
The Online Architect
In a previous entry, I mentioned that my official work title at Gearbox would be changing – and it has. Originally, I hired on as community manager. Once here, I started overhauling Gearbox’s online image and have recently redesigned the company’s intranet. I am currently shifting into a completely new set of responsibilities, and will… Read more »
Community Building Case Study: Tips from DallasFestEvil.com
Introduction I began development on the DallasFestEvil.com website around July of 2004. I was working in conjunction with a promoter (now retired). Up-to and during the event, we worked to build an online following. Our budget was very limited and we were working with a previously unsuccessful festival. Somehow, we managed to pull it off…. Read more »
Is Google Building a Browser?
I just caught wind of this article that gives a bit of fresh evidence that Google may, indeed, be building a Web browser. The topic isn’t new, but golly jeepers if it isn’t exciting. Google has a long tradition of “doing things right” so I would expect G-Browser to spark a fire.
Virtual Community – What is it we’re talking about here anyway?
Definition of a Virtual Community I could simply post a link to wikipedia’s definition of virtual community and leave it at that. The free encyclopedia says: “A virtual community is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet.” However, I think it important to carefully consider the scope of… Read more »