New Whyzzat? Need input / commitments por favor...

[Wayne]

Hi,

Just finished installing a new skin on my blog site at http://segwayne.com (old site http://segwayne.wordpress.com).

This is the theme / skin I would like to install over here to take the place of the current whyzzat.com. There are a couple of issues, and I would sincerely like the input of everyone who reads this..

The aforementioned issue is that whyzzat.com would take on more of a "magazine" style site, meaning we would have articles and news items rather than depending primarily on a forum environment. This is NOT unlike what Amiga.org does really, as "articles" is essentially "news".

The BIG, HUGE, MONUMENTAL difference is that in order to go that direction, I would need to know how many of you would be willing to write actual, honest-to-Carlin "articles" to submit them. Cecelia is familiar with the concept, as well as the software, as she uses it on gadgetnutz.com. The difference, unfortunately, is that -- unlike gadgetnutz -- the only thing I could offer is fame, rather than free tech toys.

All I'm asking is if anyone would be willing to help cross-post interesting news items that they find every day to solicit comments and interaction (rather than just posting a forum post)? I'd be talking about actual article writing, not just posting a link like they do at Amiga.org, but if we could get 3 or 4 writers writing about their favorite subjects, I really, really think we could have something here.

Input? Bueller? Bueller?

Wayne

 

[cecilia]

I think some of the guys already write 'political' articles and would be able to blend this into the wordpress site very nicely.

aside from the music thing I told you about I can see investigating some medical issues. my aunt has neuropathy and I have yet to find any solution to this. it really bugs me.

my eye is always caught by news of what is healthy and what isn't so if want I can add those sorts of info.

 

[redrumloa]

I'm afraid I'd be poor at writing articles, they would all come out as ranting diatribes.

 

[ltstanfo]

We've already talked about this Wayne but just for the public record, I'm willing to provide input / articles. I can always write about the evils of gun control. :wink: :mrgreen:

Let me know what you want / need inputs for.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

 

[ltstanfo]

I'm afraid I'd be poor at writing articles, they would all come out as ranting diatribes.

Actually Jim, you are better at it then you might realize. The key is to provide sources that bolster your argument / opinion.

I give you (as an example) the recent issue with your bank. While at the surface it might have appeared to be a rant, you actually spelled out your situation quite clearly and I would have found it amusing if the bank had attempted to respond...

Another good topic for you might be your experience in the "vintage" computer world. Your first hand experiences as both a user and seller of said goods would provide both expertise and subject matter expertise.

Give yourself a little more credit.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

 

[Glaucus]

We've already talked about this Wayne but just for the public record, I'm willing to provide input / articles. I can always write about the evils of gun control. :wink: :mrgreen:

I suppose we can have a "cross-fire" blog where two pundits go head to head on any given hot topic issue. And then maybe we can have Jon Stewart on as a guest... oh wait!

 

[Robert]

I'm afraid I'd be poor at writing articles, they would all come out as ranting diatribes.

Likewise with me.

I'm happy to *try* and contribute though.

 

[Wayne]

I guess the question then becomes, would you guys be ok with the forums taking a far back seat (if not eventually retired)?

Wayne

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Personally I'd love to but I have almost no time. And even if I did have time I would only go with it if it was a non-exclusive thing.

I'd be happy to comment on things though. However, lots of places that let you comment on articles suffer from a really bad comment system. I like the idea of being able to mark up articles with comments and also the ability to comment on articles that aren't hosted on a given site (i.e. news articles that are directly sourced from sites that don't allow commenting - but they would have to be ok with that or too puny to afford lawyers.

I've always been gargantuanly disappointed in YouTube's front end for e.g. or the news sites. A portal to get around the horrible restrictions but also to post to those sites would be a great idea.

Like ... you stick a youtube embed on Whyzzat - whyzzat sucks up all the youtube comments and allows commenting on the whyzzat system with fabulous front end but mirrors the contents back to youtube as well (and then magically allows cross commenting between related or unrelated comment threads on different sites).

That would be very cool - and also not much done as far as I know.
You'd need a good solid API for the comment system and then developers could write the backend to do the comment I/O on the wrapped site.

Then if a site complains about TOS you can a) unhook easily, b)have arms length diminished culpability (points at coder - BAD coder *smack*).

 

[Wayne]

Personally I'd love to but I have almost no time. And even if I did have time I would only go with it if it was a non-exclusive thing.

I'm a bit unclear ast to what you're asking about, starting with "non-exclusive thing". Please elaborate.

Wayne

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Personally I'd love to but I have almost no time. And even if I did have time I would only go with it if it was a non-exclusive thing.

I'm a bit unclear ast to what you're asking about, starting with "non-exclusive thing". Please elaborate.

Wayne

Simply that any article would not become the property of Whyzzat or that Whyzzat would acquire exclusive rights or license. Anyone writing an article, having invested the time, may wish to spread it around. That's all.

 

[Glaucus]

See what I saw on the Dragon's Den last night: ScribbleLive.com

So when are we gonna see Wayne on The Shark Tank???

 

[ltstanfo]

I guess the question then becomes, would you guys be ok with the forums taking a far back seat (if not eventually retired)?

Wayne

I'd be ok with the forums taking a back seat but I don't think they should go away / retire. We (this group) may not debate / talk every day but its a fun group and I'd dislike losing that interface capability.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

 

[Robert]

I guess the question then becomes, would you guys be ok with the forums taking a far back seat (if not eventually retired)?

Wayne

I'd be ok with the forums taking a back seat but I don't think they should go away / retire. We (this group) may not debate / talk every day but its a fun group and I'd dislike losing that interface capability.

Regards,
Ltstanfo

I'd second that.

 

[cecilia]

I'm afraid I'd be poor at writing articles, they would all come out as ranting diatribes.

Likewise with me.

I'm happy to *try* and contribute though.

ah, but Your "ranting diatribes" would come with that charming accent!

:mrgreen:

 

[Wayne]

A Humble apology to all.

Today, I haphazardly started throwing things up on "a new whyzzat.com" page like I said I'd do above. It was only then that I really realized that I have absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with it.

Install wordpress. click. Install a theme. click. Then what? I have no content for the page. No clear plan or design. I'm just swinging my proverbial wedge through the proverbial china shop breaking everything in sight in the hopes of creating something more.. well, I really don't know. Just "more" I guess.

Whyzzat.com is a great domain name, and I think anyone will admit that -- as a domain name -- it's being wasted on a forum site, but the simple truth is, whyzzat.com "is what it is". Trying to change it into something else to suit my own thoughts isn't what anyone else wants but me, so for now, I'm going to stop trying to break what only I see as being broken.

I also forgot that this forum -- troubled as it is -- is about you guys, not me.. I seem to make that mistake a lot with most all of my sites really, but hey, I'm tryin'...

What I will do however, is to set up a subdomain (such as sandbox.whyzzat.com) to work towards something using the domain name. If I can write, cross-post, and figure out a way to integrate things in the right way in the sandbox, *then* might be the day to think about moving this site away from a forum.

Until then, please accept my apologies for upsetting the apple cart.

Wayne

 

[Wayne]

... besides, I really have my hands full running the new segwayne.com site right now, so destroying this world was probably a bit premature.

 

[the_leander]

Oh, right, so it's not going to happen then? (Well, not for the time being at least)

I was actually rather looking forward to contributing.

 

[cecilia]

no one's apples have been upset, Wayne.

the thing that is great about the Internet and web pages is that it's all easy to change. feel free to experiment. no one is grading you