What's next at Whyzzat?

Wayne

Wayne

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Hi guys,

I need your help and input please? With the pending sale of Amiga.org, I'm sitting here thinking about "what's next" in my life, and debating whether I want to invest more time in something new for the web which can be frustrating, or just concentrate on real life which is fun, but much less rewarding.

To that end, and to go along with the "whyzzat needs a push" (paraphrased) thread the other day, I was trying to think how we might make this site something better, more dynamic, and more fun than just 8 old friends bitching about politics.

I mean... well, I don't know what I mean exactly, but if you were looking for the answer, would you be more inclined to;

1) Leave it as is, even though spammers make it impossible to grow the site any further?
2) Change it to something like vBulletin which has it's problems, but is more open and user-centric?
3) Change it to something like a full CMS engine like Drupal or even Xoops?
4) walk away completely?

I sincerely wish I could find, or invent another niche like I did in 1994 with Amiga.org, but this is 15 years later and frankly unless it's a brand new product and a perfect domain name, grabbing a niche isn't nearly as easy as it once was.

I'm just looking for your opinions here and hoping each of you will pitch in.

Wayne
 
... anyone?
... anyone?
... Bueller?
 
I'd say go with user-centric. I think it did a really great job with Aorg :)
And considering the boards, keep it as simple as possible. I'd have 3 boards: DMZ, politics and (technical)help.
Put it all together, the treshold to post will be lowered very much, and the site will feel much more lively.
Also, think of a theme that'll appeal to people who do not come from Aorg.
 
I don't think anything you do will matter unless you find a way to drive traffic here. If it is just for the dozen or so of us regulars, I'm fine with you leaving it alone. I'd hate to see you kill yourself making it a Cadillac, just for the dozen of us. The question is, how to drive traffic? Let Fluffy write editorials to draw the conspiracy theory crowd? Strategically placed banner ads?


Wayne said:
Hi guys,

I need your help and input please? With the pending sale of Amiga.org, I'm sitting here thinking about "what's next" in my life, and debating whether I want to invest more time in something new for the web which can be frustrating, or just concentrate on real life which is fun, but much less rewarding.

To that end, and to go along with the "whyzzat needs a push" (paraphrased) thread the other day, I was trying to think how we might make this site something better, more dynamic, and more fun than just 8 old friends bitching about politics.

I mean... well, I don't know what I mean exactly, but if you were looking for the answer, would you be more inclined to;

1) Leave it as is, even though spammers make it impossible to grow the site any further?
2) Change it to something like vBulletin which has it's problems, but is more open and user-centric?
3) Change it to something like a full CMS engine like Drupal or even Xoops?
4) walk away completely?

I sincerely wish I could find, or invent another niche like I did in 1994 with Amiga.org, but this is 15 years later and frankly unless it's a brand new product and a perfect domain name, grabbing a niche isn't nearly as easy as it once was.

I'm just looking for your opinions here and hoping each of you will pitch in.

Wayne
Click to expand...
 
Yo Wayne,

I don't really have any preference about the software (this seems friendly enough to me). I do quite like the forum software that www.gminsidenews.com uses though. I believe it's vBulletin.

The main thing about whyzzat is trying to attract more users. I have no idea how you'd go about doing that.

Finding a niche is never something you can plan, IMO. Finding one and exploiting it involves doing the right thing slightly ahead of the curve (as you did with a.org) and riding the growth. I suspect most successes in growth industries were down to luck or just the enthusiasts doing what they love.
 
Wayne said:
To that end, and to go along with the "whyzzat needs a push" (paraphrased) thread the other day, I was trying to think how we might make this site something better, more dynamic, and more fun than just 8 old friends bitching about politics.

1) Leave it as is, even though spammers make it impossible to grow the site any further?
2) Change it to something like vBulletin which has it's problems, but is more open and user-centric?
3) Change it to something like a full CMS engine like Drupal or even Xoops?
4) walk away completely?

Wayne
Click to expand...

As far as software, use whatever is the easiest to maintain

Another way to block spammers is include a rating flag on a new members first post, if 3 or more existing members check the spam flag on their post they're blocked and deleted.

To attract new members, possibly more topic categories (e.g. hobbies, ect) to lead people here through search hits
 
@Wayne

How about "All the venom, but from a distance!"

:lol:
 
redrumloa said:
@Wayne

How about "All the venom, but from a distance!"

:lol:
Click to expand...

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

WINNER!!!
 
metalman said:
redrumloa said:
@Wayne

How about "All the venom, but from a distance!"

:lol:
Click to expand...

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

WINNER!!!
Click to expand...
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :pint: :shocked:
 
Wayne said:
Hi guys,

I need your help and input please? With the pending sale of Amiga.org, I'm sitting here thinking about "what's next"

<SNIP>

I'm just looking for your opinions here and hoping each of you will pitch in.

Wayne
Click to expand...

One thing I've always disliked about the revamp was the fact it no longer lists the most recent threads, that alone probably keeps people away as the activity is no longer immediately visible - you have to go hunting for it.

I'd also like to see more people around if only to talk about different stuff, sorry but US politics isn't really a great deal of interest to me most of the time.
 
minator said:
One thing I've always disliked about the revamp was the fact it no longer lists the most recent threads, that alone probably keeps people away as the activity is no longer immediately visible - you have to go hunting for it.

I'd also like to see more people around if only to talk about different stuff, sorry but US politics isn't really a great deal of interest to me most of the time.
Click to expand...
there's a link at the top right of the page, "View new posts ", use that.
 
Wayne said:
http://www.whyzzat.com/forums/search.php?search_id=newposts

makes a great bookmark.

Wayne
Click to expand...

Hmmm. How hard are the pages to alter? Could you throw in a frame at the top with that as source?
 
Wayne said:
1) Leave it as is, even though spammers make it impossible to grow the site any further?
2) Change it to something like vBulletin which has it's problems, but is more open and user-centric?
3) Change it to something like a full CMS engine like Drupal or even Xoops?
4) walk away completely?
Click to expand...

5)Kidnap Karlos and make him give you the keys to the Extropia framework 8) :wink:

Seriously though I understand what you mean. In some respects the original concept of this place would in my opinion lend itself well to something like what Newsvine offers.

I personally reckon that this place has the potential to outshine Amiga.org.

Hope you're well.
 
the_leander said:
Seriously though I understand what you mean. In some respects the original concept of this place would in my opinion lend itself well to something like what Newsvine offers.

I personally reckon that this place has the potential to outshine Amiga.org.

Hope you're well.
Click to expand...

I'm handling life day by day, but thanks for asking.

I would sincerely *love* to do something like a cnet, newsvine, or other mainstream site, and I think the domain's perfectly placed for something like that, BUT... The problem I see is that in order to follow through with such an ideal, you would need a dedicated staff who're willing to write, and to cross-post things on an absolutely regular basis. You can't get that without paying them to do so, and of course it's a chicken/egg quandry. How do you get staff without money? How do you get money without staff?

Yada, yada, yada... :)

Ideas?

Wayne
 
Perhaps create a mechanism where you can associate advertisement slots with a particular author instead of the site in general. Then, the author gets a cut of ad revenue and the site gets the rest. You could have as many authors as you want and they'd compete against each other for profit. Of course there would be a sweet spot in terms of how many authors you really want. Getting the ads however may be tricky at first though, but once the site and authors get established that should become easier. Just a thought.

Ars Technica now has a premium membership. With the premium membership you get access to exclusive articles. That too could help drive revenue. Not sure how well that's working for them though as free is hard to beat. The only web forum I ever paid for premium membership is PreludeOnline.com and the only forum I ever voluntarily contributed to was Amiga.org.
 
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