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J_incredible said:
Thanks for your questions and feedback.

NXUS is integrated with all major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, etc). For those who use any of the networks, they can share, discuss, and rate the content using the networks integrated with the website. So you are not bailing on Facebook / Twitter to join NXUS, but rather using them to share and discuss viral media content faster.

The exclusivity comes in three parts...

1. NXUS exclusives are featured over all other content and will include interviews, exclusive media, reviews, previews, etc of movies, games, tech, mobile, blu-ray, etc.

2. The Feed. Now were Digg / N4g are run by user submissions, submissions are filtered in along with other events/news/media from the web and staff selects what features/articles go into the Feed. Users than choose what's high-quality / viral by voting, sharing, and commenting.

3. User Pages / Custom Channels. During the beta, users can rate, comment, share, etc with their NXUS account. By providing high-quality content, the user can gain "connections" allowing their content and profile to be noticed by more people.

Eventually when we roll out the custom channels....websites, youtube partners, press publications, publishers, developers, etc can utilize our custom channels to gain "connections" for their products / content. These custom channels will have additional features for customization and the ability to hold exclusive ad space.
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well, it seems very adventurous and kind of weird at the same time to me, i'm still not imagining why users would really want to add a lot unless there was a good incentive -- not just because they "can."

but good luck with it. i'm not really sure what to suggest other than i would take a different approach to tackling the content.
 
www.thesummer123.com

123 Summer songs, a new song posted everyday w/ a write up and youtube link.

My friend came up with the idea and picked the songs w/ his good friend from high school. I did the web design, my GF drew the graphics.

The updates are raunchy. I did today's.
 
davepoobond said:
well, it seems very adventurous and kind of weird at the same time to me, i'm still not imagining why users would really want to add a lot unless there was a good incentive -- not just because they "can."

but good luck with it. i'm not really sure what to suggest other than i would take a different approach to tackling the content.
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Finding / sharing viral movie, game, and tech content is what the website is based around. Incentive for users to post quality content is to gain "connections." We'll also hold contests / giveaways for movies, games, gear, etc.

Not every user has to post content. Discussing, rating, sharing, and commenting on stuff all works too.

What are some of your suggestions on how to tackle content better? Our staff will be posting its own content, however it's strictly exclusive editorial / feature writing. Daily news / media will be featured in the Feed and user content.
 
J_incredible said:
Finding / sharing viral movie, game, and tech content is what the website is based around. Incentive for users to post quality content is to gain "connections." We'll also hold contests / giveaways for movies, games, gear, etc.

Not every user has to post content. Discussing, rating, sharing, and commenting on stuff all works too.

What are some of your suggestions on how to tackle content better? Our staff will be posting its own content, however it's strictly exclusive editorial / feature writing. Daily news / media will be featured in the Feed and user content.
Click to expand...


well, suggesting anything more would kind of lead into an idea i have for a web site that i may make in the future, so i'm sorry if i sound like i'm beating around the bush, but i really am on purpose. i only really want to analyze what you're trying to do, because it interests me, and also because of the similarities you have with ideas i may act upon myself, as well.

but going back to earlier in your post -- what i'm wondering is why would i want to gain connections on your web site? what is supposed to be different or appealing about your web site that I can't get somewhere else? you're saying you have all these great features and how you're integrated with social networks... but what's the point (from a user standpoint)?

sure, i could discuss and rate stuff, but honestly that takes effort. Especially when its a web site I haven't built a relationship with yet, I'm not going to be very inclined to take part in it. I can see the contests/giveaways and content that the staff writing sort of build that relationship, but right now your idea is seemingly based more upon the hope that users will socially interact just by the virtue of needing them to.

I'm not trying to say i know more than you or anything, and you may be more in tune with web sites than myself, but from all the experience I've had with them it's been hard to build a community, and there's some tough times ahead if you're going to rely on this "imaginary" (for the time being, at least) community of users that will make your web site function as you truly envision it to. I'm not saying it can't be done -- if you're serving a specific market or providing a certain flavor you can't get somewhere else, i wouldn't be surprised to see an uptake.


also, i'm making a lot of conjecture with my experience with buddypress as well, which i believe you are using, so i'm aware of a lot of its limitations.


if it seems like you think i dont like the idea of the web site, that's not what i'm trying to get across. i like the idea, and i like the integration and the features your site offers... i'm just trying to figure out how you are expecting to build your community and why you think they will stick around.
 
I've wanted to start a blog for a while now, but I figure there's already a billion video game related blogs out there, and to top it off, I'm not really a great writer either.

Any tips for someone looking into a blog?
 
Tomat said:
I've wanted to start a blog for a while now, but I figure there's already a billion video game related blogs out there, and to top it off, I'm not really a great writer either.

Any tips for someone looking into a blog?
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Look for a niche that isn't being filled well, or at all. I run 2 blogs, one is an anime blog aimed at Canadians - as no one fills that void, it does "well". But, I also run a PlayStation Vita blog, it does abysmally. Don't try to compete with the big boys, at least not initially.

As well, I'd give the advice of sticking with it despite maybe not getting a tonne of readers at first. Most blogs probably flounder within 6 months of opening because people don't get the reader gratification yet. The thing is, if you manage to go past 6 months, you'll start to find an audience.
 
Tomat said:
I've wanted to start a blog for a while now, but I figure there's already a billion video game related blogs out there, and to top it off, I'm not really a great writer either.

Any tips for someone looking into a blog?
Click to expand...

start with a free blog -- wordpress.com (i personally suggest wordpress) or blogger.

you might think that there's a billion video game related blogs out there, and that might be true, but writing comes in baby steps I feel. write what you would like to and eventually you will create your own style or get more ambitious and do more with what you may or may not want to do.

if it doesn't work out for you, you don't lose anything. those blogs are free.
 
davepoobond said:
well, suggesting anything more would kind of lead into an idea i have for a web site that i may make in the future, so i'm sorry if i sound like i'm beating around the bush, but i really am on purpose. i only really want to analyze what you're trying to do, because it interests me, and also because of the similarities you have with ideas i may act upon myself, as well.

but going back to earlier in your post -- what i'm wondering is why would i want to gain connections on your web site? what is supposed to be different or appealing about your web site that I can't get somewhere else? you're saying you have all these great features and how you're integrated with social networks... but what's the point (from a user standpoint)?

sure, i could discuss and rate stuff, but honestly that takes effort. Especially when its a web site I haven't built a relationship with yet, I'm not going to be very inclined to take part in it. I can see the contests/giveaways and content that the staff writing sort of build that relationship, but right now your idea is seemingly based more upon the hope that users will socially interact just by the virtue of needing them to.

I'm not trying to say i know more than you or anything, and you may be more in tune with web sites than myself, but from all the experience I've had with them it's been hard to build a community, and there's some tough times ahead if you're going to rely on this "imaginary" (for the time being, at least) community of users that will make your web site function as you truly envision it to. I'm not saying it can't be done -- if you're serving a specific market or providing a certain flavor you can't get somewhere else, i wouldn't be surprised to see an uptake.


also, i'm making a lot of conjecture with my experience with buddypress as well, which i believe you are using, so i'm aware of a lot of its limitations.


if it seems like you think i dont like the idea of the web site, that's not what i'm trying to get across. i like the idea, and i like the integration and the features your site offers... i'm just trying to figure out how you are expecting to build your community and why you think they will stick around.
Click to expand...

The website will allow readers to utilize NXUS from it's simplest feature of "Liking" an article all the way to writing their own blog / review or posting a user video. Outside of that, journalists / websites looking to gain new readership can just link to their content via their NXUS page. Since NXUS cover movies, games, tech, etc the scope is wider than just a gaming website. The demographic is about the same, but since you'll be having movie lovers visit the website, gaming websites will have a chance at accessing that new readership. As NXUS organically grows, more users will want to use the website.
 
Zeitgeister said:
That's a pretty slick theme you have there.

Are those references made with an (semi) automated tool? Because otherwise I would like to know if this is a specific function / widget or whatever or specific to your blog's theme (assuming you use wordpress) or design.
I am such a noob in these things. :(
Click to expand...

Yep, WordPress. The plugin is called FD Footnotes.

J_incredible said:
I like the minimalism in the design of Politics of Gaming. Nice blog.
Click to expand...

The theme came from here. As you can see there is some amazing stuff and the support community is exceptional; just ask what you'd like changed in your design and they'll do it for you. I just asked them if its okay to gift a theme to someone who doesn't have a subscription (lol), and if they allow it, then I could hook you up with a theme of your choice. Although I doubt it'd be allowed

These are the features I can use
 
Salazar said:
You are very kind. I am hoping to actually get an account of next year's festival published somewhere. People commonly regard literary and cultural festivals as a sort of closed circuit of entertainment and edification - if you didn't go, you don't get anything out of it - but they really can be written about. And should, really - because attendance is utterly dwarfed by the number of people potentially interested.
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I'd love to read more. I hanker for great travelogues, especially ones with a purpose...I'll certainly read more of your stuff whenever you post.

Sorry for the delayed reply! Just a bit of late-night GAF'ing. But yes, again, a fantastic read. Certainly blows a lot of "blogging" out of the water. More of it, please!
 
Futureman said:
Politics of gaming, the tiles change too fast on the main page to read the whole paragraph.
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Well I slowed the transition down slightly, but not too much because its important to show the animation and reveal other stories through it if, for example, a reader was not interested in the first article.

You can however completely stop the animation by placing your cursor above the animation/image.

I'm considering reducing the width of the posts though. I get the impression have a full page width reminds people of a document and thus discourages them from reading.
 
I think I'm going to be making a blog soon. No real reason other than I want to write. I don't actually have anything to write about, so I guess it'll be about whatever is going on in my life at the time, but will probably focus more on music/movies/events/philosophy than just a bunch of posts detailing what goes on in my life.

Obviously I won't be getting a lot of readers, but how would I go about attracting a few? I'd like to have a few readers, throwing in comments every now and again.

Is there anything I should know about blogging? and wordpress or blogspot?
 
I've had many game sites/blogs over the years, but I'm kind of committed to this one: http://www.styroscope.wordpress.com

I wish I could seriously cover gaming events and have my own news sources and stuff. I don't get too many hits. I'm actually looking for people to post on the site, whether it be news or just what they thought about a game (ex. impressions)

I haven't been keeping up with it much too lately, I guess I'm in just one of those summer funks where I don't feel like doing anything. So yeah, please check out my site, and if you wanna help me out, PM me please.
 
Ehhh I'll throw my hat in.
I made a website recently. I intended for it to simply be an online CV type deal but it morphed into a whole site, blog and all. I've never made a site, blogged or anything so I was very excited until..... I found out my site only displays correctly through Safari :(

So yeah, the majority of you won't see it correctly until I fix things (which I can't) but for those of you with Safari, any feedback would be appreciated :D

www.antonywilliams.me

(temporary URL)
 
In a move that surprises no one I have launched a Medabots blog:

Project Rising Beetle

The aim is to celebrate Medabots 10th Anniversary in North America, and eventually provide a hub for Medabots news.

This will be the third blog I started after I Miss Bionix - focused on the trials and tribulations of an anime fan in Canada, and No Games Portable - a blog covering PlayStation Vita (and maybe 3DS in the future, kekeke) news.

I plan on eventually getting others to write Project Rising Beetle for me.
 
Mine's music related. I want to promote lesser known hard rock acts that won't get mainstream exposure in SPIN or Rolling Stone, etc. Instead of straight-up copy & pasting news item after news item like SOOO many blogs do, I want each article of mine to actually be an editorial piece and/or show a personal take on things. More quality than quantity, I guess.

Also, instead of being narrowly focused on one particular genre, I'm also creating reviews and articles on more popular acts that I also happen to enjoy (Lady Gaga, Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5, etc). My goal would be to have people stumble across the page for one reason to end up looking around and say "Hey, who's that" and check 'em out. Of course streaming music samples (either youtube or soundcloud) are right on each piece. Bam. Cool band discovered. Maybe. That's the plan if I don't screw it up, anyway.

I'm about 2 weeks in (20 to 25 articles) and have been getting some really good feedback. Most of those people I've talked to fit the hard rock demographic so far, though, as it takes a while for Google to start indexing and all.

Sorry if that all is tl;dr but I'm actually looking for constructive criticism instead of just disinterested people clicking. Especially from people with similar but not exact music tastes. Feel free to either tell me here or leave a comment on the piece (registration is not needed to comment so you can post without jumping through any hoops). So please, check me out!

http://www.superLOUD.net
 
Glass Joe said:
Mine's music related. I want to promote lesser known hard rock acts that won't get mainstream exposure in SPIN or Rolling Stone, etc. Instead of straight-up copy & pasting news item after news item like SOOO many blogs do, I want each article of mine to actually be an editorial piece and/or show a personal take on things. More quality than quantity, I guess.

Also, instead of being narrowly focused on one particular genre, I'm also creating reviews and articles on more popular acts that I also happen to enjoy (Lady Gaga, Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5, etc). My goal would be to have people stumble across the page for one reason to end up looking around and say "Hey, who's that" and check 'em out. Of course streaming music samples (either youtube or soundcloud) are right on each piece. Bam. Cool band discovered. Maybe. That's the plan if I don't screw it up, anyway.

I'm about 2 weeks in (20 to 25 articles) and have been getting some really good feedback. Most of those people I've talked to fit the hard rock demographic so far, though, as it takes a while for Google to start indexing and all.

Sorry if that all is tl;dr but I'm actually looking for constructive criticism instead of just disinterested people clicking. Especially from people with similar but not exact music tastes. Feel free to either tell me here or leave a comment on the piece (registration is not needed to comment so you can post without jumping through any hoops). So please, check me out!

http://www.superLOUD.net
Click to expand...

I like it actually, but I think you need a featured articles box or something on your main page. Only feature articles from the lesser known bands though, as I feel like it's an effort going through the crappy articles (no offence, just stuff I'm not interested in e.g. Rebecca Black) in order to find the ones worth reading (articles about smaller bands). Good luck with this, I hope it succeeds.
 
Ultimatum said:
I like it actually, but I think you need a featured articles box or something on your main page. Only feature articles from the lesser known bands though, as I feel like it's an effort going through the crappy articles (no offence, just stuff I'm not interested in e.g. Rebecca Black) in order to find the ones worth reading (articles about smaller bands). Good luck with this, I hope it succeeds.
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking it out and giving your honest feedback. That's really cool of you. I'd rather hear "something's wrong" than not hear anything at all, ya know? I'm glad to hear that overall you like what you see, and I do think I understand where you're coming from with your issues.

If your first impression while visiting the site was "Man, the top article is about Rebecca Black, screw this jazz," then that's possibly just a matter of unfortunate timing. It's simply the most recent article, and I sort of forgot that will make it the most prominent when I'm done writing for the day. I was thinking that the left side bar (Top 10 Viewed Posts) had me more than covered as the "Featured Articles" list you're speaking of (Or, at least until Google indexes me). Perhaps I should have a couple additional pieces ready to go when I feel like posting about something so mainstream.

Also, in my defense, the mentioned article is not some simple cut & paste job. It's news, as well as an editorial opinion on what she's gone through. I *am* trying to get the mainstream to attend the site, after all. I just want them to be exposed to some different music once they get there.

Thanks for the feedback. No one else had mentioned something that seems rather obvious now, despite me getting 1000+ hits a day in the first two days so far I've had it public. Which is just an awesome response, I think. Again, for anyone that's curious, the site in question is superLOUD.net
 
Glass Joe said:
Thanks for checking it out and giving your honest feedback. That's really cool of you. I'd rather hear "something's wrong" than not hear anything at all, ya know? I'm glad to hear that overall you like what you see, and I do think I understand where you're coming from with your issues.

If your first impression while visiting the site was "Man, the top article is about Rebecca Black, screw this jazz," then that's possibly just a matter of unfortunate timing. It's simply the most recent article, and I sort of forgot that will make it the most prominent when I'm done writing for the day. I was thinking that the left side bar (Top 10 Viewed Posts) had me more than covered as the "Featured Articles" list you're speaking of (Or, at least until Google indexes me). Perhaps I should have a couple additional pieces ready to go when I feel like posting about something so mainstream.

Also, in my defense, the mentioned article is not some simple cut & paste job. It's news, as well as an editorial opinion on what she's gone through. I *am* trying to get the mainstream to attend the site, after all. I just want them to be exposed to some different music once they get there.

Thanks for the feedback. No one else had mentioned something that seems rather obvious now, despite me getting 1000+ hits a day in the first two days so far I've had it public. Which is just an awesome response, I think. Again, for anyone that's curious, the site in question is superLOUD.net
Click to expand...

Yeah, I ended up reading all of the most popular articles lol. They're good, I like the articles you produce, but I guess it was just bad timing with the Rebecca Black article :p Although, with the most popular articles, won't that be filled up with old articles? In a few months or so that list isn't really going to change (unless it only includes most popular articles of the month or something). I was thinking more along the lines of a weekly recommendation box.

Nice to see you're getting some good traffic
 
Again, thanks man. The "Popular Posts" thing is an adjustable widget that one can change from "most popular - weekly" to "monthly" to "all time." I currently have it set to monthly so older articles can still be featured on the main site. But hey, I'm really only two days in, so I'm sure I'll mess with that constantly due to my OCD.

I'm already sorta bummed that 2 of my favorite articles (Michael Monroe's "Sensory Overdrive" album and Cee Lo Green's "Cry Baby" premiere) pretty much got ignored. Therefore, I can already catch the vibe that the "featured article" you mentioned is going to have to come into play in the future.

Damn I wish I wasn't so lazy tonight, now the Rebecca Black on the top of the page is making me self-conscious. But it's almost Friday, maybe having it there tomorrow is appropriate, lol. Anyway, good advice, Ultimatum.
 
wow this is freakin annoying. i have nowhere else to gripe about this, so i'll say it here.

apparently the host that i've been using for about 7 years now is closing down and by sheer luck i logged in and noticed that they are. they've apparently "communicated many times" that they are closing, but the only way i noticed it was by the support ticket that was closed saying they weren't going to fix my issue because they're closing down.

so now i have to scramble and get my whole web site over to dreamhost, which i just signed up for, and hope that all of the configurations will be the same off the cpanel backup...

my main fear is that the wordpress junk won't work for some weird reason.
 
I have started a review site for 3DSWare, 3D Classsics, DsiWare, 3DS VC, 3DS apps, and 3DSGame Cards.

This site is called "Nintendo eShop Land" The reviews are gonna be very short, I detail why a like and dislike a game, and I use the rating system thats in place on ghe actual eShop.

Therer will be ner reviews every Tuesday and like the actual eShop itself, you won't know which reviews are coming until their out! lol

I plan to have atleast 2 reviews up each week unless I'm running low on stuff to write. I already have 8 more reviews that I already written that I have'nt posted yet. Afterall I have to spread them out right? lol

The first two reviews are up this week. They are Alleway and Kirby's Dreamland. To view the blog go here: http://nintendoeshopland.blogspot.com/

I'm not really that good of a writer but I was bored so I decided to start eShop Land up and try to continually update it. So yea...if you like the blog check back every Tuesday for new reviews.
 
WiiRevolution 1 - Nice start. I'd like to see maybe a screen shot of each game, or some kind of imagery maybe.
Great King Bowser - Really striking theme. I added you to my twitter, though your site seemed kinda personal (hope you don't mind).
Jo Shishido's Cheeks - Looks fine in Firefox to me, but maybe you have that issue sorted by now.
silentcapybara - Really cool images. I dug it, and the way you presented it.
ConvenientBox - Very nice presentation and cool photos (I browsed you for a bit).
Expendable. - great looking site and judging by your followers your site's doing quite well!

Ultimatum - I threw a couple featured boxes in my design to go with the popular posts (one's a featured article and the other is a featured review). Your idea solved a problem in my head where I was sometimes feeling that something I wanted to promote (either because it's underrated or because I wrote it well, ha ha) was getting lost on page 2 and beyond. So thanks for your idea, it might not have crossed my mind otherwise.
 
Thanks GlassJoe! I'll look into adding screenshots soon. Thing is I have a very slow conputer and I rarely use it, soI use my iPad to post blog updates and I don't really know how hard it is to put screenshots up through iPad (Its probably not much harder than a pc so I'll deffinitly try or start using my PC once a week to do it.) or maybe I can link to the game page on Nintendo.com...

4 new reviews are up today. While this will be a 3DS centric review site (Since I play it the most and have the most games on it) I still will have reviews from other systems (Wii, Psp, iOS, etc) later in the year. I'm also happy with the amount of search options I added to the top of the blog.

Edit: Pictures for all reviews are now up.
 
Hey GAF, so I started toy picture blog. Most of my toys are put away for the moment since I don't have a cubicle to put them in. Thought I would take a pic of various toys in my collection and post a new pic everyday. Those interested, make sure to take a look at the older pics as well.

NECA liked my Leon Kennedy pic :)

http://madnesseightoh.wordpress.com/
 
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