Little action on the Front Page

[Mystefyer]

Hi, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but lately there are hardly any reviews and other posts on the frontpage.

Whats going on?

[985323]

I haven't noticed because I bypass the front page and come straight to the forums

[altec]

This place needs a little less talk, and a lot more action!

Sorry...

[SXRguyinMA]

a guy with one post (of which coincidentally complains about not enough content) :think:

[OvRiDe]

There are a few things going on at the moment with the front page content. The main reason would be that we have had some staff leave and some that have been busy with real life. OneSlowz28 was the main man when it came to coordinating the front page content, with him stepping down it has left a bit of a void, and myself looking to pick up where he had left off.

On the other hand the admin staff had been discussing a few issues that had us a bit troubled. So the slowness has served as a bit of an experiment as well. First and foremost... How important is the Frontpage to the site? We are mainly a forum or community. As many have stated, the majority of people come directly to the forums on the site, rather then coming through the front page. The part that had us troubled is it seemed like we may have lost our identity on the front page. TBCS is a case modding community at its root. Over the last year we were seeing less and less modding related content on the front page and more reviews and PR articles. It sounds like an easy fix right, just write more articles about modding and do less reviews and news, but as we are finding out that is not as easy as it sounds. TBCS Staff is purely voluntary, and we all have regular jobs, families and hobbies just like everyone else. So when it comes to time to write, review samples have deadlines that need to be met in order to keep agreements fulfilled. Couple that with the process of testing the equipment, photographing, and writing can eat up a lot of time. What ends up happening is there is less time to write about modding and that content suffers. Press releases were a feeble attempt and trying to keep the front page content flowing. It sounded like a good idea at the time. It was fairly quick to format a press release get it ready for publishing and push them out in between reviews. Honestly, I never liked the idea of publishing straight press releases. As one thread stated they lack an authors voice, and I agree. The problem again, those can take a fair amount of time as well. On a side note, PR's do require A LOT of formatting, so they are not quite as quick as we had figured they would be.

These are just a few of the issues we are working out in the background. We may be looking to fill a few journalist positions, but in the mean time we will still be publishing an article or review here and there. In fact keep a look out this week, Will just finished up the 3rd part in his integrating electronics, and we should have it up shortly.

[d_stilgar]

There are a few things going on at the moment with the front page content. The main reason would be that we have had some staff leave and some that have been busy with real life. OneSlowz28 was the main man when it came to coordinating the front page content, with him stepping down it has left a bit of a void, and myself looking to pick up where he had left off.

First and foremost... How important is the Frontpage to the site? We are mainly a forum or community.

I'm another person who comes directly to the forum page. I think posting the content in the forum only is enough anyway. When I first came here my biggest goal was to get into the featured worklogs section. Now the whole forum has slowed enough that I think just about anyone doing anything could get there. Ha.

I'm a staff member who has done officially nothing since getting back on the staff, but what I feel I would be best suited for is creating community buzz. The staff should be less required to write about stuff happening elsewhere, and more required to write about the events that happen here. There was once a time when there was so much activity that the frontpage and featured worklogs sections served as a way to find the really good content amid the mass of other (still good) content being generated by members all the time.

The problem now is that there is little here to write about, so I feel I can best serve the community not as a writer, but as a modder. The staff should be doing small to medium projects to get people here. Paul was a big driver in getting people here with his TBCS exclusive mods. We need more driving force like that to get people here. I think how-to and wiki articles were actually pretty good, but again, I agree that they should be better integrated into the forum instead of being some "other" part of the site.

The thing about the site is that we have to either let it change into something new or else it will die, or we have to bring back the strength it once had with new content to drive new membership.

Like someone else said, modding was something of a fad six years ago. It's certainly not gone, but the need to personalize your beige box has certainly gone away as well. The industry has really gotten hold of making exactly what the consumer wants so they don't have to, and the less die hard modders fall away because of that.

Also, I think scope creep killed it for a lot of people too. Because the industry now makes lighted fans, etc., when people add lighting to their computers it doesn't impress like it used to. Only the biggest baddest most expensive mods can make an impact and most people don't have that sort of money.

So, what is TBCS to become? I think it should be related to modding, but should expand outside of computers.

We've done this a little bit with the arduino section, but we aren't a mico-controller site and I don't think we could compete with the forums that already are.

We could be a prop site. Therpf.com has taken some of my interest lately. It's a fun hobby that doesn't die out because there are always new movies, and old movies hold value much longer than a video card from two years ago. But TBCS is about computers first and foremost, so I don't think this is completely appropriate. Still, a prop section for video games could be really fun.

We could expand/contract the modding sections to be more inclusive of console modding and video games in general. We talk a lot about case modding here, but usually fail to integrate a big part of why we build such nice computers, to play games! Getting the console people in could really help. Again, we would need some people here to make that first content.

MAME is a big one too. Mame tables, upright cabinets, etc. Hyperspin software is also really cool, although they have their own forum for it.

Home theater PCs are making a comeback. XBMC is pretty big and makes the home theater PC really appealing again.

We could expand out more into what interests me and talk about computer spaces instead of just the computer case. There are some desk mods here, but I think we need a better way to facilitate people with good looking home offices, well unified desk layouts, multiple monitor setups, etc.

Those are just some ideas, but I think it's where we need to start.

I also think that more important than writing product reviews, we should be modding with the products we get. This does a couple things. First, this is a modding site, so reviews really should focus on modding, modability, etc. Second, this creates real content for people to come and see. What is better than a review of a case or modding part? A really freaking cool computer built with that case or part. This is better for both the sponsors and for TBCS.

[crenn]

We've done this a little bit with the arduino section, but we aren't a mico-controller site and I don't think we could compete with the forums that already are.

It's not a section just for arduinos or even the ATMEGA that it's based off :P Although Arduino is immensely popular, there are a wide variety of microcontrollers, each with their advantages and disadvantages. I try to regularly help with that section and provide some content, although time restrictions and other personal events prevent me from actively posting, although that should be changing now.

I also wasn't aware that Oneslowz28 had stepped down from his position here.

[SXRguyinMA]

The Microcontroller section was added after CJ and I had a discussion about it. He an I, as well as crenn and others, were getting into the Arduino platform and microcontrollers in general so it seemed like the logical step to go. I for one still use them and plan to, and I think a lot of members here like that sorta thing even though they know little about it. That's also why I'm doing my Integrating Electronics series, as a tutorial series to show how easy it really is and get more people into it.

You are correct about the front page lacking because there's not a lot going to to write about. And the modding industry certainly has not gone away at all. It's just tough for people in this kind of economy to spend the kind of cash on a computer mod that they used to. It's tough. I'd love to write more, and if things work out I may be doing another series after the integrating electronics one, but I'll wait until something actually happens first :D

[Cale_Hagan]

I haven't noticed because I bypass the front page and come straight to the forums
haha me to!

a guy with one post (of which coincidentally complains about not enough content) :think:
i know, right? and yet they still got us deep into thought, i like it! :think:

There are a few things going on at the moment with the front page content. The main reason would be that we have had some staff leave and some that have been busy with real life. OneSlowz28 was the main man when it came to coordinating the front page content, with him stepping down it has left a bit of a void, and myself looking to pick up where he had left off.

On the other hand the admin staff had been discussing a few issues that had us a bit troubled. So the slowness has served as a bit of an experiment as well. First and foremost... How important is the Frontpage to the site? We are mainly a forum or community. As many have stated, the majority of people come directly to the forums on the site, rather then coming through the front page. The part that had us troubled is it seemed like we may have lost our identity on the front page. TBCS is a case modding community at its root. Over the last year we were seeing less and less modding related content on the front page and more reviews and PR articles. It sounds like an easy fix right, just write more articles about modding and do less reviews and news, but as we are finding out that is not as easy as it sounds. TBCS Staff is purely voluntary, and we all have regular jobs, families and hobbies just like everyone else. So when it comes to time to write, review samples have deadlines that need to be met in order to keep agreements fulfilled. Couple that with the process of testing the equipment, photographing, and writing can eat up a lot of time. What ends up happening is there is less time to write about modding and that content suffers. Press releases were a feeble attempt and trying to keep the front page content flowing. It sounded like a good idea at the time. It was fairly quick to format a press release get it ready for publishing and push them out in between reviews. Honestly, I never liked the idea of publishing straight press releases. As one thread stated they lack an authors voice, and I agree. The problem again, those can take a fair amount of time as well. On a side note, PR's do require A LOT of formatting, so they are not quite as quick as we had figured they would be.

These are just a few of the issues we are working out in the background. We may be looking to fill a few journalist positions, but in the mean time we will still be publishing an article or review here and there. In fact keep a look out this week, Will just finished up the 3rd part in his integrating electronics, and we should have it up shortly.
has oneslowz really left? i know he had some stuff going on... as to the front page, i would check it occasionally, maybe once or twice a week, but typically i go to the forums, bypassing front page. i think it would be nice to have reviews, and if you're truly looking for more journalists, let me know.

I'm another person who comes directly to the forum page. I think posting the content in the forum only is enough anyway. When I first came here my biggest goal was to get into the featured worklogs section. Now the whole forum has slowed enough that I think just about anyone doing anything could get there. Ha.

I'm a staff member who has done officially nothing since getting back on the staff, but what I feel I would be best suited for is creating community buzz. The staff should be less required to write about stuff happening elsewhere, and more required to write about the events that happen here. There was once a time when there was so much activity that the frontpage and featured worklogs sections served as a way to find the really good content amid the mass of other (still good) content being generated by members all the time.

The problem now is that there is little here to write about, so I feel I can best serve the community not as a writer, but as a modder. The staff should be doing small to medium projects to get people here. Paul was a big driver in getting people here with his TBCS exclusive mods. We need more driving force like that to get people here. I think how-to and wiki articles were actually pretty good, but again, I agree that they should be better integrated into the forum instead of being some "other" part of the site.

The thing about the site is that we have to either let it change into something new or else it will die, or we have to bring back the strength it once had with new content to drive new membership.

Like someone else said, modding was something of a fad six years ago. It's certainly not gone, but the need to personalize your beige box has certainly gone away as well. The industry has really gotten hold of making exactly what the consumer wants so they don't have to, and the less die hard modders fall away because of that.

Also, I think scope creep killed it for a lot of people too. Because the industry now makes lighted fans, etc., when people add lighting to their computers it doesn't impress like it used to. Only the biggest baddest most expensive mods can make an impact and most people don't have that sort of money.

So, what is TBCS to become? I think it should be related to modding, but should expand outside of computers.

We've done this a little bit with the arduino section, but we aren't a mico-controller site and I don't think we could compete with the forums that already are.

We could be a prop site. Therpf.com has taken some of my interest lately. It's a fun hobby that doesn't die out because there are always new movies, and old movies hold value much longer than a video card from two years ago. But TBCS is about computers first and foremost, so I don't think this is completely appropriate. Still, a prop section for video games could be really fun.

We could expand/contract the modding sections to be more inclusive of console modding and video games in general. We talk a lot about case modding here, but usually fail to integrate a big part of why we build such nice computers, to play games! Getting the console people in could really help. Again, we would need some people here to make that first content.

MAME is a big one too. Mame tables, upright cabinets, etc. Hyperspin software is also really cool, although they have their own forum for it.

Home theater PCs are making a comeback. XBMC is pretty big and makes the home theater PC really appealing again.

We could expand out more into what interests me and talk about computer spaces instead of just the computer case. There are some desk mods here, but I think we need a better way to facilitate people with good looking home offices, well unified desk layouts, multiple monitor setups, etc.

Those are just some ideas, but I think it's where we need to start.

I also think that more important than writing product reviews, we should be modding with the products we get. This does a couple things. First, this is a modding site, so reviews really should focus on modding, modability, etc. Second, this creates real content for people to come and see. What is better than a review of a case or modding part? A really freaking cool computer built with that case or part. This is better for both the sponsors and for TBCS.

i hear that, i don't know how far we should branch out though. as to the product mod/review idea at the end, i am all for that! i also am in favor of a larger console mod section, but my only worry is it will turn into a "mod chip how to cheat the game manufacturer" mod section, and not a console case mod. but how about a game review area, too? not just discussion. i think that would help bring in traffic, i don't know, but some food for thought. it also may help get more people who are into gaming into case modding... :think:

[dr.walrus]

Let's face it, there was a lot of new action and membership when there were a few big features on places like engadget, and a real buzz around the forums. That's when I (and many others) joined.

I've been attacked in the past for suggesting that the reviews were often not really great (or even what the site is about), but I stand by that criticism; what this forum needs to do is showcase people who do MENTAL stuff with computers and do it well.

On these forums, I've seen computers cast in concrete, moulded in fibreglass, riveted, welded, custom resevoirs and heatsinks, 100kg desks. I once sent a 4870X2 to the USA (barely made a penny because of shipping but it was a hell of a parcel!). Let's remember what this place is about and make it somewhere worthy of coming here, or stop complaining and let it go its natural course.

[TheGreatSatan]

Only a few people writing articles and even less available to proofread and publish them

[TLHarrell]

I could certainly assist with proofreading. I don't want the power to publish though, but would love to be able to swat the spammers.

[Cale_Hagan]

Only a few people writing articles and even less available to proofread and publish them

way to necro a thread, LOL.... satan, once a thread goes to hell, aren't they supposed to stay there? :D

i am doing a trial run atm to write articles, speaking of people writing...

[TLHarrell]

I think his corner of hell was getting crowded, so he stuck the thread in a box and shipped it to some lucky people.

[Cale_Hagan]

I think his corner of hell was getting crowded, so he stuck the thread in a box and shipped it to some lucky people.

:santa: :evil: :santa: