Posts
It's Blusterin' Time!
And remember: Blustering should be a two-way street; if you've asked to be blustered, you better be a blusterer.
If you're new to this feature or need a refresher, click the label at the bottom of this post and see the first few posts. Otherwise, here's the basics:
What I'll do is list a site; you're asked to critique it. But here's the catch: to induce the most honest reactions, don't leave the comment using your normal alias/login - instead, go anonymous, and be as brutally honest (or complimentary) as you wish to be. Also, be specific, and naturally, don't be rude. If I deem anything inappropriate, I'll have no problem deleting the comment.
So, go to the site listed below, familiarize yourself with it for a few minutes, then come back and leave some constructive criticism and/or comments that you have.
Site: The 8th Circuit
LAMB#: 295
URL: http://8th-circuit.com/
If you're up for this treatment for your site (and you're a LAMB), send me an email with the subject "Bluster Me!" If you've already done so, no need to do it again - you're on the list, and these will be going up in order of when I received your email (by the way, it could take a while for your site to be Blustered, since I don't run this more than once a week or so).
And remember: Blustering should be a two-way street; if you've asked to be blustered, you better be a blusterer.
If you're new to this feature or need a refresher, click the label at the bottom of this post and see the first few posts. Otherwise, here's the basics:
What I'll do is list a site; you're asked to critique it. But here's the catch: to induce the most honest reactions, don't leave the comment using your normal alias/login - instead, go anonymous, and be as brutally honest (or complimentary) as you wish to be. Also, be specific, and naturally, don't be rude. If I deem anything inappropriate, I'll have no problem deleting the comment.
So, go to the site listed below, familiarize yourself with it for a few minutes, then come back and leave some constructive criticism and/or comments that you have.
Site: The 8th Circuit
LAMB#: 295
URL: http://8th-circuit.com/
If you're up for this treatment for your site (and you're a LAMB), send me an email with the subject "Bluster Me!" If you've already done so, no need to do it again - you're on the list, and these will be going up in order of when I received your email (by the way, it could take a while for your site to be Blustered, since I don't run this more than once a week or so).
The site is tidy and clean and easy to navigate but visually it is a bit dull. Maybe a change to the tab format at the top of the page or maybe just the font used on the tabs might help funk things up. Your probably getting some coin for this...but those advertisements in your right sidebar are just plain ugly. Really like the video game reviews. Film reviews are a little mainstream for my personal taste but overall a pretty cohesive site.
ReplyDeleteThank you sir, some very good advice. We kept our fonts "standard"-ish for ease of reading, but if it really is that boring I s'pose it could be time for some changes. As for the advertisements... yeah they're ugly, but they pay for our hosting. So sadly, for now, they have to stay.
ReplyDeleteLastly, what do you mean by a "little mainstream"? We're definitely not trying to emulate the bigger sites, so any clarification on this would help us out a lot. Thanks for your input!
I am not the same Anonymous as above, but I feel the same about the "little mainstream" aspect.
ReplyDeleteBasically, you talk mostly about things that are also talked about everywhere. Say Cameron`s "Avatar". Not that your review is uninsteresting - it is - but I have already read several reviews of Avatar so far and I know I don`t want to see it.
The fact that you are talking the same stuff than my local newspaper make me not want to go visit you often as I miss some kind of "and now for something completely different".
This being said, you review the film you want to review and my comment is purely a question of personal taste, not a complaint.
I love the idea of the site and there is absolutely nothing wrong with reviewing mainstream movies.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem I think is the lack of content. The site touches on many different and diffuse area and hence, there isn't enough content in each particular sub-interest. The site also feels a bit empty and could use a new more exciting home page.
It would also help to remove the middle sidebar which is taking a huge amount of space and is only white band.
Thank you for your feedback everyone, it is very helpful. In response to a few of them, we used to try to stay away from mainstream releases, but as our community grew, so did the number of requests that we do review those films and games. It is more for our dedicated readers that we try to hit up as many of the major releases as we can, so that will not change anytime soon. Luckily though, our focus has never been on reviews, as we know there are a million-bajillion sites that do the same. The reason you are seeing so many on the front page right now is because we are pumping them out in preparation for end of the year and "best of 09" content.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the middle sidebar is sadly necessary, as it provides "spill space" for images, youtube videos, trailers, etc. Hopefully, if we are able to replace our current design with a "more exciting new home page," we might be able to fix this problem. Unfortunately, I have no web designers on staff, and thus, we're kinda stuck at this point. If you know anyone, please let us know, we'd love a fresh new design!
Lastly, I think I can see where you are coming from with the comment about the lack of content. We are not a huge site however, although compared to most independent blogs, we publish a great deal more content. Film and gaming are our focus, and thus we almost always have at least one or two new posts a day on each, at the least. I am not quite sure what you were expecting, but please let me know as it would really help us narrow in on the content people want to see more of.
Thanks for all your comments guys, they have been of great help!