Let’s suppose, for a moment, that you think the LAMB is broken. You think it’s kind of a good resource, but could be so much more. Or you really don’t like anything we do here (in which case you’re probably not reading this). Or you just think there’s been a missed opportunity or two over the years. I know, pretty unfathomable.
Basically, my question to you is this: Suppose you’re in my shoes – how would you make the LAMB even better than it is? Tech enhancements (somewhat difficult given my non-programming background and Blogger’s limitations), content/feature ideas, better ways to market/promote existing and new LAMBs, you name it. You have an open forum to sound off on anything you might change, remove, add, etc. I’m not fishing for compliments, so if you think everything’s hunky dory right now, I thank you, but there’s no need to post that here. Also, please try to be constructive, as folks are with the Blustering, though no need for anonymity unless you choose to. If you prefer, you can even email your comments to me (just hit the Contact button).
Tags: site news
I would love to have more ways to show off new posts from members. Most of the time I come on here, all I see are the introduction of new members. I want to see more actual content.
I have to agree with Kschenke that the addition of more unique content would help increase traffic in addition to more interactive features (still trying to figure that one out myself).
I, for one, don’t frequent the site as often as I would if there was more information relevant to blogging such as tutorials, tips, and vlogs/workshops to help members become stronger writers/bloggers.
I’m relatively new and I’m just now beginning to figure out what things are, and how to take part. Maybe a ‘Beginners Guide’ with things like instructions on how to take part in regular features like Bloody Chops would be useful…
If there’s no intention of stopping the use of Blogger and/or begin self-hosting, how about getting a URL? Typing largeassmovieblogs.blog…etc. is just that, largeass. I’m sure a lamb.com domain is most likely taken, but things like lambmovies.com could be available, and make it easier to type.
Kschenke – Have you seen the Recently “Baaah-ed” LAMBs page? Is that more in line with what you’re looking for? Or are you thinking of things more along the lines of posts written specifically for the LAMB like the Sirens of the LAMBs thingy we did years ago?
Strange Kid – that’s an interesting suggestion. I’ve never gotten in the habit of telling people how/what to write, but I can see where there might be the demand for it.
Jess – great idea. I think I take a lot of that kind of stuff for granted.
Amy – Thing is, I actually did this. I bought “largeassmovieblogs.com” a few months back, but switching over seemed like such a big task that I’ve postponed doing so. It would certainly be better overall, but I’ve never been all that bothered by it – people still type out URLs?
I’m not sure exactly how this would work, but what about a “buddy system”? This would be more for new Lambs who are also very new to blogging. We could have a pool of seasoned Lamb volunteers who are willing to help out a noob. It would kind of be like Blustering, but more one-on-one. The new Lamb could take a look at the list of volunteers willing to help and pick one that he finds something in common with, like content, and the two get paired up. The older Lamb can give thoughts and advice on how to better the new Lamb’s blog (via email, skype, etc) AND plug the new Lamb on his own site, maybe getting readership up for the new guy.
There would be a ton of kinks to work out, of course, but it may help the new Lambs who are inexperienced bloggers feel more welcomed should they choose to use it. Hopefully we could get a variety of seasoned Lambs to volunteer, so if a new horror blogger needs help and a wider audience, a seasoned horror blogger could help him out, instead of a classic blogger getting paired with a guy who only coves action films.
Is that as clear as mud?
That’s a very cool idea, Rachel!
LAMB needs to be more community-centric and be a place “to be”.
A few features that I would suggest:
- Post of the Day: Everyday, select your favorite post from LAMBs and put up a picture, an excerpt and a link.
- LAMB of the week: This would foster more “competition” and generate more visits toward LAMB. It doesn’t even have to be anything more than simple pure arbitrary choice based on your opinion
- As Jess said, guides, how-to’s and tips for bloggers
- I would think of more but my brain is fried lol
Also one more thing, the LAMB chops seems to be usually ineffective. I doubt I ever received even a click from it. Maybe, look to spruce it up with pictures and better descriptions. Too many links also destroys the purpose of it.
Lots of great ideas here, but one that’s been kicking around in my mind akin to Strange Kid’s suggestion of tutorials and such. Membership has nearly doubled in the short time I’ve been a LAMB, and I’ve found everyone to be extremely supportive and helpful… Let’s use that supportiveness and our collective experiences to educate each other.
I don’t see this being so much about telling people HOW to write, though I’m willing to bet that we have some LAMBs with real experience in search engine optimization. Don’t know much about HTML or what you need to make a vlog? Me either, but I bet there’s a slew of LAMBs who do.
Here’s where I think the LAMB can do some really cool stuff: I can’t imagine I’m the only one who dreams of seeing his site springboard into something more… perhaps publish a book… get syndicated… organize a screening… maybe write a screenplay or full-on make a movie. I’ll bet you there are LAMBs with experience in those things, too — or at least enough to get others who don’t know where to begin started on their dreams.
Other ideas (cuz I wanted my first one to stand alone)… I know that there’s a general schedule of when regular features go up (Lamb Chops, LAMBcasts, etc.)… Could that schedule be listed somewhere? I know we have a schedule of events — adding them there (perhaps with a different color to indicate that it’s a LAMB event) would do.
Also — and I don’t know how people would feel about this — has there ever been any thought into having “spin-off” LAMB sites? The horror and classic genre seem to be the largest contingencies… Would it make sense to have them peel off into The Bloody LAMB and The Classic LAMB, separate blogs (still part of the Association) run by those bloggers and targeted squarely at their audience?
First off – thanks to all – these are some really cool ideas.
Rachel – I like the buddy system thing – it kinda goes in line with the idea some have had about a committee deciding on the LAMMY nominees. I guess the realy hurdle is implementation. Certainly one to think about and attempt later.
Castor – I’m with you and yet not on your comments about the Post of the Week and the LAMB Chops. Essentially, that’s what the LAMB Chops are supposed to be – the best of the LAMB (general, horror, and classic), submitted by its members and decided upon by a single source . It’s hard, because you want to remain objective, but there are only so many sites that one person can be familiar with. So I think, to a point, at least, it has to be user-submitted, a la the IMDb Hit List. I think where it stumbles, and this is probably largely my fault, is that the guys don’t get a lot of submissions, so they post everything. And if everyone is special, no one is special.
Perhaps, for starters, they can cut the posted articles down to a more meaningful number (3 or 5) and if the others don’t make the cut, they don’t make it. I think then, though, that people stop submitting. Clarity would help there. And, in general, some better presentation would help.
For LAMB of the Week – stay tuned to the next LAMBcast (recorded last week)…
Nolahn – Obviously, from what you guys are saying, the tips/help/stronger community aspect is a strong one that needs more attention paid to it. I’ll work on it.
I was thinking of dumping the “Calendar of Events,” or at least re-configuring stuff (there seems to be overlap there with the Plugs), but certainly getting the word out on when everything goes down here would be a big help.
Interesting thought on the splitting; I’ve never thought about it. Perhaps if I do a better job on binding the existing community, it won’t feel like there’s such a split?
I explain at the end of each Chops how you can get involved.
And I guess people want more pictures. Interesting.
Also, some of the chops I’ve posted lately was just me playing catch-up. Plus I’m just going by the format that’s been around since the Chops has been invented. When Big Daddy Fletch tells me “ok, do this instead” I shall do that instead.
I do think maybe lesser Chops would be better. Maybe only 5. People seemed to dig the Chop of the Week thing but I got rid of it cause to me it felt like “why wasn’t my post Chop of the Week?” but I have self esteem issues so that might be me.
I’m not totally 100% on splitting the LAMB into Horror and Classic because, from what I can tell, not enough people fall in each category to warrant it’s own site or whatever. Plus we are all family, should we be united? That’s like telling the only redheaded kid in the family, “You go live in the barn for 18 years” or something.
As for what I’d like to see different, I always liked, and kept trying to bring back, the Movie of the Month thing we use to do a few years ago. I’m not sure why it faded. I remember having a neat idea for it some time ago and I think I told you, Fletch. If you don’t remember, hit me up and I’ll try to recall it myself.
But I think when the community gets together to do things (Like the Directors chair and acting school thing) it’s pretty cool and fun so maybe more things like that.
That’s all.
-Jason
I missed Rachel’s buddy system sugguestion, but I think it’s excellent and exactly the kind of thing I’m thinking about in terms of utilizing the experiences of the various LAMBs.
Part of my point though, Fletch, is that I don’t think it’s something you alone need to “work on.” I’m not suggesting you be the one to run all tutorials/seminars/etc., but to get others to do it. Getting more actively involved with the LAMB has been on my To Do list for a while now — I’ll drop you a line later this week and we can hash this out more.
Regarding a split… You know, I’m not 100% on splitting the LAMB, either. I certainly would NOT support a split that made anyone feel excluded or pushed to the side.
I was thinking more about honing in on specific audiences and opening opportunites for others to participate. Let’s say we had a horror-specific LAMB site. It would require a horror blogger to manage the site (a 2nd Fletch, if you will), who would need a bunch of other horror bloggers to contribute. They’d run their own Lamb Chops, horror-specific activities such as Director’s Chair, leaderboard, LAMBcast even? etc.
It’d be the helluva site for horror movie fans. Also, all horror LAMBs would still be able to participate in original LAMB activities (and vice versa). There’d be lots and lots of cross-promotion.
Is there interest in such a thing? Would anyone be interested in stepping up to take it on? I have no idea.
I don’t even know if the community is all that split. I figured that if there is the community is split, it may be as simple as genre-specific bloggers tuning out when the LAMB covers something more mainstream.
Bonjour! Fletch and Fellow Lammies…How very apropos (This post and conversation)…What started out as “joke” on my behalf…have now “morphed” into a quest in order for me to unite fellow bloggers, on my Ning in order to share and communicate one-on-one… with each other their thoughts, ideas and suggestions with each other’s. (Believe me this is the truth!)
I was just reading the comments and what great…ideas and suggestions.
By the way, I ‘am in the process of creating a website similar to what Rachel is suggesting.
The only thing is that it is “geared” toward female LAMBs members,
Because of my conversation over there on Fletch’s blog-spot and after reading a fellow female blogger, post where she asked a question about horror films and received several responses.
Yet when she posted a post asking for assistance not only from female bloggers, but especially, from (some, of course not all…) male blogger (You could almost hear the horse hoofs…a “stampede” if you will for lack of a better comparison.)
I thought she might need feedback from female bloggers. On a personal note, I do not think that (some) males were going answer that question.
I ‘am more apt to think that some female’s bloggers would have answered her question if it was asked as a prompt question.
Oh! Well, we shall see as I plan to go forward and create this Ning for the Lammies.
Merci,
DeeDee ;-D
Rachael said, “The new Lamb could take a look at the list of volunteers willing to help and pick one that he finds something in common with, like content, and the two get paired up. The older Lamb can give thoughts and advice on how to better the new Lamb’s blog (via email, skype, etc) AND plug the new Lamb on his own site, maybe getting readership up for the new guy.”
Exactly, I agree wholeheartedly, with Rachel’s idea that I have quoted.
Now, I know which way, I think that I should go with my first Ning. (Because I have created two Nings.)
DeeDee ;-D
The one comment: “something more… perhaps publish a book… get syndicated… organize a screening… maybe write a screenplay or full-on make a movie”
There are so many selling points to capitalise on – for example, a few years ago when The Da Vinci Code was published you had a whole wave of books released on the topics explored. I personally bought a book called ‘Secrets from Angels and Demons’ which was simply loads of essays on the topics touched upon in A&D by different professionals in the respective fields.
Now, think about how many different takes on Inception, collectively, LAMBS have. I would assume you would find people more interested in the various and more specific aspects of a single film and, because of how quick people type it up and place it online, if the published-book thing was capitalised upon, the book could be binded and on the shop-shelf within a month of a films released if the demand was there… so, with Inception, right now, with very few books published on it, it would surely make its money back soon enough.
Simon
http://www.screeninsight.com
Question is … where do you find the publisher …
One that that I would focus on is de-cluttering the site. As it stands now, it’s confusing to navigate & long posts tend to fill it up too much.
With those reasons in mind, I would recommend using wordpress.org, purchasing/creating a template that allows you to show just the headline of a post that you can open for the rest of the article, and using a domain name.
I recently went through this on my own website, so I can offer a LITTLE help with it.
If there’s a problem with funding, I’m sure there are some who would be willing to kick some funds in for hosting (dreamhost has a good plan).
Jason – I do think Chops should be only 5. Go ahead and start doing that (I’ll let Ivan know as well).
I seem to recall (probably just about as well as you do) something about MOTM, but I don’t recall what it is or poo-pooing it. Try to remember – I’d love to see it back.
Nolahn – I’ve tried to reply a few times, and I keep erasing it. Put it this way – I’ve very conflicted on the idea of fracturing and would like to mull it over for awhile. I see upsides and downsides and can’t decide which is bigger.
DeeDee – Yes, your Ning could be a valuable resource. Keep us posted on how it’s doing!
Simon – I think you’ve mentioned something about that before. It remains a cool idea, though I do think it sounds a bit overwhelming and I don’t even how you’d go about it/if it could be profitable at all. One day…when some LAMB is independently wealthy…perhaps.
Joseph – I’m afraid yours is the one piece of feedback I must take offense to…
Cluttered?!? Long posts?!? Surely you jest. Now, aside from the new LAMB posts, no the posts have not been auto-truncated, but they’re hardly what I would call long. And I’ve gone to great lengths to de-clutter the place over the last year (and always try to do more). What, might I ask, confuses you and/or is hard to navigate? I think it’s looking pretty clean around here…
Fletch – I’ll make it easy for you: Don’t do it.
It’s not like there’s been overwhelming demand for a genre-specific LAMB site, and I’m assuming you’re inbox hasn’t been swamped with calls for one since I made the suggestion.
I was just trying to think big. And as I said earlier, I’m not 100% sold on the idea myself. So if there’s no demand for it, no need to force it.
@Fletch
I’ll take back the comment about confusion.
I haven’t visited the site in a while, and you’ve obviously been working on that. I should have looked more thoroughly before commenting.
But I still feel claustrophobic when navigating the site. There’s just too much going on, in my opinion. If you have to scroll down 2-3 pages to find something on the sidebars, that’s not a good thing.
Some of the posts are long, and I’m mainly looking at this from the angle of less-is-more when it comes to scrolling.
Nolahn – since you put it that way, fine.
We can shelve it for the future, when we have 2000 LAMBs – sound good?
Joseph – Fair enough, and thanks for taking back the confusing part. Aside from doing more (if not all) truncated posts, any ideas on how to make it less claustrophobic? I condensed a few of the sidebar widgets (show 5 LAMBscores instead of 8, show 5 most recent podcasts in the Roundup instead of 10).
I also added the new nav buttons in the laft sidebar and got rid of the old “current events” – I think the new ones are much more aesthetically pleasing.
@Fletch
I’m not sure how much flexibility you have with Blogger, but I would recommend making the “Recurring Features” and the site navigation above it stand out from the background.
As it is now, the gray text is blending with the white background. (Maybe make the button black?)