It also brings to a head, something that's been on my mind of late. Namely, the smaller pdf output I report on every week. Hell, technically speaking, everyone who has that button on their blog and writes a useful gaming tool of some sort, now comes under that aspect of my self-determined mandate!
As I've written before, trying to link every bit of useful gaming material being blogged, would be absurd! That becomes more and more true, every day. I've added a ton of new blogs to my roll, over the past few weeks!
As I've also written, the News isn't about quality. It's about what's out there. I also break this rule on a regular basis, by reporting on blog-posts and the like, which fall outside my usual reporting practices, but I feel excited enough about to share.
I'm comfortable with that inconsistency, because it's relatively uncommon and I don't feel I'm trying to set myself up as the arbiter of what is and isn't good, by doing so. Nor do I feel that if I report on something going on at blogs 1 & 2, that anyone at blogs 3 - 400 (or so) would take that personally, or as a slight that they were being left out. There's a ton of quality material being put out. It's just impossible to mention all of it. It's impossible to even mention all of the really good stuff, which I wouldn't want to try to do, for the reasons already mentioned. But, if something Epic is going on, I'm going to want to share that and ignoring it would seem to not be in the best interest of the community.
One of the main reasons for linking the small pdf output, is to help shine a spotlight on individual blogs, especially newer and smaller ones. As my Welcome widget states, this blog is Dedicated to the furtherance and promotion of the Old School Renaissance.
In short, Promoting everyone I can is as important to me as Informing everyone I can. But, due to the current state of things, I've made the decision to quit reporting on the smaller pdf output. Say, anything that would fit into a blog post or two. Which brings me to the following: What exactly do you guys want to see?
Ok. The following stuff stays for sure:
- New Products Available for Purchase.
- New Free Products of any length.
- Reviews from around the blogosphere.
- News on Upcoming Stuff (products and other things of interest.)
- Events & Happenings, of interest to the community.
- Blog Spotlight. Which, I intend to make a regular feature.
- Product Updates.
A few questions:
- Are you guys enjoying Maptime? Is it useful? Fun?
- What about # 2, above? Maybe a rule of thumb of 6+ pages? I'm not happy with that answer, but...
- What else do you want to see? What's your favorite part of the news?
I'm going to devote some time to considering all of this and also to thinking of ways to make the News better and of greater service to the community. Please let me know what you think. Any comments, questions, observations, etc., are most welcome!
Maptime is AWESOME! I have a giant folder on my hard drive now which is nothing but maps, many of them pointed out by you. Please keep that feature.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I think you're providing a great service, I've enjoyed its current format very much so far, and I don't have any serious suggestions for how to change it just yet. I'll put on my thinking cap and mull it over some.
I love the news, too, but if you had to drop one thing, I guess I'd vote for dropping the links to reviews. They don't necessarily help readers find new content (since the products being reviewed have probably already been promoted in a prior news post). Also -- speaking just for myself -- I often just skim by the reviews because most of the active reviewers are bloggers that I follow/read anyway...
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't pay any attention to the maptime segment.
ReplyDeleteFor the pdf's, I wouldn't put an arbitrary page limit or anything. I'd keep it as "pdf's I think are worth mentioning." No more justification is needed than that.
As far as my favorite part of the news, that's the part where you mention either Adventures Dark and Deep or Castle of the Mad Archmage. But I confess I might just be a smidgen biased...
I like maptime, but it is not as important to me as #'s 1-7 above.
ReplyDeleteI would second Joseph's suggestion that you mainly use your own judgment / level of enthusiasm as your guide for what to include, for pdfs and also overall. What you're doing is working, and part of the fun of reading the OSR News each week is finding out what YOU find interesting. I think you strike a good balance between providing alerts and updates that many of us find useful, and yet doing so from your specific point of view.
In short, I defer to your good judgment. Thanks for providing the News!
I think for #2 in your list, I'd go with whatever strikes you personally as a 'product' rather than just a pdf'd post.
ReplyDeleteIt's a complicated question. Personally Sham's Grog and Blog released a 1 page PDF of "What's that Monster Doing" which is the most useful thing (for me) that I've found all month.
ReplyDeleteBasically, my advice is to not worry about general opinion, realize that you're doing this on your own time and without recompense and put in the news post whatever feels right to you. Your journalistic integrity is sound and would be 100% accurate if you were maybe getting paid to do what you do.
Sham's pdf was very groovy!
ReplyDeleteJames, I'm gonna go with the majority here and say: "If it makes your radar and you think it is worthy of inclusion, include it."
ReplyDelete"Wordy" does not mean "Worthy", and size does not matter. Or is that a line we just tell the ladies? ;)
My faves: new product announcements, and links to reviews. I like to know what's being done out there. Everything else is awesome too though.
ReplyDeleteBUT you should do whatever you feel like. If you start catering to the whims of strangers rather than your own fancies, you run the risk that the whole thing starts to be a "job".
I check out almost everything you link to every week, including maps and reviews. I trust your judgement.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't think you should necessarily link to every pdf, I don't think having a minimum page requirement in mind would be useful, even if it were just a rule-of-thumb. Quantity and quality are not related.
So just carry on doing what you are doing! It is appreciated!
Quantity and quality are not related.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Just me trying to avoid "editorial bias," (which is already there, truthfully) and slighting anyone.
Not knowing how demanding putting out the Gazette is on your time, I'm inclined like many others to say "I trust your judgment, do what you want", but that might not be very helpful. But I'll put it this way. My favorite part of the Underdark Gazette is that when I read the Sunday news, I get the withering blast of James Smith's enthusiasm for the game and what's going on in the OSR, and it obliterates a week's worth blogosphere garbage, real life drudgery, and general pessimistic bullshit that I'm immersed in. It's lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness, to get all quaint about it.
ReplyDeleteAs was said, if it becomes a job or a chore for you, then the joy and fun will be lost, and then no one is going be served by that. As for not mentioning every new product, review, idea, etc., it seems like folks often draw everyone's attention to missed items in the comments anyway and you add links as you go.
I feel like you should make a hierarchy of most to least important and then just do what you have time for whenever you blog, rather than making rules about what's in and out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd rather read about a few things with some info about what's IN them (even if it's just a quote) than read 100 things where I don't know anything about them.
I'm more interested when I hear your own voice get excited or disappointed by something, than by reading the jacketcopy of a product. The critical review you gave a while back was refreshing and good example of what I mean. (I should have posted a comment then that I liked it).
ReplyDeleteBut I read a lot of blogs and follow things pretty closely so I might not be your target audience anyway.
I come to to weekly news posts to see the stuff YOU think is cool and worth mentioning--that's the whole point! I've come to trust you as a resource to pointing out stuff that might be worth my time or stuff that I might have overlooked in my web meanderings. So, whatever you decide to do, I trust that you will make the best decision that makes gathering and posting the News an easier task for you to manage.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Print-to-PDF button strips a lot of formatting of blogs down to the bare bones, whereas a lot of the posted PDFs tend to be nicely laid out and/or designed. There are some blog posts that are entire modules. There are some downloadable PDFs that are just a table or two. I'd say that you have to use your own judgement about what you think is cool to mention, regardless of whether it is a post or a download. In terms of where to draw the line in what gets mentioned, go with your gut. After all, It's your blog!
I like reading about what's getting you excited in gaming. You've grown a hell of a blog without my input so other than saying to keep doing what your doing I don't have much to add. I like your blog and whatever you decide to report on.
ReplyDeleteI am most interested in reading about new gaming products available in print format for sale. I tend to ignore products only available in PDF format, especially if they are free. (Sorry, but in my mind free usually equals not worth paying for). I am of the old school, meaning that I feel it is critical for the publisher to offer physical copies of their books for sale, especially when it comes to OSR products. After all, I suspect most OSR enthusiasts came of gaming age in the late seventies/early eighties when the Internet was just glimmer on the horizon, and that they are most comfortable with printed material.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate that you offer to links to reviews of available OSR products. With the high variability in the quality of such, a good review is essential these days.
Thanks for reading,
Alphonso Warden
I agree with much of what has been said above. You've proven to have great judgement about what is interesting and new in the scene. As for small pdf's, some of those shorter ones are the most useful and well done. Rather than dump them based on size, trust your own judgement about what is the cream of the crop.
ReplyDeleteMaps - I like this feature but tend to look at it only if I haven't used up my monthly download limit.
My favourite feature would be new products (free or otherwise) and I'm glad blog spotlight will become a regular feature.
James: You have a great blog. I enjoy everything you post. It's especially fun to see when you get a new book and how excited you get. And that weekly newsletter, kicks ass. I'm with Tim. You don't need to hear from me, just keep having fun. You have an awesome blog.
ReplyDeleteSecond what Zak said. Also, Maptime isn't of much interest to me personally.
ReplyDeleteJames: You provide an invaluable service. I hope you get even more comfortable with any inconsistency, as this is a job bigger than any one person and you are tackling the most that you can, using your judgment as is simply necessary. *After* your apotheosis, we can jump all over you for these limitations. Further, I would ignore the (happy) development of the pdf button as far as your categories go -- the categories are still valid even though we may now individually choose to blur them as we see fit.
ReplyDeleteMy top 3 interests, just FYI, tend to run (in order):
1. Free products (also, I see no need for arbitrary page limit here)
2. Upcoming Products
3. Maptime
Again, thanks for all your work.