Sufficient Activity Nowadays to start a Pandora focused Blog?

[foxblock]

I reckon the main thing that killed Pandora Press was excessive off-topic negativity in many comments by some overly vocal people.  If I am involved, I absolutely won't allow that at all, not even mild off-topic complaints.  We can have a weekly "pre-orders progess" post, and people can bitch about their lack of Pandora there - and ONLY there.  I hope you all will agree that this is a good idea.  The Americans can take their "free speech" and smoke it.  I won't allow the "free speech" of uncivilised idiots to kill the whole blog ... again.

That assumption is actually incorrect, at least concerning me I liked arguing with the more elaborate "trolls". Most of the time they were just criticising and making valid points (some points the OP team later admitted and fixed). Also most trolls stuck to the main news posts, there wasn't much or any trolling on the "Game of the week" articles for example.

I don't like your excessive and extremist approach, I would rather value "free speech" including trolls over a totalitarian regime "yay Pandora smile-or-be-killed" blog (to exaggerate this).

Sure off-topic is bad and all (it isn't actually all that bad), but comments like that is what makes a blog, criticism and dealing with it in a professional way is what makes a good journalist or speaker.

Besides, I doubt there will be too many of those comments, since most people like that probably moved on (they obviously did not like this project very much) and while the pre-order situation is still around, it's no longer the elephant in the room.

I don't think three people will be enough to keep the blog running at all times, better get a team of at least 5 or so with some people dedicated to one job (like writing the "game of the week" article or weekly news-roundup).

Apart from that I like your plan, the topics to cover seems solid (though I am eager to see what ideas other people have, quartercast posted some here for example) and the link to büchse or ITB (or the wiki maybe) for longer articles is a good idea.

Let's keep the discussion going,

 

[elwing]

Trolls are nasty but people voicing real concern or asking disturbing for OP question are not trolls...

 

[quartercast]

Well, I agree with foxblock in that we need committed members to maintain a blog and produce good content. By committed I mean you pledge to put aside a few hours a week for that purpose only, and that you may be challenged by other members in a positive, constructive way.


5 committed members sounds reasonable. Ekianjo hasn't replied yet so we don't know what his point of view is. Timsteroo expressed an interest earlier too.


One thing we should not forget is to have fun even if there is a lull in the news, or blog writers move on, lets still have a laugh!

 

[commander-beef]

For all pros and cons for this i think that all in all theres not enough people involved to keep this news/blog project keep alive. There's not enough ongoing in pandora world to write about [and copying information from repo about new ports it just a waste of time..]. Im finding hard to see somebody write ocassionally to Inside The Box PND E-Zine from OP Board members, so writting on daily routine something on the blog will be even harder.. 

so..

Better joining [for example] to Inside The Box e-Zine PND and write occasionally, than create another news blog that will be dead "in-two-months"..

 

[_wb_]

I disagree, there is enough stuff to write about. E.g. there are currently 29 entries in the DragonBox compo, so one review per day would already provide enough material for a month. There's also a pretty big backlog if you want to cover everything that happened between the last post on PandoraPress and now.

The main problem is finding people who want to write, not finding stuff to write about.

 

[Rockthesmurf]

Some ideas for source material (some of which are bound to be stupid, but just throwing things out there):

1. Competitions, so a kick off post when a new competition is announced, a weekly round up of competition activity, results and then I like the one review per day of all competition entries idea, gives all entrances a bit of spotlight and attention
2. Events, it is nice to see the Pandora at gaming events, it is also nice to see photos of the hardware (and also the forum members in real life)
3. Game of the Week (not sure what counts as a game: an original Pandora title; a port to Pandora; an emulated title?)
4. The Pandora Challenge (weekly challenge, just for fun, could be complete first world of Mario on the SNES, or get a score of 10,000 or higher in Pandora Panic, the blog writers undertake the challenge and report their progress next week, users/community welcomed to comment if they decided to join in)
5. 'International News' I don't know if this actually happens, but is there ever news in the German/Japanese/etc. forums that isn't translated into this forum? If we have a few multilateralists in the writing team who frequent the other forums, they could round up international news as and when appropriate
6. Pandora in the Wild: users send in their photos of the Pandora in an interesting locations, editors pick their favourite each week. Could be in the jungle, on the beach, on the Siberian railway, etc.
7. Debate! Maybe harder to organise, but I find it interesting to hear multiple editors giving their views on a given topic. For instance, 'Pandora as a laptop replacement: myth or reality?' then three editors each give a paragraph or two for their views. 
8. Production update: Seems like Craig might not be helping with UK numbers, but ED maybe able to give the latest from his end of how many orders are waiting, how the donation fund is going etc.
9. Twitter, would it make sense to have a Twitter widget on the site? Have a @pandorapress to follow, it can be used to announce new posts and also encourage the community to send messages out to discuss. Public messages can be seen by all the followers of each user, which may promote the Pandora to a wider audience. Users can retweet the new blog post announcement if they think it is interesting, which again drives a wider audience in. Some sensational headlines 'Pandora handheld exclusive: full speed Mario DS' will quite possibly gain interest of a number of people
10. Dev of the week: voted on by editors, just a bit of fun really, if a dev has ported 10 bits of software in a couple of days it could be fun to write about it, if/when Exophase releases his much anticipated DS emulator again it will be of interest to a lot of people to see him as dev of the week. Ideally it'd be nice if the editorial team conducted a short interview with said dev (if he/she agrees). Just questions sent over to dev, answered and sent back. Nothing fancy, just questions like when did you start coding? What was your first computer? What is your favourite handheld? What drew you into the Pandora? How long did it take to port your flagship piece of software XYZ?

Personally, I like the idea of weekly stuff if possible (Review Monday, Dev of the Week Tuesday, Challenge Wednesday, The Thursday Debate, Game of the Week Friday) as it encourages a schedule to be followed, which is good to keep the content flowing, but also good to draw readers in, as they know they'll get certain information on certain days.

Sadly I do not feel confident in being able to set aside enough time to actually help with the content, but all I can say is I used to be a follower of PandoraPress and am massively in favour of having it back up and running!

 

[commander-beef]

Some ideas for source material (some of which are bound to be stupid, but just throwing things out there):

1. Competitions, so a kick off post when a new competition is announced, a weekly round up of competition activity, results and then I like the one review per day of all competition entries idea, gives all entrances a bit of spotlight and attention
2. Events, it is nice to see the Pandora at gaming events, it is also nice to see photos of the hardware (and also the forum members in real life)
3. Game of the Week (not sure what counts as a game: an original Pandora title; a port to Pandora; an emulated title?)
4. The Pandora Challenge (weekly challenge, just for fun, could be complete first world of Mario on the SNES, or get a score of 10,000 or higher in Pandora Panic, the blog writers undertake the challenge and report their progress next week, users/community welcomed to comment if they decided to join in)
5. 'International News' I don't know if this actually happens, but is there ever news in the German/Japanese/etc. forums that isn't translated into this forum? If we have a few multilateralists in the writing team who frequent the other forums, they could round up international news as and when appropriate
6. Pandora in the Wild: users send in their photos of the Pandora in an interesting locations, editors pick their favourite each week. Could be in the jungle, on the beach, on the Siberian railway, etc.
7. Debate! Maybe harder to organise, but I find it interesting to hear multiple editors giving their views on a given topic. For instance, 'Pandora as a laptop replacement: myth or reality?' then three editors each give a paragraph or two for their views. 
8. Production update: Seems like Craig might not be helping with UK numbers, but ED maybe able to give the latest from his end of how many orders are waiting, how the donation fund is going etc.
9. Twitter, would it make sense to have a Twitter widget on the site? Have a @pandorapress to follow, it can be used to announce new posts and also encourage the community to send messages out to discuss. Public messages can be seen by all the followers of each user, which may promote the Pandora to a wider audience. Users can retweet the new blog post announcement if they think it is interesting, which again drives a wider audience in. Some sensational headlines 'Pandora handheld exclusive: full speed Mario DS' will quite possibly gain interest of a number of people
10. Dev of the week: voted on by editors, just a bit of fun really, if a dev has ported 10 bits of software in a couple of days it could be fun to write about it, if/when Exophase releases his much anticipated DS emulator again it will be of interest to a lot of people to see him as dev of the week. Ideally it'd be nice if the editorial team conducted a short interview with said dev (if he/she agrees). Just questions sent over to dev, answered and sent back. Nothing fancy, just questions like when did you start coding? What was your first computer? What is your favourite handheld? What drew you into the Pandora? How long did it take to port your flagship piece of software XYZ?

Personally, I like the idea of weekly stuff if possible (Review Monday, Dev of the Week Tuesday, Challenge Wednesday, The Thursday Debate, Game of the Week Friday) as it encourages a schedule to be followed, which is good to keep the content flowing, but also good to draw readers in, as they know they'll get certain information on certain days.

Sadly I do not feel confident in being able to set aside enough time to actually help with the content, but all I can say is I used to be a follower of PandoraPress and am massively in favour of having it back up and running!

Some of these ideas was already introducted in ITB PND issue 1 and issue 2:

For example:

Idea 2 and 6: http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/8479-pandoras-at-landmarks-and-famous-places/page-2#entry150550 -> I created separate thread for it, but has beed merged [by someone], so nobody really sees this :<

Idea 5: already present in inside the box issues 1 and 2 as a all-retro-interniational news 

Idea 10: Interview with developer presented in ITB Issue 1

 

[sswam]

@dredd: are you making a decision for ekianjo and myself there?

I said "seems keen" - if you're not keen to work on or contribute to Pandora Press any longer, then please say that.

I don't like your excessive and extremist approach

Well, I don't like the other lack of moderation approach, which results in every topic getting derailed into vitrolic complaints about the late pre-orders.

1. Wow, an awesome new game!!!  2. Oh I'd love to play that if only my Pandora would finally get here <grumpy face>  3. We had to wait for 4 years, boo hoo, we hate Craig, we hate open pandora, we want our money back ...

It happened in nearly every thread, it made the comments section of the blog uniformly unpleasant for everyone, and I call it negligent lack of moderation, not free-speech.

You apparently love to protect the free speech of trolls and idiots with no concept of netiquette - whereas I love to consistently correct that idiocy for the benefit of everyone involved.

I am willing to move posts, rather than deleting them, but that's as nice as I get.

Trolls are nasty but people voicing real concern or asking disturbing for OP question are not trolls...

If it's off topic, it's off topic.

People can ask difficult questions, and say "fuck craig" in a thousand colourful variations, for all I care... but I do require that this happens in the appropriate place, not in the comments of every post on Pandora Press.

you pledge to put aside a few hours a week for that purpose only


5 committed members sounds reasonable.

Even one committed member would be a great improvement on a year without anything done for Pandora Press whatsoever.  I'm not blaming anyone for this, and it's ok to have a break, but it doesn't take an army to write a few blog posts.

We have a list of like 20 or 30 good topics already from several people, and at least 1 or 2 willing and capable writers, and more than a few people interested to read it again.  That is enough.

Please go ahead and give me at least some of the keys to this castle, foxblock.  If you hate what I'm doing, you can take those keys right back again, delete posts, whatever, with little or no harm done.

I doubt I could significantly harm Open Pandora's already woeful reputation, by steering or writing for that blog, for a few days.

I there is enough stuff to write about ...

The main problem is finding people who want to write, not finding stuff to write about.

Yes, there is way more than enough stuff to write about.

There is no problem finding people who want to write.  We all waste more than "hours a week" writing nonsense on these boards about nothing.

I at least would like to redirect some of that writing energy to something useful.

I have no doubt that some of the other people here in this thread can also string words together, and could find time for a post or two each week or month.  And if not, I can easily solicit articles from other people.

 

[foxblock]

Some ideas for source material (some of which are bound to be stupid, but just throwing things out there):

[...]

I love those, especially #4 and #7 could turn out to be very interesting (would need some time spent on organisation of course) - in fact #4 has been attempted by R.O.T. in a similar matter and was rather popular until it died down.

On #9: PandoraPress actually has a twitter handle, I need to dig whether I can find the login info for that (it sadly is not @PandoraPress as that is affiliated with the Pandora web radio - three cheers for selecting an original name ). On that note we also have an email account and YouTube channel ready to be used.

 

[sswam]

Some ideas for source material ...

lots of good ideas, Steven ... Pandora Challenge sounds good, International news, Pandora in the Wild, Debate, twitter ... maybe a weekly summary of what's gone down on the boards / twitter / IRC, Dev of the week ... haha  I like all those ideas

it's encouraging to hear lots of fresh and original ideas like that

By the way, we will need bastard moderators from hell (like me) in various time zones to keep the peace.

I can't be awake 24/7, and people don't like waiting 12 hours for their posts to be approved!

(and conversely, I don't like leaving evil malevolent posts unmoderated for 12 hours)

huh, "free speech for trolls" you might as well say "free action" and let everyone run about killing each other with impunity

 

[elwing]

Trolls are nasty but people voicing real concern or asking disturbing for OP question are not trolls...

If it's off topic, it's off topic.

People can ask difficult questions, and say "fuck craig" in a thousand colourful variations, for all I care... but I do require that this happens in the appropriate place, not in the comments of every post on Pandora Press.

how can concerns about pandora be off topic on a pandora blog???

 

[sswam]

how can concerns about pandora be off topic on a pandora blog???

they can be raised in an inappropriate part of that blog, where those concerns are off-topic

if people start raising concerns about their Pandora pre-orders in THIS thread on the boards, it would be off-topic, although this is a Pandora forum, because this topic is about blogs not pre-order complaints ...

For example if I posted about a new firmware, would not expect^Wallow people complaining about lack of pre-ordered Pandoras to dominate the comments.

If we post on Pandora Press about the state of the pre-orders once a month, they can complain loudly there (and only there).

 

[ekianjo]

Original post author here. Sorry I did not react earlier but I have recieved some terrible family news in the meantime and had to deal with that with priority. I still do not have much time now but simply wanted to add:

- i did not start this topic to create a war around the previous blog efforts that happened. That was not my interest.

- the key reason for my post was to look for volunteers, not to reactivate previous failed blogs. I have my own vision about how to do a blog and I am not interested to continue what was done before but start something new and fresh.

If this discussion leads to the restart of other blogs or new ones, great, but lets come back on the original post questions if possible.

 

[Neelix]

Any restart of Pandora Press with a completely new editorial team would be something new and fresh.  It may be a recycled name and site,  but I see no effective difference between reactivating it under new management an starting an entirely new blog,  other than that an entirely new blog is going to be a lot less visible to begin with.

Perhaps it would help to share your vision, so we have some idea what you have in mind. Certainly it is clear that the interest is there, so at this point it would seem it's mostly a matter of details.

I wish you and your family well.

- Neelix

 

[skeezix]

Some ideas for source material (some of which are bound to be stupid, but just throwing things out there):

[...]

I love those, especially #4 and #7 could turn out to be very interesting (would need some time spent on organisation of course) - in fact #4 has been attempted by R.O.T. in a similar matter and was rather popular until it died down.

On #9: PandoraPress actually has a twitter handle, I need to dig whether I can find the login info for that (it sadly is not @PandoraPress as that is affiliated with the Pandora web radio - three cheers for selecting an original name ). On that note we also have an email account and YouTube channel ready to be used.

FWIW, I'm okay with bringing ROT back; I jhad hoped it coudl continue without my pressuring folks, but I think it was not popular enough to have its own steam, and needed folks driving it with a whipe to keep it going (and I was about to have babies in the family, so got completely derailed.. still am )

Anyway, I dont' want to sidetrack, but I wonder if its tiome to see if theres enough bodies to do ROT again. (or maybe in a new form.) I've thought about making a modified build of (say) MAME4ALL that checks in scores for a game to a website, to make it nice and painless to tally who is winning or not, etc...

jeff

 

[ZXDunny]

 Im finding hard to see somebody write ocassionally to Inside The Box PND E-Zine from OP Board members, so writting on daily routine something on the blog will be even harder.. 

That's because it's a PND that has to be downloaded and then transferred to the Pandora, rather than a resource you can just peruse in a web browser. I've often considered looking at ITB, but it's just too much hassle to get it somewhere it can be read.

D.

 

[skeezix]

I for one, won't use a PND-executable-only form; its rediculous. Streak was also against the idea of having a format that coudl be both used in the PND-version he was drafting, and also online. ie: The PND-version could simply render HTML, or there could be a simpler format (liek wiki markup) that is easily translated into html or whatever form an executable reader would use.  If ideas are too closed for that.. I would want no part of it.

ie: Its about _reading_, right? I could appreciate perhaps he didn't want t canabalize the one form by the other, but thats sillyness; the goal is for as wide an audience as possible.

So, yeah, it should be in a simple form, such as bbcode or html, or.. dead

jeff

 

[sswam]

I'm sorry to hear of your bad news, ekianjo.

Is anyone else other than me interested to play an active role in reviving Pandora Press, i.e. writing about once a week and/or moderating comments?

If not, I will ask some other likely people.

I don't see the point of every person creating his own separate blog.

So far, we have one successful but dormant blog (Pandora Press), and three blogs struggling to get off the ground.  I don't think it would be helpful to create yet another separate blog.

If you do create a new blog, you had better at least share some of the content.  So the ITB e-Zine could share content with the online blogs - then people can read it on Pandora and also on the web.

Think about computer user magazines ... even at the peak of their popularity, major computers like the BBC Micro did not have 5 major popular magazines running at once.  There are usually one or at most two dominant and popular magazines.

So it would be better to combine our efforts into one or two great blogs, rather than spread our efforts over four or five weak blogs.  But if we share content, we can keep each of the blogs alive, as like a different edition or format of the same thing.

With Pandora Press, we have a great advantage that many people liked and participated in it, it already has a community although we might be sleeping...

 

[skeezix]

Ask pmprog for the list of people who contributed or promised-to there, and then ask them if they'd do something ..

I could do an article every few weeks about random topics (retro game review, some coding thing, who knows); not every week, but every few weeks, best I can do.

jeff

 

[commander-beef]

 Im finding hard to see somebody write ocassionally to Inside The Box PND E-Zine from OP Board members, so writting on daily routine something on the blog will be even harder.. 

That's because it's a PND that has to be downloaded and then transferred to the Pandora, rather than a resource you can just peruse in a web browser. I've often considered looking at ITB, but it's just too much hassle to get it somewhere it can be read.

D.

Thats why ITB PND Issue 2 was also presented in PDF form that could be downloaded from link on repo as a test.

I for one, won't use a PND-executable-only form; its rediculous. Streak was also against the idea of having a format that coudl be both used in the PND-version he was drafting, and also online. ie: The PND-version could simply render HTML, or there could be a simpler format (liek wiki markup) that is easily translated into html or whatever form an executable reader would use.  If ideas are too closed for that.. I would want no part of it.

ie: Its about _reading_, right? I could appreciate perhaps he didn't want t canabalize the one form by the other, but thats sillyness; the goal is for as wide an audience as possible.

So, yeah, it should be in a simple form, such as bbcode or html, or.. dead

jeff

Hey Jeff, we all know that ITB was created to view ITB on original pandoras firstly and for openpandora's users, so its not surpise that it comes in pnd format. Other than you know and I know that open markup / open ideas are not the problem from your side. People will read it because ITB works as regular app/game in repo. Its easy downloadable and can be maintained easily. Problem is in writters and authors like You, that likes more to share the community by typing these things like "silly idea , ridiculous, open this crap, or else.." instead of join team and do something good for all, whether  its closed or open. The winning team is as always community. 

Other than that:

"If you want to do something right, you'll need to do it yourself.."

so ITB PND Issue 3 will be released even if community involvement in writting will be NULL. 

Jeff:

ie: Its about _reading_, right? I could appreciate perhaps he didn't want t canabalize the one form by the other, but thats sillyness; the goal is for as wide an audience as possible.