When I finally get around to updating and upgrading the site, I’ll be concentrating of fixing trackback issues, server clock problems, and formatting glitches that affect the way my posts are linked and indexed.
But what I’d like to know is, what do you all want to see in the refurbished site?
I understand that a question like this leaves open the door for clever quips—and those are fine—but I really am looking for suggestions to improve the site.
My own plan—get Michelle Malkin linking to me again—hasn’t been successful thus far, thought I’m hoping all that changes once I crack Chris Matthews over the head with an aluminum chair during our upcoming steel cage match. “This one’s for my pal Michelle!” I’ll shout, having climbed in under the bottom rope with a folding chair while a distracted Matthews is being hassled by the referee for the hidden deposits of salt in his wristbands he likes to use to blind his opponents.
So have at it while I nap, lift weights, and go for a walk with my kid.
Or, if you’re not interested in chiming in, stay, mingle, and enjoy the free cookies and punch I’ve left on the buffet table over by the closet where I keep all those filthy hobos I’ve murdered freeze-dried and stacked like hairy cord wood.
You know me. I’m a giver.
Well, I’m always sorta partial to Iowahawk’s Hawkeye Hoosegow Honeys, myself.
So I think “cheesecake” is your answer.
I’m anxiously awaiting those who will advocate ridding yourself of the guest posters.
Guess I’d better get a last few licks in soon over the weekends…
The short-lived “Mobile PW” was a good idea, I think. Maybe the center column could be a bit wider for less scrolling during those ~250 word sentences. And some sort of individualized dumbass blocker would be cool. I’m not sure how that would be implemented, exactly, but it would be cool if I could ignore the comments of those who have their heads jammed firmly up their asses.
A Martha Stewart-style prison diary penned by Parin Hilton would be a fine addition to you site.
And maybe a few Carmen Electra drunken, slutty
pronouncements, ala Anna Nicole?
Just saying…..
Stacked murdered hobos?
Gimme a couple of minutes to get the popcorn popped and sit down to watch before the Ace of Spades crew comes a calling on *that* copyright violation and leaves a mountain of half-empty Valu-rite vodka bottles scattered about the remains of the armadillo and the Goldstein.
Call it a modern day Westside story. Or not.
tw:ways77… that hobos can be stacked in a crawlspace.
Weights? You use weights when you have toddler handy? Presses and curls with my three year old boy are sometimes the highlight of the day.
Methinks your stance on illegals is too laid back for Michelle, judging by what I see there recently.
Michelle tends to link to finely honed screeds that defend whatever position it is she is promoting.
I think the site is fine, so long as you are getting something out of it.
Hey! I resemble that remark.
Jeff, my wife was just asking me “Is Jeff going to do a Paris Hilton jail blog?”
I told her of course not. Its too expected.
Please consider adding a link to my homepage, The Internet Radio Network. At the IRN you can listen for free to 25 of Americas top talk shows via Streaming Audio! http://netradionetwork.com
The block-quotey thing is a technological marvel, and I think it encourages reference to the original post, which helps keep things on track.
I like guest posters. Sometimes they bury their bests posts though, you know, with less stellar stuff. I’m not referring to anyone in particular. I would like to see dicentra guest-post, though. She would bring a certain polish I think.
I don’t so much like how still-active posts fall off the front page.
I think it would be smart to do what that nice Mr. Maguire does and pre-set a post to be posted in the a.m. so things stay fresh.
I think you need better merchandise.
I would not mind a more conventional blogroll.
I think you should shamelessly plug crap from Amazon, even if it’s not really worth it for you. I think it’s a nice convention, and I like when people suggest stuff for me to buy.
Yeah, that’s what we need at this site: spam.
Would love to see the Citizen Journalist Report come back.
Speaking of dumbass blockers, alphie is over bothering Michael Totten, these days.
If you’re looking for a wish list, I’ll weigh in for more Scarlett Johannson.
Y’all remember our old troll Alph!e? I was over at Totten’s site and this guy(?) got totally bitch-slapped by a whole range of folks. Made my day.
I know it’s off topic, but what the hey.
What changes would I make?
Well, speaking personally, I’d annex the Sudetenland.
More citizen journalist reports like the first one – “Republicans don’t wear flip-flops” is a common phrase in our household.
And more of the ‘dillo. And all that his return will stand for.
And can you get rid of the guy plugging the 1n73rn37 r@D!0? The ads are tiresome, I’d like to bop him on the head.
I want a button that will translate your posts into the words of Amanda Marcotte:
You: “The kid and I watched a Disney movie and took a nap.”
Translated: “My vagina itches.”
I love your site no matter what and I always cringe when I see commenters griping to a blogger about some silly aspect of their site, but If I had one suggestion it would be to return the comments to one long continual page rather than the new multiple page in place.
It may be just me, but I find it harder to follow responses and go between.
I agree completely.
And if just not on the weekends then maybe give a timeframe and quota—maybe ask guest posters to fill in the morning timeslot with one or two.
They’ve done great, they have big boots to fill!
Speaking of spamvertising, it’s only a matter of microseconds before that futurist guy turns up, saying how badly he’s verbally defeated those steeking leftists.
Actually, I’ll second the suggestion to get rid of the multi-comment-page thing. It’s a good idea in theory to break up a really long page, but in practice it’s mostly a pain in the ass.
What might work, though, is the ability to reply directly to a comment and nest the response under it. That’s another one of those things that just doesn’t come off as well in practice as it should, but in this case it would let those who simply can’t hold back from feeding the trolls do so without taking up the entire page (assuming, of course, that the response tree was collapsible) and burying the on-topic comments in a flood of correct, but ultimately futile, attempts to re-attach said trolls to reality.
More free stuff.
I don’t like it when blogs look like tech-support forums. And also I hate change.
I did hear that Denver was expecting eight inches this weekend.
For what it’s worth if you don’t want links to skip to the comments, you just need to remove the anchor from the url. Ie, strip “#comments”. I don’t know much about this software app but it shouldn’t be too hard to remove it from all links. Most blogs make you scroll through the post to get to the comments anyway.
Okay, I’ll through in with the “all comments on one page” crowd, but mostly I just want longevity.
That’d be longevity in both sentences and paragraphs as well as in the life of the blog.
You should figure out a way to exploit the fact that your site is the ONLY search result in Yahoo! whenever someone searches “Mariana Trench” Gimp Peugeot.
This could be big.
I have a pony in this dogfight, so I can’t say. But a pub would be cool.
What I’d like to see most as far as the site goes (as opposed to what I’d like to see you post), is some way of keeping multiple posts about a theme in context. When I want to introduce new people to PW, or when I want to go through archives to find something relating to a topic that is suddenly in the news again, it’s hard to sort through everything since you’re so prolific.
Maybe something like a “The Best of…” for each of the big topics, like cultural narratives, intentionalism, etc. Or else something like what they have at the bottom of posts like Volokh, where there is a list of recent related posts. I think that would help encourage new people to read more of your work than just a single post.
I have mentioned in the past the issue of a “bozo filter,” where individual readers could edit out the postings of particularly obtuse/persistant trolls like the late, unlamented alph1e. I know some people like to see the pinata that others are pummeling, but I find such trolls as intellectually stimulating as the deinstitutionalized schizophrenics lurching through downtown.
Cheesecake is also appreciated, at all times. (I’m sure the ladies would enjoy a nice shot of you in biker shorts, posing languidly next to the ‘dillo. Hell, I know I would.)
Retooling Babelfish to Vagelfish, that’s so necessary. And Jeff, indeed, is studied in classic and modern ovarian dialects.
What a fit!
Did you know that you’ve never used the word “yob” in any of your posts? Ever. You’ve quoted it once or twice, but so far you haven’t identified any yobby people yourself.
I think Michelle would like that.
I like BlameCandida’s idea. You know, those silly tags people give to posts so they can categorize them. Of course, that would put an end to the “see HERE and HERE and HERE” stuff, which is fun since it pisses some people off.
Seconded. I like the Hot Air format where you have chronological posts on the right, and ranked by activity on the left side. Very convenient.
Other than that, I dunno, maybe some custom cutlery?
…oh, and I like the easy linkage dohicky also.
How about a Shockwave cock slap in a margin?
As long as there’s more Jeff (which doesn’t necessarily mean less not-Jeff), I’m good.
I don’t know. Sometimes its useful not to have to load two hundred comments before you get to the current discussion.
I’d like, however, a link to the various pages at the top of the comments section as well as the bottom.
That’s smart – or have the 1 – 2 – 3 – business on the front page so you could jump to the current stuff.
Be the first to dump the 3-column layout. Man is that played out. Use tags to navigate through like-content, such as “Best of” rather than a long-ass list on the sidebar.
Other than that, simply increasing the S/N ratio would be nice. It’s no secret I’m not a fan of the guest bloggers, but it’s really not doing you any favors when your good content scrolls off the front page and the RSS feed because people without any skin in the game are reposting stories and/or jokes they got in their email.
The mobilePW is a blessing. As I practically live on my Treo, the traditional page takes a much longer time to load, and chews battery.
I have been reading this since it was celluloid wisdom, and miss the interviews. The Sen. Gin & Tonic was an insta-classic.
I am glad our host is posting more. Not that I do not like the guest-posters.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’d like the see the author names put at the beginning of a post so I can choose to skip the troll droppings.
What do you do with a freeze-dried hobo?
What do you do with a freeze-dried hobo?
What do you do with a freeze-dried hobo?
Ear-lie in the morning!
Throw ‘im in the closet with the others,
Throw ‘im in the closet with the others,
Throw ‘im in the closet with the others,
Ear-lie in the morning!
I suppose a beer machine stocked with the original Kirin beer (not the export stuff) and Toohey’s New is too much to ask.
Failing that, cheesecake.
Don’t patronize me! (So obviously).
I’m sorry guest posters but…
NO GUEST POSTERS!
I know you guys try but you just don’t have the Goldstein Magic.
Also…
-> More citizen journalist reports
-> More Conceptual Serieses
-> More Armadillos
-> More deconstructionist bashing
Thank you. I will hang up and wait for my answer.
“Ask The Armadillo” advice column.
Trust me.
I would like to see dicentra guest-post, though. She would bring a certain polish I think.
Criminey, dude, I do have my own pathetic little blog that gets as many hits in a week as LGF gets in a second (most of them gardeners looking to buy bleeding hearts), so quitcher bellyachin’.
As for polish, I don’t even dust. I wouldn’t know what to do with polish. Use it on the plastic shelving?
First they came for the guest posters…
oh
hey
even still.
Straight to it:
Comment previews at the top of the page.
And pie.
Coffeee would be good, but definitely pie.
I actually saw Shockwave Cockslap last weekend. They were surpisingly sedate. I mean, it was an acoustic set and all, but still.
If you do have to keep the multi-paged comments, put the links to the pages at the beginning of the article so readers don’t have to scroll the first hundred to get to page 3 or 4.
That would be great.
This is the only one that bothers me. I don’t care, rho, whether you like what I post, even though it’s only weekends or when invited these days; I do care about the imputation of unoriginality, though. Who are you talking about?
TW: attack95? Well, it’s the best defense.
Oh.
HA.
I get it… “an open Taco Bell drive-thru.”
It’s a metaphor.
That bugged me too, Dan. My crap is always original. Whether anyone likes it is a different point entirely. Furthermore, I don’t remember seeing any posts that resemble rho’s remark.
Streaming video of bum fights. Failing that, I’d pay to watch Dan duke it out with any one of those pussies from RedState.
If that doesn’t work, then lots of talk about, and photos of, boobies. If it worked for Althouse and Larry Flynt, it will work for you.
Howard Veit has cheesecake. And yet, he’s very grumpy. Interesting, but very grumpy.
As a daily reader but infrequent commenter, here’s my list:
1. All comments on one page.
2. Love the guest posters; like the idea of a time & day for them.
3. More Citizen Journalist Report.
4. Would love to hear your thoughts on the NRO ‘What’s Your Problem’ vlog with Beinart and Goldberg. As good as they are at picking topics, it never feels finished. Either you fisk them (which would be my personal favorite), and/or see who might be willing to do a similar setup with you.
Like the free booze idea, though.
I forgot pie! Thanks, Brain.
And a Midget Toss on Saturday nights!
(Dwarfs too. Gotta be inclusive.)
Does Alcohol Slow Dementia?
How the fuck am I supposed to tell?
You could always do a podcast! I don’t know who with though. Perhaps that Ewok-looking fellow over at Ace of Spades.
As long as I’m getting a regular supply of Goldstein, anything else yoy want to do is OK by me.
Look, I only care about two things, and that’s titties and beer.
One thing, though: what’s cracking Matthews over the head with a chair supposed to accomplish?
Aluminum infusion?
Thus negating the need for him to carry a box of Aluminum Foil with him everywhere?
Please figure out a way to trick the HR folks into thinking I’m really doing research into SOX rather than spending my days, oops hours, I meant minutes, strike that, mere seconds reading PW.
I live in fear of the Friday 3 pm meeting about “vee hav zee evidence that you have bean clicking on zis unauthorised site”.
Just give them a copy of first-release Vista, that oughta do it.
As for the site, well, I’ll always vote for more Jaloobies but Ace and Dennis the Peasant between them kinda got that locked up…
How ‘bout something that automatically fixes my typos? I’m sure all would appreciate…
In addition to something that can make me make sense when I’m half-way through the bottle of Chardonnay.
More photoshop, more Jeff on Video (Citizen Journalist Reports, and the like) and the comments on one longish page would be good.
And Whisky Reviews, ala the wine commentary of Professor Bainbridge.
I would enjoy a short blogroll listing of other blogs that you read and enjoy.
I suspect that there are a lot of people out there like myself who tend to visit one or two blogs regularly, and do not have a clue about what else is out there in the blogosphere that we might find interesting.
I don’t think that this would take traffic away from your site. On the contrary, I think this type of cross-pollination tends to increase traffic all around.
1st, More cowbell
2nd, The armidillo streaming live cam. It would be like watching “Living with Busey” but lower to the ground and with more hookers.
3rd, A word of the day. That makes the site more educational for the children.
4th, scratch and sniff cards for planned post. Think about it.
If not, I vote cheescake.
Can today’s word be “yob”? Pleaseplease?
Sorry but worrying about upgrading the website is akin to rearranging Titanic deck chairs. In 2006 I actually mentioned your blog as one of my favorite hobbies to…my boss (and a bunch of friends). Now I’m embarrassed for that. Recent content is mostly self-centered and self-referential. Most importantly, to me, it’s not funny anymore. Just get back to work, and forget about the lipstick on the website.
I still respect you, rjvtx. Mean it.
1. “Dancing Armadillo” animation for breaking news, similar to Drudge’s siren or Ace’s Flaming Skull.
Since your posts fall into two broad categories (long scholarly pieces and lighthearted goofy stuff) you should perhaps create separate personas for each type, e.g., Professor Goldstein and Japemeister Jeff, so regular commenters will be able to tell at a glance which they are dealing with in each post. Precedent can be found in Hunter Thompson, who had several different aliases (Raoul Duke, Gene Skinner) in his various writings.
More of the Citizen Journalist reports. I know you mentioned one time that all of the court stuff was interfering with it, but criminy, isn’t that stuff about all finished, yet?
Note for all commenters on the hobo stuff: Jeff didn’t steal it from Ace. Mark Twain did that stuff a hundred years ago, see his Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime In Connecticut, for example.
I’d like to see Greg Palast completely discredited and marginaized, if you don’t mind, because I am sick and fucking tired of having to address that weary old “Kathleen Harris ordered that 60,000 names be purged from the voter rolls” crapola, and it seems to have more lives than the little fellers in the whack-a-mole machine.
Google confirms that you would definitely have “Japemeister Jeff” all to yourself. Just you. Which, being on a self-referential bender and all, something to think about.
kitties!!!!
ha ha, add me to the “all comments on one page” list.
I want to overhear more conversations from Iraqi bunkers, myself.
Yes!
Or a sidebar with a list of most recent commenters. I love that feature (ala JOM) with a clickable link to get you right to a particular comment. Saves on scrolling, so it’s good for the environment! It’s also a good way to see which non-front page stories are still active.
• Alternate background/font color button at top. The white background is a tad harsh on my bloodshot eyes. Or better, just go with a neutral background and make everyone else adjust to my personal taste. (no green on black though; nothing says 1995 like green on black.)
• How about some art in the background or the margins? Even a bunch of Miro scribbling now and then would break up the hegemonic textual composition. Just saying.
• I 2nd mojo’s ‘Ask the ‘Dillo’ column request. Then again, a flash movie every Saturday of the dancing fool himself would be might spiffy. (hmm, that’s actually an interesting idea.)
• Chat room. LGF’s Lounge seems to be working fine and I’ll need a place to go when my inevitable banning comes down. I know you demi-god bloggers all visit his underground lair from time to time, so just ask Charles for the ‘deets.
1. A FAQ that explains how the mindreading TW works.
2. El Grande Casa del Armadillo decorating tips (see also #3).
3. Explanatory diagrams, illustrations, or pictures—especially in regard to complex issues such as this one.
4. Stuff that makes you happy. Nothing cosmic, but just the little things through the day that make life rewarding: discovering that Satchel weighs just more than the dog; having a wild guess for a wine pairing come off extraordinarily well; reflections on a day in the park with Mrs. Wisdom watching your son play on the grass. Too often we get bound up in the “unreal”—becoming furious at the wild posturing in Washington, or the shortcomings of the family budget, or some MSM idiocy (we won’t even get near postmodernism)…but we remain blessed in the things that really matter: life, birth, love, family, friends, death…
While I wouldn’t mind seeing the first three come to pass, the fourth suggestion is the one that’s more-or-less serious. You’re a seemingly inexhaustible font of shticks—some of which are, “meh”, and others are such paragons of scintillating brilliance that they outshine the sun….but trying to persuade you to provide a command performance of any of them would likely result in something dull and lifeless. I love the prison diaries, the Citizen’s Journalist Reports, the Iraqi bunkers, ying/yangs, ‘lepsis’s, armadillos, driveways, and inanimate objects…but they’re only really great when you are having fun with them.
It might get to be a little much if you do a complete Lileks on us [This afternoon, after I gave her a grilled cheese sandwich on wheat toast, I read Gnat “The Little Engine That Could”. “That’s a sad story,” she told me…] but it seems that you’d be better suited to exercising your gift for suburban surrealism if you started off in a comfortable, pleasant space, where people who’ve come to care about you over the years can react to those things that please you and make you proud.
The guest posters help keep the energy level up, which is a good thing when you’re bogged down with she-who-must-not-be-named and new-homeowner stuff, but there is one man on the Protein Wisdom throne. If PW is to meet its potential, King Jeff should be livin’ large and lovin’ it.
Just my 2¢.
Though I took Jeff’s post to refer to site features, a bunch of the comments address content (which is actually a good thing, as that’s ultimately why people visit).
On that score, I would suggest that if Jeff can do more of the conceptual series(es), conversations between Ward Churchill and Billy Jack, guest posts from Shannon Elizabeth, etc., he should do them. I get the impression that current events have tended to put him out of that mode more often than not; if so, I totally understand it.
But I do think those sorts of posts serve two important goals. First, I think they are part of the PW brand; no one can do that sort of post like Jeff can. Building the brand would—I think—help rebuild traffic. Second, much as I once observed of the video CJR, humor often can be effective in making a point in a way no other method can match.
I’ll mull the site features question, but my first thought is that the ones Jeff has identified to help build traffic are really the important ones.
You know, all the various suggestions for changing the comments section are ones I’d generally agree with–either make page numbers more easily accessible (even from the top page), depaginate them, or let people reply to comments in turn to generate comment threads that can be collapsed by clicking on ‘em.
I’d like to third a most-recent-commenter sidebar with links to the posts where people have been active; it’s a good way to let your population keep track of each other.
And add tags to your posts! Makes it easy for me to go back and see what you’ve said in the past about a topic I like your opinion on.
Also, I’d like a lunacy warning on the websites linked in your rotating quote doodad up in the corner there. I’ve gone to visit at least three of those sites all unawares and then wanted to kill myself. Right in the eye.
And pie. Maybe one of those ball pits like they have at Chuckie Cheese’s for us younger and young-at-heart posters. You can hide the hobos under there and no one will suspect a thing.
Mojo is right. Couldn’t miss.
At Free Republic any responses to an individual’s post are filtered for immediate view after you log in. So if you are away for a spell, when you return, any comments are easily viewable. I like that feature.
Thanks for this great site. I read it a lot, and most of the time I can revive the coffee-sprayed keyboards.
Didn’t read the whole thread so apologies if I’m repeating. How about a way to link to past entries in various repeating motifs, such as the Citizen Journalist, the conceptual series, Yin vs. Yang, ‘dillo sitings, etc.? Steve at the Sneeze knows “Steve, Don’t Eat It!” is his best stuff and there is always a way to get to that from any page on his site.
OH geez. Ok, instead, how about making them MORE visible so they stand out on the right margin?
/I’ll go have my coffee now…
I’m good for a few thougts on blogging…
You have developed a very attractive website fully featured but who’s gonna tell everybody that it exists?
You developed a site but no one visits it!
You cannot be going to every individual on earth about your site name and details or to browse it to find out what it is about. CAN’T WAIT FOR A CHANCE !
Why take chance with the most important part of your website success ? Don’t leave it to chance ! ACT NOW.
98% OF PEOPLE FIND YOUR SITE THROUGH SEARCH ENGINES……
Statistics consistently demonstrate that over 98% of all traffic to web sites originates from major search engines. Stop losing your business !
YOU NEED SEO ( SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
This is SEO Expert Talking to You !
You still owe us naked pics of hot Kashmiri women, Mr. SEO Expert.
I’m going to second JD and tell you Mobile PW is fantastic, works great on my Blackberry and I live on my Blackberry.
If you could come up with a way for me to subscribe to a post without commenting that’d be a blessing. Because then you wouldn’t have to put up with me.
And if you could get this thing to remember my account, so when I accidentally log out,I don’t have to fill in all my info again, that’d be cool too.
Thanks to Love Missle!, people will find PW whenever they do a search on “!”. That’s optimization.
Jeff: As one who has guest blogged, I suggest getting rid of the guest bloggers. Or, if you keep them, vet their contributions for quality control before unleashing them on an unsuspecting public. No one who guests will take as much pride in their product as you do. A guest doesn’t have to answer for a crappy post on your blog, you do.
I’d also encourage people to contribute original–original–satirical photo-mashups or political cartoons for your consideration. In fact, I’d consider morphing PW from a mere personal blog into more of a magazine with you as chief editor.
PW could be the headquarters of politically-independent thought on the net: cutting, thoughtful and irreverent.
Here’s the thing:
If you move to WordPress, you can create archives, feeds, even subsections of the site that are grouped by author, general subject, etc., granting a large portion of the room here their desire to be able to filter “Goldstein-only” vs. “Guest Posters”, etc.
THAT’S for sure. :-O
Or you could assign a timely subject and have guest bloggers contribute a post about it and then let readers vote for their favorites. If someone got consistently high ratings, you might consider giving them a weekly or monthly ‘column’.
If that Collins guy can’t shut up, maybe he should get his own blog.
Fire all guest bloggers who pun. That’ll take care of Dan once and for all.