Amassment Message Board

Hey, Todd!
I am really glad you are bringing up this topic. I'm working on a shrine at the moment that I also want to include a good chunk of visitor content. This was mostly due to the fact that my subject matter is an older series and older internet shrines were jam-packed with all sorts of extras that kept you on their site for a good length of time.

Since my content is older, I have some games/interactive/downloadable things planned. Pocket Bishounen, a Crossword, Adoptable Pixels, Fanwork Recommendations, I'd like to include more but I'm not super creative ^^. I have been trying to look at free javascripts and such to see what I can implement on my site.

I really think the comments you have allowed opens up an interesting way to interact that I haven't really seen before!

I do really enjoy reading essays about characters that mean a lot to me and comparing and contrasting my own thoughts to it. While I like both owner-oriented and visitor-oriented sites, I really miss some of the extras that were just plain fun :).

As far as my domain hub, I don't plan to add anything at this time. I have a Guestbook, because a little note or feedback from random visitors would be nice to see :). I also plan to link this guestbook to my subdomains. ( its guestbook down right now, but http://ethelion.net/ had a guestbook where you could select which site you were commenting on - I think that'd be cool to implement! )

@ Destiny - I really have to echo you here, I miss awards and I'd love to see that brought back!

I try to make my stuff interactive, but in the sense of interactive blueprints, the little easter egg in Oddball... I actually avoid having comment sections, forums etc. since I've had enough of that when I ran my first fansite that over the years became a community and it was so overwhelming, it became basically my full-time job to manage it, and just managing the community gave me little time to work on the site itself, and people would be requesting sections that I simply did not have the time to write, and and and...

Nowadays I am content of just leaving my email at the end and encouraging to talk with me directly about stuff.

Making it possible for people to comment directly on my sites isn't something that has ever really crossed my mind; personally, I'd rather have them static in that sense, and motivate and direct discussion somewhere else-- like a thread (or, back then, the LJ post) where I've plugged it, or e-mail, or anything. I understand this means that some readers are lost in this process; some just don't feel like clicking the "talk to me here" link, some are too shy to actually go through with it (me), and a minority of them end up contacting you.

But I really praise the way that you have worked around implementing this kind of feature in your sites, Todd. It's something to really think about-- and could definitely work if you're writing about something that leaves enough space for debate, like controversial characters/themes (I can think of a few examples).

User interaction, for me, only goes as far as hovering over text/images or opening up hidden sections

dubiousdisc wrote:I try to make my stuff interactive, but in the sense of interactive blueprints, the little easter egg in Oddball...

I've always loved the interactive touch you put on your sites, btw! It's the kind of dynamicity I'm always aiming to achieve whenever I'm designing a site nowadays Your work always made me so impressed lmao I remember all the help you gave me in one of my old site's layouts. Keep it up!!!

I want visitor interaction, but at the same time I kinda don't, if that makes any sense? I'd like to know that people are reading my stuff (after all, that's why I write it, because I want people to read it), but I've also run into multi-posting flamers, trolls, and spammers that have kinda soured me on fully dynamic sites.

These days, I basically use my newsblog and my Twitters for my various sites as the "visitor interaction"--that at least corrals all the visitor posts in one space so I'm not hunting everywhere for it. :) I have gotten a good bit of positive feedback this way!

I think that basically as soon as you post something online you expose yourself to flamers/trolls/spammers. It's a fact of the internet. IMO the best solution is to delete, not engage, and move on.

It helps to have a comment system with spam filters and a clear policy on what is acceptable as far as comments go and what's not. For example, on my collective shrine, I will banish MRAs and people dissing feminism. This shit has no place on a women's shrine. I'm sure I will get some, but I will not accept it. My site my rules. If you're not happy get out.

Good policy there. :) My biggest trouble is wanting so badly to correct someone else's point of view, especially when they're hatin' all over mine. The "delete and block IP" strategy isn't as satisfying in the short-term, but it saves my blood pressure in the long run, LOL

I've always liked tagboards/chatboards and polls, and I still have some guestbooks up on my sites (though hardly anyone ever signs them)...I might try adding comments to my articles (though my current experience with my blog tells me that most folks won't comment unless they really hate your stuff -_-).