For The Love Of Port

I had a discussion yesterday with someone who felt the FTLOP website could/should be turned into a BLOG so that more frequent info could be released. What do you think are the pros and cons?

Isn't this BB sort of a blog now?

In a blog I do not think you could have the organization of topics that you have in this forum. I like this format.

I agree with Shawn. Also, that backward format of blogs is unnatural unless you are online with the blog constantly.

blogs are for people without real websites..
..a blog with the amount of posts on FTLOP would be a mess!

I am sorry, for not being clearer. I am not alluding to removing the FTLOP Forum (EVER!) just considering instead of the homepage which is semi-static, having a homepage with more of a blog feel to it. Thoughts?

I bookmark directly to the forum and do not see your home page very often - only when I get an email about a new newsletter. The action is in the forum which is quite dynamic. I suspect many of the regulars do the same.

Your homepage may be more for your new readers, I do not know without analysis of unique reader traffic on your sites. Do new visitors come to your homepage or the forum? I know you would like to get new readers to participate in the forum. But few people have the time to check both the forum and your homepage, time is short unfortunately.

Blog is OK but not always the best format to read. One sure thing, if you go for a blog format, post on both blog and forum so we can keep that great dicussions variety.

I'm a 36 year old Ludite as I just missed the real computer age growing up as a kid. I agree with alot of the sentiments above, my curiosity lies in conjunction with a recent discussion thread of attracting more younger people to Port. Would a Blog help in that respect? I dunno the answer, just thought I'd throw that out.

Roy Hersh wrote:I am sorry, for not being clearer. I am not alluding to removing the FTLOP Forum (EVER!) just considering instead of the homepage which is semi-static, having a homepage with more of a blog feel to it. Thoughts?

- Would a blog entice more lurkers to post ?
- Would a blog attract younger crowd ?
Yes , having a homepage with with more of a blog feel could be positive .
As long as " La Raison d'Être " of FTLOP isn't changed . . .

I can see only a few reasons a blog format for your homepage would benefit FTLOP....If the main page was more WineLibrary like (blog-ish) I could see more people that are new to wine or port feeling much less intimidated when first exploring FTLOP.

The look you have now suggests order and seriousness (not that those are really bad qualities) however like I said there could be some people that navigate away because they feel like they have to be in some formal group or official port council to really digg into FTLOP....

I seems like one way or the other you'll appeal less or more to a certain type of viewer, I'm not sure what is more important. I might suggest a middle road scenario where some cosmetic changes are made to the static page to attract or relax newbies when they arrive.

IMHOP :)

I appreciate everyone's candor and opinions. It has been enlightening to say the least.

The look you have now suggests order and seriousness (not that those are really bad qualities) however like I said there could be some people that navigate away because they feel like they have to be in some formal group or official port council to really digg into FTLOP....

The homepage today offers a site map and then 95% of the content there comes directly from the current month's newsletter. Since that only changes 1x/mo. at best, I am trying to come up with ideas to have it change more often. I found it most fascinating that the look suggests order and seriousness, not that I mind that connotation at all. Just interesting to hear that opinion and the fact that there were such a good amount of solid opinions is much appreciated.

Roy,

Stewart will hate me for this

Why not dedicate an area of your home page to "Hot Forum Topics" with links to the most active discussions in the Port Forum dynamically displayed in a small window like you would expect to see on a News website?

Initially this could be populated manually each day but I'm sure my good friend Stewart could write some fancy code that could pull these links through automatically based on the activity within the threads so that the links on the Home Page would be self updating.

This would perhaps catch the eye of casual browsers and attract them into the Forum.

Just a thought.

Derek

Absolutely brilliant, Derek. Thanks!

Stewart, oh Stewart?!?!?

Roy Hersh wrote:Absolutely brilliant, Derek. Thanks!

Stewart, oh Stewart?!?!?

Have I just won an FTLOP Baseball cap or a bottle of Taylor 70

Derek

Really...I think were splitting hairs here guys...I love the site as is...even if the content was updated more often I debut I would have time to check it out anyway...I want to make sure you understand that I'm not trying to suggest you need to change anything or that I'm not happy with the "Free!" service that FTLOP provides...I just wanted to make sure that all angles were considered when you asked for opinions...sure you could make things flashy to draw more "newbie" types in (and I say that with all the respect I can muster being a newbie myself not so long ago) I don't know what crowed or demographic you guys are shooting for so I thought I would throw the idea out there....basicly...I luv u guys! ha....happy drinking!

P.S.....DEREK....GOOD IDEA MAN...I LIKE IT!

Derek T. wrote:Roy,

Stewart will hate me for this

yeap ...but a darn good idea..I do like it.