Peculiar but interesting discussion of this site going on at Blogroots (see comments): people are having a hard time figuring out what we are. Are we a blog, a magazine, a community? I think we are all of the above. What do you think we are?
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
1 - Kenan Hebert
I have no trouble figuring out what we are -- we're a potentially great website. My problem is figuring out what the articles are. We need to divide the categories into sub-categories (reviews, reminiscences, personal observations, classic albums) and label them clearly as such, and then make it possible to surf each sub-category independently. Sort of like 3 movable type pages on one page.
2 - Chuck Pearson
Kenan's take is VERY valid. I fear a lot of my writing is not going to be standard reviews and stuff, but more along the lines of reflections and classic albums (topic: "famous albums you've never heard of", and $1 to Lewis Grizzard for the original phrase to paraphrase here...) - and it's probably going to be quite useful later on to break up the categories to sub-categories. I know nothing about Movable Type, but.
By the way, maaaaaaaad props to Eric and Glenn for all they've done. As if we could say that enough.
3 - Jay Caruso
I agree with Kenan. I know the music is broken down into genre's but it should also be broken down into other categories. IE, Moby and Sheryl Crow are 'Stars' while the band Mirror Images would be under something like 'Unsigned Talent.'
Navigation needs to be a little easier as well. I realize that some of this will be difficult as you want to keep it kind of independent and allow people to post on their own, and that is great. But some tighter control is needed so people don't get confused ('confusing' is how some of the people I know, who are unfamiliar with weblogs described it) and make it easier for them to visit their favorite sections.
4 - andy
As far as navigation goes on the music side of things, it'd be ideal if one could surf reviews alphabetically by: artist name, album name, and reviewer name - and all of the same within any given genre, year of release, etc. Basically a complex web of navigable possibilities which might be far beyond the capabilities of MT (but I'm still on blogger, so I know little of MT).
Oh, and in time a kick-ass logo would be nice too. We should perhaps take contributions from the critics themselves and Sekimori of course. :)
5 - andy
Oh, and I say we're all of the above as well.
And finally, I think the real strength of the site will be evident when we start reviewing music of which we're completely unaware - items that might be in a genre we think we loathe, and *surprise* we like it. Or maybe hate it.
Right now we all seem to have a good deal of pro-artist bias in our reviews (based upon my scanning) - even in mine where I talk of disappointment in the album, I suggest two other albums of the artist's as excellent.
6 - Eric Olsen
Is that all guys?? Kidding - lots of great suggestions, and we want to make it as easy as possible for people to find what they want. Keep tossing them at us.
7 - Mac
Very good ideas, all.
If we were after VC money I'd care more about our "niche". As it is, I'm content to just let this become what it becomes. There's great potential for a community to build up. It has definite zine aspects to it. I've got some TrackBack-related ideas that could make it feel a bit more like a portal at some point if we wanted to go that way.
But who knows?
While I'm not fixated on our definition, I do care about our identity. Thus, a logo would be nice. A whole visual makeover wouldn't kill us, either. I may have co-founded a design company, but I was more in the sales, biz planning and programming line. A graphic designer I am not.
I do know of a couple of folks who might...might...donate some time. They're exceptionally talented and interested in what's going on, here. They also pull down some serious money and work like dogs, so getting free work out of them might be a stretch.
As for sub-categories...
I've agonized over this from the start. MT is an amazingly powerful and elegant tool. It does have its limitations, though. I came this close to building this site as a bunch of seperate MT blogs chained together. Given more time, maybe I would have done that. Who know, maybe we still will.
The point is, we already have a massive pile of genre categories, and if we add in TV/Film it'll only get worse. Adding a different cross-section of categorization will make the backend unweildy for contributors, I fear.
Actually, now that I'm typing it all out, the multiple MT-blogs-in-one-site approach sounds even more promising.
Hmm...
Oh, it's not linked anywhere at the moment, but for a full list of the categories pre-loaded into this site, see here. They are a condensed set ripped from Amazon's subject categories.
8 - Eric Olsen
Andy mentioned design - PLEASE someone come up with something for the header, a logo, something, anything. You'll will be heaped with praise and links 'till the cows come home.