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Thanks for the showcase, TH.
Isn't it about time someone showcased you? http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscart...res/esmn5l.jpg |
You're welcome man, and thanks but I think with my fourth journal now going on line and over a hundred thousand views, people know enough about me without having me hog the Showcase too! :laughing:
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Update for week ending June 9 2013
Oh wow! It's so hot here today (no, I haven't unexpectedly relocated to the Azores!) that I almost can't face typing this update, but hey, who else is going to do it? Oh well, rain forecast tomorrow so back to normal. Meanwhile let's see what's been coming out of the chimneys of the houses of the good folk down in Journal Land.
Well, for a start there are two brand new journals and the return of an old one, so let's mosey on down through these streets and look in some doors, eh? Antonio is looking at some "songs he's diggin'" over at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ng-ground.html, one of which is Captain Beyond, whom we looked at in the Prog Rock Album Club some time ago. I wasn't particularly impressed with that album, but obviously Antonio was. Maybe you should join the PRAC, Ant? The Batlord has been updating all three of his journals this week, and in his latest, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-fidelity.html, he's reached page pages 38 and 39 (slow reader. eh Batty?) ;) and is quite annoyed to find that the Licorice Comfits are just a made-up band, so consoles himself by listening to one that does exist, the Lemonheads. Meanwhile in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...lks-about.html, seems like he's had enough girly pop for now and has returned to his first love, death metal, with demos from Embalmed, Morbid (seeing a pattern here?) and, er, Eructation. Is that even a word? Of course he always has to go to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...t-schemes.html where he's talking about Dave Mustaine. Well, more laughing at, really... Big Ears meanwhile, not content with doing a pretty in-depth review in the PRAC of Ambrosia's debut album (our current project) has an even more detailed one in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...s-journal.html, so head there to read all about it. Gavin B, always a great source of information and education on music, is talking about "The decline of western civilisation", another punk cult movie in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...use-songs.html while Ladyislingering's http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ic-memory.html is concentrating on, well, ladies this week, with Blondie, Pat Benatar and the Go-Gos on offer. Not literally, sadly... :shycouch: Pedestrian does a rare album review, and going by this one it's a shame she doesn't do more. It's the new one from The Knife, and you can find it if you go http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sswalking.html Complete with snappy new title, Screen 13 is back in the http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...all-music.html and looking at the Comsat Angels, which he describes as an epic fail. Want to know why? Step this way... Three years later duga is updating his journal, telling us all about http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-got-here.html, with a review of Savage Garden. Hope to hear more from ya soon mate! And this week I doggedly buck the trend and make history again (read, show off) by opening my fourth journal, a feat until now thought impossible ... whaddya mean, yeah yeah, get on with it you toss...? Oh, okay. Well, before we get to that, what's been happening at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html? Not much to be fair: a review of ELO's "Face the music" is all I could muster (and you want to do ANOTHER journal???) although in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html there's been considerably more happening, with a review of the classic comedy "The odd couple", as well as (finally) episode two of the Onedin Line, and also an offbeat look at some of the ugliest spaceships in science-fiction history! As for that new journal, well it's all about http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ver-heard.html, with the first on the chopping block being that well-known and respected second album from My Bloody Valentine, "Loveless" -- can't say I'm too impressed (what's that crowd angrily coming towards me with pitchforks and burning torches?), while next up is ZZ's classic "Tres hombres". Much to listen to! It's 1976 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html and Unknown Soldier is looking at albums by the Ian Gillan Band and some crowd called Piper? Check it out and learn things you did not know, as well as hear music you should! Urban has posted the full list of Melody Maker's top albums in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...79-2000-a.html but some of them he doesn't have. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you can help him out. What? No he doesn't bite. So far as I know. :shycouch: and that leaves us with one more journal, the other new one I spoke of. Say hello to the newest member of our Journal Land residence, Yorkedaddy, who has started a journal in which http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...used-hate.html. Great idea! So far he's already hit up "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac and "vertigo" by Boxcar. Interesting outcomes, to say the least. Which takes us to our Showcase for this week. So, who shall it be? Well, I'd like to move back to page two and introduce you to someone who's certainly active, though not enough for my liking. Ladies and gentlebeings, meet http://www.musicbanter.com/avatars/1...ine=1366366985 He's been doing his journal on and off for nearly three years now, and as a fellow Irishman I think he deserves a little encouragement and praise. Also, with a name starting with Z he's destined to always be the last on any update, unless that new guy Zggfftt starts a journal, but I think it's hard to write when you have pseudopods instead of fingers! Here's the kind of thing our man Zero is capable of: Quote:
Till next week at the same time, Toodles! |
A little note: Actually, it was the Land and 7 Day Weekend albums, which had overproduction on Jive's side of the program, a featured a lot of packaging. The first three albums are all great but when they stepped into the ring of the Mid-80's Music Machine, it was a rough ride. 4 Singles from one album that did not do much is pretty strong,
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...actual,t, you have inspired the added-on Promotional add on to my Mega Fail category, which may clear things up for the reader in a big way.
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Hey thanks for the showcase Trollheart! :wavey:
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One thing I've noticed since Trollheart has started this thread, is the upsurge in people doing journals, not just starting them but maintaining them as well. I can remember when I first used to submit a journal entry, it would normally occupy the first few places until I submitted the next entry three or four days later. If I do the same now, my journal is usually about ten places down. If I didn't do it for more than a week then I'd probably be off the page!
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Three. Three aims. And to promote the best journals. Four, four aims. Among the aims of this thread were... ;) Glad to see it seems to have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Keep it up people! The journals section is no longer only a place for lonely bastards who have all the social skills of an alsatian after a headswap operation, like me... |
In an expansion of what US said about this thread seeming to encourage people both to update and start journals, I've decided to throw in two new sections to the update thread, make it a bit more interesting, fun and perhaps even give people something to shoot for.
The first is a league table. Still working out the details but it won't be just based on views, as that would be unfair to new journals. I'm working something along the lines of views, updates, type of updates and will assign a number for each then add them up. Look, I said I was working on it, ok? It'll be in place by Sunday. Oh, and my journals will be featuring but NOT the Playlist because that would just be unfair. Not saying that to be conceited but it's a fact that I have the highest views of any journal, so I want to give others a chance. I also don't want anyone thinking I just did this to show off how great my journal is. I'm not doing that. So hopefully it'll give people an incentive to update more, and put more into their journals as you'll get a higher score for, say, an album review than just a YouTube with a few lines and a higher score for a full article than an album review, and so on. This means that (or should mean that) people who have low view counts but work really hard on their journals should be able to rise up the chart as easily as, or easier than, someone with a lot of views who only throws in the odd update. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. The other thing is the Roll of Honour. No, it's spelt honour! Anyhoo, this is going to be a growing list of all the members who have started journals since I began doing this update. That will include those who started when I was still using the "What's happening" thread too. So if you started a new journal in the last few months, you're in. Just a few more little things to try to pay tribute to those who put time into making their journals, and maybe encourage others to try their hand at it. And to prove I have way more time on my hands than any man should. Although really, I don't... Watch for all this on Sunday. |
Okay, further to my post about a league table, here's how I intend to run it.
There will be four main categories. These will be Views, Posts, Updates and Comments. Views: this is where those of us who have been at this a while will get a bit of a legup. I was going to do this on a basis of so many views per day/week but that would require way too much work on my part, so instead I'm setting targets. As you reach each you get a score. Here's how they break down: 500 views or less --- 1 point 500 - 2000 views --- 2 points 2000 - 5000 views --- 4 points 5000 - 8000 views --- 6 points 8000 - 10000 views --- 8 points Over 10000 views --- 10 points These are NOT cumulative, so you don't get points every time you reach another 1000 views. As you reach each milestone you are awarded the points, but in beween, nada. So if say you reach 1000 points this week you get 2 points. If you only hit 1500 next week you get nothing until you get to 2000, when you then get 4 points. Obviously that's added to your total: nothing is subtracted. I just mean you don't get points for every time you reach say another 2000 points. It's once up to 2000 and then you don't get any more points till you hit 5000, and so on. There are at the moment no plans for anything above 10000, but I may add a special extra bonus if enough people reach this target. But that's just people viewing, which you in general have little control over. I mean, you can write the best journal ever but if nobody reads it why is that your fault? It's not, but to address that we have the other categories, the first of which is, not surprisingly, Posts. This system rewards you not for how often you post (that's later) but for WHAT you post. This asks what sort of effort are you putting into your journal? Are you simply throwing in a YouTube video, a short album review, a comment or are you going deep into someone's discography (oo-eer!)? Here's how we look at that: YouTube video(s)/Few lines written/Comment (by author) --- like maybe in response to what someone has posted --- 1 point Short album or other review (few paragraphs, not too detailed) ---- 2 points Long album or other review (think Big Ears, Anteater, me) ---- 3 points Short, or relatively short, feature or other item that is not a review --- 5 points Longer article that is not a review --- 8 points In-depth series, collection, feature which runs over more than one post ---- 9 points The post which begins a series like the above ---------------- 10 points Unique or different posts (like Pedestrian's art or scripts, Po's art and Urban's kitchen article) --------------- 20 points That covers the content, but how often do you update? Sure, you may do a great Pink Floyd discography or whatever, but if you only update once every six months do you deserve your place at the top of the tree? Well, to balance that out we have a score for, you guessed it, Updates! These are fairly simple and don't rely on anything special being done. You could, theoretically, log in, post "I am great" every day and get the daily post score, but of course a) such posts would not or should not be approved and b) what would be the point? Nobody's looking to out-clever anyone here. It's all about showcasing and taking pride in your ability as a writer and a lover of music. So anyway these are the scores you can get. Daily ... ...........................10 points More than twice a week .... 8 points More than once a week ... 6 points Weekly ............................. 4 points Fortnightly ........................ 2 points Monthly or less ................. 1 point If you can't undestand that my cat Richie will be glad to go through it with you... http://www.trollheart.com/richieex.jpg Finally, there is Comments. No, that's not bad English (this is Bad English!) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0FIfIPqRM5...d.english3.jpg because the section is called Comments. So it's singular, not plural. Anyway, what do you know? Oh yeah...? Moving swiftly on, Comments reflects the amount of comments you get on your journal, ie who posts other than yourself. So if someone responds to something you said in a review, for instance, or asks a question, or just puts in a smiley or a message of encouragement, or even has something bad to say, they all count. Naturally, you can't control who comments on your journal --- if you could, mine would have thousands of comments, but it doesn't. But this just shows how either popular or at least how much interest your journal is creating. A journal without any comments is no less a journal, but one with a few or many is starting to make an impact. So, the scores: Oneoff/one-liner ------ Somone who comments once, says little and doesn't comment again. Of course, I can't predict when/if anyone is going to comment more than once, but generally speaking you can tell by the nature of the comment whether or not they're likely to be swinging your way again. So for one of these ---- 5 points Ongoing discussion. Someone begins engaging you in a conversation, you respond and perhaps draw others in, making a sort of mini-thread. ------ 10 points High praise. What it says. Someone says something really complimentary about your journal, the moreso if it's from a respected member. ------ 20 points Oh and finally, to get those more interesting journals a leg-up, there will be one, and one only, seriously, never to be repeated, one-off, one I say Special Award, as below. One-off awards Something different. A journal that is more than just album reviews or "I like this music". Something that goes a little beyond the basic format. --- 500 points Something very different. Something that really makes you sit up and take notice and think that's a good and interesting idea! --- 1000 points Something unique/clever. A journal whose format is such that you think damn! I wish I had thought of that! --- 5000 points The league table will run every week, with positions obviously changing and if there are enough journals I may emulate the British Football League and have different tiers, so that you can be relegated to a lower division if you don't keep up the quality or updates of your journal, and of course you can rise from the lower tier if you're really good. Might be interesring. Might be too much work. We'll see. Obviously, and I'm sure I don't have to mention this (so why am I?) points are only awarded week-on-week, so if you do a lot of work week 1 but nothing week 2,3 and 4, you won't get any points for week 2,3 and 4 and when you come back you may find your position has slid drastically. Or not, depending on how much work others do. But there are always those who update like crazy, so you'll need to keep on top of your game. Dispensations will be allowed for things like holidays, lack of internet access and emergencies --- nobody's going to penalise you because you had to fly to Florida to your aunt's funeral, or whatever --- but give me as much notice as you can. In the case of sudden departures being required, you can appeal any slide down the table on your return. Last of all, my decision in all cases is final. I am God and if you should incur my wrath.... look, just accept my rulings ok? I won't have time to be debating points or positions. If you have a real beef and think you have been unfairly treated you can PM me, but you'd better have a solid case, is all I'm saying.... So with that in mind, I'll put together the first league table and publish it on Sunday. Could be fun. I certainly hope so! |
Congratulations, Trollheart! You've come up with a journal rating system that is more complicated that Elo's notoriously complex system of ranking international chess players. :D
I like the fact that quality as well as quantity matters to you. But don't be surprised if some ambitious journal writers attempt to game your point system to get larger ratings pay-offs. Aside from evaluating functional literacy, the measurement of a good or even great writer is completely subjective. It's impossible to assess a writer's creative vision or the authenticity of a writer's conversational voice with a point system. However, I do applaud your noble efforts capture lightning in a bottle. From my perspective, your short and concise summary critiques of journal articles are a better evaluation tool than any sort of point based rating system. I also think it would be helpful if your dared to critique the shortcomings of some of our journalistic efforts. I am constantly encouraged by editors to develop and leaner and more concise style of writing. The mastery of a large vocabulary is more often than not, an impediment to good writing. I've noticed that many Music Banter journals are bold and daring conceptually, but the quality of the journalist's writing doesn't quite live up to the journalist's visionary promise. For those writers it's simply a matter of developing an authentic literary voice, which comes about through the rather monotonous process of sitting alone and writing for extended periods of time. The reason writers spend so much time talking about writing is it avoids the unpleasant but necessary task of sitting quietly and writing. I must say I envy some of the younger Music Banter members who are far better writers than I was in my younger days. At age 21, I simply didn't possess the artistic discipline to maintain journal that required a well composed essay, 3 or 4 times a week. I was too busy having fun to sit in solitude and write down my thoughts. |
Thanks man. It is a little complicated yes, but I wanted to do all I could to make it a fair system, both for established, grizzled journal writers like me and for the younger upstarts who think they can steal my thunder... er, where was I? ;)
No, I just wanted to make sure that just because you had a huge viewcount or write one big article and then nothing else for months didn't mean you had an advantage over someone who slaved over their work every day and wrote smaller articles but that got fewer views. This way I think both makes it fair and throws down a challenge to those whose journals may not make it onto the table to up their game. I also made a point of excluding one of my journals, the main one, as I didn't want the reason for this table to be seen as self-aggrandising or self-congratulatory. I have allowed my three other journals in though, as I don't think my writing should go unrecognised. I've completed the first table (pending any entries tomorrow or late Sunday) and it's interesting to say the least. I'll be back later with yet more clarifications and one or two slightly tweaked points. Thanks for the comment and encouragement. It's nice when real writers get involved, and by that I simply mean I really enjoy your writing, not that anyone else's is no more valid or interesting. Shee! Terms and conditions apply,huh? Disclaimer and so on... ;) |
Right then, finally before I publish the first league table on Sunday, a few more points/possible answers to questions that haven't yet been asked:
POSTS I'm instigating an extra modifier, as it were, for posts which are of any type --- long, short, album review, comment, whatever --- but which are clever, witty, different. An example of this is the Batlord's recent review read by Hitler. For any post like this (must be made by the author him, her or itself) I'll add a special extra 10 points, so you'll get the requisite points for that post PLUS 10. UPDATES In reality, looking back at it now, the idea of following updates that are monthly or whatever won't fly. It's too much hassle and impractical. So I'm revising the Update Points system thus: Daily --- 10 points More than twice a week ---- 8 points More than once a week ---- 6 points Weekly (ie once a week) --- 4 points Anything else ---- 0 points. So in order to qualify for pointage on the Updates you need to put in a new entry at least once a week. Not asking too much, I think? COMMENTS First I'd like to qualify what I said about the lowest possible score, 5 points, which is awarded for a "one-off comment". This does NOT have to be a one-off, never repeated one nor does it have to be from someone who is unlikely, on the face of it, to comment ever again. What it means is that a small, offhand or short comment --- by anyone --- that does not contribute to, or instigate, a conversation earns you five points. Now, if a comment like that leads to a conversation within the same week, then the individual comment scores are removed and you get the points for a conversation. Clear? No? Tough. Mind you, I've noticed that this could be a mixed blessing. If for instance you have six small comments, not linked, that gets you 5x6=30 points but if they become a conversation you get knocked down to 10. Hmm. Hardly fair. So to tackle this I'm upping the conversation score to 100, and that being the case then High Praise has to be increased, so that will become 150. Oh, and the phrase "respected member" is at my discretion, but would obviously include mods, people who have been here a long time, people who post a lot and are generally known. And me of course. Though not in my own journal. Yeah. I thought of that. You can't give High Praise to your own journal. Nice try... One other thing I'd like to mention. When you see the table, some are going to jump for joy, some are going to nod smugly and some are going to start looking for the box of cartidges they put away in the attic. Please understand that this table is running from, and concerned only with, this week. So even if you've written some amazing articles in the past weeks or further back, you can't get scored for that. It's only articles and posts made from Monday June 10th, and will cover up to late-ish Sunday June 14th (anything posted after that will go into next week's table); I don't want to put anyone's good work down but I can't seriously be expected to go trawling through, in some cases, years of updates and score them all. It also wouldn't be fair to those who have just started. Basically, if you're upset your journal isn't in the table then do something about it. Start updating. I only went as far as page 2 of the section, but of course everything after page 1 gets zero for anything except views, as these have not been updated in the past week, so can't be included. Move your journal up by writng something in it, otherwise watch in impotent envy as others claim the glory. Monster? What monster? I've created no monster.... :shycouch: |
Gaaahhh! Sometimes an idea sounds great but when you look at it in the cold clinical light of day it's, well, not.
I initially thought the concept of Special Award points was a good one, give the younger journals a leg-up. However I now see, looking at the table in its current incarnation, that what it actually does is not level the playing field but stack the odds unfairly in favour of the younger journals. I mean, say someone gets 5000 points as a Special Award: they go probably to the top of the table. How long before an honest, hard-working, normal journal member who's been here years can ever hope to match that? It's an unassailable lead. So I'm rethinking this and dropping the idea. I mean, i want to help out the young 'uns, encourage them and all, but realistically, you don't get a promotion on your first day at work do you? You have to work for it. So everyone is now going to be treated the same. There's no reason why a good rising young journal can't climb the table, but you're going to have to make it on your own merits. I think that's fairer. Hope everyone agrees with that. If not, tough: it's my system and I really think this is the fairest way to ensure everyone has a decent crack at the top spot. Sorry for any confusion, but before I published the first table I wanted to have the bugs ironed out, and this is one bug that needed killing. |
Great idea Trolheart. Music journals might not be explicitly competitive, but a little healthy competition might be good.
Oh, and the journal section has been taking off in recent weeks, but in the last week, or even the last few days, it seems to have blown up. Updates are happening within the hour or even ten minutes after a post. Actual conversations are starting. Bizarre. |
Yeah, I noticed that. It's pretty incredible. I'm watching them on about an hourly basis as I make amendments and updates to the table, and it's mind-blowing how often people are updating, and not just with one-liners. I'd like to think I can claim some credit for that; before I even started this thread I think a lot of people didn't even know the journals section existed, or if they did, didn't know what it was and thought maybe you had to be some sort of brainbox to have one. You and I have proved that not to be the case... :laughing:
But seriously, seems like everyone is starting, resurrecting or updating a journal in the last few weeks, and it's great. I think the idea of the table has people, hopefully, a little excited and as you say the competitive nature of some people will definitely lead to more effort and a real push to better the other journals in their climb to the top. Lot of work for me, of course, but great fun and I think in the end very much worth it. |
Update for week ending June 16 2013
Well, after all the excitement, setting down of rules, tearing up those rules in frustration, starting out again, tearing up those rules and so on, we're finally at the first update which will feature the new Music Journals League Table. Who will head it? Who will be even in it? Find out later in the update. Right now it's time to see what exactly has been happening as people try to outdo each other to get in the league table.
Antonio's first up, with another "song he's diggin'" in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ng-ground.html The Batlord has of course been doing his damndest to get to the top by updating all his journals, which is of course what everyone should do if you want to get your name in lights. Mind you, our batty friend may have gone too far! He's invited a guest reviewer into http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...t-schemes.html to review Marduk's album "Panzer division Marduk". So what's wrong with that, you say? Well, wait till you see who he asked to review it... But of course what he does best is http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...lks-about.html, and at the moment he's deep into unfamiliar territory ... ah, no, not really. Slayer, Dr. Shrinker, Bullet for my Valentine (kinda) ... all the sort of stuff you'd expect from MB's premier metalhead. But then he does also delve into the world of Author and Punisher as well as talking about the Punk LA forgot, so there's a hell of a lot going on in there! And then of course there's his usual http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-fidelity.html where he's being forced to listen to ..... wait for it .... wait for it.... Dana! BWA HA HA HA HA! Now you know how us poor Irish felt when she won the bloody Eurovision for us mate, and all you could hear on the radio was "All kinds of bloody everything"! A new journal starting up this week is everyone's favourite wannabe mod, CrazyVegn, who tells us all about what http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...veg-likes.html while returning with a bang since his, er, resurrection last week, Duga is continuing to talk abou thttp://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-got-here.html, with Garbage this week's feature. No, the band. I don't mean his journal's garbage. Yeah, predictable joke # 23,507... http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...use-songs.html is doing good business, with the first and second parts of the Motown Story ... excellent, rivietting stuff, definitely worth checking out. The Big3 is back! And he's annoyed! In fact, he's http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ming-moon.html about "when good bands go ****ty", looking in particular at TV on the Radio... Remember that "I am not Drew"? thing Pedestrian ran a few months back? No? Well go back and read it cos it was hilarious. She's unveiling the second instalment this week in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sswalking.html --- make sure your sides are well sewn together!!! Powerstars is throwing the spotlight on a rap song about Pokemon called "The bird and the beedrill" (huh?) as well as reviewing Franz Ferdinand's debut and is soon to look at Bowie's new masterpiece too. Catch it all in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sicalness.html. Oh, and there's a rant too, always fun. This one is about live albums. Or something. Screen13 must never sleep! There's so much work gone into http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...all-music.html it's frightening! Not only has he "Ghost Mall Music Special Overview" with albums "bubbling under" by the fistful, but he also runs an "Introduction to Crazy Louie's Hit Man Archive Cutouts, and reviews an album by Herman's Hermits! This guy does not know when to eat! Another new journal is http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-observer.html and the alien in question is Stephen, formerly known as stp formely known as fastsp. He's looking at some Australian band in his first feature, Hunters and Collectors. Looks good! Now don't blame me for having not too much in the way of updates this week, as I've been diligently working on the league table, format, rules and the table itself, carefully following all your journals and adding points up like a proper little bean-counter, as well as listening to some classic albums. So in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html all you'll find this week is two old sections returning: "Crimes against Music" has the tale of the capture of Justin Bieber (ARRGGHH!) while after a year's hiatus there's finally part four of my NWOBHM feature. In http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html there's the first of only two two-part episodes in Babylon 5, and the incredible House of Cards begins. No, the original. Hey, I even managed to squeeze in a review of Rush's "Permanent waves" in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-reviews.html! Not bad for a slow week! Unknown Soldier is hammering through 1976 with reviews of albums by Judas Priest and Moxy in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html while Urban is looking at "Now that's what I call music!" No, I'm serious, and a very fine job he's doing too. Don't believe me? Head to http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-stuff.html and be amazed! And speaking of being amazed, well anything Unknown Soldier can do Vanilla can too! She's reviewing a different Judas Priest album in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-eargasms.html, and making a very fine job of it too if I may say. And so to this week's Showcase. I've had to go right back to page 3 for this, which is sad, but hopefully it may convince him to start updating again. http://www.musicbanter.com/avatars/3...ine=1357574331 This journal was started by our favourite locomotive back in February and was shaping up to be one amazing story, however it seems to have (sorry!) run out of steam at the moment. Hopefully not for long because I for one want to know what happened to Erik. Here's the very first post/chapter of "An equivocal flail aka The American Dream"... Quote:
First though, some notes to forestall any protests. For those of you wondering why there's such a disparity between the top and bottom of the table, those higher scores are based on mostly the points given for a Conversation, as per the rules, and/or High Praise. For the purposes of this table I've decided to define a Conversation as comments or debate involving three or more people. True, it only takes two to have a conversation (or one, if you're me!) but as two people could argue over and back about one thing I don't feel that's worthy of the 100 points awarded for a conversation. Unknown Soldier posts regularly in my journals, and I in Batlord's, but neither of those are considered conversations in this instance. Also, the points are only awarded for each separate conversation, so if you have three, four, five or more people talking about, say, the last Slayer album, even if this debate goes on for days, there's no new award until someone starts a new topic. With that in mind, here's the table: http://www.trollheart.com/MBJLT160613a.png Congratulations to Screen13, whose fine work has earned him a top place in the first table. If you want to knock him down from that position then you're going to have to work at it! Kudos also to our two lovely ladies, Vanilla and Pedestrian, who have scored the second and fourth places respectively, and to Duga who, despite being away for three years, has stormed into third! Bubbling under, this week: Antonio with 9 points, Bob, Burning Down, PoorOldPo and Big Ears, each with 4. Update guys and we should hopefully see you in the table next week. Competition is good for the soul, they say, so let's see who can scale the table in the next few weeks eh? All you need do is write something, get people to comment, get views. Simple, huh? Also, please don't argue with me over points, in this or any forthcoming table. It may not be perfect: it's hard to keep track of everything on a daily basis while still working on four journals, but I've done the best I can and it should be reasonably accurate. At worst, the odd entry might be one or two points off either side but not much more. Anyone who wishes to may have their own individual points tally sent to them. PM me if you want them. Till next week Toodles! |
Thanks!
Still, I would seriously like to thank the people who allowed the change from the very long title to what it is now. If I would have stuck to just one decade (The original title only focused on The 80's with only a little room for the past), it would have not been as fun to write. |
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But seriously, and not to sound like an douche, but perhaps the sheer fact that we both have six journals between us that we update at least semi-regularly means that there are at least some journals flooding the market when you click on "Today's Posts". Quantity before quality as I always say. Quote:
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Trollheart's GOYA is here!
For those of you who want to, I'll adding in a way you can help others. (Help others? says the Batlord, tasting the words as if they were a non-alcoholic beer). I'm allowing everyone to vote for any journal that they think deserves Trollheart's GOYA, or Good On Ya Award. This is an extra 50 points that you can ask to be allocated to any journal except your own, if you maintain one.
It's not that simple though, so Batlord put that ten dollar note away! In order for the award to be, er, awarded, at least three people have to vote for the same journal. Mind you, the award can go to more than one journal BUT only one person can vote for one journal at any time. Next week you can of course vote for another journal, or the same if you like, and if you get two paid flunkies sorry fellow members to back you up then the GOYA will again go to that journal. So help out struggling journal writers and get nominating. All votes must be in the thread, to remove the possibility of my being accused of being bribed --- what new motorbike? --- and to make this as transparent as possible. Also, let me just note that the deadline for inclusion on both the update and the league table is 6pm (Irish time) on Sunday, and that means published. So if you have an article submitted but not approved by Sunday 6pm it won't get into the update or be counted against your score in the league table, in which case don't blame me, blame the mods. Or Urban. Yeah, blame Urban. :D So off yiz go and vote. And remember, no matter what he promises you, the Batlord will not pay you a red cent so don't be fooled! I, on the other hand, deal in real money. Sometimes even as much as a Euro! No, I'm serious. What can I say? I'm a playa... :bringit: |
Cool chart there! I do wish people would strike up more conversation in my journal, I like having conversations about music. That's why I joined. Oh well, still doing fairly well.
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I vote for The Playlist Of Life. :)
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As for comments, I know: it's frustrating isn't it? But you can't make people comment. I've sections in my journals where I would have thought people would be all over it, discussing, debating, arguing, but no. Sometimes (most times) people just want to read and perhaps make silent comments to themselves but not write them down. If I knew how to get comments I'd tell you but it's just one of those things. Still, your viewcount is pretty solid so people are reading certainly. |
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Commenting is such an inexact science. More often than not, it'll be people you know, but even then people seem reluctant to post comments even if they enjoy a journal. I'm guilty of this too: I read Unknown Soldier's journal but hardly ever comment, whereas he comments quite a lot in mine. The only way to look at it is that people will comment if they want to, and if you're lucky that comment may inspire another, and get a debate or at least conversation going.
Other than that, just watch your viewcount rise: it's the best indicator of whether or not people are reading. Hmm. Maybe if I offered free beer? Or drugs? But then, I'd have to pay for that. Damn! Another fine plan crashes down in flames! |
In the future, will more points be rewarded for things other than conversations.
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Such as? I don't want to have a whole list of things people can get points for. Apart from anything else, you then have the problem of journal writers aiming for those things instead of just doing what they do and getting the points for it. I don't want to steer, direct or control or influence the way anyone writes, so I think comments and conversations go together, but other than that I'm not entirely sure what you're driving at.
Hit me with some examples of what you mean and I'll see. I don't want this to spiral out of control either; it's enough work watching the journals constantly and noting down points without adding extra tasks to it... |
Nice colourful graph, I have no idea what it's about though.
If you're going on number of journal views you might want to take into account that a mod has to approve each post apart from on mod journals. So that automatically gives non mod journals a unfair higher view count. :) |
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Jeez! Didn't you guys read my carefully-constucted rating system? :banghead: You get points for views, but also for posts, the type of posts you write, how many you write, how often you update, who comments, how they comment and stuff like that.
Good point on the views Urban, but even so I'm only doing scores for like up to 500, 500 - 2000, 2000 - 4000 and so on, so individual views don't matter that much. In fact, views make up a tiny proportion of the scores. The main thing is posts and comments, which I think are two of the most important aspects of any journal. Oh and no, it's not just for my amusement --- it's a lot of work! --- it's to give people an incentive to make their journals better, up their game and climb the league table. I'd be interested in the level of, um, interest in it, because as I say it is a lot of work and if nobody's bothered or thinks it's a good idea I'd be just as happy not doing it. But I thought/think it might make writing journals a little more fun, as well as introducing a competitive element into it. What do yiz think? Wasting my time or good idea? |
Of course mine has little or no views which is why I don't bother updating it LOL
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But bear in mind that each day you don't update your journal slips further down the page, and eventually off it onto page 2. People may click on it out of interest while it's on page 1, but rarely if ever once it's left the front page. That's why it's important to always keep your journal --- if you're serious about it --- on the front page. When I see any of mine in danger of slipping towards the end of the page I make a point to throw in an update to get them back up again, front and centre. You have to hold people's attention, show them there's something new here. Even if they don't like it they may click to see what it is, and then you have another view. Not only that, but as long as people keep viewing your journal will remain in a relatively prominent place. |
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