The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Powerstars]

In the future, will more points be rewarded for things other than conversations.

[Trollheart]

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...

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

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.

[djchameleon]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

Nice colourful graph, I have no idea what it's about though.

I think it's only for Trollheart to understand and an activity for him to do in his downtime when he's not writing in his four other journals and album review threads.

[Powerstars]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

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...

Maybe for most traffic or most (quality) posts a week?

[Trollheart]

Jeez! Didn't you guys read my carefully-constucted rating system? 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?

[CrazyVegn]

Of course mine has little or no views which is why I don't bother updating it LOL

[Powerstars]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Jeez! Didn't you guys read my carefully-constucted rating system? 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?

Good idea.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by CrazyVegn

Of course mine has little or no views which is why I don't bother updating it LOL

Well the point is everyone starts off with no views, but you only gain those by giving people something to read. At present your journal consists of a list, Veg, which to be fair no-one's terribly interested in. No offence. But when you start adding proper entries to it, talking about the music you like, people will begin to read and your viewcount will grow.

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.

[Engine]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

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.


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"...

Interesting. I hadn't seen this until just now. Thanks for your interest. I suppose I took a hiatus because Erik's backstory was kind of bogging me down. If you hadn't guessed, the story is semi-autobiographical and is a bit emotionally draining to write. But it's fun and cathartic and I'd like to get back to it soon.