If you don't have a lot of time just now, don't bo
Submitted by bertie on Sat, 03/11/2000 - 07:01
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If you don't have a lot of time just now, don't bother going to this mega-page of movie lists, because it takes a while to explore, but DON'T MISS IT.
Jim, don't you find it just a little disheartening when your home page posts go unremarked? - I know I do. And I thought this was a really relevant and interesting link. Sigh.
Sometimes. More often I am depressed by how slooooly The Listology traffic levels increase over time. I keep hoping for some exponential action, where one person tells two people, and then each of them tells two people, etc., until we have billions of readers. But I guess we haven't hit critical mass yet.
As for comments on posts, it's pretty rare that a post relating to an "external" resource gets many comments. I think that is because you are sending folks off to check something out, and then they have to take the trouble to come back, click through to the discussion, and post something. So when I post an external link, I do so because I've found it interesting (and to keep The Listology home page interesting), but I don't really hold my breath for feedback (but I'd love it if it came). In fact, these external links are often of the "isn't this cool" nature rather than the "isn't this cool, what do you think?" nature.
But links to lists seem to do a little better in the comment department. Probably because you know the author of the work will read what you have to say, and might respond (whereas if you criticize the IMDb top 250, who from IMDb is going to chime in?).
Because these types of posts are more conversationally interesting (generally), When I find a movie/book/album listworthy, I've taken to posting a (very) brief review, explaining why I thought it was listworthy, and pointing to the list that it was added to. Shameless self-promotion, and it keeps my lists high on the most-commented page. :-) But seriously, it makes the list-keeping process a little more interactive.
But the bottom line is, The Listology only serves about 1000 pages per day, coming from around 200 unique addresses. Of those unique addresses, the vast majority only lurk, without making comments. So the pool of potential commentors is quite small. Believe me, I'd love to see that change. With more traffic comes more lists and more comments, which would make the site that much more interesting.
So if you're reading this, tell your friends, dagnabbit!
:-)
Referrals and suggestions are always welcome. Traffic is the answer. But don't go spamming anybody.
Jim, are you sure you're not a philosopher? I sometimes fancy myself one, but - as with your very...yes, philosophical...reply here - your cool level-headedness sometimes puts me to shame. Sincere thanks for taking the trouble to point all that out to me.
About the growth of TL: are you really treely certain you want billions of members? If that were to happen, you'd have to turn the thing over to professional managers, who would ever so smoothly usher you out the back door. Small is beautiful - as the philosopher said. But, yes, we could do with just a few more responsive listologists.
Okay, second part second . . . Billions of members? I guess I'd settle for millions. It's a tricky issue . . .
I'm a small town guy. Small towns are more pleasant. Less traffic. Friendlier. But there's not as much to do. This is also the case with The Listology. We're small and friendly. Everybody shore is smart and good-lookin'. A larger population can only bring us closer to average. :-)
But seriously, I am not looking forward to all the problems that come with managing a popular site. The thoughtful posts tend to get lost in a sea of spam. Check out some of the Slashdot discussions to see what I mean. I'll have to come up with a moderation system (again, see Slashdot (which I love, despite it's size)). Or censor like a mad dog. Why would I wish popularity on anybody, least of all The Listology?
Two reasons:
#1 is obvious - The Listology is only interesting as long as new lists are being created, and new comments are being posted. If nobody was kicking in lists, we'd run out of stuff to talk about, and eventually nobody would come back. Slow death. Frankly, this is still a risk at the current traffic levels - right now we have velocity, but minimal acceleration. Without acceleration, gravity and friction will eventually bring us to a halt. So the Listology has to grow.
#2 is a sad fact of life. I'm not talking about fabulous wealth (although I'd be hard pressed to turn it down), I'm talking about breaking even. Right now, The Listology is kinda expensive to keep going. To keep things snappy (and because when I launched it was hard to find an ISP with database support), it runs on a colocated server. This is kinda a big bill for a one-man shop to absorb. But I really don't want to advertise on the site. So how will I turn this site into a break-even proposition, so it can stay up indefinitely?
I think tying into an affiliate program (where I refer folks to Amazon (for example) and then get a small percentage of the sale) is the answer. I think it could be implemented in a non-intrusive fashion, and would allow folks to buy stuff off of lists that they like. I'm working on some prototypes of this right now.
Unfortunately, I suspect at the current traffic levels, an affiliate program would not cover costs (unproven conjecture). Again, slow death without growth.
So there it is . . . TL has to grow in order to stay interesting and survive (and I fully expect it will do both). If wild popularity ever comes, I will do everything I can to preserve the small town feel. Time will tell.
My, I can go on.
#1 Of course, of course; variety is the spice...but I'm put in mind of what used to be a charmingly undeveloped seaside resort not far from my home town, which is now a built-up, bustling, busy burg - and that's in the off-season. It's lost something essential.
#2 I wouldn't mind a few ads at TL. That's how I treat ads in general: I don't pay them any mind [loud snickers from a passing commercial psychologist].
I do hope I can maintain the "charmingly underdeveloped" feel. :-)
As for banner ads, I generally ignore them too. But they still present two problems: [1] I find them aesthetically offensive (and hope I never have to resort to them), and [2] more and more advertisers pay by the "click-through", so people like you and me don't generate any money for anybody (but when frequenting a site that I like with no other source of income, I will click-through from time to time to support the site).
Hopefully the affiliate program will offset some of the costs of keeping The Listology afloat. Average implementations of affiliate programs just seem like a plea for money ("buy books through us"), but the ability to buy movies/books/music seems like a logical extension of The Listology's raison d'etre (to find movie/book/music recommendations), so hopefully nobody will be turned off.
Let me answer the first part first . . . Thanks for the compliments, but I can't really call myself a philosopher. Formerly an English major, but now a computer guy. So I read a ton, but I don't always understand it. :-)
My fatal flaw is that my absorption of a subject is directly proportional to my enjoyment. So I have near perfect recall of every movie preview I've ever seen, but most of my required English lit reading has congealed into one big subconscious glob.
In short, I like junk food, but aspire to better.
I do like to think that occasionally all that reading percolates to the surface in a thoughtful and articulate fashion. Not as often as I'd like, but occasionally.
I'm still not convinced you're not philosopher material. You say you "read a ton, but...don't always understand it". Philosophers, Jim, are people who don't understand, and philosophy is the search for understanding. Way back in Ancient Greece, Socrates got into trouble by demonstrating to people that they didn't really understand what they claimed to understand. Not that he set himself up as a know-all, but he said he, unlike most people, was wise enough to know that he didn't understand things. Since then, not understanding things has developed into a profession that is respected by some but still pisses off people who feel sure they do understand things.
So true . . . It never ceases to amaze me just how much you have to know before you realize that you're barely scratched the tip of the iceberg (and you have to learn even more before you realize that you should never mix metaphors).