Deskthority blog/articles - thoughts, opinions, contributions?

[keyboardjoy]

Hello everyone,

I appreciate that since the announcement of DT's new ownership I've been a little quiet - the good news is that a lot of work has been done to migrate the backend onto a more scalable and resilient server. I know a fair few of you were concerned about data loss and also the availability of a publicly accessible back-up/torrent - these comments have not been forgotten either and are being actively considered.

I've mentioned before the idea to launch a more a community-driven DT blog. This would be separate to the forum itself so would not cause any navigational issues. I'd imagine it would be accessed via deskthority.net/blog or similar. I'm working on it.

I appreciate that 'blog' is a broad term - this in my view is short form for a new space in DT to develop long-form articles about all manner of topics related to mechanical keyboards.

The purpose of this thread is to encourage you to contribute your thoughts on what a blog should look like, whether you think it is a good idea, and if so, which topics it could cover. I'm also curious whether there's an appetite for other forms of media, such as video content.

We're truly at the 'blank canvas' stage so all thoughts and opinions are welcomed!

[kelvinhall05]

I don't see what purpose it would serve that creating a new thread here wouldn't. Other forums I'm active on that do have a "blog" feature of some sort don't really use it either, people will just make one thread and update it over time. Easier to interact with other people that way and usually the blog part isn't front and center like forum threads are.

[XMIT]

I think forum posts work just fine.

[zrrion]

I think the niche that a blog could fill would be as a knowledge base for newcomers for some of the "rights of passage" A tutorial for basic soldering technique, a tutorial for bolt modding, a tutorial for wiring up a converter and flashing firmware. Things of this sort that a lot of folks entering the hobby could benefit from having easy access to the information. Effectively this would just be a place where the OP of stickied threads about these topics are reformatted slightly so that folks who aren't familiar with forums (which seems to be most folks entering the hobby these days) have a place to get info without having to learn the ins and outs of forums before they can find what they need. Secret Santa and the DT awards would also be a good thing to post in both a thread and as a blog post as those are the sort of interesting things we would like folks outside of the community to possibly see.

tldr: the blog section should really just be a spotlight on useful or pertinent forum content so that folks who don't browse the forums see that stuff and think about joining the forums themselves.

beyond that I'm fairly happy with the amount of social media stuff going on with DT. The forum experience is one that is fairly unique at this point and adding additional bells and whistles would distract from the sort of experience we already offer

[Muirium]

^ What he said.

I'd say a blog should be all about discovery for new users. So many people out there are overwhelmed if you link them to a forum thread. "Must I read all this!?" It should be aimed at newcomers, with lots of links to the good stuff here to tempt them to start their own journeys. Make it clean looking and very sharable. And, as I suggested to some positive response before:

The way I’d do it is have a new subforum for the blog and duplicate its posts here. Then we can still chat DT style (Offtopicthority) and newcomers can still have a clean looking blog that won’t make them scream and run away. Forums aren’t for everyone. But they are for us!

Replicate the blog's contents as a forum thread per post (in a new blog subforum to keep them organised) so we can comment on it and go as deep as we like, without all that landing on first time visitors with a thump!

I'm up for writing for the blog, by the way. And I think it would be good to suggest and develop ideas for its posts on a thread.

[matt3o]

tldr: the blog section should really just be a spotlight on useful or pertinent forum content so that folks who don't browse the forums see that stuff and think about joining the forums themselves.

I agree on this.

What I believe the forum misses is a better/easier users engagement especially for new comers.

If you are new and you go to the homepage you are a little lost. There's no highlight to hot threads of the moment or important site/community news. You need to know where you want to go and even then you have to find your way in.

I'd like a system that automatically (or semi-automatically) promotes important content based on the section you are viewing and image preview is crucial (automatically getting the first image from the post for example).

A blog? yeah, I mean it could be just a section of the forum with a slightly different design/theme.

[kbdfr]

Blog must clearly be. And an own worldwide 24/7 TV channel.
And then we should somehow see to it that typing becomes an Olympic discipline.
Does a World Day of Mechanical Keyboards already exist at all?
What about a Nobel Prize for Keyboard Science?

[Wodan]

Blog must clearly be. And an own worldwide 24/7 TV channel.
And then we should somehow see to it that typing becomes an Olympic discipline.
Does a World Day of Mechanical Keyboards already exist at all?
What about a Nobel Prize for Keyboard Science?

I have the rambling powers to do a 24/7 TV program
Me talking about my hobbies will put you to sleep faster than D-cup ASMR

[kbdfr]

[…] I'd like a system that automatically (or semi-automatically) promotes important content based on the section you are viewing […]

"Visitors interested in in this theme also read the following threads: …"

A blog? yeah, I mean it could be just a section of the forum with a slightly different design/theme.

If blog at all, then I agree with that.

[headphone_jack]

Maybe try improving the forum instead of adding on bloatware.

[dkarguth]

Maybe try improving the forum instead of adding on bloatware.

Maybe try learning to be polite and construct your replies with some respect for your fellow users.

[Muirium]

Maybe try improving the forum instead of adding on bloatware.

Maybe try learning to be polite and construct your replies with some respect for your fellow users.

I think the suggestion comes from a good place, if wielded a little bluntly.

Here's the underlying question: Are we happy with the current rate of new users arriving?

Me? I think it's worth looking into. If you're not busy being born, you're busy dying. DT's no busier now than it was years and years ago. Eventually, it's going to dry up entirely, without a healthy flow of new users.

New stuff like blogs and homepage images from hot threads are all answers to that same implied problem.

[ddrfraser1]

I just want a like button.

And

I think forum posts work just fine.

[Go-Kart]

What is discussed above makes sense to me as a newby. When I first joined DT two months ago I always put the effort in to search for "how tos" to problem solve things that I was fairly sure will have already been done to death before my arrival but couldn't track down what I was after and ended up having to create posts. As it happens, you're all so friendly here that I didn't feel like I was polluting the forum by re-treading old ground. However, I feel having such a knowledge hub with keystone long format pieces, much like what micmil has begun to do with the Soarer's stuff on the wiki, would help make the community/knowledge contained within more accessible and allow the sages among us to devote their attention to broader/deeper topics.

[XMIT]

The workshop section already features many longer form posts. In most cases, the thread starter writes a longer form first post, and maybe reserves the next few posts for future content. Then the rest of the thread becomes a discussion thread.

For a while matt3o was maintaining an index of workshop threads that was stickied in that sub forum but I’m having trouble finding it.

[Muirium]

Threads of interest. The fact even you can't find it, when you know it exists, speaks volumes!

Nothing against forums, by the way—I, uh, obviously quite like them—but just the look of a forum thread puts off very many people indeed. This is a heavy format. Until you know it—which is to say until you know exactly what you can ignore!—it's much too much, all in your face, all at once.

[Wodan]

I'd be a little confused to decide where to put my content ...

We've got the forum which is great for sharing a story or a development or a process and collect feedback, interact with edgy vets and keep your progress posted. This has been a very valuable and powerful tool here and considering how some topics are now nearly a decade old and still growing, it's really working well.

On the other hand, we have the wiki as a place to collect what we would agree upon as "knowledge" with the whole community (lol ideally) contributing to improve and enhance the information there.

What sets the blog/article content apart from the things that are already doing great in the forum and the content that (should) be put into the wiki?

To me it just seems like further, unneccessary segmentation of the content that could have gone to the wiki or the forum as well. Compared to forum content - which usually leads to a discussion where thread starter and other participants argue on equal terms - blog posts create a priviledged piece of content where other peoples comments are secondary and receive very little attention.

So is this the intention? Making the content and topics on DT less interactive and put more power into the hands of the people writing these blog posts/articles?
What's the benefit of that? Who would get to write articles? Will there be ads in the blog?

I personally think if we want to improve DT, adding incentives to Wiki contribution is the key. Should we have more DT Awards in the future - hand them out to people who work on DT Wiki content.

- Best Wiki Photos of 2021
- Best new Wiki Article of 2021 (awarded to the "main contributor" or "main contributors")
- Best overall Wiki Contribution of 2021

[Muirium]

I remember well how Mr. DT Wiki incarnate himself, the Venerable Beardsmore, used to gripe about how useless all his annual awards were, compared to just getting help from more of us instead! Little plastic Wingnuts do not write wikis. He even tried to incentivise wiki contribution once with a contest, which had a Realforce as a prize. Its effects were… not enough to try that again!

I like how you're looking at this as a supply side problem, rather than demand side. I see a blog, or YouTube channel, or podcast or whatever as an entry point for new users. You see it as a drain on the forum. I don't think these must necessarily both be so! This could be more about further publicising the best stuff we've already got (and keep on making) than distracting us away someplace else. Copy rather than cut!

Besides, the blog should be mirrored in the forum. All comments should happen in its threads back here. Blog comments are unsightly and bedevilled by trolls! Better a ruthlessly clean format that's really just for sharing, and any engagement is routed straight back to the forum proper.

[Wodan]

I've been against the Wingnut as a award ever since it has become so ASBURDLY valuable in the second hand market.

This has really attracted a lot of the wrong people with zero to no benefit of this community or the wiki. If you want to hand out more of them, use them to FORCE people into hard wiki labor.

Oh there's a Wingnut for best picture on DT? Let's create an account and post some macro shots of a retarded Artisan and then shill all my reddit friends to vote for me.

Back to the blog. Who gets to write articles? are we gonna let some cummy bottom noob write his shitty "How I stem modded G83 SAT caps to fit my Box switches with hot glue and spit" or will we pick the elite ranks of distinguished DT writers?

We pick some writers and get top grade content but also very one dimensional top down monotony on that front. Alternatively we let everyone and their Soarer write articles and we'll just get a big bowl of crappy posts with a few hard to find gems.

Having to bow down to top DT writers and their unchallenged blog opinions, being degraded to the cheering audience for some DT influencers is quite the distopian thought. Don't tell me you can challenge them in the comments or the forum posts - I've read my share of blog posts and very rarely do you actually acknowledge the 7 font size comment thread ...

[Muirium]

No comments. Comments are a den of scum and villainy!

Only on forums do we stand equal. That's why the discussion itself should be exclusively *here*.

[Wodan]

No comments. Comments are a den of scum and villainy!

Only on forums do we stand equal. That's why the discussion itself should be exclusively *here*.

Thanks yes. Totally agree. I want to face my opponent eye to eye, dicks out.

[kbdfr]

[…] a retarded Artisan […]

[Muirium]

The polite term is "eccentric genius" thank you!

[webwit]

Having to bow down to top DT writers and their unchallenged blog opinions, being degraded to the cheering audience for some DT influencers is quite the distopian thought. Don't tell me you can challenge them in the comments or the forum posts - I've read my share of blog posts and very rarely do you actually acknowledge the 7 font size comment thread ...

That's such an exaggeration. Maybe you can reply just fine. Once you uploaded your vaccination passport.

[Wodan]

That's such an exaggeration. Maybe you can reply just fine. Once you uploaded your vaccination passport.

Of course it's an exaggeration. I exaggerate 1000% of the time.

But making the blog more interactive and put more emphasis on the comment/discussion ... isn't that just a second discussion board?

How would I decide which "topics" go where?
Either the blog is 100% content that had no place on DT so far - what would that be?
Or the blog is partically content that would otherwise be a forum topic or a wiki entry - how do I decide a topic must go to the blog?

[Muirium]

Outreach is generally more effective when reaching *outside*

This isn't about taking things away from the forum. Indeed, it's about keeping the forum alive as time marches ever on.

[keyboardjoy]

I'd be a little confused to decide where to put my content ...

We've got the forum which is great for sharing a story or a development or a process and collect feedback, interact with edgy vets and keep your progress posted. This has been a very valuable and powerful tool here and considering how some topics are now nearly a decade old and still growing, it's really working well.

On the other hand, we have the wiki as a place to collect what we would agree upon as "knowledge" with the whole community (lol ideally) contributing to improve and enhance the information there.

What sets the blog/article content apart from the things that are already doing great in the forum and the content that (should) be put into the wiki?

To me it just seems like further, unneccessary segmentation of the content that could have gone to the wiki or the forum as well. Compared to forum content - which usually leads to a discussion where thread starter and other participants argue on equal terms - blog posts create a priviledged piece of content where other peoples comments are secondary and receive very little attention.

So is this the intention? Making the content and topics on DT less interactive and put more power into the hands of the people writing these blog posts/articles?
What's the benefit of that? Who would get to write articles? Will there be ads in the blog?

I personally think if we want to improve DT, adding incentives to Wiki contribution is the key. Should we have more DT Awards in the future - hand them out to people who work on DT Wiki content.

- Best Wiki Photos of 2021
- Best new Wiki Article of 2021 (awarded to the "main contributor" or "main contributors")
- Best overall Wiki Contribution of 2021

Completely agree that contribution and maintenance of the Wiki should be encouraged and rewarded appropriately. DT Awards are potentially a great first step and I will consider other incentives.

I think you (and others) reveal the tension of a community-sourced knowledge versus the top-down nature of long-form articles and blog posts clearly. The open playing field of the forum is unquestionably important and there is no intention to sway from it. The same tensions exist in the open source software communities.

In open source software development, the community is the engine for efficient platforms and products.

The questions I ask myself is how can we effectively harness the relentless energy of our community to contribute to the inclusion of newcomers to mechanical keyboards so we can continue to develop and evolve, and how can we accomplish this without creating governance headaches and stymying open contribution.

A lot to ponder...

[ddrfraser1]

All I expect is regular update posts as your keyboard collection grows please.

[Findecanor]

A blog? yeah, I mean it could be just a section of the forum with a slightly different design/theme.

If blog at all, then I agree with that.

I think a blog should also have a comment section and should be integrated with the regular user account system.
Therefore, making it as a special "Articles" section of the forum would be the most straightforward solution.

As have been said, the Workshop subforum already contains several existing threads that have been written like articles which could very well be uplifted to Articles. By having the Articles section be a subforum, that would be easy to do, intact with comments.

The biggest task might be to decide which to move, and ask the authors for permission. Also encourage authors to tell the admin (who?) to move their threads there.
I don't think all of the Threads of Interest should be moved though.
(and BTW, why is Threads of Interest not pinned?)

Here's the underlying question: Are we happy with the current rate of new users arriving?

Registered users or lurkers? Or just people who have found individual Wiki articles in a DuckDuckGo search?
Are there statistics?
Personally, I am happy that all of them found their way here.

Not everyone wants to comment. A a personal example, I have got a lot of use of StackOverflow over the years, but I've never posted there and only recently got an account.

[headphone_jack]

Giving people another chance to talk down to users is always bad. Uplifting certain """distinguished""" members of the community to a higher status is just a recipe for disaster, and I am fully against a blog of some kind. Maybe a collaboration to write some kind of "Hitchhiker's Guide to Keyboards" would be more beneficial to new users, rather than a confusing mess of blog posts based on the opinions of a single user. Not to mention, adding new features to a forum that (in my opinion) is already kind of messy is the opposite of a way to fix the problem. I don't know why more people aren't talking about how suspicious keyboardjoy is either, but that is a topic for another thread.