Thinking of removing blog functionality

any sort of functionality adds like member x time, x posts, etc is still feature upgrades that take time

when it comes down to it, the spammer aspect is only a part of the problem - i've been debating removing blogs for awhile anyways because they flat out aren't used, and browsing the recent blogs makes that pretty clear. if a few folks use them as a personal notepad, others abuse them just to get badges, and there's only a small handful of good stuff, that's not much of a reason to leave such a big feature up. the main problem is it's a heavy cost to maintain - not just removing the spammers, but doing things like adding gates to make sure spamming is less easy , fixing any bug that comes up (there's lots of issues with the sanitize function that pop up, most not here in the forum but are reported... there's an open bug about tagging right now, etc)

the fact of the matter is i have very limited time to spend on features anymore, and i dont see that changing anytime in the near future... cutting blogs and focusing on other features means that's more time that could be spent on what the vast majority of people actually use and add value to the site.

the tl;dr being, even if they stay up, it's still a cost, for a feature that basically no one uses
 
I kind of like blogs, but I rarely use them myself and almost never read them (other than, for example, chii's for finding videos). Maybe if people on my friend's list used it it would be something I'd look at more, but no one does. I wouldn't be sad to see them go, as long as people had enough warning so they could save any info they wanted. :)

A long time ago you considered having people write articles (similar to ANN?), if I remember correctly. Unless this idea was totally thrown way, perhaps consider this for those users who write long and wonderful "articles" in their blogs? (although this is probably much more work that upkeeping the blog xD)
 
lmao @ kari5, "I kind of like blogs, despite the fact that I never use them nor read them". That's just tooooo funny. :p
 
well if they do go i want a good amount of notice so i can get my stuff off of there so i can still keep it all for my own use elsewhere
 
oh i'd definitely have a contingency place in place for your stuff, chii - i would most def not let it just go away. one idea i have is to finally create a more robust series discussion section (such as, a subforum for each type of series) to start out the process of integrating the site and forum. an idea i have is that you could be a mod in there, and could sticky all of your super helpful stuff (such as a 'where to watch' thread for each applicable series subforum, a 'suggested order' sticky thread, etc
 
Kari5 said:
I kind of like blogs, but I rarely use them myself and almost never read them (other than, for example, chii's for finding videos). Maybe if people on my friend's list used it it would be something I'd look at more, but no one does. I wouldn't be sad to see them go, as long as people had enough warning so they could save any info they wanted. :)

A long time ago you considered having people write articles (similar to ANN?), if I remember correctly. Unless this idea was totally thrown way, perhaps consider this for those users who write long and wonderful "articles" in their blogs? (although this is probably much more work that upkeeping the blog xD)
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articles would be great, though an article system would have to be created. without the one developer around anymore, the chance of this happening is very small (unless there was an easy way to do something like integrate wordpress functionality, but still, it probably wont happen).

the other problem being that the few people i had in mind that would consistently write columns aren't around much anymore (re: the site reviewers)
 
sothis said:
oh i'd definitely have a contingency place in place for your stuff, chii - i would most def not let it just go away. one idea i have is to finally create a more robust series discussion section (such as, a subforum for each type of series) to start out the process of integrating the site and forum. an idea i have is that you could be a mod in there, and could sticky all of your super helpful stuff (such as a 'where to watch' thread for each applicable series subforum, a 'suggested order' sticky thread, etc
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forgot to mention that i'd also look into surfacing those threads (might be more easily possible if the titles were always set up the same way in each section) in the entries themselves
 
sounds like an interesting plan that I'd be on board with

forum and main site being linked is exciting if it's slowly going to start to actually happen!
 
literally the one blocker on it happening (as crimm has offered to help) is that forum software really isnt in a good state yet for it.

vbulletin 5 is coming out soon, and it might work, but i'd really need the club functionality to be in good enough shape in this release (it's not in VB4 which is why i havent gotten it, as upgrading the fourm will be an INSANE amount of work). if the software ends up being ok, i'd upgrade, and thats the point where we'd do the heavy integration work
 
the whole site is more or less my blog.....as much as i'm going to blog at any rate...
 
I barely remember I have a blog thing 90 percent of the time. Seems like something that not a lot of people would miss.
 
I warned people that this would happen someday:

https://www.anime-planet.com/forum/...te-questions/113396-request-user-ratings.html

I also tried giving solutions but to no avail. See, people want to read quality material, not just a list of how heavy a person's crap was for the day nor how much it smelled (like many of the blogs currently up on the site). I suggest some drastic measures if people still want to keep the blogs, otherwise removing it would be the best idea (expenses and all that).
 
MOJ said:
I warned people that this would happen someday:

https://www.anime-planet.com/forum/...te-questions/113396-request-user-ratings.html

I also tried giving solutions but to no avail. See, people want to read quality material, not just a list of how heavy a person's crap was for the day nor how much it smelled (like many of the blogs currently up on the site). I suggest some drastic measures if people still want to keep the blogs, otherwise removing it would be the best idea (expenses and all that).
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yeah, i do think the user reviews need an overhaul - i'd much prefer to spend my time on that, since reviews directly impact one's choice to watch an anime :)
 
This came to my attention (Note: this sofar a reply to the initial post, since i haven't read up the follow-ups so far), thus my few cents.

Considering that the Blog feature was added a few years ago, and correlated with the site user amount and my latest Blog entry which has the number 11834, this seems compared quite low.

I would pity removing it since it was not cheap (since custom). But one functionality less, the site might be a bit less attractive compared to competive ones. I guess, a non custom blog system might be an option, maintain wise after all.

As for spammers, well how about setting the standards a bit higher for creating a blog post, comment on users or recommendation for newl registered ones. Additional moderator staff which get notified (several ways how implemented from just notified till sending on moderation queue) via a quick report spam button like on the forum could ease.

As for hello/testing blogs, perhaps a sandbox might be an idea.
As for good blog posts, a suggestion could be earning a badge (might be a showcase point) if liked by a certain amount, just a thought.

As for helpful blogs and such, perhaps a help channel may be a better choice (although that's the forum for...).

As for episode highlight, a discussion with spoilers on the anime entry page might make more sense instead of a list of who added a blog about this series/ova/movie/episode.

As for external blog, well for me, various reasons i could mention, but one is that the content is not necessarily anime related.

More moderator features i would quite welcome.

As for "Leave stuff as-is -" and "Remove the feature",
I would rather vote something between, since it can't be allowed that spammers continue to easily bypass, so i think the setting as it is right now, won't be a favor.
But i would pity to see it completly gone though. Some people might wish an export function, in the case if removed, but i'm not sure how much time you have sothis to implement a feature which is just to be removed anyway.
 
I like blogs and try to browse them at semi-regular intervals, but... well... yeah, good entries are a definite minority in there. Would still be a bit sad to see them go as a matter of principle since they do have some really good entries in there as well, but if you say they're costly, time-consuming and mostly not used... well, I doubt absolutely anyone would object to you having more time for more-used site features. Would say we can have one function less if that means the remaining ones work better. Yeah, I'd be onboard.
 
I agree with a lot of what Ketsuron stated above and a lot of points that have been brought up. Too many for me to quote I noticed after i finally got current with the thread.

I think it's a shame that a feature with such significant development and user time invested in it has to be just thrown out. But I agree there are a lotof things that deserve attention over this. And the only ways that I could offer as alternatives sothis has already responded to many such topics like captcha and getting maybe a couple more mods to help out.

I think it's wrong to remove a feature just because of spammers. That doesn't stop the rest of the internet from moving forward, but I do understand that adding captcha, setting a minimum length requirement, maybe just more verification with the actual user registration process would be the most effective ways to stop a few more spammers from getting through but a signifigant amount of time would be needed to be invested.

When I first used the site. I read a lot of blogs, that was about 2 years ago. I would comment on a few blog posts every now and one of the main reasons that I ended up losing interest in the blogs was mostly because there was no way of keeping track of when somebody replied to comments.

If the blog feature really is that big of a load on the site itself then for the good of the rest of the users then i guess there isn't much more that I can say.
 
I seldom read blogs, but I do read user reviews (the more the merrier!), and they carry weight on what I choose to watch.

With so many better suggestions and possible future implementations in the works; like the merging of forum and site etc. and all that comes with it, it looks like a far more viable long term plan than simply keeping a feature that few benefit from. It'll be a long haul that sothis will feel more than most of us, so I'd be loath to stand in the way of progress and better utilisation of sothis' time. After all, with a bigger picture starting to form that could be helped by removing blogs, it's a no-brainer from where I'm sitting.
 
If by removing it you'll be able to save that money and energy to general site functionality and focus on more important features, for example putting up screenshots & tags for new anime, then YES, do it. I don't know how many here writes or reads the blogs regularly, and if they do, usually they have a blog somewhere else like blogger or wordpress, and they just have a link to it in the signature.
 
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