Possible review section?
- Onslaught Six
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Possible review section?
It's something I've noticed. We all review toys when we get them, with varying levels of thoroughness and opinions and the like. And I've been thinking, we should probably work on getting some more content here on the site--I know, it's mostly just here to be the forum and not much else, but if we're already doing this 'anyway'...
What if we open a dedicated review section? It keeps with the theme of this being TFViews, after all--a site dedicated to the varying views of the community. We long-before discussed the possibility of having a Dedicated TF Review Site long, long ago, back on Ben's last forum, but nothing ever came of it because we didn't have any webspace. Now we 'do,' and we've had it for about a year now, so I was thinking, let's 'do something with it.' Especially with the current movie line in full swing and TFmania ramping back the hell up. It'd be a good time to start doing something like this, I'd imagine.
Just thinking out loud.
What if we open a dedicated review section? It keeps with the theme of this being TFViews, after all--a site dedicated to the varying views of the community. We long-before discussed the possibility of having a Dedicated TF Review Site long, long ago, back on Ben's last forum, but nothing ever came of it because we didn't have any webspace. Now we 'do,' and we've had it for about a year now, so I was thinking, let's 'do something with it.' Especially with the current movie line in full swing and TFmania ramping back the hell up. It'd be a good time to start doing something like this, I'd imagine.
Just thinking out loud.
- andersonh1
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Re: Possible review section?
I'm all for it. I think it's a great idea. We ought to already have enough reviews in the various threads to have a decent selection to start off.
- JediTricks
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Re: Possible review section?
I've been thinking about that a lot since the site opened a year ago, but haven't really come up with answers.
Do you guys want to try just a "reviews" forum section of its own? Or should it be its own separate software system? I might be able to come up with something software-based separate from the forums, but none of it is tailored to our needs so I'll need to repurpose it. I of course could have a forum section up in the blink of an eye, but that may not be enough of its own thing.
I do want to set it up so the reviews are based on item, rather than on line the way our existing review threads are.
So, give me your thoughts, all feedback appreciated, and we'll come up with something.
Do you guys want to try just a "reviews" forum section of its own? Or should it be its own separate software system? I might be able to come up with something software-based separate from the forums, but none of it is tailored to our needs so I'll need to repurpose it. I of course could have a forum section up in the blink of an eye, but that may not be enough of its own thing.
I do want to set it up so the reviews are based on item, rather than on line the way our existing review threads are.
So, give me your thoughts, all feedback appreciated, and we'll come up with something.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
- Onslaught Six
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Re: Possible review section?
Pondering it over, we could either have a seperate Reviews section (which would basically be the News section but for reviews, I'm thinking) or we redo the way we do the review topics. Having just one seperate forum where We Review Stuff could get messy 'fast' so I don't recommend doing that, though. (Either all the reviews would be clumped into one ill-defined Hey Look Reviews section, or we'd have to be a buttload of new forums for each individual line, which would be redundant when looking at our current forum setup anyway.)
My point is, I dunno, I've thrown the idea out there, let's just throw a bunch of ideas up on a wall and see what comes sprawling down.
My point is, I dunno, I've thrown the idea out there, let's just throw a bunch of ideas up on a wall and see what comes sprawling down.
- JediTricks
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Re: Possible review section?
Running a second news system would be a chore, installing another Wordpress would be quite the pain in the butt, and then every user would have to create another login. If I were to go with software, it'd probably be a heavily-modified Wiki system, or perhaps a light modification of the Photo Gallery system (transforming "user comments" into reviews). There are other alternatives like Pligg, a CMS I've never used before but can be easily installed on the server (though it may require a free server move, as I don't know if we're running PHP5 or not) - Pligg is good because it has a built-in rating system for reviews.Onslaught Six wrote:Pondering it over, we could either have a seperate Reviews section (which would basically be the News section but for reviews, I'm thinking) or we redo the way we do the review topics. Having just one seperate forum where We Review Stuff could get messy 'fast' so I don't recommend doing that, though. (Either all the reviews would be clumped into one ill-defined Hey Look Reviews section, or we'd have to be a buttload of new forums for each individual line, which would be redundant when looking at our current forum setup anyway.)
My point is, I dunno, I've thrown the idea out there, let's just throw a bunch of ideas up on a wall and see what comes sprawling down.
Any external system is going to require a bit of customization on my part, and someone's going to have to design its look.
As for a Reviews forum, we have an adequate search system, or I could create line folders as needed and hide them off the main page so it won't ugly the place up. But it won't have a stand-alone rating system like most of the other options. That said, we have everything we need for it right here, it's already installed and running properly, ready to go at any time, and users won't have to register a second login to use it.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
- Onslaught Six
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Re: Possible review section?
True enough. I'm just waiting to see what other people have to say to begin with.
- andersonh1
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Re: Possible review section?
How about a section for reviews on the forum, with each actual forum within it for different lines? Right now there are three main sections on the forum, with each having subsections within. How about a fourth section for reviews, and within that subforums for G1/G2 reviews, the Beast Era, Animated, etc.?
- Onslaught Six
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Re: Possible review section?
Thassright, I forgot we could probably do subforums. Hrmmm.
Re: Possible review section?
One of the things we have been trying to do this past year or so is to build up the page beyond the forums.
So, I would support a dedicated reviews section, if we could build it up meaningfully.
(I would like to see line-dedicated sections of the page, with articles on both toys and content, but that is another story.)
But, as JT pointed out, this will require real effort to install more soft-ware and such. So, we need to be serious about it.
Dom
So, I would support a dedicated reviews section, if we could build it up meaningfully.
(I would like to see line-dedicated sections of the page, with articles on both toys and content, but that is another story.)
But, as JT pointed out, this will require real effort to install more soft-ware and such. So, we need to be serious about it.
Dom
- JediTricks
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Re: Possible review section?
The one thing I'm not in love with about a review forum is that folks would have to go out of the section they're already in to see reviews, why go from G1 to Reviews > G1? Well, because of organization, but are they gonna get that?
The good thing about a reviews forum right now is that we can port out those reviews later, it's a LOT harder to cull them from the singular threads.
Any more thoughts?
The good thing about a reviews forum right now is that we can port out those reviews later, it's a LOT harder to cull them from the singular threads.
Any more thoughts?
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?