Thu, November 16, 2006
Buzzy Bee—4:01 PM
When the Buzzworthy section was initiated, it was to highlight items of interest which would not necessarily show up as a full post in the paragraph-heavy right hand column of the home page. To begin with, this included: New Reviews, Updated FAQs, and Links of Interest.
Now, the FAQs are out (since they never get updated anyway). If there's ever a re-re-bee, I'll change or remove the Reviews as well. (They're kind of meaningless if you have to click to see how many stars. I know this now.)
Anyway, a change I can make right now is how and whether Links of Interest are posted. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make the descriptive text after each link as concise as possible – some links need a "Why should I click this?" justification, and sometimes I have a witty remark, but anything longer than a couple of lines seems excessive. (And begs the question, "Why not just make this a full post?")
But sometimes the descriptions run long, and there's nothing I can do. I can't set up the context (or, more importantly, the joke) in any less space. To paraphrase Tony Kushner, there's no way to tell the story in less than six hours. E.g., today's Dreamgirls link. Was that too long? Or did the situation justify a little extra wordage? I don't know; I pose the question to you guys. (There's a poll attached to this post – it just doesn't show up on the home page.)
(And feel free to add in the comments anything else you're thinking about Buzzworthy. Are there new links too often? Not often enough? Do you click on most of them? None of them? Only those which give you a specific reason to do so? I'm curious.)
Brandon — Thu, 11/16/06 4:45pm
I like the descriptions, and don't want to limit their size for fear of hamstringing their excellence. You make them as long as you need to make them.
As for which ones I click on, it's about 75% subject matter, 25% your description. That is to say, I won't follow a link about subject matter that doesn't interest me unless your description so captivates my curiousity that I feel compelled to do so. And that does happen from time to time.
My only Buzzworthy suggestion would be to change either the length of time they stay in the box or set an overall space limit so that the Comments sidebar doesn't get pushed below-frame all the time.
Joe Mulder — Thu, 11/16/06 8:10pm
I pretty much agree with Brandon; I like to see if there are new comments, but I love the Buzzworthy section too; maybe a limit on how long the Buzzworthy section (in screen inches) can get, then just a "more..." on the bottom line, so we can click on that and get buzzes that might still be new enough but that have fallen off the page.
As for the descriptions, they occasionally make me click on a link I wouldn't have otherwise (although I probably click on 75% of all the Buzzworthy links, minimum, as a matter of course), and I've yet to see one that's too long.
"Jameson, getting frustrated by the Buzzworthy section!"
Bee Boy — Thu, 11/16/06 11:53pm
Oh, very well said. If Glark can't come up with a way to get that Coach Probst quote on a shirt, I'm going to be so disappointed.
Thanks for the nice suggestions – and for indulging my neurosis on this one. I think I know why I wigged out: the O.J. and Michelle Rodriguez posts on the same day. They represent my least favorite Buzzie: a quick observation about a recent news item, where the link exists only to justify the description (i.e., the article itself isn't "buzzworthy" – clicking the link doesn't add value, unless you're oblivious to the news item or very interested in it). Those always bug me because there should be a more elegant way. (Like stealing Andy's "Quick Hits!" concept.)
Maybe I should trust you guys to realize those are in the 25% not to click. (See? I'm in my own head here – send help!) Lately I've been a bit anxious about eroding my Buzzworthy capital by posting too many links that people might find less than worthy. (Like the way I agonized for two days over whether to post the Torn video link – then a very nice e-mail from Joe reassured me of my instincts.) This healthy discussion will help me calm down, but I think retaining a little of that obsessiveness is a good thing, too. It pushes the Buzzworthy section to be the best it can be.