[Improvements] Bringing Back The Old Cblog Sidebar, and Why It Was So Important

What my blog focuses on has been touched upon by some previously written blogs, but I'm going to give you detail on why enacting these changes is a good idea.

So let's start of with the title of this blog. Some of you may be wondering why I have a picture of what the old front page Cblog sidebar looked like. Well the reason is because the first time one of my blogs made it onto the sidebar I got so excited that I took a screencap and stored the picture on my computer. It was such an amazing feeling knowing that my blog had been handpicked by the community, and that it had received so many faps that it was being displayed on the front page of the website. It was like a miniature spotlight had been shined on me. In my opinion this was better than being front paged. Because when you got front paged your blog was in the spotlight for only one day, but when it was on the Cblog sidebar you were on display for about a week.

What the Cblog sidebar essentially did was if you wrote a particularly well written blog it's shelf life was increased, and it was showcased in front of the entire website. 95% of the time when a blog deserved to be on the sidebar it happened, the community is pretty good at choosing what to fap. You can't front page every good blog, but with the Cblog sidebar it gives everyone a chance to shine.

With the Cblogs once your blog hits the second page it's pretty much dead comment and fap wise, so the extended shelf life was a great incentive to make sure you wrote a good blog. Not only that, but the extended shelf life was essential for certain blogs. When Debatoid first started people usually kept voting until the day it ended, now people usually only vote for the first few days, I missed out on voting on a few because I forgot to come back and comment. I usually like to sit on it a few days before I cast a vote. Another example would be how Stephanie K was hosting a CyberShark Week in honor of Hamza.

She got some pretty good participation, but since the blog went for the entire week participation dropped in the last couple of days. Mainly because in order to see the updates you had to have bookmarked the page and remembered to return to it.



The Cblog sidebar was taken down in early May, and well it's still actually here, but it's different. Now it's being shared with promoted stories, and forums. This raises a few problems. The first is that by default it's on promoted stories, and well they've already had their time to shine. The second is that the pictures outstretch the box only letting one or two blogs be seen (as demonstrated above), and the third is that now it's everyone's blogs not just the ones that got voted up. So when we got spam it shows on the front page. Granted it is kind of funny seeing blogs about Shemale husbands on the front page, it doesn't reflect well on the site, and that spam is taking up what use to be the community blog highlight area. I like the idea's of Cblogs, promoted blogs, and Forums being on the main page, I just think they should be seperated because all the attention is on promoted blogs now.




I took a screen cap of this because I thought it was funny having a spambot agree with someone that spamming sucks while they were spamming research papers.

The removal of the sidebar has also resulted in less outside activity. The Cblogs use to be a mix of regulars and main pagers stopping by and leaving their input. Now it's mainly just regulars, and most of us have jobs and/or school so the CBlogs aren't filled with as much life as usual. It's difficult to read every blog when it comes out that's why having the increased shelf life was a blessing. You could post a comment four days after the blog was written and they're would still be activity. Now if you don't get to it within the first two day it's like arriving late to a party where everyone's already left or passed out.


An example on how the Cblog sidebar use to bring in people

Issues with The new Bloggers Wanted Essay Response



I want to say that I love these bloggers wanted paintings with Mr. Destructoid, more of those please.I have some issues with these new weekly musings. My first issue is that a week is not enough time for many of us that have to deal with school and/or work. It usually takes me about a week to churn out a blog, a few days of brain storming, a few days of writing and some editing. There's been a few instances where I wanted to write something for Bloggers Wanted, but I didn't have the time. For instance I'm primarily a handheld gamer and I wanted to write something for the portables musing, but that week I was getting ready for another semester of college and had planned to spend the weekend at a cabin. Now that I've started college I have very little time for writing. This weekend I have to get ready for a test, read a few lengthy chapters, and write a paper. Right now I'm scrambling to write this blog and posting it on the deadline because I wanted to voice my concern over these site changes.

If I had a month to write musings I would have a better chance at participating like I have in the past. With a month the deadline doesn't pressure me, because I could just type a few things here and there in my free time.

My second issue with Bloggers wanted is I think that guaranteeing that a blog gets promoted everyday is a bad move. Before when a blog was promoted it stood out more it was a combination of being a well written story, and being lucky to have been selected to be front paged. Now that a certain number of blogs are guaranteed to be front paged it feels less spontaneous and more like an obligation. That special feeling I use to get when I saw a fellow Cblogger's well written blog get promoted isn't really there anymore. Now I kind of expect it, and if it doesn't happen I feel like it was an oversight. I haven't seen anything terrible been promoted, but some of them were just okay. I use to read every promoted blog and enjoyed all of them immensely, now I only read them sometimes.



Also since there is so much of an emphasis on promoting Bloggers Wanted blogs I haven't seen many non-musing blogs promoted like in the past.

My third issue with bloggers wanted is that it creates a carrot and stick effect, before getting a blog promoted seemed like a privilege now it seems like a right. This approach is discouraging. People seem to be writing more to get front paged that just writing for the sake of sharing your thoughts with others. Here's an excerpt from a past Dtoid article it talked about how achievments affect gamers, the same theory applies here.

“For example, one study had two different groups of kids tasked with drawing pictures. One group was rewarded with candy, one group wasn't. The next day, the kids were asked to draw pictures again; the kids who received the candy didn't draw anything, and the kids who hadn't received anything kept drawing pictures. Another experiment had three groups of college students tasked with solving some logic puzzles in a room filled with magazines and TV and other distracting stuff. One group was asked to try and solve the puzzle, and was given praise. One group was paid money after attempting the puzzle. The control group was given nothing but the puzzle. When the researchers left the room and observed the subjects, the ones who had been praised either verbally or monetarily ignored the puzzle and started reading the magazines, and the control group went back to the puzzle.”

Overall I have many little things that I can nitpick about (I'm very good at that) and if you want to hear more I'll be glad to share. I've been wanting to write this post for a long time, but I didn't want to come off as ungrateful or demanding. I imagine that Niero and everyone involved with Dtoid has their hands tied, what with all four modern method sites going through drastic changes right now. The way I imagine the situation is Niero sitting in his undewear in a dark room with the glow of the computer monitor across his face, and then Hamza walks in.

Hamza: Niero you haven't slept or eaten in 6 days, you need to get some rest.

Niero: No, I need to... Dtoid is having issues with the crashing, and tomopop has a lot of spam. Just give me a few more hours and let me just fix...

Hamza: You've been saying that for the past 6 days

*Chad walks into the room*

Chad: Niero we love you, please get some rest, we're all worried about you. Come on give me a hug

*Chad slowly approaches Niero arms stretched forward*

Hamza: NOW

*Hamza pins Niero to the ground and Chad takes out a bottle of chloroform, pours some on a rag, and rubs it all over Niero's face.*

Chad: I'm sorry buddy, but you need some rest

Hamza: I'm a mutha fuckin shark !!

Chad: Hey Hamza this chloroform isn't going to hurt him, right?

Hamza: Oh crap, I should have read the label first. Wait a minute who cares? I'm a mutha fuckin shark !!

Chad: I'm a mutha fuckin dolphin !!

I went off on a tangent there, anyways Niero and everyone who is in charge of site changes if you are reading this please consider my two suggestions. The cblogs have become a different place ever since these changes happened. The activity and atmosphere isn't as vibrant as it was months prior to these changes (though this place is still awesome). Please change the main page Cblog sidebar to the way it was before (as shown in the header image) it was perfect that way. I would have never gotten involved in the Cblogs if that sidebar hadn't existed, that means I wouldn't have become a community member, and I wouldn't have met all these great people. Please consider changing bloggers wanted back to Monthly Musings, to give us more time to write. Thanks for your consideration... and by the way I forgot to mention that I have hostages. Six marshmallow men and five pretzel people if you do not meet my list of demands I will be forced to.....eat them. Oh the humanity!