Neglected blog is negleeected Part II
I was actually hoping for a couple more comments, particular from fellow staffers, before I replied to comments. I figured I’d just make a new post, rather than comment within the old post, since I left this for so long. Thanks to everyone who posted comments, it’s good to see that there are actually people not directly involved in the site that do care enough about it to offer an opinion. I’ll try my best to answer, or at least address your questions/ideas/concerns.
pakxenon
Well, aren’t your reviews a standalone affair? Comments would just tear up the otherwise perfect web page; it would also leave some doubts on your reviews as some of us readers might not agree with them and start shtstorms for invalid reasons. As much as I’d like to give you guys feedback, it doesn’t seem feasible with the site’s style of reviewing.
The discussion, I’d imagine, would be welcome in most cases. Shitstorms are a possible consequence to all of that, but I’d imagine/hope (maybe naively) that the level of discussion would attract a more restrained and thought-through type of comment. Shitstorms most of the time only happen when the initial post sparks it. I have a fair idea how to start a shitstorm, so if I wanted to post something controversial, I’d know full well what I was doing, and what we were in for. And, anyway, shitstorms only generally happen when there’s a lot of readers and posters, so we’re safe from them for now. :p
The comments wouldn’t be on the review pages themselves. I’ve seen other sites do that, and I think the comments distract from the reviews. Comments would only be allowed on the preview posts, which would replace the current “announcement” update posts, and would only appear for new-ish series. If someone were to review an older, obscure title, I wouldn’t see the point in making a preview post for it, since no one would discuss it. It would probably get a standard announcement similar to what we have currently, and would get bundled up with a preview post. I’d approximate that, right now, about 70% of the anime reviews we write are of series less than a year old. These are the types of reviews that would get preview posts open for comment. I’d also imagine that the majority of comments will be disagreement/agreement type comments, or discussion of the source material, while “feedback” posts would be secondary.
zzeroparticle
I figured that if people wanted to comment on the reviews themselves, nothing is really there to stop them from joining the forums (save for maybe the time it takes to register) and put their thoughts down regarding a review. That’s what I effectively did with Shadowmage’s review with Bokurano. Otherwise, my thoughts echo pakxenon’s thoughts above. Perhaps a suggestion would be to place a link at the bottom of each review to a thread on the forums if that’s feasible. At the very least, it’s a way to shoot for the sort of interactivity between the reviewers and readers that you seem to be looking for.
This was our thinking when we first started using Wordpress as our site’s engine. I thought it was all well and good, and went along with it, but here we are two years later, and forum activity hasn’t exactly taken off (though it has improved a little recently). My guess is that people find it a pain in the ass to register on the forums, and then try to set themselves up in a small community. (Small communities can be just as intimidating as big communities, since newbies stick out like a sore thumb… one of the reasons why I hate the Introductions forum. It just doesn’t help the situation. Making a thread in the Introductions forum is like putting a big giant sign above your head saying “look at me, I’m a noob. I’m trying to fit in by drawing as much attention to myself as possible”.) People don’t need to register to post comments on the Wordpress, and if they do it regularly enough, who knows, maybe they’ll find that next step of registering for the forums a bit less intimidating. Works in theory.
zzeroparticle
Any plans on what to do with the music reviews section? I presume it’s left for dead at this point unless someone steps in to serve as a reviewer for that section. Personally, if that section were to be revived, I’d like to see a change in the formatting, but seeing as how there isn’t really much activity in this area, this isn’t going to be your biggest concern at this time.
Funny that the music section was brought up. To answer the question, no, no plans at the moment. The challenge is finding a reviewer, either in our current staff, or outside, dedicated enough to contribute. Two, preferably. Changing the format is worth thinking about… until one realizes that that would mean going through all the current reviews and revamping them. I cringe at the idea of having to do that. I think the current format is ok, though… I think/hope it gives the reader an idea whether they want to listen to the album or not, which is the whole point.
As I quit and Dheu is AWOL, the music section has been suffering. It is a very hard section to write for as well, seeing as no one releases shitty OSTs (which is what I wrote for) and you don’t generally hear about crappy Japanese bands or their CDs.
Soundtracks is my bane. I want to get rid of it, but I was shot down last time I brought it up with the staff, and haven’t had the impetus to bring it up again. My problem with soundtracks is that the reviews are hard to write, the source material is boring (let’s face it, when was the last time we heard a mind-blowing soundtrack. Sure, there are mind-blowing composers in anime, but music on soundtracks are manufactured to complement scenes and, as such, will only very rarely be as good as organic albums) and most of the time I find I say all I want to say about a soundtrack with a single sentence in the relevant anime review. Soundtrack reviews are boring and hard to write, and not all that much better to read.
zzeroparticle
Actually, I can think of some rather lackluster soundtracks. Kenji Kawai’s work on the Higurashi soundtrack just weren’t all that memorable.
Believe it or not, I actually came within a hair’s breadth of writing a review for the Higurashi soundtrack back when it was fresh off the presses. I’d have given in a “Below Average”. Kawai is a great composer, but this particular soundtrack was boring, other than a few tracks, and it had no sense of flow or coherence as an album. Most of the tracks were just filler. I love his F/SN OST, though. I can actually listen to that like an album, which is a real rarity for anime soundtracks.
gaguri
I’m also wondering about NHRW’s expansion into the field of manga.
We haven’t forgotten about manga. The problem is that no one has the time and/or will to sit down and fix the reviews up. We intend to get around to it eventually (I should probably say “I intend to get around to it eventually”), but I don’t consider it a burning issue. Once the section is brought up to scratch, I’m not sure what will happen to it. I’d like to think people would contribute to it, but I see nothing guaranteeing that.
Manga is like a lot of things on our site… we have these huge ambitions and ideas for the section, but none of the time, dedication or willpower to get these ideas off the ground. Maintaining a site like this isn’t easy, believe me. This time I’ll try to respond to comments as quickly as I can (or feel like :p).
“Also, I should comment on Kurier being the first person I’ve read who didn’t worship Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto as though it were God’s gift to music. xD” - zzeroparticle
Okay, you got me. When did I talk about Rach’s 2nd Piano Concerto. I can’t find it and this makes me feel stupid.
“That’s because Kurier has no taste for music. Seriously, how the hell can you not love Rach.” - gaguri
For the last time Niner, Lithium Flower is a shitty song.
No, seriously, I have no background in music what so ever. The fact I reviewed OSTs was pretty much like Bush being president. That was another issue with the music section, the dedicated reviewer (myself) didn’t have a music background.
gaguri is C0MPL3X
To Kurier:
Check your review for the Gankutsuou - Classical Compilation. Specifically, Track 7 - Piano Kyousoukyoku Part 2 – I. Moderato (Melody No. 1) which you liked far less than the others. Out of all the pieces there, I loved track 7 the most, but my opinions are going to be slanted since I’m an admitted Rach fanboy. It’s admittedly not a stellar recording, but it works.
To Sorrow:
When I suggested the format change, I was thinking of giving reviewers the option of doing “The Good” and “The Bad” as well as just a general overall impression while touching briefly on more tracks. For a good example of what I mean, I’d use http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks1.html as an example of the kind of review style that I think works better for certain soundtracks. I just think having “The Good” and “The Bad” can be restrictive depending on the particular soundtrack.
For what it’s worth, there are quite a few soundtracks that have come out that I’d consider mind-blowing. Red Garden ranks really high atop the list of the more recent ones as does Seirei no Moribito and Le Chevalier D’Eon. The ARIA soundtracks (both Animation and Natural) have been quite superb and are followed up by a wonderful piano arrangement in the form of Stagione. And of course, the Gunslinger Girl soundtrack remains my favorite soundtrack of all time for its classical melodies which can stand really well on its own as well as in the context of the series itself. Same can be said for the Kenshin: Seisōhen soundtrack which I consider to be Taku Iwasaki at his best.
Before I go too far off-topic, it’s an area I’d like to see developed a bit further and I’m willing to contribute to it if there’s sufficient interest from readers (instead of doing it for self-serving reasons). Though if that comes to pass, I’d also have to disclose that like Kurier, I’ve no formal background in music save for one semester in college where I mostly slept through all of the lectures.
As far as site activity goes, the proposal to allow comments on the preview pages of the review is a step in the right direction for obtaining a greater degree of interactivity for visitors. I don’t know whether whatever you’re using to track site traffic can monitor how long users stay on a certain page or read a certain review before moving on to someplace else, but that’d be a nice statistic to know.
“gaguri is C0MPL3X”
I know, I was just making myself laugh at an old joke. ;_; I’m so ronery.
I guess I did write about Rach’s 2nd thingy. Crappy song was crappy. Regardless, your suggestion about how to change the format is an interesting one, but like SK said, it would be a pain (not as much as a pain as, say, re-doing the Anime review section, but it’d still be a pain).
Wait, you actually wanted us to comment? Well, I have nothing against what you have proposed… Actually on second thought let me break down what I think you’re proposing
1) Integrate the blogs to the main page.
I think this is a wonderful idea, and I wonder why it hasn’t happened sooner. What’s the point for a whole separate page for a blog when nobody is going to bother to click it? Integrating the blogs to the mainsite would require almost no effort since it uses the same system we are using now except on the front page.
2)Preview of reviews
My main concern with this is summed up by the question, “how?” Are we going to post just the first paragraph? Or the first few paragraphs? I know that it’ll be fine for some reviews, but other reviews are written so that each paragraph is so heavily dependent on each other that it won’t be plausible. If we do post the entire review, why not just release it formally?
Anyways, when I find the time, I’ll work on debunking your 70% statistic.
Shadowmage
70% is an approximation. It really doesn’t matter what the real number is… which is why I’m too lazy to work it out.
On 2): I think, first paragraph, synopsis and highlights.
I thought previews were going show reviews in their entierty. First paragraph may make some controversial statement, which are only backed up by the following paragraphs. Is there a point in making comments that disagree/agree with those statements when we are not even able to read exactly why a certain reviewer made them in the first place? I mean, I guess we readers can speculate and discuss why the reviewer have thought this and that about this anime, but in the end, we won’t find that out until we read the rest, and I don’t think reveiwers will be bothered to give any explanations except maybe ‘read the review when it comes out’.
A preview is definitely necessary when it comes to Blog Aesthetics and Logic. It’s difficult to draw attention to a review with a single link to it and no introduction, especially on a format that relies on the front page as being the ship’s figurehead (which we were all along, strangely). I think with previews (which lead to the full review after a few lines, of course) would aid in making the site more visual, as I have suggested in the past. Along the same lines, increasing the aesthetic value of the website would do much in “reinventing” NHRV and attract new readers. I mean be liberal with the images. Change up the layout. There’s plenty of things.
~_~;; Previews of Reviews… doesn’t that seem a bit… redundant? I’d have to see what you actually mean when you implement this system. I’d agree with Tama; our format seems a bit too acedemic. We should probably switch it up a bit to make it look more attractive.
Here’s my thing with the music section: It’s what I was originally admitted for; I should probably write more on it. I realize this, but there’s just no motivation to do so since most people come to our site to look at the anime reviews anyway. Soundtracks are a different story, but I have no idea how to go about doing them. Perhaps we should just scrap the music section. It just doesn’t seem right meshing anime and J-pop together; those two things should always be kept separate. Also, since the bulk of Japanese music is released as singles, and not albums… it’d be way more advantageous to us as reviewers AND as readers to review singles instead of albums, since, ultimately, Japanese albums are usually just contemplations of singles with shitty songs thrown into the mix.
Rather I think we should focus on getting the manga section up and running. I’d be willing to write for that as much as possible… seeing as how much I love manga. ~_~
You know, I might as well just start translating ero doujin and releasing them with NHRV plugs.
In all seriousness, I still think that we’re a bit too all over the place. Instead, we should just focus on one thing… especially with the really small amount of manpower we have now, I don’t think we’re ready or capable of taking on the responsibility of writing for so many different sections.
Another way, i guess, to use this blog is that we should just start posting small blurbs. Images, whatever, this is all too formalized. Blogs shouldn’t be this formalized, I think. We should just have something to say and say it here. A sort of thinking space that may be amusing for our readers. We all sound like old men publishing papers, not like anime fans who are enthusiastic and love what we do. That’s all, I think.