GateWorld In 2009 - VOICE YOUR IDEAS!
We're rethinking GateWorld for 2009, and we want your ideas!
Please post between now and January 1, 2009!
Don't worry -- we're not talking about a massive overhaul of anything. But as we head into the home stretch of 2008, the closing of the Atlantis chapter and the beginning of a new one, and now in our tenth year on the Internet, we are taking stock of what GateWorld does (and what it doesn't do), and how we can do it better. Think of it as a creative "audit."
David and I have always been committed to the proposition that this is your site. It's by fans for fans, and your visiting, participating, and contributing is what has made it what it is.
Please post your ideas and opinions on the various elements of GateWorld below, or e-mail webmaster -at- gateworld.net if you would rather respond privately. Two caveats:
(1) This is not a debate or discussion thread. We're not looking for you to respond to what someone else has posted unless it's to piggyback and add a related suggestion or idea. If you don't care for an idea, just move on and suggest an alternative.
Likewise, this isn't the place to debate about Atlantis, Universe, etc. There are lots of places on the forum for those conversations, and it should go without saying that as a site dedicated long-term to the entire Stargate franchise, we'll be very heavily featuring the new show come next summer.
(2) Negative critiques of the way things are currently done are fine, if they are paired with a constructive suggestion. We're more interested in finding some new ideas than just hearing about what bugs you.
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Please answer as many or as few as you want! (Don't feel like you have to respond under each one, if you don't have something to say.) Here's what we want to hear your thoughts and ideas about:
SITE LOOK & FEEL
Are there elements of the site's design you feel could use a new look? Think about things like color choices, backgrounds, fonts, feature headers, the main navigation menu, etc.
THE HOME PAGE
We've crammed a lot of different kinds of things on the home page, from the latest news and features to the video player, TV schedule, poll box, etc. Is there something missing? Or is there too much, and you would rather see a more simplified entry portal?
THE EPISODE GUIDES
Other than the fact that I just don't have time to keep up on all the episode analysis week-to-week, what do you like or dislike about the SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, Movies, and Infinity sections? We've recently done some remodeling here to give each show the sense of having an almost stand-alone site (a la StarTrek.com). What would you like to see added, moved, redesigned, or done differently?
NEWS COVERAGE
The daily Stargate news coverage is the lifeblood of GateWorld, and these headlines keep the more casual readers of the site coming back more than anything else we do. The more frequently we publish in the news section, the better our traffic is. This is a key area for making some changes in 2009, and we would like to start publishing more and different kinds of things here (editorials? episode previews?), and make use of the many volunteer writers who want to write for the site but don't necessarily know what to do.
I'm also interested to hear if you like the new comment threads on news stories, or if you think they have become more trouble than they are worth.
INTERVIEWS & SPECIAL FEATURES
We've proudly brought you interviews with everyone from main cast members and producers to guest stars and production personnel, and we plan to continue to do so. We're also proud that unlike most sites, we publish audio/video as much as humanly possible and we publish transcripts in their entirety -- so you get the whole conversation, not just a write-up of it. But are there new ideas for how we can approach them? We're aware that we've now interviewed the same people enough times that interviews often start to sound the same.
You might have some ideas on how we approach the interview itself (the sorts of questions we ask), or how it is presented on the site, or who we are talking to, or new ways you can interact with that material.
THE STARGATE OMNIPEDIA
We're obviously planning to update the Omnipedia through Season Five of Atlantis, The Ark of Truth, and Continuum -- hopefully before Universe premieres next summer. Should there be new sections or appendices? New kinds of info you can find on each entry page? A new way to navigate? Different ways of cross-linking to this material throughout the Web site?
GATEWORLD FORUM
You're here right now! While we are limited to what the vBulletin software can do, we're always taking suggestions -- organization and folders, rules and policies, etc. As much as 90 percent or more of people who visit GateWorld never step foot in our forum, so the best ideas will include clever ways to integrate the forum with the main site.
THE GATEWORLD PODCAST
If you listen, why do you listen? If you don't listen, why not? Now that we have 20+ episodes under our belts, we are thinking about just what the podcast ought to be and how we might retool the format. (Regular podcast listeners, watch for a full listener survey coming in the next few weeks.)
GATEWORLD PLAY
David has been chugging along creating daily content in seven categories for our streaming video channel. Any ideas for a new category of videos? Are there some that you especially watch for, or others that you find yourself always skipping? Is daily too much?
THE STARGATE IMAGE GALLERY
We've just recently launched a massive Coppermine gallery with episodic photography and hundreds of DVD screen grabs for every single episode. We've also started to use the gallery for conventions. How else could we use it?
THE STORE
The site does need to make money in order to stay afloat, and you guys have been terrific about making Amazon purchases through GateWorld, clicking ads that interest you, etc. The Store page and product integration throughout the site has always been a bit of a challenge, and we could certainly use a brilliant idea or two.
ANYTHING ELSE?
We don't want to limit your creative thinking by only asking you about existing sections. Is there something totally outside of the box, something we've just never done at all, that you would like to see? New sections? RSS feeds? A mobile GateWorld? Free coloring books with every purchase?!?
Here is is helpful to think about other sites that you visit on a regular basis -- what they look like, and how they present you with what you are looking for. Feel free to post a link and say, "I like how they do this or that."
To reply, just hit the "Quote" button and delete everything except the bold section headers.
Thanks in advance for your ideas! We're excited about 2009 and the changes, big or small, we decide to implement. Remember, it's "YOUR complete guide to Stargate!"
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