As I'm listening to the Podside episode 53 where Rixx Javix, Marc Saurus, and others discuss the future of the Eve Blog Pack and Eve Bloggers (as well as the hubabaloo of Rixx's post) a thought keeps popping in my head that has been rattling around in there since Crazy Kinux gave up the reins of the Blog Pack years ago.
The Eve Blog Pack has outlived its usefulness. We should let it die.
Let me qualify that before the torches are lit and pitchforks raised. I'm one of the longest running members on the Blog Pack and I'm fairly confident any iteration will include my blog as long as I'm playing and writing about Eve. I benefit from that membership in terms of new readers and exposure.
But the original goal of the Eve Blog Pack was to bring together the blogs that posted the most quality posts about Eve Online into one list so that new people looking for Eve blogs had access to the "best" ones (with "best" being subjective to Crazy Kinux's opinions and usually centered around quantity of Eve posts).
Let's be clear: it was and still is kind of a popularity contest and was useful in the beginning for focusing new readership in an easy manner, back when the number of Eve blogs in total were under 50.
The community has grown far beyond those humble beginnings. The Eve Blog Pack, which started as an inclusive list to foster improved readership, has become an exclusive list which tends to foster more competition in order to get on the list and gain the benefits of more exposure to new readership. To be frank, it kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I remember high school, I remember what its like being on the outside looking in.
So maybe we let it die.
INSTEAD, let's focus our energies on something that came later and had a bigger impact for a larger number of blogs and is inclusive rather than exclusive. Let's focus on the EveBloggers.com website and supporting it as the central resource for people looking for Eve Blogs to read. Let's build in the upvoting for posts so that even obscure new blogs that post something brilliant can get the exposure they deserve. Integrate more with the podcasts, newsites, tweetfleet, etc. Let's work together to bring it all together.
And somehow I don't think we need the Eve Blog Pack anymore to do this. I think we are getting bound by nostalgia and tradition to maintain it. Time to let it go.
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Sad as it is, I have to agree. I had reservations when I was first included, but at the same time was happy with the recognition. That's the problem, I'm not sure it's anything more than an ego stroke. EVE-Bloggers.com, on the other hand, is a service that is equally useful to all and should be cherished. I look forward to what Marc has in store for that.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where Blog Banters sit in all this, after all, they are a related part of the EVE blogosphere traditions. I suppose as long as folk are participating, they've got an audience and a reason for existence. But I'd be interested to know what folk think and where they sit in the blogging community services spectrum.
Here's my issue with any type of "club". There will always be exclusion. The entire idea of community, at least to me, is to support and promote each other. I read many EVE blogs and while the Blog Pack and evebloggers.com have been useful to me personally, I also come across many blogs independently, sometimes from my own incoming links page, or outgoing links, other times from random google searches or the EVE Online forums, or other avenues.
ReplyDeleteMyself, I have no problem promoting another blog that I believe is worthwhile, whether I agree or support the topic at hand. I think that by supporting each other we are doing a service not just to each other but to the everchanging EVE community as well.
Remove the politics. Enter community.
Warangel = Roc Wieler but for some reason I haven't been able to use my Wordpress credentials to comment on a Blogger blog for ages AND being an idiot I'm logged in on my personal account, not Roc Wieler.
ReplyDelete