Feedback on Drabbleclassics episodes, where and how

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Drabbleclassics are select earlier Drabblecast episodes that have delightful commentary and "reanimation sauce" added.

If you're already subscribed, thank you! If not, you totally should subscribe; these old episodes are just as good on re-listen and the commentary can be funny and/or engaging and/or thought provoking.

Find Drabbleclassics:

• List of classics episodes with links to their forum threads (which link to the audio pages, in turn)
• MP3 RSS feed
• iTunes preview

How should we give feedback?
See the poll above.
Currently, we thought people would just post replies to the updated episode / Drabbleclassics thread. Each story usually has good comments from its original run and threads for stories that are now Drabbleclassics are updated and marked with a blue ribbon .

But this doesn't seem to attract much participation (maybe not many have subscribed?) and recent misplaced posts suggest this might not be the most intuitive way -- hence the poll.

Notes:

1. Option 1 is the current approach. May not be working well.
2. Options 2 and 3 are more work for your beleaguered moderator(s).
3. Option 3 might be considered more clutter to the front page, but may be the most intuitive and keeps story discussion in the Story Discussion area.

[pondspider]

I've cast my vote: 1, stick with current method.

Is there some way to mark the dividing line within the threads between original comments and those resulting from the rebroadcast? This would make things easier.

How about a dummy comment containing a graphic?

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Yeah, I suppose we could do that if enough people ask for it.
But why?
Those comments from 3 or 4 years ago are so not worth reading?

[pondspider]

Yeah, I suppose we could do that if enough people ask for it.
But why?
Those comments from 3 or 4 years ago are so not worth reading?

I'm not suggesting we igore the old comments , but I think it makes sense to have a clear visual divider between the old and new.

It's a fresh conversation (with different participants) and there may be comments on, or inspired by, the post-story review within each DC Classic.

[SpareInch]

Yeah, I suppose we could do that if enough people ask for it.
But why?
Those comments from 3 or 4 years ago are so not worth reading?

I'm not suggesting we igore the old comments , but I think it makes sense to have a clear visual divider between the old and new.

It's a fresh conversation (with different participants) and there may be comments on, or inspired by, the post-story review within each DC Classic.

But the posts all have date tags, and when people comment with reference to the post episode discussion, it looks to me very much like they say that they are commenting with reference to it.

It might help to generate more feedback if the Episode comments forum had the names of the Drabblecast and Drabbleclassics feeds in its title, like the B-Sides forum.

And I assume the relevant threads are already being bumped back up to the top of the forum when the Classics episodes go out, yes? Just to make them easier to find.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Yes, the classics are being bumped back up, and they are indexed, but the title is a problem.

Thread titles can only be 60 characters and story titles get cutoff frequently.

If we went to a format like:
"Drabblecast nnn, Drabbleclassics nn - ", that uses 38 characters before the title even starts.

How about if we re-title the Drabbleclassics like:
"Classics 8 (214) - The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk" ?

[SpareInch]

Sorry, I kind of knew I hadn't put my thoughts across very well.

What I meant was renaming the Story Discussion forum itself, so it was 'Story Discussion (Drabblecast & Classics)' or something like that, but I suppose character limits would come into play there too.

I hadn't considered renaming the threads themselves, because that really would get confusing. Once people are in the right forum, it seems reasonable to me that they would see the index posts at the top of the page and use them if they couldn't see the episode they wanted straight off.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Renaming the forum is a good idea. Done.

The titles also needed to be renamed for good "information scent" and context.

Renamed them like:
"Classics n (EP nnn) - Story Title"

This makes it much clearer what's going one with the Classics episodes, especially the 3 latest/sticky episodes up top.
It busts sorting by subject, but: (a) That was already busted for classics, (b) no one seems to use it, (c) it's handled better by the index post.

[pondspider]

Renaming the forum is a good idea. Done.

The titles also needed to be renamed for good "information scent" and context.

Renamed them like:
"Classics n (EP nnn) - Story Title"

This makes it much clearer what's going one with the Classics episodes, especially the 3 latest/sticky episodes up top.
It busts sorting by subject, but: (a) That was already busted for classics, (b) no one seems to use it, (c) it's handled better by the index post.

Coming from a software dev background, I always appreciate the thought that goes into a clear naming scheme.

For sorting purposes, how about adding some leading zeros to the episode numbers?

"Classics zzzn (EP znnn) - Story Title"

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

The EP's already have them (EG 029). It'll be awhile before we have to worry about quadruple digits.

I'll probably add a leading zero to all the Classics when we get 10 of them.

[pondspider]

My effort at a divider graphic...

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Nobody can see that image but you.

[pondspider]

Nobody can see that image but you.

Darn Internet!

How's this...

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

That's visible, thanks.
Also, since it is being discussed here and is not on topic for the story discussion, I deleted the copy of the post in the story thread.

Thank you for making a divider graphic, but that particular one seems a bit too "clashy", too likely to invoke "banner blindness", and not harmonious with Bo's forum stylings.

I'll use it if enough people want to, but consider an image that's not too "in your face".

[pondspider]

That's visible, thanks.
Also, since it is being discussed here and is not on topic for the story discussion, I deleted the copy of the post in the story thread.

Thank you for making a divider graphic, but that particular one seems a bit too "clashy", too likely to invoke "banner blindness", and not harmonious with Bo's forum stylings.

I'll use it if enough people want to, but consider an image that's not too "in your face".

I'll see if I can come up with something less clashy, and will post it here

[pondspider]

Is this too bland...

[pondspider]

Or this....

[pondspider]

Or...



I'm no artist, so I'm sure someone else can come up with a more Drabbletastic graphic

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Much better.
I'll use one of those (probably the second one), but I'd like you to make the following changes:

1. Change the text to: "This is now a classic episode, with Reanimation Serum!" .
   The "This is" helps fight ambiguity.
2. Use one of the DC fonts, like Big Ruckus.

Note that the DC art director might chime in with ideas at some point. Don't be worried that his username is StalinSays.

[pondspider]

Big Ruckus AOE, 28


Big Ruckus AOE, 38