Frogboy, what do YOU think of the new site?

You have aked for and received boatloads of responses from us, mostly good, some bad; but what do you think of the new site and how it is running so far?
6,595 views 23 replies
Reply #1 Top

Overall I like the new site.  I am not totally satisfied with it yet though.

Here are things I think we need:

1) We need volunteers. Lots of them. I would like to eventually see moderators in charge of every topic and every skin library. They would moderate (i.e. enforce the posted rules) but also be in charge of making their section be successful and popular. That is what I've seen other communities do and it is (IMO) the best way to ensure WC's independence from any corporate power.

2) I'm not satisfied with the speed yet.  I help moderate on Neowin.net. THAT is how fast the forums and WC parts need to be.

3) There are numberous bugs throughout the site.  Example - I can't currently go to the new sites list and view by date when sites were made. I sent out an email to some people telling them about the new site creation but I can't tell if there's been an increase.

4) I want to provide more incentives for people to link to us.  Like have a "Site Roll" type thing where the top 5 referring sites of the day get home page coverage (other than search engines).

5) I want to see MORE skins and MORE sections.  I would love a Trillian section but I'm not going to have one put up until Trillian agrees to link to WC in a reasonably prominent way. Otherwise we're just paying $$$ to act as a free marketing channel for them. Needs to be a two way street. Half our office uses Trillian in one form or other so I believe such a section would be popular but we want their users coming to us too not just our users going to them. 

Craeonics has rightly pointed out that the # of little skinnable programs has gone down and that's a big negative. We need to find more apps to put up. XFire looks promising but same problem on the linking (yes I do contact these guys).  What about Mozilla skins?

6) The Personal pages are too slow to bring up. I want to my frogboy.wincustomize.com my home page but it comes up too slow when I bring up my browser. So I can't make it my home page. It has to be very very fast.

7) RSS. I would like to see RSS feeds for everything. Skin libraries, articles, forums, you name it.

8) I'd like to see expanded scope in the forums and articles. But at the same time, I don't want us to become some generic site. We are supposed to be a tech site that targets Windows customization. Perhaps more JoeUser integration woudl help.

9) Need to find more ways to get people to become premium subscribers.  Right now, Stardock is still picking up half the tab for WinCustomize.  If we could find a way to double our subscriptions, WC could become more independent.

10) We need to integrate a chat area into WC so that people can hang out on #wincustomize on irc.stardock.com (people already hang out on #stardock on irc.stardock.com).

Reply #2 Top
I believe that one of the things that makes this site the cutting edge best is your desire for it always to be a bit better; no complacency or stagnation. I again applaude your efforts and those working with you!!
Reply #3 Top
Sounds good. Let's make it happen.

Reply #4 Top
What about Mozilla skins?


If you look on deviantART, the most downloaded file on the ENTIRE site is a Firefox skin. Please consider a Firefox section, I would really really love one here on WC. :]
Reply #5 Top
WOM will volunteer for cursorXP or walls.
Reply #6 Top
I'll moderate walls and WMP skins!
Reply #7 Top
I would volunteer to moderate Object Dock or Logons.
Reply #8 Top
HUS: Where is this Firefox skin at? The only thing I can find are Mozilla skins and not much has been made for it.
Reply #9 Top
Found it.  I agree. We should have a Firefox skin area.
Reply #10 Top
Sound like it's taking off big time Brad. I would volunteer for the DesktopX section with pleasure.
Reply #11 Top
PixelPirate volunteers for the ObjectDock icons section.
Reply #12 Top
I would like to volunteer for the CursorXP section if you still need someone.
Reply #13 Top
I'll gladly volunteer for anything available, let me know Brad
Reply #14 Top
Black Xero is really happy to see new site in action .... waiting for 3rd Jan 05
Reply #15 Top
and will be very happy to offer his services for the moderation of WC News
Reply #16 Top
joeKnowledge voleenteer for the OS Customization news section!!!
Reply #17 Top
Speaking of FireFox, check out this:
http://joeknowledge.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?SID=2069&AID=59287

Just wrote that today.
Reply #18 Top
I guess I can volunteer my services as a moderator here at WC.
Reply #19 Top
I'm still holding my hand up for internet or pc sections.
Reply #21 Top
I am a network administrator by trade and I own 2 websites... lemme know if there is anything I can do for you Brad. I would be willing to post in forums or keep sections moderated.
Reply #22 Top
hehe ...if/when you get through that list above, and (might) find yourself still looking for more ...I'm still up for the 'general' forum.

Whole bunch of names up there who've been around longer, and would be far more experienced than moi
Reply #23 Top
Whole bunch of names up there who've been around longer, and would be far more experienced than moi



ditto. but am willing