Wednesday 16 September 2009

State of the Blog: Cloudy with a chance of blog

Wednesday 16 September 2009
The more observant amongst you may have noticed a new Label Cloud in the sidebar, replacing my vertical Label List. This is to conserve valuable space, but it should also be easier to find labels because they're all clustered in one "box" now. I've also decided to hide labels with a small number of entries that are unlikely to grow, again for space-saving reasons.

As a result, please use the Search Box at the top of the blog if you can't find a relevant label for something you're after. For example: I've hidden labels for short-lived TV series (like Jekyll or My Own Worst Enemy), so you'll have to search the blog to find those old reviews now. As most people follow DMD daily, or are taken to specific pages via a search engine, I don't envisage any of this being a problem... but let me know if you have one.

In other news...

Sometimes you can get stuck in a rut while blogging. Typing away during your free time you risk missing the bigger picture and failing to notice some things aren't working, or aren't even very popular. So, I like to turn to my readers for their opinions on things, to help keep me focused and cut out any rot that may have set in. To that end: is there anything about DMD you particularly love, hate, or have never seen the point of?

I'm particularly interested in your thoughts regarding the frequency of movie reviews, which I enjoy doing but are harder to fit into my schedule and don't attract many comments. I'm working on getting discs sent for review before national release, which should make reviews more enticing.

Similarly, do people care about Friday's box-office charts, Monday's TV Picks, or my monthly list of DVD/Blu-ray releases? Those take a particular effort to compile, but are rarely commented on -- so is it worth continuing them? Shall I change the format of them in some way, to improve them? Suggestions?

Is there anything about the blog template you dislike, or feel could be improved? If so, are you a Blogger-proficient designer willing to make me a bespoke blog, for a permanent credit and my eternal gratitude? Sorry, I can't pay you, unless we're talking £10.

Would you like to see more polls? More reviews of trailers? How about more TV news in general? Or maybe you'd like to see less of the above? Do you enjoy the times when I simply ask a topical question and get your feedback?

Would you like to see the return of features that were put on hold indefinitely, like the Saturday Short Movie season? Or would you prefer some new stuff in a similar vein? Care to suggest an idea for a feature you think would work?

Or do you just come here for the regular TV reviews and everything else is just gravy?

I'll take a lack of response as a sign everyone's happy with DMD as is, but this is your chance to help shape the blog just as the new TV season gets underway.