Happy Blogiversary!
As of Friday, October 19th, the Paizo Blog will have been in action for six whole months. There’s been laughter, there’ve been tears (mostly mine), there’ve been sneak previews, setting information, contests, and a boatload of new art, and it’s generally been a good time for all involved.
But now we’re coming up on that crucial six-month mark, that time in every relationship where we have to look hard at each other and ask some serious questions: Are you satisfied? Are your needs being met? Do you think the blog has what it takes to keep you interested in the long run, or are we just a casual thing?
While we're always open to suggestions, this thread in particular is your chance to let us know what you like most about the blog, where we could improve, and what you’d like to see more of in the months to come, so why not take 30 seconds and let us know what you think? Communication is, after all, the key to a healthy relationship, and we’d really like to make this work....
A snippet of the Blog on the front page of the site. I like the store blog, but I wanna hear from you guys (and gals)!
Frequency and/or set days for product announcements. Monday general Paizo goodies, Wednesdays GameMastery, Friday Pathfinder, something like that. :P
I have been very satisfied with the blog. The two main reasons I am satisfied with the blog are the following:
* Regular communication about where the company is headed - what we as customers can expect.
* Meaningful support materials for your products.
Keep these two elements in focus, and I'm happy. I do like Lilith's idea with regard to a more organized schedule of information releases. With that said, I like the somewhat less formal, though still professional, feel we have now.
Best
Blog good.
Blog make me check site daily.
Blog tell me what to buy.
I buy it.
Everyone happy.
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Yes, Happy Blogiversary!
Checking the site for Blog updates is one of my daily rituals. I very much appreciate the news/details/hints/notes/art/previews/commentary, all of it. So I guess I would say more of everything is what I want.
It seems like a lot of authors mention that the finished product (although more polished) has material cut. This stuff might make fun Blog entries after the fact...
Thanks again for all the hard work!
I check for blog updates every day. I think you do a great job of communicating general company info and product news/support. Thanks!
I read the blog via Bloglines. I like it! I read every post.
My only real gripe is that you use relative URLs in your posts, therefore I cannot follow any links when I read the article in my feed reader. The result? "…head on over to the Blog Feedback thread on our messageboards…" will point to http://www.bloglines.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/websiteFeedback/blogFeed back
Grrr. And it happens with all internal links: Previews, screenshots, forums, products: So everytime I want to click a Paizo link, there is a little aggravating moment. So if there's one thing you'll change, make internal links work in the HTML used in your RSS feed. Use absolute URLs.
I'm another one who checks the blog daily. However, I'd like to be able to have Google Reader check it for me like it checks messageboard posts here. Giving the blog a proper RSS feed would be great (I think Gary mentioned it's on his miles-long to do list). However, I may just be missing something, seeing as Kensanata says that you can use bloglines to check it. Anyway, the normal way I've been trying hasn't worked.
Other than that, I'm really enjoying the blog. The art and previews are probably my favourite part of it, and that alternate map of Magnimar was cool. Unlabelled/alternate maps and material that had to be cut from the modules is something I would like to see more of.
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I don't look at the blogs a lot, but I watch the messageboards for new discussions. Sometimes the best way for me to do that is open up the Paizo Blog page and look at the right column for recent threads, so eventually I do glance at the middle and see what's there :)
That said, I'll say your blogs are not intrusive and are handled with honesty and respect. I do understand you're trying to sell products, so I expect some hyping up, but it isn't overdone, and that's a good thing. It speaks volumes about your site as a whole.
After seeing so many good examples of what your people have done, your credit is well deserved. Whatever it is you're doing, keep doing it.
Evil Genius likey the blog. The only problem is that I usually find out about updates to it on the message boards... I think having a snippet from the blog on the Paizo homepage (which, incidentally, is my browser's homepage ^_^) would be mega-cool.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Yes, Yes. Happy Blogiversary! Hip Hip Hooray!
I would say that considering I have;
a) Paizo set up as one of my Homepages
b) I visit every day (sometimes multiple times) to wait for the next blog update
and
c) I have bought a fair amount of stuff off you guys even though I can get it for the same price faster over here (Australia)
that you are doing a Bang Up Job™ and just to... well... Keep It Up!
One point that I especially like about Paizo is the Interaction between the Staff and Customers here. Better than at my FLGSs.
Customer Service is really good here as well, which is a big selling point. I have had a couple of problems with Orders, but they have been resolved quickly and (relaxed) professionally which is good.
Chief Technical Officer
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I read the blog via Bloglines. I like it! I read every post.
My only real gripe is that you use relative URLs in your posts, therefore I cannot follow any links when I read the article in my feed reader. The result? "…head on over to the Blog Feedback thread on our messageboards…" will point to http://www.bloglines.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/websiteFeedback/blogFeed back
Grrr. And it happens with all internal links: Previews, screenshots, forums, products: So everytime I want to click a Paizo link, there is a little aggravating moment. So if there's one thing you'll change, make internal links work in the HTML used in your RSS feed. Use absolute URLs.
We have reasons for using internal links throughout our site, but Gary thinks he can absolutify* them in the RSS feed. It's on his to-do list.
*Hey, I made a word!
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Chief Technical Officer
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A snippet of the Blog on the front page of the site. I like the store blog, but I wanna hear from you guys (and gals)!
Also on the to-do list, along with some other layout changes. (You know what would make that go faster, Lilith? You could learn Java and WebObjects and let us hire you....)
A snippet of the Blog on the front page of the site. I like the store blog, but I wanna hear from you guys (and gals)!Also on the to-do list, along with some other layout changes. (You know what would make that go faster, Lilith? You could learn Java and WebObjects and let us hire you....)
Yes Lilith! Time to get to work! Hury up and learn those or do I have to bring out the wet noodle again, oh Great Goddess of Strife, Misery, and Cooking?!?
The blog is my reason for living...I'm serious.
I love it! Keep up the great work James! You are KING BLOG THE MAGNIFICENT! You and your pudenda...er...phallus? ;-)
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Happy Blogiversary!!!!
The Paizo Blog is a great feature--and I'm sure I could detail specific accolades, but I'd just be reiterating what the others have said (and I'm lazy). But it's things like today's entry (Valeros' half-page character sheet) that really make me smile (I've been asking for more detail about his backstory, so this is a real treat--thank you guys and gals), and it just keeps me wanting to check out each new entry as they arrive. Kudos, Paizo, kudos!
It would be nice if the blog included vouchers for a new car.
Nothing fancy, like a BMW or Lexus - that's just greedy.
More internet content is good. I like it.
However, I'd rather have online supplements than blog entries. I want maps that I can use with MapTool with my face to face group. War of the Burning Sky has these...
And I'm still waiting for the conversion notes for Savage Tide. My group is at 17th level and I've put the game on hiatus as a matter of principal at this point. I was promised Keith Baker, dangit!
Content, I think it's just fine. Plenty to keep us satisfied and our pocketbooks empty. I like the "random" features so I'm not concerned about having a specific day of the week.
Layout? I'd suggest two things.
1) Links to individual posts broken out by date. I find that it would be easier to find older posts (I couldn't tell you how helpful it is when I pull up the page and show it to my players). Example:
10/18/07 - Happy Blogiversary
10/17/07 - Bigger is better!
10/16/07 - Meet the Competition
etc.
2) Limit the main page to a number of blog entries (like 5). At the end of the month the page gets a little "heavy" on the load time with the images.
Keep up the good work!
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2) Limit the main page to a number of blog entries (like 5). At the end of the month the page gets a little "heavy" on the load time with the images.
I'd prefer that at any time the last week or two's entries were on display - this would be of benefit to the more casual readers who might only read the blog once a week or so, and might otherwise miss stuff.
This may sound heretical, but I'd like to see less previews of upcoming products and more supplemental material for existing products. But I know this would cause more work for the Paizo staff...
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Customer service at its best.
Straight forward with customers, No Hype about promises of up comming products then ducking out of sight and not answering any questions nor delivering on the promises.
The Blog serves those purposes.
Although I have no interest in running a Pathfinder Campaign I sure can use The Artwork and Maps in my "Homebrewed" World.
Maybe Paizo wouldn't mind throwing a Book of "NPC"s out with all of the NPCs from the Moduals and Paths in a Single Source. This would be a availble source for DM with Time constaints.
Alot of the Materials you are offering in the Blog is easily adaptable in any setting.
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Links to individual posts broken out by date. I find that it would be easier to find older posts (I couldn't tell you how helpful it is when I pull up the page and show it to my players). Example:
10/18/07 - Happy Blogiversary
10/17/07 - Bigger is better!
10/16/07 - Meet the Competition
etc.
Or even better, have them sorted out by subject/product line so we can easily access all of those that interest us.
For exemple, I'm sure any new Paizonian (and many older ones too!) coming onto Golarion ground would likely be interrested to go through all previous PF and Modules blog entries. And spot (DC 10, and yeah, you can "take 10") that there is a calendar offered and an errata for Magnimar map's location names, to name only two. And have past spoilers of the Modules to see which they are interested to buy.
Right now, we have only 6 months to go back, but the list will get longer realy quick, so you probably don't want those blog entries to be buried and forgotten.
Blog entries are very interresting because they let us know what's comming, and let us discover new products that could be interresting to us (and would let you get more of our money ;p ). Keep it alive, keep the diversity, and most of all, keep teasing me, I like it!
QFT. Backrubs for all!Also on the to-do list, along with some other layout changes. (You know what would make that go faster, Lilith? You could learn Java and WebObjects and let us hire you....)
...could you have a job waiting for the hubby, too? 'Cause then I'd be able to give everybody backrubs! :D
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I love the blog. Like many others I check it everyday. One of the things I look for is when Pathfinder and modules are shipping out. I do not mind previews at all - they help me figure out what is coming up and what I want to buy (if you check that would be nearly everything since the whole Pathfinder thing began.
I really enjoy the additional content that occasionally shows up.
I travel a lot and if I do not have the laptop with me (as I do tonight) I start getting ansy after a couple of days of not being able to check the blog and the message boards.
Keep up the great work. I guess that I should adjust my homepage from the paizo main page to the blog page. I hadn't really thought of it until this discussion started...
Peace all...
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Or even better, have them sorted out by subject/product line so we can easily access all of those that interest us.
I was just about to suggest this very same thing - sort by subject/product line would be fantastic! I'm often searching for an old blog post, but have to click and scan through multiple pages to find it.
Though Pathfinder/GameMastery only arrive in my mailbox once a month, the blogs keep me checking back daily for previews and extra content, keeping me engaged with the setting. I love it!
Sorry for the threadjack, but while I'm in the feedback giving mood, a couple of other things that have been on my mind:
1) Could there please be a display/hide option to filter out PBP posts from the Messageboards most recent posts menu that appears on every page? Nothing against all those participating in PBP campaigns, but they're kinda cluttery for anyone not interested in reading PBP posts.
2) Could there be a way to display dates in DD/MM/YYYY format for foreign customers, or spell month names out in full so that days and months aren't confused? I know it's a simple thing, but it still does my head in rearranging dates in my head (Aussie customer here) when software should be capable of making dates user-friendly based on country of origin.
Cheers :-)
I really have to echo what has been said before. The blog is an excellent resource, the information presented is always interesting, and I love the supplemental materials and design insights. But the most important thing, IMO, is: it provides us (customers) with the feeling that we're somehow part of the whole design process. The excellent connectivity between "users" and "developers" is really one of the items that define Paizo.
Keep up the good work, and here's to many more blogiversaries! :)
I love the blog, but I'd like to see more previews like we got for the first Pathfinder volume. I want goblin preview-style posts for the dominant monster in each volume. Where is my ghoul fluff? I want ogre fluff! And more goblin songs, always more goblin songs!
I'd like to be able to have Google Reader check it for me like it checks messageboard posts here. […] I may just be missing something, seeing as Kensanata says that you can use bloglines to check it. Anyway, the normal way I've been trying hasn't worked.
I just checked my Google Reader and found that it handles http://paizo.com/paizo/blog&xml=atom just fine. Perhaps you just missed the RSS buttons all over the Paizo site? They have them for all sorts of things…
And the internal links work. I guess Google Reader is smarter about guessing the base URL. :)
"What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs
Rolls over your neighbor's dog?
What's great for a snack and fits on your back?
It's Blog, Blog, Blog!
It's Blog, Blog, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood.
It's Blog, Blog, it's better than bad, it's good!"
I love Ren and Stimpy, and the Blog. Good source of information!
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I love the blog, and check it every day. There are two improvements I'd like to see.
First, archiving the blogs - and I see some one else has already mentioned this. You put some very useful information in your blogs, like the Golarion calendar and the Magnimar map errata. It's useful to be able to find this stuff even after it's off the front page. It would be especially useful if you could tag the blog articles with subject matter, so we could look for all blog posts about a given module, or given area of Golarion, etc.
Second, a comment section. Sure, we have the forums, but one nice thing about blogs is the ability to have comments with the post (preferably hidden until you click on the 'open comments' link.) Alternatively, if you want to use your forum, have a link automatically placed with each post to a new forum topic about today's blog.
Thanks for listening,
Drew Garrett
I just rolled out a change to our RSS code. Links in the blog entries should now be absolute rather than relative.
Yay to the All-Seeing Eye!
*glomps the Eye, gives him snickerdoodle cookies*
I check the blog daily, and I sometimes check it many times throughout the same day since I've spotted such changes in the same day before. I enjoy the sneak peaks, the GenCon photos and video, and the background fluff and crunch about Golarian.
For anything that involves updates, changes, information, crunch, fluff or anything else in the Pathfinder world that fleshes out the world but won't make it to the printer in a future product, I'd love for there to be some sort of consolidated, searchable location that such info might migrate to.
Love the blog, long live the blog. Yep I check it daily too. Also, who let Nicolas out of his cage?!
Keep up the great work James! You are KING BLOG THE MAGNIFICENT! You and your pudenda...er...phallus? ;-)
Nick Logue, everybody - out there every day, making sure that not even my job is worksafe... : P
Also, thanks for the comments, everybody! Knowing that people are actually *reading* this thing makes it a lot more fun. :) I'll see what I can do about getting you something nice and juicy for the weekend....
The Paizo blog is right up there with the Candlekeep forum. Almost. Which says a lot.
I love the blog. It gives me a reason to check the site every morning (ok, 8pm EST every day: you guys always seem to update right before quitting time in your timezone.)
I'd very much like to see it continue in the future, previewing Paizo products and art, sharing development stories, revealing easter eggs, announcing ship dates, and linking to any web enhancements for other Paizo releases. (Heck, even if it becomes like Magic Arcana in terms of useful content, it would be a great reason to check up once a day.
(Note to self, get book for WebObjects. Java and SQL I have.)
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The Paizo blog is right up there with the Candlekeep forum. Almost. Which says a lot.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
I'd like to see the Paizo blog sorted, just for archival reasons. When we go to read a new blog, seeing everything isn't bad. If looking for a specific post on Pathfinder, having to go through all the posts is annoying. So categorize it into something like Events, GameMastery, and Pathfinder would help (I'm sure there are probably other categories that fit in there too but those are quick examples.) Allow for multiple categories, so that way GenCon news about Pathfinder can be found in the Events section as well as the Pathfinder section.
I just checked my Google Reader and found that it handles http://paizo.com/paizo/blog&xml=atom just fine. Perhaps you just missed the RSS buttons all over the Paizo site? They have them for all sorts of things…
And the internal links work. I guess Google Reader is smarter about guessing the base URL. :)
Hmm... well on the blog page I saw "Top Sellers", "New", and "Upcoming" but they didn't help. Anyway, I tried adding in the one you just showed me and it didn't work... so I tried again and it did. Not sure why it didn't work the first time.
So, thanks! Now I can read all the bloggy goodness right from Google Reader. Hooray!