For Fans of the Journal Entries, a few Questions...

[elfs]

So, I have bought a co-lo. It was pretty cheap, and I don't make any promises about it's efficiency or reliability, but I am hoping it'll be faster than the site at Drizzle. The official opening date will be July 1st, at the current schedule, provided no further disasters happen between now and then. Along with the move I'm hoping to update the look and feel of the website, and provide some more interesting functionality to the system.

The obvious answer to all the questions I'm about to ask is "Just provide it and see if anyone uses it," but I'd like to get a general feel: Would you like to see a Wiki for the Pendorverse (and should there be one Wiki for the Pendorverse and another for the Aimee' series)? Should I move my blog there and use something more familiar, like Wordpress? I'll have 3GB of storage rather than 10MB (yes, that's what I'm limited to) so there will be room for other formats (PDF? PalmDoc? What else?) as well as complete ZIP collections in those formats? How about an RSS feed of the story index, so you'll know when there's a new one easily? Would you guys use a forum to discuss the stories, or not?

The question really comes down to: what should I spend my time establishing on the new server?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

(wiki)

blah. I dislike wikis. There are a few of them at work and I keep wanting to strangle people and say "just check your documentation into CVS like the rest of us. If I have changes to make, I'll edit it in cvs." But people seem to like them, so ...

It is entirely true that I'm hungry for as much Pendor as possible. I just wish it were in whatever awesome, efficient Pendorian format P'nyssa was using when she tried to organize Ken's notes with hyperlinks, instead of this insane late 20th century Terran abomination we call wiki. :-)

(blog)

LJ has gotten worse lately, especially with all the cookies that came at the same time as the enforced ".../users/foo" to "foo.livejournal.com" change, but I think I still like being able to read everything in one place.

(formats)

If plain text were available, that would be awesome. I actually have a local Journal Entries directory, with the YYYY.DDD naming convention, that I can read with "less". It's not as up to date as the web site is, so I often end up using the web site anyway. I wish it were easier to get the plain text.

I have txt2pdbdoc installed and I'm perfectly capable of using it.

(rss)

rss uses xml, and I refuse to use anything that uses xml, on principle. (except jabber, which I have to use because work uses it).

Something which you didn't mention, which I would actually be seriously interested in, is something I remember another commenter here mentioning a while ago... I know there are probably good reasons against doing this, but if there were a way to order a "life under tension" tee shirt, or anything else like that... I would treasure it.

Thank you, regardless, whatever ends up happening. A world where the Journal Entries exist, in whatever form, is better than a world without them.

[aprivatefox.livejournal.com]

A wiki would get used - the Pendorverse is big enough that there's room for archivers to crawl around and pull data together, and that's exactly the sort of thing a wiki thrives on.

To keep the Pendorverse and the Aimee' series separate, I'd try to find a wiki that supports namespaces - it would be nice to be able to cleanly interlink between them.

I'd use an RSS feed if there were one.

Blog choices are up to you, but one advantage of LiveJournal is the amount which social networking is tied to the blog - there's a significant network effect on the service, and I don't know how useful it is to you.

I probably wouldn't use a forum, especially if there were a wiki.

[(Anonymous)]

sorry to follow up to my own post here, but I just wanted to say that I actually do get a fair amount of use out of having a local, plain text, greppable copy. One recent example was trying to find the reference to Jethro Tull's Aqualung. I knew it was part of the Travellogue series, I just didn't remember which one.

[kenshardik]

I would play with a Pendor wiki.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[(Anonymous)]

I actually really like the "flipping back and forth" aspect. I'm afraid that if it got any "easier to navigate" there would be some sort of frameset involved, and that would suck.

The way it is now is very clean -- you choose a story, you read it, you click the back button, you choose another story. IMO, that's about the simplest, truest, best way of doing it.

And if you want less flipping back and forth, you always have the option of using your browser's "tabs" feature. Open each story in a new tab. That way you still have the story list open, and it's YOU that's in control of how you do your reading, not Elf. Web browsers are supposed to empower the user, not force them into any particular way of viewing the content.

[nbarnes.livejournal.com]

I loathe PDFs with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns, so you can mark me down as someone that wouldn't get any benefit. PalmDoc would be the win, though, as would a wiki.

[datapacrat.livejournal.com]

A wiki would be good; though, to prevent abuse, I'd recommend that anonymous edits not be permitted, and perhaps even a simple screening question for applicants, such as "Name at least one of Ken's coimelins."

I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds (see my LJ for a list), and if you were to create one (besides the current http://www.livejournal.com/users/elfs/data/rss ), I'd certainly subscribe to it.

I'm perfectly satisfied with the current file-format; though if others would find them useful, that's fine too. A ZIP archive to download the entire set at once for offline reading would be handy, though.

I avoid web-forums, as I dislike the fact that once messages expire, they're gone forever - I greatly prefer email-based mailing lists (such as YahooGroups), and have some email archived from ten years ago, and even a few pieces of text from before then, in the days of dial-up BBSes. (Yes, as my login name says, I'm a "data pack-rat". :) ) I'd recommend that if you want to maintain control over your blog archives, that you transfer them to your own server; LJ is nice, but who knows where it'll be in five or ten years?

If you build it, they will come.

[blaisepascal]

I like the idea of a wiki, and would contribute.

I haven't really liked the forum interfaces I've seen in the past, but others might like it.

I'd really dig something based on the Usenet model, like a newsgroup hierarchy devoted to your writing. With good archives, that would work better for me than forums.

As for formats... I'd appreciate PDF only with a change in the licensing to allow giving one-off printouts to people to encourage them to get into the Pendoran universe. Otherwise, what's the point? It's a lousy on-screen format. I won't use PalmDoc, but again, others will. I like complete ZIP collections, and I second plain-text.

[halloranelder.livejournal.com]

Wiki: Yes please. There is so much information about the Pendor universe that I find it hard to keep up. Plus I love reading "background information" about just about anything I'm interested in.

The individual universes should probably be separate, simply because they are different universes.

Blog: I like reading your lj, and since I'm an LJ user it's easier for me. However if you moved it I would probably continue reading whatever feed was set up, it just wouldn't be as easy to comment on.

Formats: Other formats could be useful, but the main ones I would use are the web site, and a handheld version. Full zips would be great for me to put on my laptop so I can read while off line.

Forums: Don't know about that. I have a feeling that you'll probably get the most benefit from it as you'll be able to see what people think directly. Maybe.

Overall: I'll read whatever you produce. I like your content and your style, so I'll be happy.

However, a simple CafePress (or similar) style store with some of the clothing and the like mentioned in the stories could be interesting.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Personally I'd go split-blog. Personal/family/politics/etc. over here, writing kinds of things over there. Definitely make max use of RSS; that way folks over here can see what's going on over there... but the reason I'd stay over here for non-writing stuff is *comments*.

The Wiki idea seems to be well-received; go for it. And definitely with the story collections in zips.

The big advantage of having the non-writing blog over here is this: Friends-locking.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Well, seeing as I can carry around the whole lot on my USB key chain, I don't really need additional web stuff personally.

As far as the wiki goes, I'm surprised that Wikipaedia isn't already full of the Pendor-verse. But yes, a concordance of the various series would be cool. But wiki spam is a pain,, so depending on how you set it up it could become nuisance causing for yourself.

Compliant XML is the best format to use as raw storage, you can then use XSL-FOP transforms to generate PDF (or any other format, on the fly.

As far as the blog/LJ thing is concerned, it's yours, it should be your choice based on what best suits you and your work style. Just whatever you do, please keep it RSS capable!

BTW in terms of hosting and such, if you ever need extra space, let me know, I run my own server and DNS, currently hosting rpg.net.nz and the site for our local roleplaying convention. Drawbacks are I only have 2Mbps upload speed and am in New Zealand, though serving text isn't an issue, and being in NZ may actually be an advantage sometimes :)

[mundens.livejournal.com]

Um, you refuse to use XML ???

Do you realize XML has been the standard for the WWW since about 1998, and you are using XML whenever you use LJ or any other standards-compliant web site?

If you truly did refuse to use anything that uses XML, you'd find yourself unable to use mobile phones or any web site that is served by Apache, Weblogic, or Sun One. Potentialy you may not even be able to use your car.

Just thought you should know just how ubiquitous and unavoidable XML is these days.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

Wellll, I was going to comment that a Wiki would be useful in settling the inevitable Pendor-history-based bar bets, but then I realized the implications of my pointing it out, so I decided against it.

[bogobob.livejournal.com]

As far as the wiki goes, I'm surprised that Wikipaedia isn't already full of the Pendor-verse.

There's a small collection of Pendor-related notes at Everything^2

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

HTML is not XML. XHTML is, but most people don't use it, because it provides no benefit, and, in fact, causes some problems with certain browsers.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

HTML is no longer the standard, and hasn't been since 1998.

Profesionals do use XHTML, in fact in many places it is mandated by government specification.

Some ancient browsers may have issues with it, but all browsers released since 2000 have been able to handle it fime. We are in 2006 now y'know , if you;re using a browser thats mre than five years old you;re also a security risk.

New Pendor stuff

[(Anonymous)]

I like the idea of a wiki, if only to help us poor readers keep the timeline and characters straight. I'd also suggest separate wikis for the Journal Entries and the Aimee-verse. And I agree with the comments above, that a wiki would obviate the need for a forum, and probably require less maintenance if a minimum threshold for entry was used.

I like the convenience of your current blog, if you were to split it in two like at least one person suggested, I'd probably wind up reading both anyway.

In regards to other formats, I don't know if it's really necessary. I guess some mobile devices don't acept plain text or HTML files, but other than that... I think the current formatting is fine. (Although I do like the idea of a mass ZIP file).

Finally, the RSS feed seems to me to be a little bit of a waste, given that you come out with a new story what, every two months? It's not as though people are checking the webpage every ten minutes for a new story. (Are they?)

-Malthus

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

The primary offender is Internet Explorer. If a file is served as html+xml, it disables progressive rendering, and fails to display the page at all if it does not parse correctly. The difference between HTML and XHTML is mostly wank, as I see it; unless you depend on being able to parse HTML as XML (which is silly: HTML is presentational, while XML is generally not), the latter provides no extra functionality and adds an unnecessary level of pedantry.

[creepingcrud.livejournal.com]

I like having most of the blogs I read in one place (LJ) but whatever is most convenient for you to use is probably best on that front.

I'm pretty content with the function and format of the site as it is now; being able to get them in plaintext or as a big zip is probably not a bad idea, though.

A wiki would be nifty to have.

[marketeer]

I agree. LJ has the advantage of allowing you to set filters for your entries and limit readership when needed.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Huh. In my professional life, we strive to be XHTML compliant and I was going to make sure that the new site was also XHTML compliant.

[kavri.livejournal.com]

LJ works best for me, but do what works best for you, I will follow.

The idea of a blog for "Writing" and one for "Everything Else" works for me, but isn't necessary, as you're very good about tagging, and I tend to do memories for important info posts as well.

Wiki seems like a reasonable idea, I'd use it, I also am a 'background' reader, and it is handy when one gets confused about characters or such.

Personally the rest of it (pdf, palmdoc, forums, etc) either doesn't apply and/or appeal to me.

This are my thoughts...

[farhymns.livejournal.com]

[WIKI]
I am proficient in myriad languages (of my own universe), but the ones I'm most fluent in, aside from 'geek', is WIKI. I can set up your timeline, your character biography templates, and such for free on my spare time if you so desire (though I'd like to know what formatting systems you'd use in advance). Most certainly implement a WIKI; I would love updating it from time to time--I'm an archivist that way. [I even, embarassingly, have quite a bit of useless-background-information for Serzahnk

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<down [...] *snicker*>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

[WIKI]
I am proficient in myriad languages (of my own universe), but the ones I'm most fluent in, aside from 'geek', is WIKI. I can set up your timeline, your character biography templates, and such for free on my spare time if you so desire (though I'd like to know what formatting systems you'd use in advance). Most certainly implement a WIKI; I would love updating it from time to time--I'm an archivist that way. [I even, embarassingly, have quite a bit of useless-background-information for Serzahnk <down to gender-birth ratios for individual species and so forth *snicker*>)

[LINKAGE]
Yes, most certainly develop links between the Pendorverse and Aimeeverse (don't know what else to call it). I would create a sort of 'book' system for that; thus why WIKI would be a good system to use. Individual subjects (such as chronological history, important figures and events, known species, Pendorian Conventions (which should encompass it's own entire chapter I think *chuckle*) and such would encompass their own 'chapter headings' or what-have-you, be cross-referenced in an 'index' of sorts, and so on and so forth. But that's a long-term projection, so don't go pulling your hair out now. =P

[STORAGE::STORY]
PalmDoc, Word DOC, (X)HTM, and TXT are all the useful formats I can conceive of. Additional things are up to you, of course. I'd love to, for instance, draw up some diagrams of Shirow machinery and such (for whatever use) and I'm sure you have other fans who have artistic prowess (perhaps including yourself =P). A complete ZIP archive of current stories, either in a dump-file (AKA 'whatcha-got-ZIP') or spread out in relation to time periods (pre-Pendor, early Pendor, Deep-space Exploration, late Pendor, etc.) or even years.

[RSS]
An RSS feed of the Story Index would prove very helpful to persons like myself who tend to remember and forget stories, authors, worlds, and even universes in checking for updates. My regulars (CAD-online, P-A, VGC, and /.) all have RSS feeds and that helps me know all the time when they've updated. It's just very convenient for we who have not the capacity of mind to keep track of a thousand things at once. =)

[Forum]
A forum would be nice, but I can't see it getting *too* busy. Of course, that's a horse-blind way of looking at things, as things could most certainly heat up if word of your writing spreads further and further, but I encourage the idea only so that it leaves the possibility.

[Security]
There should certainly be some measure of security to access these items, as I certainly wouldn't want my information being shuffled around or available for direct-edit by people who don't care for my writing and would just as likely erase it for a rise. Something simple and eloquent, as proposed above by another, such as 'Name one of Ken's Coimelins (I can't ever spell that right)', or 'What is the goddess who helped create Pendor's nickname?' would suffice nicely.

It's all up to you what you choose to do of those I would like you to implement, but in my mind all of the above would be useful. Perhaps other things may be suggested over time, so perhaps implement a place where visitors could suggest improvements to the site and so forth.

Oh, and keep the image you're using for Drizzl if you can; it's pretty. =D

Other than that, I suggest that you use a Web2.0 format; if you've no idea what that is, google it. It's just easier to read for the eyes, considering that most of us geeks spend most of the day staring at a computer screen. Of course, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about as Drizzl was quite Web2.0 in the first place. =P

[I also motion for a Life under Stress tee; CafePress would facilitate your needs for textiling it nicely I think]