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September 27, 2007
At a Crossroads
If you have not already noticed in the local media and blogosphere - you should in the next day or so - I'm embarking on a new project.
I won't talk about it here, as electoral politics are not appropriate for a blog organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
But the upshot is that I'm going to have significantly less time to devote to Portland Transport. So one of two things is going to happen:
1) Other people can step up to fill the gap - Portland Transport was envisioned as a multi-contributor blog from the beginning. Or...
2) Postings will become much less frequent.
Who's ready to step up and become a contributor? No worries, we'll help you get started! Get in touch at webmaster@portlandtransport.com.
Posted by Chris Smith at 8:34 AM
Comments
September 27, 2007 1:10 PM
dick barnard Says:
some rumors around town you are running for a possible vacancy on Portland City Council, if so best of luck...
September 27, 2007 6:22 PM
al Says:
I have my own groups that need my posts, BUT,
I'll help you get elected if you need precinct captains!
I live+manage property on nw 23rd.
September 27, 2007 10:12 PM
al Says:
[Comment removed]
Al, sorry, but we are going to keep the politics elsewhere. Thanks for the thought - Chris
September 28, 2007 7:13 PM
Carey Says:
Perhaps better infrastructure would spur growth...
Blog growth, I mean. Loaded Orygun recently switched to a format that allows users to create "diaries" down the side of the page. Notable ones get promoted to the main blog. A couple comments from the admin on how it's worked out:
But what's really great is that [users are] hanging around, coming back more often and contributing in a much more substantive fashion. In our last full month at blogspot, June, LO saw just over 23,000 page views--5,000 a week or so. And that was a non-election-month peak for the site. But for August, the first full month at LO.net, the views have jumped by over 65%, to over 8,000 a week and sometimes over 10,000 per week, depending on what stories we're running. That means people are coming back, checking to see what's new and recognizing other members. And that's a community.
Also, most recently:
Yesterday, as I mentioned, I was home from work and pretty busy all day--so I let the community drive the front page for the most part, promoting good diaries and enjoying the surge in comments. LoadedO is starting to organically create content, which for me is pretty thrilling--it's what Carla and I hoped for when we switched to the community model.
An on-the-cheap way to replicate this might be to just create a free forum and run an RSS feed of the latest posts down the right side of the homepage. There seems to be an RSS addon for the top free forum system phpBB. Then you could use something like Feed Digest to get that content down the side of the homepage.
Just a thought. I always wanted to try implementing this system myself, but it's been a long time since I've run a blog.
September 29, 2007 12:24 AM
Greg Tompkins Says:
Good luck, Chris! I don't always see eye to eye with you but I admire your sincerity and passion. I would vote for you if I still lived in Portland :)
