Who are the bloggers / vloggers?

[Tim]

In my other topic in this forum, we've been having a debate over my not really wanting to add RSS feeds to my weekly comedy / opinion webshow, "Online Video" at www.loudmouthtim.com .

So now I'm trying to figure out who the blog / vlog community is and how they differ from the regular viewers of my weekly webshow.

I've never researched iPods. I don't even know how much money an iPod costs. As far as I can tell, they're a glorified Walkman that picks up signals from wireless internet or something like that. I wouldn't know an iPod unless I saw some little box, picked it up, and read "iPod" on it somewhere. Can they play video, or audio only?

My impression of the people who use iPods is that they are all high school kids and maybe some college kids also. They have their iPods with them 24 hours a day, or as much as is feasible. They virtually live through the internet. They can't go 10 minutes without listening to their music or whatever. They start to panic after 15 minutes of silence.

Maybe I'm too old mentally, or am past "the curve" or whatever, but when I started producing "Online Video" 2 years ago, blogs were just some small curiosity on the internet. There were a few out there, but not many. I thought they were only made by some kids and a few grownups who were just trying to say "Hey, look at me, look at me, and this is my dog Spot, and this is my room, and this is where I go to school, and this is my grandparent's house, etc, etc.".

True webshows on the other hand, are technically much more involved. Audio and video is used together. With advances in technology, it has become much easier in the last 2 years for every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there to put video on the internet. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Most of them are rank amateurs who have no real concept of what they're doing, except that it's the new cool thing. This in and of itself is what makes blogs and vlogs popular, and I think it's also going to lead to their downfall. No one has time to read all the thousands of blogs out there, and if they do, they really need to get a life of some sort.

I have definite motivations for what I want to accomplish with my webshow, those being my own future fame and fortune. I don't have the time, money, or really the desire to move to New York or LA and become one of thousands of actor wannabes walking around the city looking for a break. I am doing it here from my place near Pittsburgh, PA, and am trying to get the right people informed about my show. I'm using the power of the internet to break out and get myself on camera while the wannabes are getting nothing or nearly nothing.

But I digress. The main issue here is why should I add an RSS feed to my site for bloggers and vloggers. Others here are telling me that it will make it easier for anyone with an iPod or whatever to see my show, because something on the iPod will tell them when a new show has been made.

I say that since my show is made on a regular weekly schedule, chances are if you check the site on Monday or Tuesday, there will be a new episode ready. I think that if you're too lazy to actually click over to my site and look at the list, then you weren't really interested in seeing it in the first place, so why does a computer program need to go out of its way to tell you when a new show is ready?

Wow. Just a few years ago, the internet had such awesome potential. It was a way to make things so much easier and more convenient for people in so many ways. Now it's gotten to the point where the mere act of going to a certain website has gotten to be too much hassle. If something isn't handing you the information, saying "Here, the new episode of "Online Video" at www.loudmouthtim.com is ready to view" then it's too much work to go see it on your own? The world is going to hell in a handbasket, despite all the new technological innovations in the past 10 years.

4 clicks is all it takes. If you're sitting in front of your computer with Internet Explorer (or whatever browser you have) open, you only need to click (1.) on the drop down tab in your address bar, (2.) click the www.loudmouthtim.com address in the list of your sites, (3.) click the green "Webshows" tab on my site, and (4.) click on whatever episode you want to see.

It'll download and play in Windows Media Player. You're telling me that's too much hassle to do it on your own?

Tell me why RSS feeds and blogs and vlogs are so great. I see a few benefits, but far more detriments. Tell me who you are and why you blog or vlog or read and watch them.

[jeffoest]

Frankly Tim, I find your posts to be completely disengenuous. I think you're just looking to argue with podcast proponents about why you are right.

Just google things like podcast, radio trends, ipod, podcast trends, etc.. if you really want to learn about it and assess whether it's right for you and your broadcast. If you don't want to learn about it, then don't.

I'm sure your content is the best thing going and your missed audience is just too 'lazy' to deserve your great content and I'm sure your right. So what do you need us for?

[Tim]

Because the increasing number of blogs and vlogs out there is bringing in lots of new people to see them, and I do want to know their opinion, even if I don't agree with it in the end. I still want to learn about what else is out there.

[spaz]

I don't get it, Tim, if your goal is to become famous, what makes you different from everyone else with a blog? And the internet has made things easier, now we don't even have to make four keystrokes, one or two will do...in the end, laziness will rule :evil:

[yaz]

where have i been? what the hell is a vlogger?

[Tim]

A vlogger is someone who has a blog with video in it. Right?

That's what I think a vlogger is.

[gavin]

Wow. Okay. All I got from your post was: "Things are changing, I don't understand them and that makes me scared and angry."

Tim, you need to do some basic research. With a plethora of websites dedicated to explaining everything you seem to be confused about, there's really no excuse for ignorance. Calm down, the world isn't "going to hell in a handbasket".

I'm really not quite sure how to respond to your post, but I can tell you that my grandmother has an iPod, so I don't think the idea of portable media only extends to those **** teenagers. Also, I don't think my 80-year-old grandmother has ever used the phrase "going to hell in a handbasket". ;)

In the time it took you to write your declaration of ignorance, you could have Googled some education, just like Jeff suggested.

You should also stand to do some reading on RSS. Here's an article from December 2002 (http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html) (yes, RSS isn't really that new). Maybe, just maybe you'd be a little more excited about it if you knew what it is. When someone reads a dozen or two blogs or listens to several podcasts, it's extremely convenient to have all of the content collected in ONE PLACE.

I suggest you do a little research on vlogging too, because it appears that web video programs are going to be heading in the same direction. There's a wonderful app called ANT (http://www.antisnottv.net/) that is similar to iPodder, except it's for vlogs.

Seriously, just do a little reading. You'll be able to answer all your own questions.

[spaz]

....some people will always belong to the sky is falling camp....

[Version3]

Tim, you spend a lot of time on this site talking about quality and lazyness and how all this quality you have will win over these new 'fads' in podcasting and vblogs or whatever.

I find that to be so interesting coming from a guy with a site that looks like that. Presentation is everything man... no matter what your video looks like, you look like a fly-by-night kid the second your page loads. That being said, an RSS feed would do you LOADS of good, since people wouldn't have to visit your site to be reminded.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back about your video either. You are talking a lot of poop about amatuers and poor quality. Your speech patterns are unnatural, your white balance is off quite frequently, your title work is low-quality and your cuts are weak. Buy or make a camera stabalizer if you are going to walk and shoot video.

That all being said, I don't think your vcast is something that people would not watch, but it's definitely not something that qualifies you to look down your nose at others.

[pzarquon]

I find that to be so interesting coming from a guy with a site that looks like that.C'mon, Version3, tell us how you really feel. :shock:

I wouldn't call the standard refrain from internet radio folks (or "web show" folks) "the sky is falling," but rather, "there goes the neighborhood." Remember when AOL opened the floodgates to USENET?

To be sure, it never really was the same... but then again, there's simply been no end to what individuals will do with tools once given the access. There's a lot more crap out there, sure, but there's also a higher probability of individual genius slipping through when you have a million content producers versus a hundred.

As for vlogging (or videoblogging or even vogging), it's the next obvious step after podcasting for some folks. I don't think I'd ever point the camera at myself (for everyone's sake), as opposed to podcasting (just my voice), but the possibilities in sharing my world are pretty compelling.

[Version3]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a dick to Tim, I'm just saying don't beat on everyone else's quality when you are guilty of the same thing. That's all. Just trying to wash out the double-standard.

[gozar]

4 clicks is all it takes. If you're sitting in front of your computer with Internet Explorer (or whatever browser you have) open, you only need to click (1.) on the drop down tab in your address bar, (2.) click the www.loudmouthtim.com address in the list of your sites, (3.) click the green "Webshows" tab on my site, and (4.) click on whatever episode you want to see.

It'll download and play in Windows Media Player. You're telling me that's too much hassle to do it on your own?

Tell me why RSS feeds and blogs and vlogs are so great. I see a few benefits, but far more detriments. Tell me who you are and why you blog or vlog or read and watch them.

RSS feeds allow an aggregator to download your show unattended. This means that a person doesn't have to wait for 20 minutes while your latest show downloads. The aggregator will use RSS and notice that a new broadcast is ready and download it. What happens on the client after the video is downloaded is up to the user. For podcasts which are audio, most of the time the new shows will end up in iTunes to automatically sync up with a user's iPod.

The beauty of podcasting is that the user doesn't have to wait for the show, it is already downloaded. And for audio podcasts, the user is not tethered to their computer, they can take the podcast with them and listen on their commute, while they work out, or at work. You don't have to have an iPod to listen to podcasts, any mp3 player will do.

This won't be as advantageous for video until portable video players are cheaper and more ubiquitous.

[yaz]

video blog, great, i get to see into the lives of people that just sit at a pc for a good 14 hours a day...must be exciting...

[Cookiepuss]

As far as vlogging and Tim's greatness. Well. . .I am too lazy to go to Tim's page. But I think I have seen it before in one of his other posts here where he expounds on how he has been doing a video show since he and Al Gore invented the Internets.

As far as vlogging there is ANT (http://www.antisnottv.net/) which is an aggregator for video. Just as a podcatcher like iPodder is for podcasts. So if yu had an RSS feed us lazy people could get it and watch it without having to see your site.

Being that computers were most likely invented by some lazy *** people it is only fitting. I automate as much as I can shell scripts, cron jobs, you name it. If it makes life easier and gives me more time to slack off I am ALL for it. ;)

[speechless]

Nice troll there Tim. Got everyone all riled up. :P

[cc_chapman]

You took the words right out of my mouth Luke.

I've been a blogger for over three years. Have never had the itch to be a video blogger even though I've got tons of filmmaking equipment around my house.

Podcasting will evolve to a video based format eventually. Once the devices are more wide spread this is the next obvious evolution. Some will stay with strictly audio some will do a mix.

Plenty of room in this big ****ed up world for everyone.

[Tim]

Wow, I started getting some answers all of a sudden!

I'll try to answer some questions and give more things to think about.

From Version3's 1:31 pm post:

My site was designed back in the days of early 2003, when lots of people only had dial up 56K. The pages are designed to download quickly, first and foremost, priority one. A side effect is that they look overly simplistic. The Site Information page explains all of this in detail, for those of you who actually GO to websites instead of trying to RSS everything.

I actually take pride in the fact that I hard-coded all the pages myself, instead of taking the easy way out and letting a pagebuilder do all the work for me. Check out my HTML code work - those of you in the know will see that it's about as solid a coding job as there can be without using fancy stuff like JavaScript.

I may redesign the home page someday to look better, if people are more concerned about looks. My theory is the long standing one - "form follows function". Someone I know studies marketing and sales, and says it's all about looks. I think that's BS, but I seem to be the only one.

"KID" ?!?!?! How old do you think I am? I'm not going to say, I want to see your estimates. But that's not a bad thing.

My speech patterns are pretty natural. In the shows, I usually slow down my talking a little to enunciate the words better so they can be understood clearly. That's why it may seem unnatural to some. I usually talk a little faster. It comes out in the shows now and then.

The white balance is a problem. The camera (Canon ZR45MC) has auto-white balance on it. Whenever I wear a white T-shirt it throws the white balance off pretty good. The green and orange shirts seem to be best for white balance issues.

I usually set up the lights and say "that's good enough" and film.

What do you mean by title work? The intro trailer, or the part that gives the episode number and date? I see nothing wrong with either one. Transmitting complete information is again the goal here.

Other Q&A:

I think it'd be more worthwhile for me to start giving people the RSS option once video blogs pick up in popularity, AND there are players out there that can play video. Most of my work is visual. In some episodes, like #78 - "Par 3" and #101 - "The Tunnel", a person would be totally lost by trying to listen to the sound without seeing the video.

Other episodes, like the ones featuring the lunatic 1960's groove cat / aging hipster Richard "Agee" Maxwell, like in #39 "Richard Sings Again", #63 "Richard Returns", and #64 "One More Song", could be played on audio only and still be pretty **** good, because of his music. But the video part still helps a lot.

I'm prepared for more verbal beration now. Proceed.

[speechless]

More trolling.

[yaz]

trolling sounds like a demented sexual reference...

[Version3]

Hey Tim, thanks for taking the time to post an in depth reply. It wasn't an attack on you, although it may have read like one. i was merely making the point that your content could be called sub-standard and amatuer from someone else's point of view ( I design and build websites for a living ). You were getting all worked up about the onslaught of newbies and the laziness of the way podcasts work... I was just bringing you down off of your high horse.

I do find it odd that you are opening up the same debate in a few parts of the site, yet do not wish to hear what you know all podcasters are going to say. So here's the easy comparison for you:

If a magazine is good, sure you'll be willing to go to the newstand for it. But are you really lazy if you just get a subscription, and it shows up in your mailbox, ready for you to read when you are still just lounging around the house. It's really not that different.

Now, imagine that you read 3 magazines about Mac related stuff, you read DV magazine, you also happen to be into VWs and you pick up the lates copy of Hot VW (**** VW Trends being gone!) the Wall Street Journal for your biz info and something at random for when you are done with all of that. Now... imagine that you have to go do a different store for each of those. They are in the same retail strip center, but you have to enter the door of each one. You have to make your selection, go to the front and pay, wait for your change, drive home or to the office THEN you get to enjoy your periodicals.

That is exactly what you are asking your audience to do with your video content. Sure it's only 4 clicks... FOR YOURS. But what about the Star Wars new site they check every day? What about the forum for their car that they collect, and what about the CNN stories they read every day. Eventually the casual listener is going to get tired of your extra 4 click hoop and just skip a few times. A few times leads to a few more until they just get busy. On the other hand, if they sat down and their downloads folder had all of your latest content in it already (because it downloaded using their broadband connection over night) the biggest problem they have is browsing those other websites.

You keep calling it laziness and it's actually effeciency.

But, most of us know what your real motivation is here, as you've made it more apparent the more you post. You just are afraid of what you don't understand. It's natural, but don't make such a big deal out of it. Just learn about it, give it a shot and see what happens. Chances are, when you "get it" you'll be ahead of the curve on vcasting and will be one of the few that do it, the 'pioneers', instead of being that guy that crossed his arms and tried to stand in the way of 'progress' without realizing that you are unlikely to have any effect on it, you instead choose what effect it has on you and your content delivery.



Now, the debater in me is itching to address some of the rest of your post... so I'll touch on it lightly and get back to work on what I get paid for:

The early days of 2003 are not an excuse for content layout or media chosen for your site. Not that much has changed since then, and I know... I made a living profiling users for my clients and building sites that would successfully service their audience. Layout, color choice and STYLE do not affect bandwidth used for the most part anyway. Simplistic is often confused with cheap. You should never make that mistake when your image is on the line.

You take pride for hand-coding... good for you. That's excellent. More importantly, that's an excellent start. Dreamweaver and such are not tools for the lazy, foolish or ignorant, they are productivity tools. To believe that anyone can just open it up and start dropping tons of what you call "fancy stuff" in there is simply not true. They will have to study how to use the software just like they would basic markup using Notepad. The fact that it makes plugging a Flash file in quick and easy does not make it a tool for every moron. To do actual "fancy stuff" you still have to learn, code by hand and apply that knowledge. Pages created by these so-called lazy people are those with less knowledge just end up being crap with Meta tags that say they used Front Page to do it. I checked out your HTML 'work'. It's simplistic to use your word. It's very functional. How many of your site visitors do you think are doing "view source" on your webpage to help you make excuses for why it is the way it is?

Again dude, I'm not mashing on your site content to be a jerk... I'm pointing out that no amount of excuses will make you better than the 'lazy' people you are bitching about or at, nor will it make your site shine any brighter.

Your marketing savy friends are completely correct: it's all about looks. People are going to judge your content by the way it looks before they ever check it out. If the content is great, then good you will hook them. But I opened your site, and I hesitated to even watch 1 of your videos simply because the whole thing irritated me, especially given your words here. I only watched because I had a point I wanted to make. I have no idea what your video show was even about.

I have no idea how old you are... you look like a kid, and your stubborn stance of making your point by beating your own head against the wall as loud as you can makes you seem like a kid. If you aren't, fine... I could care. -but I don't.

If those are your natural speech patterns, then you really need to relax. You talk all wound-up and rehearsed. It makes for very unnatural viewing.

Yeah, it can be hard to overcome auto white balance issues with a consumer camera like that. Try doing some adjusting in post. BTW: calling other people amatuers while using the same level of equipment they are is not a great way to make your point.

Your lights didn't bother me, and for 'video' work, natural light often works very well anyway.

Title work... the intro and any text at all that appears on screen. You misunderstand why you are doing what you are doing, which is odd since it is YOU that is doing it. The goal is to entertain and/or inform. If you are distracting your viewer, annoying them or boring them you are not accomplishing your goal. Simple clean text on screen would likely work much better.



I think I've beat you up enough Tim. You've seen the point, and you choose not to get it. You'll likely defend all of your content all over again, so I offer you this challenge. Let's let content speak for itself.

I use a GL2 prosumer camera. I will shoot content of my choosing using all auto settings on my camera, making it more equivelant to your hardware. Being that I really am an amatuer this should really level the playing field. I will produce content using the methods and skills that I have highlighted in this thread as being important, and you can produce stuff your clearly superior and functional method. We'll host the content at an arbitrary address (something with stats) and I'll set up an RSS feed for mine and you use the normal delivery for yours. We'll promote our content to our existing audiences, and this forum. We'll each produce 2 more pieces using our chosen delivery method at a predetermined interval, and we'll compare subsriber and download stats, as well as feedback from this forum to see just how wrong us 'podcasters' are.

I'm confident that I will absolutely 100% slay you.

By this, I mean in subscribers, and content delivery success... I'm not worried about beating your content into the ground.

I'll even offer up the idea that we cover the same subject(s) in each segment.

[PupuStudios]

Podcasting will evolve to a video based format eventually. Once the devices are more wide spread this is the next obvious evolution. Some will stay with strictly audio some will do a mix.

This is an interesting theory that I happen to agree with. Check out www.channel101.com for some great amateur films (mostly comedy). Every month people submit videos to this site. If they're good enough they are 'featured', which means they are obligated to make a second part to the series. This continues until the series is 'cancelled' because it didn't receive enough votes that month.

Some of the work on there is amazing, I highly recommend it.

[PupuStudios]

Ok, so we're in the same business version3. I finally got through your post. I don't think it's really necssary for you to prove your point in a contest. I thought you were professional, but your recent posts make you sound more like a pretentious ***.

no offense of course.

I agree with a lot of your points, however, I think you fail to realize that the more sites like Tim's there are in the world, the more you and I are worth on the market.

ps > Tim, your show is very nice. It's the first Vlog I've ever seen.

[Version3]

I thought you were professional, but your recent posts make you sound more like a pretentious ***.


Oh, I realize that... and it's acceptable to me. I don't expect that a contest is even necessary. I guess I only wanted to take the time to show Tim that beating on somebody's content, does nothing for his argument whatsoever, and in the end an RSS feed is likely to benefit him, not make his show slip into the toilet of amateur status.

It was spelled out SO many times before on the previous thread, I thought I'd show him by example instead. I have no problem risking being an *** from time to time to make a point. I have to have SOMETHING to do with my freetime. :P

I've seen a few other Vblogs out there... including a 8 year old girl that produces her own where she just spends a few minutes talking about whatever. I have ZERO trouble with Tim's content... just his beating on everyone else's while he tries to proclaim himself, professional and 'right' in the face of all of the RSS evidence.

[Version3]

I just had to scroll to the bottom of this page to post that last thing...

**** I'm long winded! :p

[PupuStudios]

yes. hah

Another quick comment:
It's difficult to take you seriously with an avatar like that. It's like the face an adult makes when they're mimicking/taunting a little kid.

Do you have a portfolio online? I'd be interested in seeing some of your work.

[WyethDigital]

:roll: Okay, I thought I saw this topic before... But couldn't figure out where my posts went. This is a similar topic, not the one I was actually involved with... Tricky!

Eric

[Version3]

I like to play both side of the serious fence... is he seriously being an ***, is he trying to be funny... maybe he is insane and in the center.


Yeah, the avatar is crazy, but I think it spells out some things about my personality... I look like I'm acting crazy, and I look like I'm screaming my head off. It's very true to character.

[quote]Do you have a portfolio online? I'd be interested in seeing some of your work.[quote]
Yes, but nothing worth looking at. I have **** little company clients, and they are cheap bastards that always expect me to 'design by commitee' translation: be their hands while they tell me exactly what they want down to every scary *** detail. But I have to pay the bills before I'm an artist.

www.orangefactor.com would be a start... but nothing profound to see there. All of my fun stuff is personal projects, and they are typically offline.

I feel like a tard that I qualified my client work, but oh well. I don't currently maintain the OF site, or the content on it. We stopped advertising a long while back when work wouldn't support all three of us (I had 2 partners) and so now I do freelance work, mostly referral and word of mouth.



edited to add the 'quote' text into the original post, and last statement.

[WyethDigital]

I've never researched iPods. I don't even know how much money an iPod costs. As far as I can tell, they're a glorified Walkman that picks up signals from wireless internet or something like that. I wouldn't know an iPod unless I saw some little box, picked it up, and read "iPod" on it somewhere. Can they play video, or audio only?

My impression of the people who use iPods is that they are all high school kids and maybe some college kids also. They have their iPods with them 24 hours a day, or as much as is feasible. They virtually live through the internet. They can't go 10 minutes without listening to their music or whatever. They start to panic after 15 minutes of silence.

:? Ummm... I know these two paragraphs aren't the topic of the post, but they're there, and I have to say... WTF?!?!?!

Grandpa? Is that you grandpa? Did that John Edwards jerk "cross you over" again? Hello???

Ok, all kidding aside, I don't even know why I'm posting in this thread. Version3, you are one twisted bastard! :P

(j/k)

Look, Tim, you can't be that out of the loop! Unless you've been living under a stone, you have to know what an iPod is. Every newspaper and broadcast and electronic publication under the sun, from the New York Times to Al Jazeera has talked about iPods and MP3 players. If you're going to jump in and (rather obviously) promote your show by pretending to ask questions like these, don't ya think you ought to be a little less obvious about the attempt than saying you don't even know what an iPod is? C'mon! You may have sucked some people in on previous posts (myself included), but this scam is way too over the top now. You ain't fooling me!

Cripes!

Eric

[WyethDigital]

Since we're all getting to plug :D

Some screen shots of a project (http://www.wyethdigital.com/icarus_1.htm) that I always seem to go back to in my spare time.

or...

click on the "play" icon for the music video (http://www.wyethdigital.com/preview_video.htm) (I'm not sending you directly to the movie page because it's 22MB and you should have some warning first).

Mind you, I'm not touting my web building skills (I didn't use Frontpage, but something almost as bad). Economic necessity forced me to build my own site! At least I can say that I designed most of the logos and other graphics on the site, which I think ARE good. The site design, well that'd be better left to professionals like Version3 (if I could afford it).

[percent20]

**** I'm long winded! :p

I am the same way on my blog sometimes i just want to make a short post like when i talked about voice recorders. I meant for it to be like 1 short paragraph by the time i ended it was several. Actually a lot of my posts are twice as long as i meant.

Tim:
I would just suggest you to get a life. I know and know of professional bloggers that will read tons of blogs. I know one guy who is a type of evangilst for microsoft. When he would do his links blog, he would go through 3500 blog posts a day, and he has a life. There is another guy who has 17 blogs and that is his liveing. I personally subscibe to 30 different blogs with an rss aggregator that auto matically syncs with outlook called newsgator. let me tell you in no way would i go to all the sites to just check if there was a new post. That would take probably 20 minutes out of my day that i don't have to waste. RSS is the future either accept or don't if you do use it. if you don't please don't continue to knock it down just because you won't take the time to learn about it.

Also I am a Blogger I run 3 different blogs that most of its traffic comes from RSS feeds. My best one, currently because i advertise it, is in my signature, and i currently have 20 subscribers that want to read it, and it has only been up like 2 weeks I think. I also get at least 16 hits a day from people comeing to the site. So obviously RSS feed is much more populare than physically going to the site.

There is some stats for you on how effective RSS is. Just to let you know. And blogging is becomeing big business. It is not just some dude saying lookat my dog isn't he cute. No there are peopel that are out there that basically give their theories about things, ideas, and products. It is a new wave of news. RSS is so effective infact that i was the 3rd person on the internet, because of an rss feed from Microsoft, to announce SP1 for Server 2003. I was only beat out by Microsoft and Yahoo.

Man I am longwinded when I just want a small little post.

[WyethDigital]

Off topic here, but:

Read my BLOG!!!
http://buddylindsey.blogspot.com

I did! Even though it's Windows-centric, and thus not my personal cup 'o tea, I give you props for not being a Apple hater (or if you are, for not being nuts about it on your blog)!

Interesting, short entries!

Eric

[percent20]

actually yeah i like mac's and am going to make post about what i like about macs.

[WyethDigital]

actually yeah i like mac's and am going to make post about what i like about macs.

Looking forward to it! Keep up the good work!


Eric

[percent20]

thx i'll try.

[Tim]

All right then, which one of these RSS things should I download and start using? Remember that I know absolutely nothing about them except what they do, the benefits of which are still questionable to me. I need one that will walk me through every step of the setup process.

I tried downloading SharpReader, but once installed it wouldn't do anything, so it got uninstalled really quickly.

[WyethDigital]

I tried downloading SharpReader, but once installed it wouldn't do anything, so it got uninstalled really quickly.

:roll: I don't know why I'm answering this, since I think you're scamming for hits here, but here's a link to a Windows plaform feed gererator: Feed For All (http://www.feedforall.com/feedforall.htm)

And here's a service that does most of the work for you: "Liberated Syndication" (http://www.libsyn.com/index.php?&mode=logout&message=)

Feed For All (http://www.feedforall.com/feedforall.htm) is probably what you would want, because you should be able to code it into your website. I'm not a Podcaster (I'm a listener), so you may have to move your questions to a more "tech" area of the board to get more specific answers.

The info on "Liberated Syndication" (http://www.libsyn.com/index.php?&mode=logout&message=) probably will be heavy on the term "Podcast," but the important thing to remember is that whether it's the Feed For All (http://www.feedforall.com/feedforall.htm) software, or the "Liberated Syndication" (http://www.libsyn.com/index.php?&mode=logout&message=) service, they generate a RSS feed which carries "enclosures." An enclosure can be just about any file of any size like video files (videoblogs) or MP3 files (Podcasts).


Eric

[Tim]

No, I'm not trying to get hits here.

But here's one more requirement of whichever RSS thing I download - it has to be 100% FREE.

[WyethDigital]

No, I'm not trying to get hits here.

But here's one more requirement of whichever RSS thing I download - it has to be 100% FREE.

Okay, Tim, I'll take you for your word that you're not tryinh to get any hits from here.

As for the free software, I guess I would check links and tutorials at iPodder (http://www.ipodder.org).

Again, the talk will be Podcast centric, but most of the tools over there should be able to handle just about any file. I'm not Windows centric, so I couldn't be of much more help beyond that.


Eric

[BSquared]

What an interesting thread, meandering as it does across many issues. Or maybe it SEEMS more interesting because it's very hot outside (38 Celcius - don't know what that translates to) and I am uninspired by the lawn mowing that needs doing.

I feel compelled to chime in with two points

Version3 I congratulate you on your excellent excellent "magazine analogy" to describe what subscribing to RSS feeds is all about (i'm not going to quote - too long). I have been trying to explain to a couple of friends and didn't come up with anything nearly so sensible. Well done you.

As for Tim I think you have bigger issues to face than whether or not to bother enabling your vlog to be subscribed to by an RSS feed. Your initial post and subsequent defences have come across to this potential audience member as ill-informed and 'whiney'. Frankly I could care less whether you get a free RSS or not - there are literally thousands of people out there with blogs and video blogs and podcasts and internet radio shows etc etc etc who don't whine worse than my 5-year old and insult their potential audience repeatedly so I will choose their entertainment offerings over yours any and every day.

[WyethDigital]

Version3 I congratulate you on your excellent excellent "magazine analogy" to describe what subscribing to RSS feeds is all about (i'm not going to quote - too long). I have been trying to explain to a couple of friends and didn't come up with anything nearly so sensible. Well done you.

Actually, I meant to say something myself about that! It is a great anology, and probably worth posting in it's own thread (so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, like it nearly did here)!


Eric

[BSquared]

Sorry but I just can't go mow that lawn without saying one more thing

Because I try to inform my opinions I did have a look at your website Tim and it is not the sort of quality I would expect from someone who claims to have "Computer experience 8 years" (what does that mean? 8 years using them? 8 years selling them?) and an Associate Degree in Computer Information Management. I know you whined that it was done in 2003 or whatever but that's a pretty pathetic excuse.

I wouldn't normally be so rude to someone I don't know but I feel totally vindicated because you Tim insulted the heck out of me with your initial post. I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it as a personal attack (i'm not that paranoid) but your ill-informed slinging off at iPod users (the same people you presumably want as your audience if you are even bothering to consider offering an RSS feed) really got under my skin.

You think I'm too lazy to take the 4 clicks to get your video each week? I think you're too lazy to read a book and learn about modern web design theory and methodology. Web design is about so much more than learning how to code mate.

[Tim]

I thought Version3's magazine analogy was very good also, it really helped me finally understand the benefits of RSS.

However, although I may put an RSS feed on my site, it'll have to be free. I'm not going to pay for it.

I looked at the price list for one of those sites listed above, and even 750 MB at $30 a month won't get me very far.

My site usually transfers 6 GB to 10 GB of data a month. I know that not everyone who comes to my site would watch the shows through an iPod, but enough might that it gets really expensive for me.

I'm going to put a topic on my message board asking about if I should redesign the home page or not. I'll see what my regular viewers have to say. I know someone who has a copy of Frontpage and I'll use it.

Does anyone have any problems with the way the other pages look? Or is the Home page the only problem?

[Version3]

You asked... it's the whole site. Try colors that actually work together to form a "look". Before you jump off into using Front Page to turn out a big over-coded turd... read a little bit, and find a few websites that will inspire you. Try to recreate a few components of it for practice and understanding, then draft your new look by creating 1 page. Get feedback on the 1 page, and use that to create a final draft. That single page likely should be the first page of your site, and will dictate the look of the rest of your pages.

This is only if you want to be on the path to doing it right.

[Version3]

Thanks everybody for the compliments on my magazine analogy... I thought maybe it was long winded. It is how I explained it to my parents, and they seemed to get it, so it's my new 'simplest terms to what podasting is' explanation. :D

[WyethDigital]

However, although I may put an RSS feed on my site, it'll have to be free. I'm not going to pay for it.

I looked at the price list for one of those sites listed above, and even 750 MB at $30 a month won't get me very far.

Tim, the site that lists $30 per month for 750MB is a hosting serivice. I mentioned it because it does most of the set up for you. It's obviously not going to work for everyone. The other site was for a program that built a viable RSS feed for you and I think was something like $30 or $35 (one time shot). That does't sound too hard on the pocketbook, but if you're paying for 6 to 10 GB a month for throughput on your site, I can imagine even $35 would get expensive.

Luckily, I found a link through iPodder.org to a Harvard Law School (http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss) site that has a sample RSS 2.0 feed, and explanations on how to modify it yourself. Looks easy enough that I think even I could even do a basic implementation of it.

I know that not everyone who comes to my site would watch the shows through an iPod, but enough might that it gets really expensive for me.

LOL Okay, I'm convinced! You [b]have[/h] been living under a rock (http://www.microsoft.com/)! iPods (http://www.apple.com/ipod/musicandmore.html) do not play video files. They all play music (among some of their many other functions), some show photos (http://www.apple.com/ipodphoto/), but none currently display video.

The audience that would subscribe to a videoblog would be people who watch them on their computers at home (like me), or their laptops on a commute, or their video-ready cell phones, and if the video is set up correctly, possibly a TiVo or a Sony PSP (I understand the video files can be a pain to set up for the PSP, which is too bad.. a lot of potential there)!


Eric

[yaz]

HOLY ****!!!! 38ºC is like 114ºF...no wonder you won't mow the lawn, i hate doing that crap when its like 65ºF which would prolly be like 20ºC...

[BSquared]

Don't feel too good about yesterdayt's outburst. Put it down to heat frustration. Although I still feel the same annoyance, my mother always taught me not to fight rudeness with rudeness so my apologies Tim. :oops:

And to show I mean it....

If you're serious about re-designing Tim then don't just go and push
everything through Front Page because someone you know has a copy. Version 3 has some good suggestions about how to work out what you want.

You need to decide on some basic questions

Who is my audience?
Do I want to expand that audience?
If yes, what types of "extra" people am I trying to reach?
(how old are they?, how IT literate? Which of the things on my site are they really interested in and which things are "nice to have"?)
Do I want this to be an example of my work that I can use to sell my services or display my expertise?
What are the 2-3 things I REALLY want to say with this site?

If this is a hobby thing you're not going to put in the same amount of effort and resources that would go into a commercial site. However, you are obviously interested enough in having more people look at your videos via your site to investigate ways of expanding your audience so you do need to put some level of effort into that.

Try doing some research on the web regarding design theory (although I find most of what's on the web is all about codes and templates and not so much about good design). I'm sure a local library somewhere near you would have copies of at least some of the following books

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A Norman
The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity by Jakob Nielson
Learning Web Design or web design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Niederst (these both contain some basic information on coding that you won't need but also have some good stuff on design principles, colours etc
Making your Small Business Website Work: Easy Answers to Content, Navigation and Design by John Heartfield (even though you might not be using yours for business the book is good because it focuses on small sites and has some stuff on "special interest" sites if I remember correctly.

If you're going to ask your "regulars" for thoughts ideas - ask them what other websites they really like, ask them why they like it

Finally, it's not just the home page Tim. Web design is never just about 1 page. It's called a website for a reason - websites are the sum of all their parts and in good websites all those parts have have a consistent look and feel.

[Tim]

I've been trying to get the buttons on my site redesigned, but it's not going very well. I'm not going to spend any amount of money on a photo editing / creating program, and I don't like the look of the buttons other people have made for me.

The closest I've come to making new buttons is in Microsoft Paint. Several other button making programs insist on putting light areas on the buttons, like light is shining on them or something, or areas of shadows, and I don't like that. I want nice bright solid colored buttons like what I have now.

[allthewhile]

http://www.gimp.org/windows/

opensource photoshopesque

try that, tim.

[cid92]

OK. I went to Tim's site. Not overly impressed but it does the job. As for an RSS feed - it would do this site wonders. It's one thing to goto a site that has a bunch of information on their current and past shows and then download the ones you want to hear. It's another to goto a site that has 15 words or less describing the show content. Since there is nothing of subtance describing the show, I'd rather have an RSS feed download it for me so I don't have to spend the time (all 20 seconds of it) going to the site and manually downloading it.

If the individual downloads had some content that let me know what the show was about, then I might spend some more time at the site browsing and reading the show notes. There's barely anything there though so the 20 seconds to manually download it is not worth it to me. I'd rather have the show pop up on my computer when it's released.

FYI - I'm not at all indicating that this show is not worthy of being viewed in case someone reads it that way.

[Tim]

http://www.loudmouthtim.com/bump.jpg

I haven't put much effort (well, ANY effort actually) into site redesign lately. I met a very nice girl a couple weeks ago and have been spending time with her. Redesigning the site to make it look pretty so others will look at it is a low priority to say the least right now. The weekly show is still going, though.

[WyethDigital]

I haven't put much effort (well, ANY effort actually) into site redesign lately. I met a very nice girl a couple weeks ago and have been spending time with her. Redesigning the site to make it look pretty so others will look at it is a low priority to say the least right now. The weekly show is still going, though.

I hear ya'! Gotta have the right priorities, man. Good luck with your new friend!
:D

Eric

[Tim]

The ****ing bitch dumped me. And I don't know why. And it was yesterday - the day before my birthday (today)! I still don't know what she thought was wrong. I'm thinking about posting her contact information here.

[allthewhile]

I'm thinking about posting her contact information here.

Please don't.

[yaz]

DO IT TIM!!!!!!!!

if you want we'll call her and annoy her while we do our show!

[WyethDigital]

The ****ing bitch dumped me. And I don't know why. And it was yesterday - the day before my birthday (today)! I still don't know what she thought was wrong. I'm thinking about posting her contact information here.
I feel for you, man. But posting her info here so she can be harassed is probably illegal and absolutely unethical. Would not be cool! Take the high road!

Best wishes,

Eric

[TPS]

I'm thinking about posting her contact information here.
Dude, take it like a man. Posting her contact info would be how a 14yr old would handle it.

[dcolanduno]

Tim wrote:
The ****ing bitch dumped me. And I don't know why. And it was yesterday - the day before my birthday (today)! I still don't know what she thought was wrong. I'm thinking about posting her contact information here.


Hmm,

This post started as a bitch against podcasters... of all places, on Podcast Alley. Now it's turned into one of those conversations you have at the bar with the drunk guy next to you, that you'd wish would shut the heck up.

I get a sense that we keep feeding this Trollaphant too many peanuts.