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Posted

A while ago, there was another attempt to start the main site again. And I was looking at it and there hasn't been anything new since June 30th.

 

Now should I even bother trying to start it up again? Or should we just give up on it? Is there ANY interest for writers? New ones?

Posted

Every time I have an idea to write something (ex. recapping shows on 24/7), I end up deciding not to, usually just posting my thoughts in shorter, non recapped detail on the forum. Although that's just me, it does give me a theory - no one reads the main site and no one e-mails feed back to the writers. Everyone that writes or had written is also a member of the forum. Posting something on the forum usually results in people replying. Therefore, it's just easier to share your thoughts via threads on the forum, or possibly a blog. 9 times out of 10 it guarantees someone bothered to read what you wrote AND had a comment to make about it. A good example would be when I wrote a 2004 Royal Rumble preview / WWE 03 in review for the site. I received no feedback to that from forum outsiders, but posting a link to it on the forum itself lead to some spirited discussion about what would suck worse - Flair/Batista vs Dudleyz or Holly vs Lesnar, as well as who really was the worst wrestler of 2003 (most people said Test!).

Posted

I think someone once suggested or implied it was selfish of the site writers to complain about not getting feedback from people, or that they would be writing 'for nothing', with the idea being they should be writing to give the site content or because they personally wanted to. While that's all well and good and I understand the point (if you're writing articles as a volunteer then you should expect nothing in return except the joy of writing), if you were to apply this "fake internet" writing to a real world situation, I'm sure novelists wouldn't keep writing if no one bought their books (or at least gave some sort of indication that they cared what the author was writing about).

Posted
Every time I have an idea to write something (ex. recapping shows on 24/7), I end up deciding not to, usually just posting my thoughts in shorter, non recapped detail on the forum. Although that's just me, it does give me a theory - no one reads the main site and no one e-mails feed back to the writers. Everyone that writes or had written is also a member of the forum. Posting something on the forum usually results in people replying. Therefore, it's just easier to share your thoughts via threads on the forum, or possibly a blog. 9 times out of 10 it guarantees someone bothered to read what you wrote AND had a comment to make about it. A good example would be when I wrote a 2004 Royal Rumble preview / WWE 03 in review for the site. I received no feedback to that from forum outsiders, but posting a link to it on the forum itself lead to some spirited discussion about what would suck worse - Flair/Batista vs Dudleyz or Holly vs Lesnar, as well as who really was the worst wrestler of 2003 (most people said Test!).

 

 

This is pretty much what's wrong with the idea. The forums were built with a history outside of any actual website. (Meaning, it didn't/doesn't need a main site to survive and bring in new posters). Most websites start out small, build a following, and THEN get forums. TSM didn't need that because it had already done it.

 

Also, writing about wrestling is rough. It's hard to have an original thought because there are so many people constantly debating every facet of news that comes out. The only thing that could be done is to do things more comedy based stuff, or maybe things like "Re-writing The Book" at Wrestlecrap. If people want to write about sports, pop culture, etc, it's entirely welcome, but again most things can be talked about in the actual forums and get tons more feedback and discussion.

 

This place is way too interconnected to need a secondary place for information. It definitely doesn't need a starsmucks coffee house. I don't even drink coffee.

Posted

I spent at least 5 hours on two articles. I got about 70 combined reads.

 

No thanks.

Posted

Just give up on the main site altogether. There's nothing anyone here can write for it that hasn't been done elsewhere and been done better elsewhere - last time everyone got all psyched to do it and the excitement died down after about a week.

Posted

My leaving the main site in 2003 had less to do with lack-of-feedback or lack-of-views than burnout and lack-of-time on my part.

 

(In particular, I'd just moved into a house and was having to do continual re-arranging and unpacking, was working overtime and manditory weekends at the office, and my shoot supplier had just been busted trying to hook up with a 14-year old boy and I wasn't throwing any more money his way.)

 

 

IIRC, a lot of the other writers who left tended to do so because the product they were writing about sucked, as they were typically covering C-level shows like Heat, etc. that were just mind-numbingly bad.

 

 

 

If someone wants to re-start the main site, they should probably start with certain things that don't require a weekly effort, like tape reviews and/or PPV reviews.

 

TV reviews tend to be a waste of time unless it's the promotion's top show, like RAW or Impact, and the product doesn't absolutely suck.

Guest CWMwasmurdered
Posted

TSM would probably be better served by doing a match database or trying to make the ultimate Smark FAQ, or a Wrestling encyclopedia of names/moves/shows/etc. At least that stuff would be interesting.

Posted
TSM would probably be better served by doing a match database or trying to make the ultimate Smark FAQ, or a Wrestling encyclopedia of names/moves/shows/etc. At least that stuff would be interesting.

 

Smarkipedia.

Posted
TSM would probably be better served by doing a match database or trying to make the ultimate Smark FAQ, or a Wrestling encyclopedia of names/moves/shows/etc. At least that stuff would be interesting.

 

Smarkipedia.

 

Wiki already has a pretty deep wrestler/move database...but the shows are usually just quick results and maybe how many people attended. Those kinds of things could definitely be expanded on. There are tons of avenues there, and is something that a core group of guys around here could do fairly easily.

Guest CWMwasmurdered
Posted

I'm nowhere near the most knowledgeable wrestling guy but I'd make an effort to contribute something to a Smarkipedia.

Posted
I will re-cap every single ECW Hardcore TV and WCW Monday Nitro for TSM.

 

No

Posted

The last attempted relaunch of the main page produced some new writers and content for a while, and then it all dried up. As it always does, and as, I'm sure, it always will.

 

At this point, I think another relaunch of the main site would be like beating a dead horse. Just use the domain to display the forums home page. If you want to make an Articles forum and get people to write that way, that might be worthwhile. But beyond that would be a waste of many people's time.

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