Okay, so our daily Cool Stuff feature has definitely taken off. We’ve gotten tons of great feedback, and each new post is more highly read than the last. But I’m starting to find the daily schedule rather limiting. I have a backlog of hundreds of submitted and found items to report on in future Cool Stuff postings. And with each new day, I add five more items to the ever growing list. It’s becoming clear to me that I’ll never be able to post all of these cool things on the current daily schedule. So I’ve been thinking of other options:
1. We could run more than one Cool Stuff feature per day. This would allow us to post cool stuff as it happens. I’m thinking two to three, in separate blog postings. I’m really against combining a bunch of cool stuff postings into one daily post. I like that each post is a separate cool thing. But posting 2-3 a day could crowd the already crowded landscape of /Film. On a regular news day, we have 12 postings in addition to the Cool Stuff. And I’ve always tried to keep /Film to a maximum of 15 posts a day.
2. We could create a new Cool Stuff blog under the /Film banner (slashfilm.com/coolstuff) where we could post as much cool stuff as humanly possible. We would then continue to run one daily Cool Stuff article (the coolest of the cool) on the main page of /Film. That cool stuff article would feature links to the other cool stuff not posted on the main page. The creation of this Cool Stuff blog may need to wait until our new design launches (which I hope will happen by early April).
3. KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid. Continue posting just one cool stuff item on /Film daily. This will limit the postings to only the coolest of the cool.
I’d like to get the feedback of you, the readers. Please comment below or e-mail me directly.
photo via: wooster
March 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I vote for option #2. Having a separate blog would make it more manageable from a reading standpoint, and I like the idea of having one cool stuff post on slashfilm each day which links to the stuff on the other blog
March 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Option 2 seems the best.
Cool Stuff is a great part of /film and if they was a seperate blog then you can be sure a lot of people will view it!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Another vote for the subdir, slashfilm.com/coolstuff
March 18th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I like the Cool Stuff posts. I would go with option 2 and create a sub-blog if you’re planning on posting up to 3 (or more) per day.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Number 2, please!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
To be quite honest, I’m probably not going to go to another blog just to look at cool stuff. I say leave it here and go more often.
By the way, thanks for the Alamo Drafthouse review. I have heard of it so often over at Aicn but they never really described it that well. You not only gave me the details, you also made me want to move to San Antonio! I live near Minneapolis and they have or had a couple cinema cafe’s that served food in a similar manner but it was more of a budget theater than a place for movie worship. One day I’ll have to check the Alamo out but for now, I’ll have to do with your review. Thanks again!
March 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
If it’s option 2, I’ll never check it. /Film is on my already overly crowded Netvibes page, so if I have to add another feed, it just won’t get done. I like the idea of adding multiple postings a day, or just keeping it to 1 a day.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
#1 - I would be against, it dilutes the focus of the blog, and as you know you get people complaining about the daily post anyway.
#3 - Really an option? Can tell you love the cool stuff too much to leave it limited to a single post.
#2 all the way. I’m sure many people will only check the daily feature, but the miniblog could take off if the quality is equally as high. (Who knows, you may even be looking for a separate domain one day)
March 18th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Option 2 FTW!
March 18th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Deux!
March 18th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Option 2 sounds good.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
2
March 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Option 2, love the cool stuff
March 18th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Option 2 sounds awesome
March 18th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Your using wordpress so why not offer up more feed options:
- /Film feed
- Cool stuff feed
- /film + Cool Stuff feed
Now we have a choice!
If you are going to expand the cool stuff category I really hope you change the fact that 50% of the cool stuff is starwars related.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
separate blog under the slashfilm banner
March 18th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
F2.
I come here multiple times a day…So an extra feature might be nice when theres not any new news on the main page… Though it might end up looking like a boing boing clone…
March 18th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Cawlin: I love your idea of adding the option for a combined feed.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Go with the crowd - #2 it is.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Number #2 please.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
two
March 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
wow didn’t think so many people would go for two. I think I would like two, but honestly I might stop checking (or actually forgetting to check it) after a while.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I vote for the seemingly unpopular, “Keep It Simple”. While the postings are indeed… cool, too many postings increase the likelihood of reiterating what readers may see on other sites.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I have to say that Cool Stuff isn’t why I read /film, so if it became littered with Cool Stuff posts I’d be kind of annoyed.
Also I probably wouldn’t check a second blog. Not that I wouldn’t like it but I’ve got too much to read as it is.
So I vote for #3. But if you choose #2 I really don’t mind.
March 18th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
It depends entirely on whether you think that sexman is cool stuff, in which case please never ever post it again.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Sexman section!
March 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
option 2 seems good to me i cant get enough cool stuff as it is
March 18th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I have to say I am also against the idea of another blog. I know everyone is liking the idea, but it sounds ALOT like it would become Boing Boing, or GIzmodo, or any of several other ‘Cool Stuff’ sites that are already out there. The thing I personally like about your choices is that they’re YOUR choices, stuff you found interesting enough to post about. Posting all the cool stuff dilutes that and makes it just another posting site. And we have those already.
Maybe, as a suggestion, one featured Cool Stuff post each day that you talk about, and then a quick list of runners-up without comment, all in the same post. Kind of a “featured” cool stuff with editorial (which is also another thing I enjoy) and then a quick hit list without editorial. That could use up more items without making more work, and leaves the decision to look into more detail up to your readers.
Now, if starting another site is a financial decision… then I leave that up to you.
my two cents worth.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
#3 - KISS
I come because I love film.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
sexman is boring
March 18th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
option 2!
March 18th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
i am a huge film geek, but i love cool stuff, so i vote for #2 so i can get my undiluted /film news but still see all the cool stuff scattered across the web.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:43 am
I’ll add to the landslide…
222222222222222222222
March 19th, 2008 at 3:44 am
I go with option number2, but how about add it to just this site. Maybe by advertising it under the normal page that way people can get the idea to go there. I really like the cool stuff alot. Hell I have come to really love this site period. I use to stick to just AICN and stuff like that but this site has alot more. I think you should go ahead with option 2 and just promote the hell out of it on this page, that way people dont just foget about the cool stuff and it doesnt fade off into non-existence. By the way the site rocks….. Anthony
March 19th, 2008 at 3:53 am
i say: separate blog under the heading and then a daily /film blog entry with collated links to spark interest
March 19th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Hi, I’m here to let you all in on an incredible development of this young, movie critic’s career in the media.
Starting in just over a month’s time, we will be giving ‘Sexman’ his own slot on primetime Fox News.
We felt that his involvement would allow us to connect with the movie-going public that identifies with his review style and we look forward enormously to working with him.
Tomas Glandere
Fox News
March 19th, 2008 at 9:21 am
#1
March 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
#2——–It doesn’t pollute the main blog, but still gives the ability to showcase everything and then specifically shines on one thing, which I think works great already. So, win/win.