The Oldhammer Blog.

Erny

Baron
When we first decided we were a thing, "The Oldhammer community", before the forum or facebook page we had the jointly authored blog.

Said Oldhammer blog still gets decent numbers of hits for a sleeping blog. So I'm wondering what should we do with it, I'm happy for enthusiastic but audience-less bloggers to take the helm and start using the high google rating to their advantage if they are producing good content:

http://old-hammer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/what-to-do-with-oldhammer-blog.html

I could just let the sleeping blog die but seam a shame to waste it.
 
A really sad thing it would be to let it die. Question is what kind of content would be fitted to go there?

Having a review of the most intersting/popular oldhammer related productions (over the forum, blogs or FB page) coudl be a good thing since it would benefit to the community as a whole and this is something I can't see anywhere else.
 
Agreed, indeed Thantsants and I were recently saying it is hard to keep up with all the oldhammer blogs these days.

Its a jolly big job to do though.
 
Asslessman":nc632ask said:
A really sad thing it would be to let it die. Question is what kind of content would be fitted to go there?

Having a review of the most intersting/popular oldhammer related productions (over the forum, blogs or FB page) coudl be a good thing since it would benefit to the community as a whole and this is something I can't see anywhere else.

Definitely having highlights or a review of some of the most interesting blog posts over the last month is the way to go with it "Oldhammer Visions"? :razz:

There is no harm in having a centralised hub of all the best content in one place. It would also help with driving quality up on individual blog postings.
 
I commented on the oldhammer blog as well, but I might as well repeat what I said here too. Why not post up a 'best of' selection of articles from the community as a large. Lots of nice pictures, battle reports, tutorials etc? Even regular oldhammerers may well stumble across something that they missed and it would act as a great gateway to what we are all about.
 
Well the blog is a good tool for promotion because it's open to reader's submissions, it can also have dedicated pages for
- oldhammer compatible mianiature companies/ranges
- good tutorials
- good scenarii and battle reports

I don't think the aim is to cover the whole community (far to big a task I agree). I'm just taking my own example here but I have about 100 blogs listed taht I follow and It's still manageable to follow (except during WE...). keeping a tenth or less and making one post per week seems feasible. different posters as it's already the case and you can divide that into something doable (some will concentrate on blogs, some on the forum and some on the FB page).

EDIt : Agreed with Orlygg, exactly my thought. The community is only lacking a link, I don't really like that there are split communities, using the oldhammer blog to gather those in the same place to keep the best would be a really nice thing.
 
theottovonbismark":25aondju said:
There is no harm in having a centralised hub of all the best content in one place. It would also help with driving quality up on individual blog postings.

THAT
 
I'd say update the Blog links on the site as well as a FB group link, plus link to all the new Oldhammer related companies (Affinity Minatures, Oakbound games ect).

Then once a week on the same day a Random blog article is selected and linked too with a few comments from the person which selected the article
 
Chico":3vhqx42r said:
I'd say update the Blog links on the site as well as a FB group link, plus link to all the new Oldhammer related companies (Affinity Minatures, Oakbound games ect).

Then once a week on the same day a Random blog article is selected and linked too with a few comments from the person which selected the article

Why only once a week? Regular posts equals increased traffic! If somethings good out there, it should be shared! Its just a case of shifting over the content from one blog to another. Should take a little less than a minute to do.
 
Giving a hand to community miniature ranges (the ones you mentionned and others) i sdefinitely a good thing the blog could do.

A randomly selected blog?... I really prefer theottovonbismark's view. It would be the occasion to comment on "trends" and to select the best painted models, the best stories, the best speedpaintings so that everyone gets his chance.

Updating the side with evrey oldhammer related link and the FB page, seems mandatory.
 
The reason I say once a week is simple, someone has to do the work and not run out of steam. Best keep it realistic and not put too much pressure on whoever takes over the reins.
 
Erny has made a good point. If you are new to oldhammer and search for the term, you hit the blog as the second option. Something that appears dead isn't great first impression for the community. It needs a little redesign of the links and a lot more content. Having a scan of the page views shows that the forum link gets the most hits, followed with info about oldhammer day and associated mini companies. It would be sensible to follow these trends up a little further.
 
Chico":1aw7704w said:
The reason I say once a week is simple, someone has to do the work and not run out of steam. Best keep it realistic and not put too much pressure on whoever takes over the reins.

I understand your point. But wasn't the blog open to many contributors? Just join and port over your own stuff? Encourage other bloggers to do the same.
 
Orlygg":1i5jufly said:
I understand your point. But wasn't the blog open to many contributors? Just join and port over your own stuff? Encourage other bloggers to do the same.

Not sure I see much point if everyone joins as contributor and posts there articles everytime they have a new article, defeats the point of running your own blog if you just gonna port it over to the Oldhammer Blog. :?
 
For what it's worth, I'm ok with joining and posting once in a while a selection of (other people's) oldhammer goodness with once in a while some more "in depths" posts to explore some of them. I've been trying to do that in multiple threads here like the "Malal thread" for example.
Another idea would be to explore the "trends" for example, dark leves ar egetting a lot of attention right now (3 DE armies and 2 BB DE teams at least just on the forum) making a post about them or about the RT/necromunda trend could be fun...just saying.

Chico":35anyivl said:
Orlygg":35anyivl said:
I understand your point. But wasn't the blog open to many contributors? Just join and port over your own stuff? Encourage other bloggers to do the same.

Not sure I see much point if everyone joins as contributor and posts there articles everytime they have a new article, defeats the point of running your own blog if you just gonna port it over to the Oldhammer Blog. :?
agreed,
 
All very good points.

The blog as ever will be about the oldhammer community, what are they up to, where are the best posts.

As to posting again I'll happily give access to others if they have a track record for good stuff or if new are very enthusiastic and persuasive but there probably needs to be a limit.

Four possible options (there are other options I'm sure):

Myself or someone else does all the work and sees if the thing is interesting enough to keep going.

The disorganised chaos way, open the blog up to those who care and leave them to it.

The structured way, someone takes responsibility for an aspect of the community, miniatures, painting, 40K, Fantasy whatever and posts regularly every week or so giving the best of each subject.

The very structured way, seven active authors seven days, post up your favorite thing of the week on your day.
 
Asslessman":1iebl7r0 said:
For what it's worth, I'm ok with joining and posting once in a while a selection of (other people's) oldhammer goodness with once in a while some more "in depths" posts to explore some of them. I've been trying to do that in multiple threads here like the "Malal thread" for example.
Another idea would be to explore the "trends" for example, dark leves ar egetting a lot of attention right now (3 DE armies and 2 BB DE teams at least just on the forum) making a post about them or about the RT/necromunda trend could be fun...just saying.

Chico":1iebl7r0 said:
Orlygg":1iebl7r0 said:
I understand your point. But wasn't the blog open to many contributors? Just join and port over your own stuff? Encourage other bloggers to do the same.

Not sure I see much point if everyone joins as contributor and posts there articles everytime they have a new article, defeats the point of running your own blog if you just gonna port it over to the Oldhammer Blog. :?
agreed,

You have to think about the Oldhammer blog being a gateway INTO the scene rather than something central. The FB page and the forum are the centre of it all, I don't think Erny is suggesting that the old Oldhammer blog is going to be for this purpose. I am talking about jazzing up its content and creating something more useful to potential converts rather than informing the old guard.
 
Good point to Orlygg, the blog is the gateway drug.

It needs to have the very cream of the week on it, we need to trust the judgment of those posting and that they are widely enough read.
 
Erny":kf75p1pd said:
All very good points.

The blog as ever will be about the oldhammer community, what are they up to, where are the best posts.

As to posting again I'll happily give access to others if they have a track record for good stuff or if new are very enthusiastic and persuasive but there probably needs to be a limit.

Four possible options (there are other options I'm sure):

Myself or someone else does all the work and sees if the thing is interesting enough to keep going.

The disorganised chaos way, open the blog up to those who care and leave them to it.

The structured way, someone takes responsibility for an aspect of the community, miniatures, painting, 40K, Fantasy whatever and posts regularly every week or so giving the best of each subject.

The very structured way, seven active authors seven days, post up your favorite thing of the week on your day.

Another option is Erny being the main author but with a series of guest authors - maybe organised via the forum on a volunteer basis. Each has a week or 2 to run the blog and post what they wish. This way ensure the widest variety of content/interests.
 
Erny":21p1ywd2 said:
It needs to have the very cream of the week on it, we need to trust the judgment of those posting and that they are widely enough read.

I agree it needs the cream and no filler, so not just everyone posting they own articles. Someone needs to pick there best and add to it with a first comments/questions.
 
Back
Top