Post Holiday Update
Published on January 23, 2008 - 21 Comments
I thought it would be a good time to give you all an update since returning to London from my holiday in New Zealand, so here it is.
1. The Holiday
In case you were not aware, I have just spent a month in New Zealand with family and friends for Christmas. I had a wonderful time - the weather was great and the food amazing (as always). While most of my time was spent in Wellington (the Capital city), I did venture out to Hawkes Bay and Auckland. I had a great Christmas and I have been re-energized by the trip - which is good for the site as it means I have more energy for new lists!
2. State of the Site
While I was gone I tried to post at least one list a day - I succeeded for the most part but there were a few days without a list (either because of traveling, or not being near my computer). I was also unable to comment on most lists because I was so busy. Thanks to everyone who took this job on. I am very glad to be able to return to my old habits of monitoring and replying to as many comments as possible.
3. Site Costs
Time away has prevented me from promoting the site, which I try to do on a daily basis. This means the revenue for January is way down and, unfortunately, the cost of running the site is not. If you wish to make a donation towards the costs of running the site, please feel free to do so using the donation button in the top right of this page. The base donation is $10 but you can make it less or more as you please. In addition, if you are unable to make a donation but are planning to do some shopping on Amazon.com, if you click the amazon.com ad on the right hand side, any purchases you make contribute a small amount to the site.
4. Sharing
Please remember to share our lists with your friends and families and to promote them on the various websites you hang out on. The more people that come here the more diverse our comments will be - everyone wins! Remember that there is a series of buttons at the bottom of each list to help you share them with others.
5. EBook
I am considering writing an eBook with a collection of my favorite lists. I would like to charge a small fee for the book (to cover the time it will take me to put it together and the cost of downloading - it will be hosted on Amazon’s servers and I pay for downloads from there). What do you all think is a fair price for a book of that nature? The idea is that you can give copies of it to friends.
6. Logo Competition
The logo competition is coming along very well. There is only a week or so left for you to get your submissions in - so please hurry! Once the competition closes I will be posting all of the logos on the site forums for you all to look at and comment on. While I will make the final decision, I want your input to help me. When we have our new logo we will do a bit of redesign on the site and will start working on ideas for merchandise - like t-shirts, cups, etc.
7. Lists
As always I am very keen to receive lists from the readers - if you have an idea for a list - any type of list, send it in! It is always fun for me to read other peoples ideas and to be able to share many of them with the other readers on the site. It is quite a rush to read comments people make on your own lists so give it a try!
8. This Year
I like to think that this site is your site as much as it is mine. I am very keen to hear ideas on what you think we should do to expand on the site. What would you like to see here? What would make this site better? Don’t be shy - speak up!
9. Thanks
Thank you to everyone who came to the site in my absence and read and commented on our lists. It is so great to see that you all kept coming back despite knowing that I was not able to post as frequently. As always, it is your contributions that make this site so great!
Related ListsTop 10 Silly Website NamesTop 10 Answers To Your Questions 10 Reasons To Change The NZ Government Tomorrow Your Questions: Ask JFrater |
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1. Stormy617 - January 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 am
I think an ebook would be great. I have been telling everyone I know about my new addiction (this site). Darn you I get online planning to just check my email and I always end up here for at least an hour usually two or more LOL. Maybe it will get better once I get through the archives.
I don’t know if this is something that you would be able to do but is there any way to configure the notice of follow up comments to just send one email no matter how many comments were made until you visit the site again and then it would send you one again when a comment is made. I don’t know if I am explaining it right and I don’t know if it will work here too but thats how they do it on a forum I used to belong to. When someone would comment on a thread that you were subscribed to whether it was one person or ten you would only receive one email notifying you that there were new posts.
2. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 am
Stormy: hopefully I can keep writing fast enough that you will never get through the archives
We have over 450 lists already!
I know what you mean about the comments subscription - at the present time my coding skills are not good enough to add that type of functionality. As the site grows and the revenue becomes sufficient for me to pay a real develop to enhance it I will include that functionality for sure.
3. Stormy617 - January 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 am
Hey I can live with it LOL as long as the site is still around. As soon as I can I am going to send in a donation. That says a lot about your site too I have never even remotely been interested in a site enough to consider sending them money but I think its great how you keep this site up and spend your time and money to entertain all of us. Keep up the good work!!!
And now i am going off to bed…….it is 5 am and I havent been to sleep yet!! And I have been home for yes two hours……got online and got stuck again LOL. Good thing I don’t have to be to work until 5pm today.
4. Kadee - January 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 am
Auckland represent. Harhar.
5. Bill Gate’s Penis - January 23rd, 2008 at 5:54 am
harhar
6. Mystern - January 23rd, 2008 at 6:45 am
Stormy: you should get a GMail account. I get dozens of emails from Listverse every day but they’re all organized into conversations so I can read the comments without actually going to the site and it only shows up as one email from each list.
JF: I love the idea of an ebook. I don’t usually buy them so I have no idea how much it should cost but I’d be willing to pay for a compilation of the best lists. Hell, I might even see if I could get it made into a coffee table book you could sell on the site. No guarantees, but I could look into it.
7. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 6:55 am
Mystern: I was wondering about the idea of a coffee table book too - or even just a self-published hard cover book - I prefer reading books on paper than in ‘e’ form. I am thinking that if I go ahead with the idea (in either form) I will do a special chapter of lists that aren’t on the site - to make it a more tantalizing purchase
8. Mystern - January 23rd, 2008 at 7:05 am
JF: Wait . . . Haangh omn a theck, I needth thoo wipe the droolth from my moufth . . . There we go. For the record, I like that idea.
9. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
mystern: heh apparently so
Now I just need to learn how to make a book!
10. Sarah - January 23rd, 2008 at 7:54 am
I miss the hot links. Will they be coming back?
11. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Sarah: at the moment I am in two minds about bringing them back or not - you may well be the only person that liked them!
12. Kelsi - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 am
I think a coffee table book would be good, I’ve never really heard of e-books, so I can’t give a price recommendation, but I’d consider buying a coffee table book. The only issue there is images–coffee table books are usually very visually rich, and getting images might be a bit of a pain.
Anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday, and I can’t wait to see the schwag.
Also, I like the idea that was mentioned once upon a time about being able to reply to individual comments–sort of like livejournal? That would at least keep the snakring in check to specific people, AND make it easier to retaliate. >=)
13. SocialButterfly - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am
I have a quick question J…
I have an idea for a list but do not have the talent to write it out… can I submit an idea to you privately or do you only take full lists for contribution?
14. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:40 am
SocialButterfly: you can definitely send in the idea and if it is one I think I can hash out I will
Kelsi: thanks! I am looking forward to being able to afford to spend money on the functionality and looks of the site (rather than just the backend as at present).
15. Cathysferret - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
Jamie: I miss hotlinks, too!
16. Mystern - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
JF: A quick search on the interwebs yielded a couple sites for book publishing you might like to look at. General info on self publishing can be found here.
And I found a couple sites for actually publishing your work. An English one and an international one.
Both provide instant quotes (though I couldn’t get the first one to work) and bulk discounts. Also, the international one gives a much larger bulk discount when paying in pounds sterling.
17. jfrater - January 23rd, 2008 at 8:55 am
Cathysferret: hehe okay - if more people agree I won’t dump it
Mystern: Thanks - that English one looks quite nice and I can pay in sterling. Now I just need to get the time to put it all together!
18. dangorironhide - January 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 am
I thought the hotlinks were great as well…
In response to comment #7, that idea reminds me of those damnable greatest hits cds, where they release extra tracks on it that havent been on any other albums. It’s irritating not being able to get at those tracks, especially as I dont download music online…
I other words, I wouldn’t really want to buy a book just for the chapter of ‘unreleased’ lists…
19. Kristin - January 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I know if you made a coffee table book I would for sure buy it! I love the site and I tell everyone about it. I come into work every morning and this is the first thing I go to. You would have to promise to put ” Top 10 drugs and their effects”, ” Top 10 drinking games”, and ” Another 10 Historical Photographs” in the book if you made. Those are by far a few of my favorite lists.
Keep up the good work on everything. I love the site.
Wow…….. so I just read the about section and I didn’t know that the site has only been up since July 2007, so this means I have been coming to the site since it’s been up! Yayyy for me. That makes me happy!
20. Stormy617 - January 24th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Mystern: Thanks for the tip I will have to look into that!!
21. Angelina - January 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Keep the hot links!!! I paste and copy them to emails all the time!