Site Update: March 2009

We have some very important stuff coming up soon – so it seemed appropriate to write an update to let you all know what is going on in the life of listverse and JFrater. This update includes a poll – we would really appreciate it if you would take the time to answer it for us.

To help me get a better idea of what you all like on the site, I would really appreciate it if you would answer the following poll. It will help me to hone the future lists to the tastes of our readers. You simply select the three topics (you can choose fewer than three if you prefer) you love the most and click “Vote”. You won’t be taken away from the page – the poll will update in front of you and show you what other people have selected. There will be some more polls to come in a while – to help me get some demographic information from you all (this will be optional of course). In one week this poll will close, and we will randomly pick one registered user who answered the poll to win any DVD featured on this site (on any of the movie lists). If you don’t want to register, you can still vote in the poll, but you won’t be entered in the competition.

[poll=2]

We have a title for the book! As you may know, a couple of months ago we were approached by an American publisher in California who want to work with us to produce a book based on the site. The contracts are now all signed, the book title has been agreed upon, the first chapter and table of contents have been submitted and we should have a book on the shelves within 12 months. It is taking a lot of energy and effort to get the chapters together for the book, so if it seems that I have been a little absent lately, that is the reason. I intend to work on reversing that trend.

On July 1, 2007, the List Universe was launched. In that time we have had a complete redesign (which will be unfamiliar to most of you no doubt) and it has served us well so far. But as the site is still growing and our needs expanding, we need to look seriously at getting a professional evaluation and even visual update done. I have been in contact with a company here that has designed some fantastic sites (such as kiwibank.co.nz) and will be meeting with them this month to begin the review process. If all goes well, I may engage them to give us a completely new look – one you will all love. If there is anything that you find difficult or annoying about the site (such as wondering where the contact information is), do let me know in the comments – it will help as we come to the design changes.

I am quite keen to introduce new competitions in April – if you have any ideas on what might make a good competition, please let me know. It would be great for people to discuss it here in the comments so we can gauge popularity. We will continue to have competitions on the lists as usual – but it would be nice to do something a bit different for a change.

I posted in December that I was moving into my new house in January. The move went extremely well and I am now settled in. There is lots of decorating to do but I am ploughing ahead and getting quite a lot done. I have a bunch of veges growing in my garden and have bottled my first lot of gherkins. Once I have the place looking the way I want it, I will upload some photos for you to all see.

Unfortunately we lost one of our main advertisers this month because someone complained about one of our lists (the suicide list). Not content to end our relationship with one of our advertisers, the person also complained to a second one. The second advertiser had the decency to write to me to tell me about the complaint and ask me to remove the list. I have (with regret) removed the list and our second advertiser is still on board. Needless to say, the loss of income is going to hit us hard – especially as our hosting fees are increasing every month due to bandwidth usage. You can rest assured, however, that the site will continue and we are trying very hard to find a replacement advertiser.

This month we have a submit a list competition. If you submit a great list, it has a chance of winning you $150.00 US. There are more details on the list submissions page which should be familiar to you all (I hope!) Maybe the poll above will help to make the choice of topic easier for you too.

It seems appropriate again for me to thank everyone involved with the site – particularly our admins Cyn, Dangorironhide, and Mom424. We appreciate the comments, emails, and help we get constantly from you all. It is you who make the site and without your support over the last year and a half we wouldn’t be here.