I recently met with some of our volunteer moderators and contributors while in the Bay Area, and they provided some valuable suggestions on WUWT and its place in the climate debate.
Of course, I haven’t asked WUWT readers on this topic , so here’s an opportunity to weigh in.
First, I’d like to point out that I don’t know that I will make any changes. I’ve heard some interesting ideas, but have not decided on any course of action. I’d like to hear from readers what they think.
Some topics that I’d like input on:
Format and style: too busy or easy to read and use?
Content: too much/too little/too narrow/too broad?
Content: too much news/not enough news?
Moderation: too heavy/too light? Too troll tolerant/not tolerant enough?
Features: (no I can’t make comment preview work, see this) what would you like to see?
Guest authors: good/bad/ugly?
Ideas for regular weekly features
How do you most use WUWT? Reference, portal, news, commentary, bird cages?
What could we do better?
At the same time, I’d like to mention that a part of WUWT’s success is owed to linkages…and I’ve noticed many readers not taking advantage of the ability to spread the word. It would be enormously helpful if you would use other blogs, Twitter, and Facebook to announce WUWT posts of interest. Some web ranking services now figure these in. Even if you don’t retweet, simply signing up as a Twitter follower improves WUWT’s ranking in some venues.
For example, the Wikio Sciences blog rating we have in the upper right sidebar depends on retweets to some degree, they write in FAQs:
The position of a blog in the Wikio ranking depends on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs. Our algorithm accords a greater value to links from blogs placed higher up in the ranking.
A blog linking another blog is only counted once a month i.e. if blog A links to blog B 10 times in a given month, it is only counted as having linked to that blog once that month. The weight of any link decreases over time. Also, if a blog always links to the same blog, the weight of these links is decreased.
Only links found in RSS feeds are counted. Blogrolls are not taken into account.
In December 2010, retweets were added as an additional factor to the ranking algorithm. For each twitter account, only one backlink per blog is taken into account each month.
So, links to WUWT are important, retweets are important. If you haven’t joined up with Twitter and Facebook, I understand, it took me awhile to overcome some of my personal objections to this form of social networking, but once I did, I never looked back.
Thanks for your consideration – Anthony
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“WUWT and it’s place in the climate debate”. Anthony, please be aware that the possessive “its” has no apostrophe. Nor does “his” “hers” “yours” or “theirs”. Yours (!), simon abingdon.
REPLY: I make this mistake regularly, I’ll make it in the future. It happens when I write and get distracted, as often happens when I write from home with children about. OTOH, I have to give something for the “pirates of pendant” to get excited about. – Anthony
Very minor change. Even though I have been in the computer field for over 35 years, I don’t use HTML tags. I would like to see a link near the comment section to a page describing commonly used HTML tags so I don’t have to look all over the web to find them and end up using something that causes problems. What you have at the bottom of the pages is a start, but the description of what they do is missing. I do feel that a second page would be better than putting the full description on every page.
REPLY:As you point out, each comment form has the basic tags described, see below, plus we have “Ric Werme’s guide to WUWT in the side bar for details on how to use them. – Anthony
You have a lot of content here. Some of it is in the comments, but there is way too much for me to read through.
Personally, I would like a way to distinguish the political comments from the scientifically oriented. I think both are valuable, but sometimes I wish I could just filter out the political ones. Seeing another posting saying “That’s outrageous” doesn’t really further my understanding of the issue, since I have already seen that message many times here.
I would like to see you explore the possibility of improving the behaviour of climate scientists towards each other. reconciliation might be too difficult but good manners and meeting the standards of whatever university employs one, should not be beyond any academic.
Perhaps you might enlist a few volunteers who can download university policies and procedures and initiate a single complaint to the university if it seems probable that a significant breach of university policy has occurred and is worth correcting.
I wish you all the best Anthony, history will smile upon you.
but you are a means to an end. not the end. Putting the scientific process back in its proper place is the end.
‘remember ceasar thou art mortal’
‘remember ceasar thou art mortal’
‘remember ceasar thou art mortal’
🙂
EO
I only knew of this because of the emails..
The RSS feed still does not show this article.. does that help?
I will never be a facebook or twitter person.. I hate both of them..
I only know about the RSS feed because I just discovered a piece of javascipt code called JSON.. and with the help of Yahoo I can now just click on a link a see the new threads from the sites I normally visit on a page on my own website..
But.. obviously.. the RSS feed does not work..
As for the other stuff..
I think the MODS are great..
I think the whole thing is great.. I love to see mistakes..
Let everyone workout that you have to be able to spell on this site..
I would love more interactivity.. as in.. I would love to be able to argue with the people that object to my comment.. and I would love to respond immediately.. but maybe that is not possible and it might wreck what we have here.. so maybe it is as good as it is going to get..
I have been on many blogs.. I am 46yo and have been an IT guy since the internet began.. so have experienced many horror stories.. and.. I still have hope for this one.. and thats gotta be a good sign.
The intersting thing about disagreeing with the status quo is that many other issues arise.
I have approached many myself.
And yes.. usually.. they are.. sort of.. OFF TOPIC.
As frustrating that is for someone who just wants the ******* truth out..
I can understand also..
All I can say is.. THANK GOD for WUWT!!
Let the debate continue!
REPLY: I just checked the RSS feed and it seems fine – Anthony
http://wattsupwiththat.com/feed/
The new reference pages are a bit busy. They take longer to load and create some major slow downs with all the animation firing off at once.
I like the guest posts though I rarely agree with the content. They are interesting because of the comments they generate.
Your main page is well thought out. It is easy to read and loads reasonably quickly.
The diverse content is a plus, I would not change a thing.
Personally I think you ought to dump wordpress, move over to Joomla CMS and use a phpbb forum for discussion of posts. I`ll set it up for if if you`d like.
REPLY: Thanks, but that’s one suggestion I want to address now. I don’t have time to setup, learn, and maintain other platforms. Been there, done that with Climate Audit. When news breaks, so do these other platforms. We are both staying on wordpress.com – Anthony
I like the tollerence you have to desenting views. If we don’t listen to everyone how can we have an honest discussion
@Dena, the list you see, is all that you are permitted to use. All other HTML tags will be removed, so you don’t have to go looking all over the net for other tags.
Don’t blame WUWT, its the way WordPress (and virtually every other blogging system works.
————
Back on topic, there isn’t much I really have to say, other than sometimes, some of the guest articles are a little bit “out there”, and could be used to detract from the credibility of the site – but that needs to be weighed against the discussions that these typically provoke, in which articles which are just too way out are bought back to earth, and readers (if they read the comments) understand why.
On regular topics – ok, provided that there is something real to report. I tend to skip the weekly quote and roundup because they are mostly fluff, where authors are scratching for something to say.
Moderation – seems about right to me.
Linking …. I understand why you want this, but I am forced to fairly regularly prune what I see on Facebook and Twitter, because some people just talk too damn much! Typically with very little to actually say. I certainly don’t want to join that club.
The only thing I would like to see change would be getting off the free WordPress platform. The inserted links and ads are not only (often) inappropriate, but are annoying. I do realize that the free part is pretty important, but you did ask…
The only suggestion I have to make this web site better is to move the “Recent Posts” section closer to the top, so I don’t have to scroll down so much each of the 100 times a day I visit!
Anthony, I think everything is perfect the way it is.
It’s easy, comfortable, and intuitive….nothing gets in the way…..yet everything is here.
Wouldn’t change a thing……
First I appreciate this website and the efforts you put into it. I ran a website for 10 years after my daughter was diagnosed with a rare bone disease in 97. I burnt out after 7 years of daily working with new members (2500+ members from 60+ countries). Fortunately the web site spun into a non profit organization, and i wound the site down. I pray that you, Anthony, do not burn out. Maybe take certain days off where you dont post.
With that said, the only comments I might add is I would like to see more CAGW supported guest authors. A more balanced discussion. Less troll bouncing. Assuming the debate can be constructive and not destructive.
I would also like to have one page that covers WUWT position on the many aspects of the CAGW, so that newbies can see where your position is at. Kind of a FAQ, with simple and concise answers along with applicable links to articles on WUWT.
With great respect,
HOBO
REPLY: I’ve always wanted to earn the respect of a hobo, now that I have it, my life is complete 😉 Thanks, Anthony
I’ve no issues with format, style, content, moderation, or features.The guest authors have been generally good and a half dozen or so are excellent. I use WUWT as a reference, portal to several blogs on the blog roll and occasionally an embedded link, source of interesting science and science policy news stories.
I like you just the way you are.
Anthony, the website, with just black on plain white makes it one of the easiest sites to read and understand with just a quick scan. Considering the amount of info + the associated widgets that are included in the sidebar, you have done a great job at making it as accessible as possible. Don’t make anything other than minor changes if any.
The only possible thing I can think of to increase ease of use would be the addition of numbers to the comments. With a large comment section it can take some time to find specific comments by time/date alone.
Thanks for putting so much work into such an excellent blog.
[JoeH, what I do is select the date/time, copy, do a “Find”, paste, and away it goes to the exact place. That’s why I put the person’s name and date/time in at the top, to allow quick searching. – willis]
WUWT is my portal to the climate science controversies. WUWT is head and shoulders above all other websites that might serve as such a portal. The proof of that is the recent focus on Steig’s work on O’Donnell’s article. The commentary on that matter was excellent as always. Overall, WUWT should receive at least a Pulitzer Prize for that effort.
WUWT is not only a breath of fresh air, it is a day surfing at Sebastian Inlet. Aside from the serious matters, it is fabulous entertainment. Features such as the Sea Ice Page put competitors to shame, especially when Anthony chooses and posts photos. It goes without saying that Anthony is a genius of a blogger and we are all indebted to him.
On the negative side, predictable trolls should be banned and, if necessary, banned again and again and again. Trolls can make a website unusable. That has happened to The Guardian sites, to Real Climate, and to many others. Trolls could overwhelm this website and that would be a tragedy. It is really a pain in the behind when several commenters have spent hours explaining some point P and then along come five trolls who do nothing but blather and assert “not P.” They are sent here to do that, so that Warmista sites can publish that their position is represented at WUWT. They should not be permitted to get away with it.
God Bless Anthony and all his, especially including WUWT.
If I may:
Format and style: too busy or easy to read and use? I grew up on Model 19 Teletypes
Content: too much/too little/too narrow/too broad? I’m here today
Content: too much news/not enough news? I don’t understand the concept “too much news”
Moderation: too heavy/too light? Too troll tolerant/not tolerant enough?I penetrate it some, it is probably about right.
Features: (no I can’t make comment preview work, see this) what would you like to see?How about after-posting edit?
Guest authors: good/bad/ugly? Good
Ideas for regular weekly features I have no current suggestions
How do you most use WUWT? Reference, portal, news, commentary, bird cages? News
What could we do better?I’m sure you will think of something.
This is a regular source of information for me. I like the openness and balance. My only recommendation (and it’s a strong one) would be: “If it ain’t broke…”
I prefer having the comments grouped as threads (reply following the comment replied to) rather than simple chronological order. Makes it much easier to initiate, participate in, and follow multiple threads of discussion.
I know you have a reason for not doing it the way you do (something about mobile devices) but that’s my vote anyway. The discussion would be much enhanced.
Ed
REPLY: I tried this one about two years ago, and it failed. Climate Audit uses the nested threads, and I’ve found them generally confusing – Anthony
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? 🙂
My suggestion for a format change would be, if possible, to emulate the “article fold” mechanism used on AceOfSpades. Content aside, that site has a very interesting feature. http://www.ace.mu.nu/
Like WUWT, the blog posts on AoS have only the first few paragraphs showing. At the end of each there’s a ‘link’ to show the rest of the article. In AoS when you click the link the remainder of the post opens up IN-LINE on the main blog page. When finished you may click a ‘close it up’ link, or just keep reading into the next post.
At the end of each post there are TWO links, one jumps to a page with ONLY the blog post, the other takes you to a page containing the post with comments (As WUWT does). The alternate (post only) link, I think is better for emailing to friends as it opens quicker for them and does not contain offensive or endless comments.
Of special note is that if embedded videos are placed ‘below the fold’ on each blog post then main page loading is MUCH faster. The embedded video consumes resources on the user’s system ONLY when they click the ‘open it up’ link.
Mike
I have a special OT note to add here: The US Govt is putting out a contract for development of Software to manage “Fake People” on social media websites to help promote their ‘message’. This could take the promulgation of Global Warming ‘information’ to new levels.
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/02/19/us-government-software-creates-fake-people-on-social-networks-to-promote-propaganda/#comment-61651
I like the site a lot. I trust it to give facts, and alow comments. Facts, as we have learned, are seldom so easily interpreted that they can be presented unfiltered. Likewise, since they need interpretations, there is a subjectivity to them. I thus expect the page to allow different views to present their information, and then the comments to discuss it. I believe this is happening, and the more I believe all sides get a fair chance to present their information, the more I trust what I read on the page.
I have seen a number of very good ways of making “hard to grasp” subjects presentable, which is a major reason I get here frequently. Often there are in depth articles as well. I read some of them through, others I only scan, but it contribute to the feeling there is knowledge collected on the page, creating a trust in the information.
— Mats —
Anthony:
I’m basically happy with WUWT, and grateful (plus a bit astonished) for all the effort you & the other volunteers put into it.
So — keep up the good work! — and don’t let the bastards grind you down.
“Nolo permittere illegitimi carborundum” was the dog-Latin Barry Goldwater kept on a plaque on his desktop, ims.
Thanks
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Arizona and New Mexico (USA)
—
“It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.”
–George Bernard Shaw
1. Nested comments.
2. Tighten up the format — smaller font.
3. Make some topics weekly or monthly such as Arctic Ice Extent — we don’t need this every day.
4. Earth Surface Temp — one monthly report only. No “With only three days to go it looks like XXX will be another record.”
5. And if you can get him to give up his real life, I’ll read Willis Eschenbach once or twice a day :).