We're experimenting with a new type of content on OP, and we're calling them "blurts." The idea is to be similar to a tweet. It's limited to 129 characters plus a link. I will be doing some work on the site to theme the blurts so that they don't just look like blog posts that lost their body, although that's pretty much how they will function.
A few selected bloggers will be piloting blurts as an experiment and then I expect to open them up to everyone. You can see them on the Latest content page, and they might even show up on the front page once in a while.
I have some other changes planned for OP, but I'm starting with this as it's the easiest to get done. Let me know what you think.
Issues:
Comments
blurts
Here are my two bits on blurts: I would think OP is best with the usual thoughtful comments rather than a short sound bite. What is the intended function of blurts?Loren
The idea is to get more people posting to OP
without feeling like they have to craft something incredibly pithy and insightful. That can be an awfully high bar and reduces the number of topics that are being discussed.People can still contribute more lengthy comments to a blurt to provide thoughtful content, but the blurt will lower the bar for people to post, hopefully creating a wider exchange of information and opinion.
What Molly said
One of the biggest barriers I hear from people as to why they don't blog here is that they don't have time to do it right. Blurts are a new way to share an idea or a news item and start a discussion.
"Blurts" sounds like an accident
Must go compose haiku.
deletion log?
Ruby, I don't currently use Drupal, so I don't know if this is possible, but it would be interesting if there was a "this comment deleted because..." message inserted when things "go away". It seems there's always a sinister motive implied when stuff "disappears" that could be reduced by simply acknowledging when something was deleted (and why).
clickable "hot topics"?
Would it be possible to have the topics (instead of just the comments) clickable on the front page for the "hot topics" section?