I've put up with it all until now, but seriously, enough with the editorial cartoons. Regardless of whether someone shares your politics, the "neat" part of "Neatorama" is being progressively diluted by your politics. If I wanted to read this sort of stuff, I'd just check the aggregator at slate.com.
People seem to love to hate these cartoons! They do, however, generate comments from varying points of view.
I don't necessarily agree with some of the cartoons (or the comments), and I actually pass over many OpEd cartoons (despite having paid for them) that I think are too one-sided.
Re: Neatorama's politics, my comment #49 on the John Kerry post and #16 on the Election 2006 post.
The Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves animated cartoon could be considered political or racist depending on your point of view, but at the very least its a truly interesting piece of history. I thought that was a good post, even though I had run across it a long time ago somewhere else.
However, political cartoons are ubiquitous. We could open any newspaper and see them, or we could go to websites like Cagle's ( http://cagle.msnbc.com/ ) and see thousands of them. They are neither unique or neat or new, and that is why, regardless of content, they tend to frustrate or alienate some readers (myself included).
Now, if that is your intent, it's your site... you can do whatever you want. Just don't be surprised if you find that your audience has changed along with your content.
I just happen to find political cartoons kind of annoying in an RSS feed. Yes, I usually agree with them, but to be perfectly honest there hasn't been a time I can remember where I felt poorer for having avoided editorial cartoons.
If you're posting these, you might as well start posting photos of interesting rocks you saw on the way to work. There's absolutely nothing special about political cartoons that we can't find on our own if we cared.
Would you prefer a brain-dead "ZOMG OJ IS GUILTY HE IS BLACK ALSO MICHAEL JACKSON MUST MOLEST CHILDREN SIMPLY BECAUSE HE IS WEIRD AND KIND OF CREEPY" or something?
I'm not too certain why I'm getting worked up about it, but it really is kind of a waste of your time to post these when it's ridiculously easy to find them somewhere that they DON'T stick out like a sore, out-of-appropriate-context thumb.
In summary: Political cartoons from 1906, archived on the internet? Potentially interesting. Political cartoons from 2006, taken from the front page of a different web site? Why even bother?
I'll never ever complain about any post; if it doesn't tickle my fancy, I'll just go to the next one.
Please don't listen to anyone who tries to influence your posting habits by scaring you with threats of dropping viewership. That infuriates me to no end. Have they studied the surfing habits of Internet users? Or are they just attempting to influence you through fear? I'm sure they have no idea what they're talking about.
Controversy and discussion increases page views, which increase ad revenue. If he wants page views and lots of comments, the political stuff seems to be the best way to get them. Viewership will probably go through the roof, if it isn't already.
Alex said he was flattered when one person compared this blog to boingboing, but if you look at boingboing, they quit allowing reader comments a long long time ago. I noticed at one point today that posting a comment here required moderator approval.
The content of this site will change the audience, both how they react to the content and how they react to each other... and it seems lately that people are getting pretty vitrolic, instead of sharing a common joy of discovery.
So far, readership hasn't dropped, in fact it has gone up (so thank you to everyone who reads Neatorama and recommends it to their friends).
But DJ's point that Neatorama's viewership can change because its content changes merits a consideration. Here's why I think we're safe (so far): political posts on Neatorama has been and will continue to be a small portion of the total posts.
Regarding moderator approval of comments: Wordpress has an automatic filter built-in for common spam words and profanity. If your comment does not appear immediately after you post it, then chances are you've tripped the filter.
I rarely delete comments, and when a comment is deleted, it's because of spam, profanity, or simply stupidity (there are comments that consist of just aaaaaa or something like that). The blog has dropped some comments before, when the server was moved.
No comment has been deleted because I don't agree with the commenters' point of view.
I enjoy reading all of your comments, and though I try, I know that I can't respond to every single one. I hope that Neatorama never has to resort to pre-moderation, or even closing off all comments permanently.
Regarding availability of OpEd cartoons in other website, raised by Greg: You're right, Greg - but the same can be said about nearly all of Neatorama's posts: they can be found somewhere else.
Regarding RSS feed: I find reading RSS feed with a reader is less desirable than straight from the website because of styling issues. If anyone can help me style the feed with CSS that doesn't break readers, then please email me.
And also, thank you to brayden for the compliments. I hope Neatorama will continue to grow, too!
TwoDragons- Using a mouse wheel doesn't help, because when you come in following an RSS link, you have nowhere else to go... you already are on this page, expecting something neat because the headline intrigued you.
Alex- Perhaps you can append "OpEd:" to each cartoon post, so those of us who regularly scan RSS headlines can avoid them if we wish?
I don't necessarily agree with some of the cartoons (or the comments), and I actually pass over many OpEd cartoons (despite having paid for them) that I think are too one-sided.
Re: Neatorama's politics, my comment #49 on the John Kerry post and #16 on the Election 2006 post.
The Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves animated cartoon could be considered political or racist depending on your point of view, but at the very least its a truly interesting piece of history. I thought that was a good post, even though I had run across it a long time ago somewhere else.
However, political cartoons are ubiquitous. We could open any newspaper and see them, or we could go to websites like Cagle's ( http://cagle.msnbc.com/ ) and see thousands of them. They are neither unique or neat or new, and that is why, regardless of content, they tend to frustrate or alienate some readers (myself included).
Now, if that is your intent, it's your site... you can do whatever you want. Just don't be surprised if you find that your audience has changed along with your content.
DJ
Just pass over it. WTF?
"Regardless of whether someone shares your politics, the “neat†part of “Neatorama†is being progressively diluted by your politics."
- PUHLEASE ... don't be an idiot.
And OJ did do it, and so did Saddam and Michael.
If you're posting these, you might as well start posting photos of interesting rocks you saw on the way to work. There's absolutely nothing special about political cartoons that we can't find on our own if we cared.
Would you prefer a brain-dead "ZOMG OJ IS GUILTY HE IS BLACK ALSO MICHAEL JACKSON MUST MOLEST CHILDREN SIMPLY BECAUSE HE IS WEIRD AND KIND OF CREEPY" or something?
I'm not too certain why I'm getting worked up about it, but it really is kind of a waste of your time to post these when it's ridiculously easy to find them somewhere that they DON'T stick out like a sore, out-of-appropriate-context thumb.
In summary: Political cartoons from 1906, archived on the internet? Potentially interesting. Political cartoons from 2006, taken from the front page of a different web site? Why even bother?
If you don't like what you're reading here, use that neat round thing between your right and left mouse buttons...and scroll up.
Wow, what a concept, huh? *rolls eyes*
--TwoDragons
I love your website.
If I'm not interested in a post, I skip it.
I'll never ever complain about any post; if it doesn't tickle my fancy, I'll just go to the next one.
Please don't listen to anyone who tries to influence your posting habits by scaring you with threats of dropping viewership. That infuriates me to no end. Have they studied the surfing habits of Internet users? Or are they just attempting to influence you through fear? I'm sure they have no idea what they're talking about.
Your site is wonderful and will continue to grow.
Controversy and discussion increases page views, which increase ad revenue. If he wants page views and lots of comments, the political stuff seems to be the best way to get them. Viewership will probably go through the roof, if it isn't already.
Alex said he was flattered when one person compared this blog to boingboing, but if you look at boingboing, they quit allowing reader comments a long long time ago. I noticed at one point today that posting a comment here required moderator approval.
The content of this site will change the audience, both how they react to the content and how they react to each other... and it seems lately that people are getting pretty vitrolic, instead of sharing a common joy of discovery.
But DJ's point that Neatorama's viewership can change because its content changes merits a consideration. Here's why I think we're safe (so far): political posts on Neatorama has been and will continue to be a small portion of the total posts.
Regarding moderator approval of comments: Wordpress has an automatic filter built-in for common spam words and profanity. If your comment does not appear immediately after you post it, then chances are you've tripped the filter.
I rarely delete comments, and when a comment is deleted, it's because of spam, profanity, or simply stupidity (there are comments that consist of just aaaaaa or something like that). The blog has dropped some comments before, when the server was moved.
No comment has been deleted because I don't agree with the commenters' point of view.
I enjoy reading all of your comments, and though I try, I know that I can't respond to every single one. I hope that Neatorama never has to resort to pre-moderation, or even closing off all comments permanently.
Regarding availability of OpEd cartoons in other website, raised by Greg: You're right, Greg - but the same can be said about nearly all of Neatorama's posts: they can be found somewhere else.
Regarding RSS feed: I find reading RSS feed with a reader is less desirable than straight from the website because of styling issues. If anyone can help me style the feed with CSS that doesn't break readers, then please email me.
And also, thank you to brayden for the compliments. I hope Neatorama will continue to grow, too!
TwoDragons- Using a mouse wheel doesn't help, because when you come in following an RSS link, you have nowhere else to go... you already are on this page, expecting something neat because the headline intrigued you.
Alex- Perhaps you can append "OpEd:" to each cartoon post, so those of us who regularly scan RSS headlines can avoid them if we wish?
Thanks for all of your work, patience, etc.
DJ