The Hickensian
12.10.06
23 commentsPimpMySafari & PimpMyCamino future!
Update : This discussion has shown me that people would rather help out than see it transformed into a Magnolia group, and thats great! I now have to work out the logistics of how to get people more involved, and write up instructions on how to use the back end. This could take me a while to get around to it! In the meantime I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who offered help!
So far, I’ve managed to burden myself with 2 ‘pimp’ sites now. Both intended as a simple directory of plugins and resources, but each has grown to be updated regularly to inform users of new releases of the plugins, and what they do. Needless to say, there is a lot of time involved in upkeeping these sites, especially with new plugins for Camino popping up regularly at the moment. While I do have helpers on both sites, I can’t help wondering if there is more of a ‘community’ way of generating and updating the information.
My thought was this. What advantage is there over a specially built site with a Magnolia group? With a group, users can help update information easily, as well as creating a forum for discussion. There is already one for Camino and two (1, 2) for Safari! Plugins can even be rated, so is there an advantage to upkeeping a site to spread this information, or should it just be on magnolia?
If you’re a reader of either of these sites, I’d appreciate your thoughts!
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Bernhard said 996 days ago:
I think it might be better to make something like a wiki – but not with Media Wiki and its layout.
Just let the users change and ad things you are doing at the moment.
I know – that’s much more work then setting up a Mag.nolia group, but for me, it’s much more sympathic ;-)
Mark Norman Francis said 996 days ago:
Well, one thing that differentiates sites like pimpmycamino is that the site will have (or at least, should have) a consistent voice used. Sometimes there is an advantage in having the opinion of one individual or small group, over the “wisdom” of a crowd.
Maybe you could combine the two? By using the magnolia API you could bring in the group stuff to allow more active participation, but keeping an editorially driven section for new people.
For example, the highlighting of the three “must-have” extensions for Safari was invaluable to me when I first started pimping it. Wading through an entire group’s bookmarks would be quite daunting.
FredB said 996 days ago:
PimpMySafari made me discover SafariStand and I can’t thank you enough for that.
Magnolia groups are nice and all, but I doubt we’ll get the same quality as with PMS now. The actual signal to noise ratio couldn’t be better.
I understand that maintaining those sites must be time consuming, so it’s easy for me to say “keep it like that”, I’m not the one who have to do it…
Chris said 996 days ago:
I was just thinking about contacting you about SafariScript, which hasnt shown up on the site yet. Ma.gnolia is one idea—I manage the Camino group there—but another is to deputize a few folks to help with content management on PimpMySafari.
David Hughes said 996 days ago:
No Magnolia please! I find it SO difficyuklt to navigate around…
I followed the links in your priece… how do I see more than the last 5 links for the Safari group?
Magnolia look slovely but sucks to use whereas as Deliscious looks shite but works OK.
I want Magliscious!
Paul D said 996 days ago:
Jon asks: “is there an advantage to upkeeping a site to spread this information?”
The answer is that I trust Mr. Hicks. I don’t trust an anonymous collective of Magnolia users.
Jason said 996 days ago:
What Paul D said.
Jeff F. said 996 days ago:
Hmm. I went to Magnolia and I don’t like it. Wiki is a better idea. I agree with Paul D. No anonymous users additions.
Chris said 996 days ago:
David: “Show all” shows all of the links.
Paul: You can set up groups so that only group managers can add/remove links, if its a trust issue.
Alex Payne said 996 days ago:
+1 for a wiki, -1 for Magnolia. Whatever the solution it won’t look as good as your current sites do!
Patrick Haney said 996 days ago:
Like Mark said, combining the two might be your best bet. I love Ma.gnolia, but I also like the focus of the Pimp My ____ sites. Using the Ma.gnolia API, you can pull in a lot of the community-submitted information and combine that with the single voice part of your sites. This, to me, makes the most sense.
MacStansbury said 996 days ago:
You could add that, and anything else as a sidenote. That way you’ve got the user interaction, but you don’t have other people controlling the site. And keep the two sites separate, unless you’re planning on becoming the next VersionTracker. Add the social features as a part of the site, not the substitute.
blurb said 996 days ago:
Jon, have you looked at Ning?? They have some group functionality that might be what you are looking for:
http://www.ning.com/
Joshua Brewer said 996 days ago:
I will have to agree with many of the above posts. Magnolia is kinda funky, a wiki might work, but ultimately your style and credibility make it what it is.
Maybe having a couple folks help you balance the load would work best.
Richard Rutter said 996 days ago:
Maybe the perfect solution is to keep the existing Pimp… sites but re-engineer them to use the Magnolia API and pull in the relevant group content that way. I’m it wouldn’t take long to knock up ;-)
David said 996 days ago:
I’m very interested in this and have been looking at a Wiki after running PimpMyShiira for a while (before a Vanilla upgrade error and this transition to ß2).
Even the small amount of stuff available for the old Shiira was making me wish I had help and v2 may bring on more – want another job Jon ;)
Joseph said 996 days ago:
I like the site as it is presently configured – easy to follow, easy to keep track of updates, although sometimes the RSS feed (viewed in Safari) shows many items changing when in fact only one has changed.
Sounds like you are somewhat overwhelmed with the task of maintaining the site. What are your needs? Can a few others share the workload? What would be required?
Jon Hicks said 996 days ago:
Many thanks for all your suggestions so far. I think a wiki or site using the magnolia API is probably out, as these both involve a lot of extra work. It does sound as if the best approach is to draft in more help though and keep the sites for now. If anyone is serious about helping out with either, please drop me a line. I don’t see them as ‘my projects’ as such, and have no qualms opening them up to more contributors. As long as they are people that can be trusted!
neil said 995 days ago:
How about using http://pbwiki.com ?
sjk said 994 days ago:
I prefer the current convenience of quickly viewing PMS/PMC updates since a previous visit or specific date. Compared to alternatives, Wikis tend to be inefficiently time consuming when linearly viewing modifications if that style of information consumption is desirable. Wikis have always seemed more writer-centric than reader-centric to me in that context.
George said 994 days ago:
Each site has own advantages and disadvantages. It’s hard choice. Make it your way
Ken said 993 days ago:
George said right – it’s only choice. And the only you will feel the result
Antonio said 990 days ago:
Jon, I love the way PMS is right now and I can’t think of a better way to do it. I’m willing to volunteer my services to help out in any way I can to take some of the burden off of your hands. Just let me know amigo.