Article: Twins Daily's Long-Term Future And Writers

[John Bonnes]

The mission of Twins Daily is to gather a community of passionate readers around a core of independent, intelligent, and entertaining Twins writers. The community has been wildly successful on the first half but I don’t see much progress on the second half, and I’d like the community’s and our writers’ candid thoughts on how to get better. It’s not a small question; failure to address it could result in the eventual end of Twins Daily.We haven’t had the success we anticipated we could have in developing a large group of independent Twins writers. When we designed Twins Daily, we attempted to create an organic model for growth. Readers become commenters, and eventually they try writing, which they do on their blogs, and then we promote those to the front page. Then we started paying the writers the $2 per 1000 page views that the site makes off those stories. We want writers to write and we want them to get paid.

 

And yet, our number of regular writers is slowly fading, without enough new voices to replace them. That’s because we’ve failed on the implementation in a number of ways. I’ll count off a few of them:

 

Management and Feedback on the Blogs – Initially, I curated the blogs. That included promoting stories, as well as writing to authors, giving them critical feedback, encouraging them, etc. As I moved to the business side (and as we launched Vikings Journal and Wild Xtra), I moved away from that role. Twins Daily member “Kevin” has helped us quite a bit over the years, and I’m eternally grateful. We would have run into a crisis far earlier but for his hard work.

 

But there is more that needs to be done. For the most part, that organic model has failed. Most of our regular writers were not developed organically; they are people that we (especially Seth) recruit. To grow it organically requires everyday curating and gardening. I know there are people who poured their hearts into quality posts on their blogs, only to never hear from us. That keeps me awake at night. I remember how that feels.

 

Metrics and Payment - There isn’t much of a feedback loop as far as promoted stories go. At the end of each quarter, I send out the total page views to all the authors and send them money based on it. But they don’t know if the story they wrote last night did very well, or even roughly how much each story they wrote was worth.

 

In addition, the $2 per 1000 page views isn’t enough. A first time writer might not get 1000 page views of their first story, and it’s rare for any story to rack up 10,000 views in its lifetime. And to wait until the end of the quarter for the money (or longer, depending on when I get to the books) makes the financial piece almost … apathetic? It feels like we do it because we feel it’s important that we pay, but I suspect the writers don’t make enough to feel it’s important that they receive it.

 

Publicity and Focus – In general, we don’t really emphasize that we want to develop writers. I feel like most people view Twins Daily as Seth, Nick, Parker and John’s place to write. But that was not the intention, and that is not the reality. Every year, we publish about 1000 stories, and each year about half of them are from other writers. Plus, I think we would like that ratio to be far higher.

 

This isn’t a trivial problem. Eventually, Seth, Nick or I will need to step away from TD, just like Parker has had to. If the community doesn’t solve this problem, it creates long-term uncertainty about the future of Twins Daily. (Indeed, I’d say it creates long term certainty that Twins Daily won’t last.) Plus, this is a good time to talk about this because we’re planning on what we’re doing to do for 2018 and this is a big part of our goals.

 

 

I ask that you kick around thoughts and solutions in the comments. I hope you’ll be candid to the point of being brutal. There is nothing off the table as far as I am concerned. The solutions might be structural, technical, managerial, financial or something else. I’m especially interested to hear from those who have tried their hand at writing, but I don’t want to limit the conversation to that. I’ll start out with some questions to get people started:

• If you’ve written for Twins Daily, what was the experience like?
• How do we better manage and administer the recruitment and development of independent voices?
• What is a fair price to compensate our writers? Or the person who curates/tends/ manages our writers?
• How can we give feedback to our writers as a community? Or let them know just how popular their stories are?
• How can we get the word out that developing writers is a focus of Twins Daily? How would we restructure the site to emphasize that? (And do you agree it should be?)
• Would you like to hear more voices? How can we best do that?

I hate to hit you all with a heavy topic in the week between Christmas or New Year's, but the end of one year and the beginning of another seems like a natural time for some reflection. Thank you very much for your participation.

 

Click here to view the article

[rdehring]

Baseball without Twins Daily wouldn't be the same.  Especially for those of us who are most interested in what's happening down on the farm.  Good luck in making whatever changes are needed.

 

And a belated Merry Christmas to all!

[Cory Engelhardt]

I LOVE your product, and I would love to try and write some articles at some point, even though I don't have a ton of time (who does really?) and I'm not confident in my own writing abilities, at least as of yet. Here are some ideas I have to cultivate more writers;

1) Work with schools to offer a writer(s) position as paid or unpaid internships. The student could then use some of their work in a portfolio a year or two later on? They could have the opportunity to be brought along and learn about the business model. Maybe advertise that you are looking for writers in a few online school websites (MN daily for example?)

2) Allow for other types of content to be on your website. If people want to express themselves with a video blog, or a podcast, or a youtube channel talking about the Twins, reach out to that demographic too. You may find people who are comfortable in one mode of communication who, with the right guidance, would be open to try writing. Writing, really, is the best model long term for a website that people wish to read, but have the other options available for people to share their thoughts as a way to get people involved? Like a gateway drug, but for writing for the site?

3) I do think people come here and enjoy the work because it is a community feel and it is a way to break away from reality and talk baseball and the Twins. I also think you would have an easy time selling "stock" (think like Packers stock) to fans for some amount of money, where they would get a stock certificate to say they are a part owner of Twins Daily. Could help boost some revenue in the short term, and help people even more so feel like they are a part of the family/community/Coop.

4) More and more local brewery events, and Saints games, and Twins games. I think more presence is a good thing, and I have enjoy some of those in the past year or so. Thank you for that. But also, instead of you John always being in charge of the events, open it up to others to take the reins if they feel up to it, or at least have a hand in the planning to bring people along that way?

[Sssuperdave]

On one hand, I think you're being a bit too hard on yourself. The content at TwinsDaily is phenomenal, and I can think of dozens of things written by folks other than Nick, Seth, John, and Parker. In fact, perhaps the most memorable article I've read was a great story by SD Buhr about a guy using a shovel to get out of a hole when a ladder was available (I think that was it), clearly an analogy to Terry Ryan. In addition, the daily game stories that Tom does are phenomenal, and the minor league roundups are great and often written by other contributors.

 

On the other hand, I can certainly understand your concern about the future of TwinsDaily. As you stated, eventually the core writers will need to move on to other things, and if there is no one left to contribute meaningful content the site won't survive.

 

I really don't have any answers for you. On a personal level, I've never written a single blog post, but it has often crossed my mind that I would like to. The main things holding me back are time and standards. I just don't have time to write an article that I would be proud of, and if I did find the time to write one I certainly would never find the time to write them regularly.

 

You are in a difficult situation. I get the sense that there is a "core" to TwinsDaily, made up first of Nick, Seth, John, Parker, and Brock (to do the website), followed up with a sort of inner circle of the moderators and folks that contribute to the handbooks and regular features like the minor league roundups. It would be great for you to expand both of these groups (the core and inner circle). However, you probably can't just take all comers, as you have a certain level of standards to uphold, and you want to make sure that all significant Twins events are covered in a somewhat coordinated way.

 

Good luck!

[John Bonnes]

Thanks for the feedback so far. There are already some great suggestions here. One thing that is clear is that after we finish examining this as a community, I’ll make sure to publicly do a second piece, detailing some of the lessons and some steps we’ll work on.

[John Bonnes]

Cory, you mentioned some things that I’ve been thinking about. I think we will do more with events, and I think we need to find someone to run them.

 

I also like the idea of doing some serious research around making TD blogs more friendly to multi-media.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I struggle with the functionality for finding and interacting-with the blogs section.

 

The main page of the mobile platform does not have the “blogs corner” like the main page of the desk top version. I don’t always think to navigate to the blogs. I only view the desktop version from work, which is rare. 99% of my hourly-Twinsdaily is mobile.

 

It would be great if there was a promote your peers function. Give the likes to blogs some weight or something, so those of us who aren’t writers can help support those who are. Or maybe a most retweeted/most commented blog post of the period, trending type of function.

[ThejacKmp]

I've written 3-4 blog posts in my time here and there's a reason I haven't gotten more into it, though I enjoy writing. There just isn't enough payoff in a reasonable amount of time.

 

If I were 21, I would have no problem - I was just sitting around drinking beer and watching the Twins so there'd be no issue writing some articles and then content checking them the next morning to make sure it was me talking and not the Hamms. But I'm in my 30s now and there's less free time (and less Hamms). The few blog posts I've done have gotten somewhere from 90-300 views and very little activity (understandable since they’re just random blog posts) so there isn’t much payoff to justify pissing off my wife by clacking away all on the computer all evening instead of spending some quality time massaging her bunions. Money doesn’t solve that, it’s making a splash that does.

 

Some ideas for how to do make that easier:

 

1.) Tom Froemming showed that there’s an idea good enough that it can take over Twins Daily. He’d win Rookie of the Year and MVP for his daily Twins recaps this year. And I don’t think that was because the writing was so exceptional. Not that it wasn’t fine, just that wasn’t the reason we all clicked on that link first each morning. Tom found a gap in TD coverage and filled in admirably. Perhaps it would be useful to sit down and brainstorm out ideas for recurring Twins/baseball articles and then find people (or teams of 2-3 people) to write them regularly. These articles would have an express lane to the front page and get people interested in writing.

 

2.) There also needs to be a way for people to write a few articles but know that they have a good shot of hitting the front page. TD is a place of reputation and that can work to its advantage. Every time spycake comments on one of my comments, I’m both apprehensive (because he/she’s likely torn it apart with logic and reasoning) and excited (I said something worth spycake descending from his/her ivory tower to grapple with mere mortals). I’ve never seen a spycake article though. I imagine you aren’t going to get many because spycake works for NASA and is super busy but I imagine most people would read the two yearly spycake articles avidly. TD moderators likely have an understanding who the great, thoughtful, discussion-provoking, literate commenters are. It might be worth it for you all to make a list of them and send invitations to write an article or two for the front page express lane. Nothing breeds continued interest like success so getting the spycakes of the boards interested in writing could be great.

 

3.) An editorial board also wouldn’t be a bad idea. People get better with consistent, confidential feedback. Blog posts that aren’t up to snuff either get ignored or ridiculed. That’s not going to get someone to come back. It might be good to have an option when posting a blog for some private mailbox feedback. There are plenty of people on TD who aren’t going to write a lot but who might be willing to read 5 blog posts a day (on the bus, on the crapper) and fill out a quick survey or comment box with what works and what doesn’t. I’ve taught some high school in my day and would be totally into doing that. Plus, those editors are then more invested in the site and might synthesize an article or two. Or they might see a potential recurring feature and suggest it to the moderators. Or they might see that two writers are interested in the same thing and recommend they get in contact with one another.

 

Great site. Thanks for all the work!

[Brandon]

To attract more writers create a writers section. In the section in the box in the upper right of the page. We have a twins forum, blog, articles and no writer development section. No info on how to structure a good post no call to action either. No way to contact anyone on how to get involved either or leave my contact for example if i was interested ...

 

I would also create links on the main page for those interested in writing click here to take them to the writers development section.

[Tom Froemming]

One last thing, from a writer's perspective, I see the value in wanting to beef up the blog activity, but there is great content and conversations being created in the forums. I think getting more people to write blogs would be great, but just getting more people active on the site -- resisted and commenting -- would be equally as valuable.

[ashbury]

I use my blog space here only sporadically. That area seems to draw fewer readers than the regular forum area. When I think to use it, it's when I feel like writing something I may want to refer to in the future - e.g. when I visit Spring Training. I messed around one time recently collecting a few of my posts of the past week for a little polishing up, but it didn't really go anywhere for me and I didn't repeat the attempt. Doubtful if I'd ever want to write on some deadline.

 

I don't recall any of my postings being promoted to articlehood, and it was never a priority for me so I never inquired as to why-or-why-not. Now that it's being stated as a priority for a healthy site, I would try to do my part.

 

Maybe "I don't know what they'd be looking for" sums up why I haven't approached this more systematically. As ThejacKmp stated, finding an un-met need is probably key. This thread starts to answer that question, and maybe John's followup post will clarify.

[jctwins]

1. I didn't even know there was a blog here. I consider this a message board only.

 

2. Get some more prominent negative voices. I only scan the original articles in the threads and consider them to mostly be defending the FO and constantly optimistic. Then I read the comments for dissenting voices because I find it far more interesting.

[DocBauer]

On a personal level, it's been suggested to me that I begin a blog. I've thought about it, but for whatever reason, just haven't gotten around to it. Not sure how successful I'd be at it on a daily or semi daily basis, or how successful others would believe I am at it, lol, but believe I should be more strongly considering it.

 

I also think you are being a bit too hard on yourself. The site is tremendous! But I understand wanting to make it better.

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

Hey everyone,

 

For those of you that don't know me, I write for Twinkie Town, a member of SB Nation and Vox Media. Twins Daily launched shortly after I joined Twinkie Town, and I attempted to write on both websites at the same time. I've expressed this to John in person, but my biggest issue was when I'd write a blog post that took a lot of time and effort and I was proud of my final result, yet it never saw the TD front page. It was disheartening, and after having that happen a couple times, I quit writing on TD because I knew all of my TT writing was guaranteed to be put on the front page. (For the record, I am not paid at TT so this was not a financial decision.) I still lurk on TD from time to time, reading any articles that look interesting from the TD Twitter feed. 

 

I feel that there needs to be a Twins Daily person devoted entirely to promoting articles from the blogs to the front page. Additionally, it might help if there is some way for that TD person to be notified every time a new blog post is submitted. It'll become overwhelming with enough new blog posts, but when that time comes, you'd just add on another person or two to review the incoming articles. I feel that this would be the easiest way to fix the main problem of struggling to organically develop writers. 

[mikelink45]

I have begun to write blogs this fall, just for fun because I have some off beat ideas I like to share with other baseball people.  I did not even know there was a financial reward - it was not my incentive.  I have published a lot in other areas - books, articles, etc, but sports is an interest and not my professional expertise. 

 

It took me a while to recognize how easy your blog space is to use and I have enjoyed putting up some essays.  Then I post those essay links on Facebook to entice friends to check them out.  

 

When it comes to forums I enjoy the give and take and discussions, but I do not see a lot of exchanges taking place in the blog sections.  The exchange of ideas is what makes the forum fun.  Maybe an article highlighting some blogs that people should check out would be good to direct people to the right hand side of the page.

 

The other fact is that most of us do not have the video access or the ability to check out all the minor leagues and we feel limited on what we have to contribute on a regular basis.

 

For me, the blogs (after a long delay) have been fun to post and I love checking out TD each morning.  I have no big ideas, but I do appreciate having your site  here.  

 

 

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

 

I also think traffic could be even bigger than it is now. This may seem harsh, but I think there could be more of an effort to get the word out. Has Twins Daily broke any new ground into different audiences in the past two or three years?

 

I don't think anybody is here for the money, and from a reader's perspective, that's a huge advantage that TD has. I read both Twinkie Town and Puckett's Pond regularly, but the amount of advertising that's put in the way of me enjoying the content can be infuriating. I think the content here speaks for itself, but how are people getting here? How are you going to show them the circus if you can't get them in the tent?

 

It seems like anytime I search for things, Twins Daily is very rarely among the top results. You'd expect the big media entities to be at the top, but even other blogs like Twinkie Town or Puckett's Pond are listed before TD more often than not on Google. Do a Google search for Twins Zach Duke right now and try to find my article. It's like trying to find Big Foot. Meanwhile, TT somehow has the third result. If you just search for "Minnesota Twins" I see both I see both TT and PP represented on the first page of results. I think the first time I see TD is on Page 5. 

 

1) I know the TD crew tried branching out with Wild, Vikings, and Timberwolves sites, but those didn't generate as much traffic. I bet you meant branching further into the baseball world, though.

 

2) I can't speak for Puckett's Pond, but I know that TT gained its search clout thanks to being part of Vox Media.

 

The school I teach at has had the same problem, it's a private school that as recently as last year appeared on the ~10th page of results when you searched "private schools Minnesota," and our HR department shared that they had to directly work with Google (i.e. probably pay money) to get our school moved up to the 2nd or 3rd page. 

Edited December 26, 2017 by Andrew Bryz-Gornia

[thecoastisben]

I love that this conversation is happening. I've been lurking here for the last year and both last off-season and this off-season I have been checking the site daily. I know this is the spot not only to get the latest news, but also insight from people who nerd out about baseball as much as I do.

 

That said I'd like to echo something said above. This site was a bit hard to find at first. When I started looking for a twins community that was consistent and full of good info I went to Google. I found twinkietown first and then pucketts pond. Nothing against either of those sites, but I rarely check them anymore because I've found that this site just has so much more to offer. I got turned on the Gleeman and the Geek because it is promoted on this site and now listen every week. The articles and comments are fantastic. And the blogs, while a little hard to find and interact with are always thought provoking. Maybe there is a way to promote the site more with other members of the community. I have heard nothing but good things about this site, but it seems like it doesn't get brought up a lot in discussion either. You guys do a fantastic job and I'm really interested to see what this community comes up with.

[IaFan1]

Twins Daily is always a must read for me everyday. The work on here is excellent. I would suggest going to Thrylos Blog and look at all the past bloggers that have stopped writing. He has a list of them on the left hand side of his page. I would suggest reaching out to them to occasionally post here at Twins Daily. I like diverse views on what the Twins should be doing to make themselves competitive. Another thing I noticed a few years back was there were a number of regulars on this site that would kind of talk down to the regular fan who made comments about there twitter post. They kind of made there views seem trivial and stupid. I think that turns off the Average Joe Fan greatly. I would suggest that they be a little more open minded about comments made to their posts on twitter. There are varying degrees of knowledge of the Twins inner workings. Lighten up on Twitter responses. I know that there are several regular contributors that I have stopped following on twitter because of that. No one needs to be talked down to. Most of the time when I see a post by them on Twins Daily I just pass right by that post. They became full of themselves and I don't need that.

[jorgenswest]

I have 52 blog entries.

 

It appears my last was one year ago. There were 3 in 2016. All of the rest from 2015 and before.

 

Why? I am not sure. I certainly put much more thought, research and time into a blog entry than a response in forum. Honestly in short order any thoughtful blog entry becomes another of the infinitely repeated forum conversations where it is clear by the second page that the commenters probably haven’t read or thought about the original blog entry and are simply reacting to a comment within.

 

I came here as a regular reader of Parker and Seth. There was great and thoughtful content written.

 

The community in the forums took over. Thoughtful researched content shifted to fun reactionary banter. I enjoy the debate (though I survive with 30some on my ignore list). I am not sure that was the vision of Twins Daily but you have a great active community here. It just doesn’t seem to be the place for the thoughtful researched content.

 

I appreciate the community and the place to debate about the Twins. Thank you.

[Tom Froemming]

 

1) I know the TD crew tried branching out with Wild, Vikings, and Timberwolves sites, but those didn't generate as much traffic. I bet you meant branching further into the baseball world, though.

 

2) I can't speak for Puckett's Pond, but I know that TT gained its search clout thanks to being part of Vox Media.

 

The school I teach at has had the same problem, it's a private school that as recently as last year appeared on the ~10th page of results when you searched "private schools Minnesota," and our HR department shared that they had to directly work with Google (i.e. probably pay money) to get our school moved up to the 2nd or 3rd page. 

1) Correct, I'm just talking about bringing in new baseball fans. The Twins being successful again is going to bring a lot of casual fans back who maybe haven't even been paying much attention to the team the past five years that TD has been around. How are those new fans going to find their way here?

 

2) Yes, it seems Google adds some extra weight to those sites affiliated with bigger networks. And that school example you gave is perfect; these are things a lot of companies obsess over and spend lots of money on. I've seen some of that in my professional life as well.

[John Bonnes]

 

I struggle with the functionality for finding and interacting-with the blogs section.

The main page of the mobile platform does not have the “blogs corner” like the main page of the desk top version. I don’t always think to navigate to the blogs. I only view the desktop version from work, which is rare. 99% of my hourly-Twinsdaily is mobile.

It would be great if there was a promote your peers function. Give the likes to blogs some weight or something, so those of us who aren’t writers can help support those who are. Or maybe a most retweeted/most commented blog post of the period, trending type of function.

 

Two very good points here. Thank you.

[old nurse]

 

1. I didn't even know there was a blog here. I consider this a message board only.

 

2. Get some more prominent negative voices. I only scan the original articles in the threads and consider them to mostly be defending the FO and constantly optimistic. Then I read the comments for dissenting voices because I find it far more interesting.

The negativity becomes just whining and complaining to some after a while. Critical thinking is not just looking for negativity.  The why portion is overlooked.

 

[John Bonnes]

 

I've written 3-4 blog posts in my time here and there's a reason I haven't gotten more into it, though I enjoy writing. There just isn't enough payoff in a reasonable amount of time.

 

If I were 21, I would have no problem - I was just sitting around drinking beer and watching the Twins so there'd be no issue writing some articles and then content checking them the next morning to make sure it was me talking and not the Hamms. But I'm in my 30s now and there's less free time (and less Hamms). The few blog posts I've done have gotten somewhere from 90-300 views and very little activity (understandable since they’re just random blog posts) so there isn’t much payoff to justify pissing off my wife by clacking away all on the computer all evening instead of spending some quality time massaging her bunions. Money doesn’t solve that, it’s making a splash that does.

 

Some ideas for how to do make that easier:

 

1.) Tom Froemming showed that there’s an idea good enough that it can take over Twins Daily. He’d win Rookie of the Year and MVP for his daily Twins recaps this year. And I don’t think that was because the writing was so exceptional. Not that it wasn’t fine, just that wasn’t the reason we all clicked on that link first each morning. Tom found a gap in TD coverage and filled in admirably. Perhaps it would be useful to sit down and brainstorm out ideas for recurring Twins/baseball articles and then find people (or teams of 2-3 people) to write them regularly. These articles would have an express lane to the front page and get people interested in writing.

 

2.) There also needs to be a way for people to write a few articles but know that they have a good shot of hitting the front page. TD is a place of reputation and that can work to its advantage. Every time spycake comments on one of my comments, I’m both apprehensive (because he/she’s likely torn it apart with logic and reasoning) and excited (I said something worth spycake descending from his/her ivory tower to grapple with mere mortals). I’ve never seen a spycake article though. I imagine you aren’t going to get many because spycake works for NASA and is super busy but I imagine most people would read the two yearly spycake articles avidly. TD moderators likely have an understanding who the great, thoughtful, discussion-provoking, literate commenters are. It might be worth it for you all to make a list of them and send invitations to write an article or two for the front page express lane. Nothing breeds continued interest like success so getting the spycakes of the boards interested in writing could be great.

 

3.) An editorial board also wouldn’t be a bad idea. People get better with consistent, confidential feedback. Blog posts that aren’t up to snuff either get ignored or ridiculed. That’s not going to get someone to come back. It might be good to have an option when posting a blog for some private mailbox feedback. There are plenty of people on TD who aren’t going to write a lot but who might be willing to read 5 blog posts a day (on the bus, on the crapper) and fill out a quick survey or comment box with what works and what doesn’t. I’ve taught some high school in my day and would be totally into doing that. Plus, those editors are then more invested in the site and might synthesize an article or two. Or they might see a potential recurring feature and suggest it to the moderators. Or they might see that two writers are interested in the same thing and recommend they get in contact with one another.

 

Great site. Thanks for all the work!

 

You bring up an ongoing problem, that I recognize, but haven't really figure out a way to handle well: management is lacking on the site. Sitting down as a writing community, reaching out to super-commenters, organizing an editorial board - these are management.

 

I'm not saying the guys who started this can't do that, but it's not necessarily their passion. Nick organizes the handbook, Seth his prospect book, John events, but mostly these guys want to write. It might be that we need to give some thought on what expanding the "organization" - in both meanings of the word - around the site.  

[Pardon My Dinger]

Baseball coverage tends to spread a little thin, especially this time of year. I’d happily contribute with a hoops blog if that’s the type of thing you’re looking for.

[Vanimal46]

Tom and others hit the nail on the head. The forums get way more traffic and response than the blog section. It also appears that blogs are more thoughly researched topics... Which doesn't really fit me.

 

I'm quite happy writing comedy bits like Twins' 12 Days of Christmas, Whine Line, and silly game thread topics.

[rdehring]

Personally, John, I value this site strictly because of the Twins.  I have zero interest in reading about the Vikings, Wild or Timberwolves.  In part because I have little interest in a couple of those sports and well, I am a Packers fan.

 

I would be interested in doing some regular writing during the season.  Because my interest is the minor leagues, my problem would be making it different than what Seth and others are already doing.

 

I expect you still have my email address.  Why don't you email me so we could discuss it.

[old nurse]

With the pay for an article it becomes a labor of love, not something that could be income for the hours spent.  On the desktop version, after a blog falls off the right hand side of the main page it is out of sight and mind. It loses the ability to generate any traction or ongoing discussions. I quit looking at them for the most part. 

[John Bonnes]

 

I use my blog space here only sporadically. That area seems to draw fewer readers than the regular forum area. When I think to use it, it's when I feel like writing something I may want to refer to in the future - e.g. when I visit Spring Training. I messed around one time recently collecting a few of my posts of the past week for a little polishing up, but it didn't really go anywhere for me and I didn't repeat the attempt. Doubtful if I'd ever want to write on some deadline.

 

I don't recall any of my postings being promoted to articlehood, and it was never a priority for me so I never inquired as to why-or-why-not. Now that it's being stated as a priority for a healthy site, I would try to do my part.

 

Maybe "I don't know what they'd be looking for" sums up why I haven't approached this more systematically. As ThejacKmp stated, finding an un-met need is probably key. This thread starts to answer that question, and maybe John's followup post will clarify.

 

"The I don't know what they'd be looking for" is an interesting point. Here is something that amazed me very early about this site. Occasionally, I have an enterprising young person who want to be a sports writer approach me about writing for Twins Daily. And I tell them they already can, and give them a sheet on how to write a blog and invite them to personally email me when they have written and I'll review their work and work with them on getting it good enough to promote. In the five years since we've had this site, I think that has happened at least 15 times. 

 

And I think, at most, one of them ever wrote for TD. Because I think what they wanted was someone to tell them what kind of story to write. And while I'm willing to do a little of that, I don't have time to do that full time. And that isn't really what we were trying to do here. What we wanted to do is give people who want to write about baseball or the Twins the place to find their audience. That is different than wanting to be a sports writer.  

 

But having a place where we gather ideas for stories, or where people ask for topics, might be an interesting place. I'm not sure the cleanest way to do it. 

[John Bonnes]

 

One last thing, from a writer's perspective, I see the value in wanting to beef up the blog activity, but there is great content and conversations being created in the forums. I think getting more people to write blogs would be great, but just getting more people active on the site -- resisted and commenting -- would be equally as valuable.

 

Tom, I can't find your previous post about with technical suggestions. I liked it a lot. And I agree about the SEO. It was a priority for us early, we set it aside, and it got a lot worse with this platform. If you have a chance to repost those ideas, I'd love to start organizing them. 

[Tom Froemming]

 

Tom, I can't find your previous post about with technical suggestions. I liked it a lot. And I agree about the SEO. It was a priority for us early, we set it aside, and it got a lot worse with this platform. If you have a chance to repost those ideas, I'd love to start organizing them. 

I was just saying that in general it's much easier to get attention and, more importantly, start a conversation in the forums than the blog area. I don't believe you're ever notified when someone comments on a blog post/responds to your comments.

 

Also, unlike the regular articles on the site, I don't believe blog posts get their own thread in the forums. So that combination of things makes it very difficult to gain much traction in that area.