Muses: To Axe or Not to Axe?

[mx]

That is the question.

A lot of people have said that they want muses to stay. But currently the quality isn't there. They aren't anything like the articles they need to be, and usually are composed of rambling. I'm going to delete them, unless some people earnestly want to write columns. It's possible that we could replace the user muse system with one where a few selected people could sign up to do articles. We could then feature the articles on the site. But currently, I'm not feeling the vibe.

[Hep Kat]

86 them boss. The only writings we should focus on is the news, plain and simple.

[Storm In A Teacup]

Take the axe to 'em.

[La Revolucion]

Ditch 'em.

[pulseczar]

Axe them. There were some very good muses but the site isn't dedicated enough to it.

[Dave de Sylvia]

I don't know. I think muses were one of the better features added in recent months even though I haven't actually used it yet. I'd be in favour of making them an appointment-only type thing where they'd get more exposure but would be of a higher standard. Maybe have a link on the frontpage that says "Interested in writing an article for sputnikmusic?...." or something similar.

[Skyler]

Axe them. There were some very good muses but the site isn't dedicated enough to it.
Exactly what I was thinking.

[Jom]

There've been quite a few good muses, but unfortunately they're overshadowed by, as you've said, rambling muses.

I thought I worked hard on the muse I had written (after tinkering around with the image box for a good half-hour before I figured out what the hell I was doing), and it received a lot of good feedback, I thought. But, I know there have been plenty of muses that were significantly better than the one I had written (Moz's comes to mind).

Ultimately, though, for every good muse, there is at least five or six lesser-quality muses. And a lot of the muses wind up being deleted so they could be made journal entries.

And then there's the misfortune of writing a longer muse, only to receive comments of "LONGEST MUSE EVER LOL," and that is extremely discouraging when you take hours writing something up only to receive a comment that takes three seconds to write.

Having said all this, I think a 'by-appointment' article/muse thing would be best, for the reasons explained above - not just by me, but others as well (namely SOP).

[Bron-Yr-Aur]

They really don't garner that much attention, and it's uncommon that someone writes a new one anyway. I'd say ditch em.

[mx]

I'll ditch them, but leave the functionality in place so we can add articles later on if we want

[morrissey]

We need to turn it into a staff reviewer or by-appointment thing, however you'd prefer, like Liberi/Iai/Sylvia/Jommy have mentioned. The idea of muses is fantastic and articles are a pretty integral idea to many sites, from SomethingAwful to TSN.ca to Allmusic. Right now it hasn't be executed perfectly, but that doesn't mean we need to ditch it all together. And please don't actually delete the ones already written... you can remove them off the main page or whatever, but I'd appreciate it if the ones I've already written remain in my profile. They took a lot of effort.

[mx]

The profile links will be kept, don't worry. And none of them will be deleted.

[mx]

I'll rework the system after I come back - perhaps something where all muses go through an approval queue, no matter what. Or weekly columns.

[Hep Kat]

I'll rework the system after I come back - perhaps something where all muses go through an approval queue, no matter what. Or weekly columns.

That seems to make the most sense. Taking a break from them for now to concentrate on the news section and other things is a good idea. We can always brainstorm up some better ideas on how muses/articles will work in the future.

[DesolationRow]

Yeah, axe them. But make a sacred shrine to my muse about John Entwistle. :)

[Neoteric]

This is quite awkward for me as I enjoy reading the muses but sadly I don't see a point in them. Do what you will I guess.

["Freshly Baked"]

KillKillKillKillKillKillKill

(I'm not huge on muses, I say axe em)

[Iluvatar]

There hasn't been a real "muse" since May. I say axe them.

[Phaedra]

Make it a weekly muse, with one staff writer per week submitting one.

But I think if you had included a "was this muse well written? Yes | No" type feature, like you have in reviews, then you might have gotten more muses submitted.

[Oddsen]

I think we should keep some form of writing articles on the site.

[Hep Kat]

I think we should keep some form of writing articles on the site.

We're going to figure all that out after mx gets back from vacation. The muses/articles are just on a temporary hiatus.

[pixiesfanyo]

I agree with the whole, muse by staff appointment only.

[STLMiguel]

I've done one muse and it had almost 100 replies and over 1,000 views ... it was a lot of fun, really, starting that much discussion. I suppose making them where not just anyone can do them is the way to go, sure, but I hope I can be one still allowed to do it. Let people rant that can make their rants at least a little interesting!

[TojesDolan]

Hello, I'm tojes.

I'm a huge fanatic of writing. Hell, I post a lot in the Songwriting and lyrics subforums, I'm constantly in the Short Story Competitions and I write reviews whenever possible.

Muses were, to some extent, the best way I could share my opinion on something and be read, be one person, be the whole internet. I felt I could write about almost any aspect of my life, which happens to be quite music-guided.

I read the last couple muses and indeed, they were sh¡tty. Very, very sh¡tty. I'm filling my head with hot air here, but I think I made some worth-reading articles, which can't be shared with people otherwise. I know more than anyone (would care) that I'm not exactly part of the "Sputnik CrüE", mostly because I write, I post, I dissapear and hardly communicate with the rest of the main reviewers/staff people/people who hang around here, mostly because I feel a bit odd trying to make myself a way into a new clique.

So if the Muses get axed, but a staff member takes the responsibilty of writing every once in a while an article for the site, I'd be more than willing to help writing something with fundaments and interesting. That is, just in case it becomes a "guided" process. :)

Thanks for the read.

[Dave de Sylvia]

The staff thing isn't set in stone. If mx chooses to make muses a feature-only thing, you'd have the same opportunity as anyone to post it.

[TojesDolan]

Oh well then... I offer my services and the whole ramble thing can be dismissed.

I've been jumpy lately. :- |