Monday brought the introduction of the Baltimore Sun’s attempt to attract the prized 18-34 year-old demographic with a paper and website that appeals more to them, b.
After receiving an email last week informing me of b aggregating my blog’s content, I had filed it away in the back of my head as something to respond to and investigate. When I ran into Greg Cangialosi for the second time this weekend at the gym, he mentioned that he checked out the site and was pretty impressed. I gave it the once over, and I noticed that the site was essentially a blog.
There are some nice touches that b has included–video integration using YouTube, Vimeo, and Revver. The wide use of Flickr for photos. They also make use of a forum on the site. The content also is a bit more edgier than what one would see on the Baltimore Sun–which is slowly becoming the playground for the old codgers. (To wit, that nitwit Dresser’s column from Monday. Can he actually write about something other than speeding vehicles?)
Nonetheless, I had one serious ding against them. Given my slavish addiction to my aggregator, I added b’s feed to my reading list. Much to my disappointment, the site’s posts made use of the MORE tag quite extensively. Thus, my attempt at reading it via FeedDemon was for naught. I decided to post this to the forum. To my surprise, my post garnered a response:
As an obsessive feedreader user myself, I’m with you completely. We’re looking into whether it’s possible to both have the split posts - and get more stories onto the home page - and to have the full posts show up in the XML feed.
Update when I have it.
A post to the forum on a somewhat obscure and technical issue I had with the site garnered a response, and a response from the VP, Interactive at that. I have to admit that this site maybe onto something, and it will be interesting to see how it grows in the highly competitive media market.
{ 14 } Comments
Jason,
Full feeds should now be working:
http://www.bthesite.com/feed/
Thanks for the suggestion. And the review.
Jason,
Full feeds should now be working:
http://www.bthesite.com/feed/
Thanks for the suggestion. And the review.
Tim: Thanks for the turnaround on that change! My aggregator and me are quite happy campers. Continuing to change and improve the site in response to reader feedback is particularly awesome, and I have to admit that is another plus for b. The conversation is taking place, and it is no longer a one way conversation.
Tim: Thanks for the turnaround on that change! My aggregator and me are quite happy campers. Continuing to change and improve the site in response to reader feedback is particularly awesome, and I have to admit that is another plus for b. The conversation is taking place, and it is no longer a one way conversation.
I think I know where they found 90% of the “MD blogs” they decided to aggregate. And not even a thank you.
I think I know where they found 90% of the “MD blogs” they decided to aggregate. And not even a thank you.
SC:
You’re talking about blogtimore.com, right?
I did pull their OPML file about a month ago to check against my own NetNewsWire list of Baltimore blogs I’ve been collecting over the years.
It was very useful - even though there were a lot of cobwebby places in there, I found a lot of sites I didn’t know about - and you’re right, I should have given credit where it was due. I’ll make that happen.
Since then, we’ve added other blogs that aren’t in the blogtimore feed as well. And we’ve been hearing from bloggers over the the transom.
SC:
You’re talking about blogtimore.com, right?
I did pull their OPML file about a month ago to check against my own NetNewsWire list of Baltimore blogs I’ve been collecting over the years.
It was very useful - even though there were a lot of cobwebby places in there, I found a lot of sites I didn’t know about - and you’re right, I should have given credit where it was due. I’ll make that happen.
Since then, we’ve added other blogs that aren’t in the blogtimore feed as well. And we’ve been hearing from bloggers over the the transom.
SC: Let’s see if they give you/Blogtimore some credit on this front. That reminds me, I need to donate. I’ll do that from the office.
TW: Thus far, I am finding little to ding you on in responsiveness.
SC: Let’s see if they give you/Blogtimore some credit on this front. That reminds me, I need to donate. I’ll do that from the office.
TW: Thus far, I am finding little to ding you on in responsiveness.
their aggregator is pretty spiffy, and now it seems they throw some props at the cheese.
i, for one, did not get any emails that mentioned that they were going to aggregate my blogs, but i really don’t mind.
i would imagine though that some people who might have had the same experience might be a tad peeved.
their aggregator is pretty spiffy, and now it seems they throw some props at the cheese.
i, for one, did not get any emails that mentioned that they were going to aggregate my blogs, but i really don’t mind.
i would imagine though that some people who might have had the same experience might be a tad peeved.
j$: They now do give a nice shout-out to Blogtimore. Respect! (In my best Ali G impersonation.) As for contacting folks, I suppose that might be highly dependent on how easily available (or not) one’s email address is. If you have a contact page, all the fun information is there. I know with Blogger, it is getting a bit more difficult to dig into that.
j$: They now do give a nice shout-out to Blogtimore. Respect! (In my best Ali G impersonation.) As for contacting folks, I suppose that might be highly dependent on how easily available (or not) one’s email address is. If you have a contact page, all the fun information is there. I know with Blogger, it is getting a bit more difficult to dig into that.
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