We want your feedback!

[Devoted135]

Oh, man. Sometimes stuff just falls into place.

https://subbable.com/faq

It uses Amazon, not PayPal. Take a look!

Hey, I know of those guys! They are AWESOME!

[Kaa]

The Green brothers? Yes, they are. I subscribe to pretty much everything they touch on YouTube.

[matweller]

I have been a fan of Flattr for similar reasons:
http://matweller.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/best-new-media-flattr-com/

But they've never made it work in the US. I wish it would. I want to contribute to online content creators, but I only have $X per month that I can afford to do that for, and that's a fact of my life, no matter how many worthy new media artists I want to give to. It's how I pay for TV, why don't new media stars want my money too?

[Dem]

I get my feed via email then I come to the site (EP) to play the audio and read-alonga-narrator. I have very few needs with regard to layout or content inclusion/exclusion but I do think the graphics could do with a serious update on all three sites, and I'd love to see the last of that ruddy baseball masquerading as a planet!

[Kaa]

ruddy baseball masquerading as a planet!

That is actually an escape pod, a la 2001: A Space Odyssey, not a planet. But it could be made to look...more robotic, maybe.

[Max e^{i pi}]

(...) and I'd love to see the last of that ruddy baseball masquerading as a planet!

Cannot. Unsee.

[Dem]

ruddy baseball masquerading as a planet!

That is actually an escape pod, a la 2001: A Space Odyssey, not a planet. But it could be made to look...more robotic, maybe.

Really? I've never EVER seen that - just that damn baseball! Must be something about iconography - the yellowish tinge and the number triggered an altogether different schema for me than the one intended!
Still don't like it though despite its new provenance

[matweller]

I always thought it was some Lego(tm) piece with those four circles on it. I've been waiting for the cease and decist letter from the first time I saw it.

[AncientWire]

In the intro to one of the podcasts, there was a book mentioned.   When I came home and looked up the podcast online, it wasn't mentioned in the notes.  Putting things like that in the notes with a link to Amazon (or where ever) would be convenient for listeners, and if it is an associate link, would make you folks a bit of money as well. 

Thanks so much for the stories!

[Mouseneb]

Forgive me if these have been suggested before, but...

Escapepod donate button:

Fuel the Pod!

Podcastle donate button:

Provision the Castle!
Stock the Castle!

Something along those lines

[danooli]

When I link to a story on facebook (or other social media of choice) I want an image to pop up with that podcast. The closest PseudoPod has is a PodDisc picture. Also probably not linking to PodDisc would be worthwhile.

Thanks for the money wrangling, P.C.!

That's been bugging me for a while now

[quasidoza]

EP and PC could do with favicon for when in the browser tabs (as could this forum).  Or is it just my Opera having a hissy fit?

PodCastle podcast information links to the website for info about the story. Could it also have a link to the comments page on the forum?  Might encourage more to contribute on impulse (for those listening via phone or tablet), especially if it's mentioned at the end that a link is in the show notes to the comments.

For the websites, perhaps you could do groups of podcasts.  Christmas specials, Halloween, 4th July, Superhero stories, Best children stories, best intorduction to golden age of science fiction, etc.

Also what about merchandising? Cups, T-Shirts, adult toys, (Steve Eley style) hats, mouse mats, the usual things?

Note:
I always thought EP logo was a mini-deathstar thing ... now it is forever more a baseball!   

[Dem]

Note:
I always thought EP logo was a mini-deathstar thing ... now it is forever more a baseball!   

Oops, sorry!

[Wilson Fowlie]

I don't know if this can be handled by a tweak of the site, or it's a problem with Google (but I suspect the former, since it only seems to be an issue for Pseudopod, not EP or PC).

Yesterday, I was trying to find a couple of Pseudopod episodes via Google. (Okay, yes, I was trying to find all of the episodes I've narrated.  )

Anyway, for some reason, Google won't display individual story entries (and their titles), only archive pages containing the words. So, I searched "read by Wilson Fowlie" site:pseudopod.org and was presented with pages from the archives, rather than the individual episode entries.

(Also, because the archive pages (e.g. "Page 3") keep changing as new stories are added, the Google versions of the archive pages don't necessarily match the actual archive pages, which means Google is linking me to a page that doesn't even contain the stories I'm looking for any more!)

However, when I did the same thing for Escape Pod and Podcastle, I got links to the individual episodes.

[Wilson Fowlie]

In a similar vein:

On the EscapePod site, I'd like to see the links to readers and authors updated. There's "All stories by [author]" and "All stories read by [reader]" text on many posts (all of them since the site redesign?), but many aren't actual links. They should either be made into links or be taken down.

Personally, I'd like to see the links fixed. I'd also like to see a similar feature on the other two sites.

[Wilson Fowlie]

Thirdly:

I volunteer to help in the effort to update the websites. My own organization's site has recently (well, a year ago) changed to use Wordpress, and I'm somewhat involved in its maintenance (though mostly for a part of the site that's only open to our own members, not the public site you see in that link).

I'd mentioned to Dave that I was interested in helping tweak the Podcastle site (mostly to address the issue that Fenrix mentioned at the top of this thread - not getting a Podcastle image when I link a story to Facebook has been bugging me for some time).

Dave kindly got me an access to the site, but it initially wasn't high enough access for me to do what I hoped. Then, when it was improved, it was at a time when I was very busy with my chorus and I couldn't look at it. And since then, it just fell off my radar, and I feel bad about that, which is why I'm re-offering to be whatever help I can.

[Wilson Fowlie]

One more, only tangentially related to the sites themselves:

I'd like to see all three 'casts have a bigger presence on social media, particularly Facebook and Google+. I feel that you should at least have a Facebook fan page for each 'cast. At the moment, if you 'Like' any of them on Facebook, the page you get consists of an auto-generated page with content from Wikipedia. You guys deserve better.

Again, if you decide that's something you'd like to do, I volunteer to administer the Facebook and G+ pages for Podcastle (i.e. post episodes and whatever other content is deemed appropriate/desirable by the editors).

I'm unable to contribute money to Escape Artists, so all I can offer is my time and such abilities as are useful (which is one of the reasons I'm so happy to contribute my narrations as well).

[Wilson Fowlie]

Just thought of another one, but it's for The Future.

When Discourse becomes generally available - not for several months, possibly more than a year - I hope you'll consider moving the forum to that platform.

(For an example of what it can look like, see the comment threads at Boing Boing.)

[danooli]

Wilson, man, you're just awesome.

[Sgarre1]

I'd like to see all three 'casts have a bigger presence on social media, particularly Facebook and Google+. I feel that you should at least have a Facebook fan page for each 'cast. At the moment, if you 'Like' any of them on Facebook, the page you get consists of an auto-generated page with content from Wikipedia. You guys deserve better.

There is a PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS page, which I post to once a week if not more frequently, including links to Alasdair's interviews, etc.  The page you're talking about is an "interest" page that you can "like" as an interest.  At the bottom are the PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS and ESCAPE POD LISTENERS pages, which you also have to go and "like"

I know nothing about Google+, sadly.

[Wilson Fowlie]

Wilson, man, you're just awesome.

Thanks!

But, if that's true, it's only because I'm inspired by the awesomeness of the EA folks. EA has been good to me, providing me many hours of great stories to listen to, and giving me a chance to learn to be a decent story narrator, and I'd like to return the favour if I can.

There is a PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS page, which I post to once a week if not more frequently, including links to Alasdair's interviews, etc.  The page you're talking about is an "interest" page that you can "like" as an interest.  At the bottom are the PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS and ESCAPE POD LISTENERS pages, which you also have to go and "like"

Those are actually Groups, rather than Pages (capitalized because they're Facebook things, not just general versions of them). The differences between Groups and Pages include:
 - a Group is about something (a shared interest of some kind), but doesn't necessarily include that thing (you could start up a Burning Man discussion group, even if you've never been, but Facebook would only let someone from Burning Man create and run their Page);
 - a Page represents something or someone; this could also be a shared interest, but is more usually an entity of some kind, like a corporation or a famous person or even an idea, if someone is willing to act as that idea's representative (e.g. the Being Liberal page whose stuff I often share);
 - a Group is something you join;
 - a Page is something you "Like";
 - in a Group, all members can contribute to the content (though in the case of something like yours, I expect only a few usually do. Also, group admins can - I think? - restrict certain members from posting; I'm not in a lot of groups, so I'm not sure exactly how they work. I just know they differ, logically and semantically, from Pages);
 - on a Page, the entity itself (usually in the form of one or more Page administrators) produces the content for the benefit of the fans ("Like"rs), and it gets posted on their news feed (I don't know if group content goes to people's feeds or not).

I would like to be able to "Like" a Page for Podcastle and Escape Pod (and maybe Pseudopod - I like reading for you, but I'm not a horror fan myself), the way I can (but wouldn't) "Like" Coca-Cola or Target or I Fucking Love Science or Being Liberal or The Maple Leaf Singers (okay, those last two I do "Like" - and I put that last one in there to show that even a small entity can have a page - but then, we aren't big enough to have an "Interest" page that we would apparently have to compete with).

Perhaps a listeners' Group for each podcast is what EA will decide it wants to go with, rather than a page (though the two aren't mutually exclusive). However, I'd rather have Pages, myself.


ETA: Missing conjunction.

[Dem]

Wilson, man, you're just awesome.

Thanks!

But, if that's true, it's only because I'm inspired by the awesomeness of the EA folks. EA has been good to me, providing me many hours of great stories to listen to, and giving me a chance to learn to be a decent story narrator, and I'd like to return the favour if I can.

There is a PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS page, which I post to once a week if not more frequently, including links to Alasdair's interviews, etc.  The page you're talking about is an "interest" page that you can "like" as an interest.  At the bottom are the PSEUDOPOD LISTENERS and ESCAPE POD LISTENERS pages, which you also have to go and "like"

Those are actually Groups, rather than Pages (capitalized because they're Facebook things, not just general versions of them). The differences between Groups and Pages include:
 - a Group is about something (a shared interest of some kind), but doesn't necessarily include that thing (you could start up a Burning Man discussion group, even if you've never been, but Facebook would only let someone from Burning Man create and run their Page);
 - a Page represents something or someone; this could also be a shared interest, but is more usually an entity of some kind, like a corporation or a famous person or even an idea, if someone is willing to act as that idea's representative (e.g. the Being Liberal page whose stuff I often share);
 - a Group is something you join;
 - a Page is something you "Like";
 - in a Group, all members can contribute to the content (though in the case of something like yours, I expect only a few usually do. Also, group admins can - I think? - restrict certain members from posting; I'm not in a lot of groups, so I'm not sure exactly how they work. I just know they differ, logically and semantically, from Pages);
 - on a Page, the entity itself (usually in the form of one or more Page administrators) produces the content for the benefit of the fans ("Like"rs), and it gets posted on their news feed (I don't know if group content goes to people's feeds or not).

I would like to be able to "Like" a Page for Podcastle and Escape Pod (and maybe Pseudopod - I like reading for you, but I'm not a horror fan myself), the way I can (but wouldn't) "Like" Coca-Cola or Target or I Fucking Love Science or Being Liberal The Maple Leaf Singers (okay, those last two I do "Like" - and I put that last one in there to show that even a small entity can have a page - but then, we aren't big enough to have an "Interest" page that we would apparently have to compete with).

Perhaps a listeners' Group for each podcast is what EA will decide it wants to go with, rather than a page (though the two aren't mutually exclusive). However, I'd rather have Pages, myself.

That's a brilliant outline, Wilson. I'm keeping it for when I have to explain (sometimes to myself!). My problem with FB groups for EA is that comments appear in much smaller boxes so that the threads for the kind of extensive debate EA-ers prefer would involve a lot of scrolling and make it difficult to keep track of who was responding to what. Also, quotes would require copy/paste - if you could find the comment you want to quote. And everyone would have to join FB which I know is close to the truth now but there are still people who believe that resistance is not yet futile. Otherwise - what else is there, I wonder?

[Wilson Fowlie]

My problem with FB groups for EA is that comments appear in much smaller boxes so that the threads for the kind of extensive debate EA-ers prefer would involve a lot of scrolling and make it difficult to keep track of who was responding to what. Also, quotes would require copy/paste - if you could find the comment you want to quote. And everyone would have to join FB which I know is close to the truth now but there are still people who believe that resistance is not yet futile. Otherwise - what else is there, I wonder?

Well, there's this forum, which I think is better than either, at least in its intent, in part because it doesn't require assimilation into the Facebook Collective. (That said, the forum software, which was probably the best available when it was set up, is getting a little old and creaky, which is why I suggested looking into the upcoming release of Discourse, above.)

As for me, I would use Facebook to promote EA podcasts to my Facebook friends who aren't already listeners. That doesn't preclude a listeners' Group on Facebook in any way, it's just a different venue for discussion and a different purpose. But a Page allows posts that can be shared outside the group. (Another thing I don't know about groups is whether posts from within the group can be shared outside it.)

[Dem]

My problem with FB groups for EA is that comments appear in much smaller boxes so that the threads for the kind of extensive debate EA-ers prefer would involve a lot of scrolling and make it difficult to keep track of who was responding to what. Also, quotes would require copy/paste - if you could find the comment you want to quote. And everyone would have to join FB which I know is close to the truth now but there are still people who believe that resistance is not yet futile. Otherwise - what else is there, I wonder?

Well, there's this forum, which I think is better than either, at least in its intent, in part because it doesn't require assimilation into the Facebook Collective. (That said, the forum software, which was probably the best available when it was set up, is getting a little old and creaky, which is why I suggested looking into the upcoming release of Discourse, above.)

As for me, I would use Facebook to promote EA podcasts to my Facebook friends who aren't already listeners. That doesn't preclude a listeners' Group on Facebook in any way, it's just a different venue for discussion and a different purpose. But a Page allows posts that can be shared outside the group. (Another thing I don't know about groups is whether posts from within the group can be shared outside it.)

The clunkiness of this platform is something I've mentioned before but there didn't seem to be anything better at the time. I don't know Discourse but if it does what this does only more 21st century-ly, that would be a winner. And no, I haven't been able to share in-group FB posts to my own timeline for others to see. Daily Science Fiction use FB and the comments there are numerically small and quite brief. Every Day Fiction does too but that seems mostly populated by EDF writers so it's serving a different purpose. EDF has a Google+ account too which replicates the topics but not the conversations. And now my head hurts ...

BTW - did this conversation come up now because there's a move planned or did it just emerge as a bit of wishful thinking?

[Wilson Fowlie]

BTW - did this conversation come up now because there's a move planned or did it just emerge as a bit of wishful thinking?

Not sure which part of the conversation you're referring to.

If you mean moving this forum, that was a suggestion I made. However, I doubt any such move is even being considered at this time (and I rather hope not), since they're concentrating on the main websites for the podcasts. And in fact, it wasn't my intent to spur such a move immediately, but simply to plant the seed of an idea for the future, as perhaps the (or at least a) next logical step once the website renovation is complete.