McVane
I had a shock the other day. I was helping a friend finding a domain name for her web site by typing all sorts in 1and1.com's domain search engine. You really do have to be creative because the good ones are already taken. So I resorted to using a dictionary to find a word that has a meaning she wanted to use as her domain. While I was ready to tear my hair out, she said, "You know mcvane.com is available?" I almost fell out of chair. McVane is a pretty popular surname. How could it be available? Needless to say, it's been snapped up. :D Central Point for Romance Readers? I'm not quite sure what to do with mcvane.com, though. Half of me is thinking that I ought to transfer this blog to some web space under that domain name because blogger.com is driving me nuts with its slowness and hic-cups, but another half of me thinks it ought to be a central point for romance readers. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by this, but I am thinking it would have:
- Links: a regularly-updated list of links to romance reader blogs; links to review sites; any other places readers would enjoy, and such such.
- Resources: list of free photo hosts, blog hosts, web space, etc.; free templates; blog tools.
- Basic glossaries: basic HTML codes, acronyms, emoticons, romance slang terms, and such.
- Help: step-by-step guides to setting up a blog, inserting a photo, setting up a basic web page, installing an instant messenging progam, how to set up or join a yahoogroup, write a post to a message board at any site, etc. Just about anything that can help readers to understand how such and such works.
- Message board: bloggers can go for help setting up a blog, inserting a new template or blog tool, setting up a basic web page, and such such.
- a community blog for readers who don't want blogs of their own, but might want to make an occasional contribution
- Lists of online bookshops, actual bookshops, traders' groups, and such for readers around the world who are looking for books to buy or trade.
- Recommendations: this is where readers can list books they enjoyed for the others who are looking for something to read
posted by lost at 3/24/2006 11:30:00 am
10 Comments:
YAY! Go for it! It'd save a lot of time & heartache for those of us who are technologically challenged. LOL :P
I'd even drop a penny or two into a paypal account if you needed a 'tip jar' to help w/time & expenses etc.
3/24/2006 01:51:00 pm
Several years ago I did the same thing while checking for domain names and ended up picking up readernetwork.com with the vague idea of doing something similar to what you're talking about, Maili. Since then, real life has taken a couple of weird turns and I never found time to develop the idea more.
Regardless, I still own that domain and I think the only reason I keep hanging onto it instead of dropping it after all this time is that it IS a good idea. One thing I have realized, though, while playing with the idea over time is that a site of that nature is not something one person should tackle alone for a lot of reasons, real life being the biggest of them.
Personally, I think a message board would be the best way to start a community like that and would still love to be part of getting one off the ground, wherever it's based. So, I'd love to talk to you or anyone else interested in pursuing this.
3/24/2006 03:13:00 pm
Great idea, but somewhat ambitious. If you've got the time and energy, you'll have a tremendous following.
3/25/2006 02:57:00 pm
mmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiillllllliiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!
hee I have missed you soooo...
look! Computer works! poor maili ;). Sounds like a smashing idea but tons of work. If anyone can do it, you can.
3/25/2006 03:40:00 pm
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3/25/2006 03:40:00 pm
I think it's a might good idea too! Kind of like an everything for every romance fan. Keep us up on any help or anything else we can do to get it going.
3/25/2006 05:41:00 pm
bless you for that link...and I'll read whatever you write, thank you.
3/26/2006 01:23:00 am
I see I'm the outlier here. I say drop blogger like a bad habit and move the blog to mcvane.com. Load Movable Type or Wordpress or something. Do you really have the time to run another website?
3/26/2006 07:46:00 pm
Amanda - heh, thanks for that. A couple of readers I know want to have blogs of their own but they won't because they view themselves as 'technologically challenged'. Hence the idea. :>
Bev - that domain is a better name. If you want to set it up, you can count on me to help out. Give me a shout when you're ready.
Tara - if I didn't have the time and energy, would I even think of the idea? :> Hey, I thought I already have a tremendous following! Oh, wait. Those are my cats and dog waiting for their dinner.
Sybil - Aw, thanks for that vote of confidence. Your computer decided to live after all? And about damn time, too.
Kristie - thanks, mite. :>
Kate R - aw, really?
Jay - thanks for that input. I'm thinking that Bev's domain would be better and that I use mcvane.com as my blog where I could have a sidebar of links and pages that might be useful for readers. [Yes, I do have the time to run another website. :P] Thanks.
3/27/2006 10:17:00 am
Okay, I believe the web server I've got readernetwork.com on now has a installable message board that can be up and running fairly quickly. They didn't before or I would already been using it. The only reason I know about it now is that I recently got another domain (bevsbooks.com) there and have been playing around with learning WordPress on it. I have no idea what the features of the board there are but even if it's basic we can use it to get the discussions started and change to something else later if necessary.
So, let me check and get back to you. I'll post a head's up on your new blog entry when it's up and running.
3/27/2006 03:51:00 pm
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