Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Talk About Blyton suspended indefinitely
Y'all might have noticed by now that I've suspended the Talk About Blyton section on my site. I've already mentioned the reasons for this in a previous post, and on the site itself, but I'll clarify them here. It goes way back to when I first started the website. In those days I was writing reviews for all my favorite books, reliving them after twenty-five years of absence. I was writing reviews and articles primarily for others like me, those who had rekindled their interest at some point later in life, after "growing up" and wishing they could go back to their childhood. It's amazing how many of us are out there!
EnidBlyton.net's first few years of life had an audience of "oldies" like myself — let's say 25 and up. This was my target audience. Of course I also had children writing to say how much they enjoyed "my" books (most of them were unaware Enid died in 1968) and that was fine. But slowly, in the last year, children have taken over and I'm kind of disappointed to see that many adult regulars have sidled off out of sight. It's like the party has been overrun by kids; they've found a way in through a hole in the fence and are running amock, squabbling over who their favorite character is and other such nonsense. Meanwhile, the adults — surprised and a little perturbed — are shaking their heads and saying, "I can't stand this noise. I'm off."
Maybe that's all a little dramatic, and probably a little unfair in a lot of cases... but nevertheless, a number of fellow Blytonites have remarked that they don't visit very often now, for the exact reason described above. One said, "I've become a less enthusiastic participant after some juvenile fans started using it as an after-school hangout." Spot on! Another often describes the site as "a children's site" — which at first glance seems obvious, but the truth is that it's not supposed to be a children's site, it's supposed to be a site about a children's author — a big difference!
Feelings are mixed though. This post invited comments about the subject, and it does seem that some adults are happy for kids to join in as long as they're kept on a short leash. Well, I certainly appreciate that point of view, and I've taken it into consideration. In fact, if you look at the latest posts in the Talk About Blyton section, you might wonder what all the fuss is about, as the majority of the posts there seem perfectly reasonable and interesting. But what you don't see listed there are the endless posts that are deleted; what you see are the ones that made it through.
Since handing over "approval" duties to my very helpful helpers, I've been able to step back and read the posts as they're published on the site. And as time has gone on, over the last few weeks especially, we've agreed that we should be tougher on what's approved and what isn't. This goes for the home page Message Board too. It's hard to delete someone's genuine heartfelt message that says, "i luv enid blyton shes great my faves r secret seven and famous 5," but honestly, does anyone really want to read this kind of thing when it's almost every other message?
So, with heavy heart, I've suspended the Talk About Blyton section for the time being. It's in "read only" mode, so can be accessed as normal — but no one can post to it. Its future is uncertain. I think I'm going to spend some time (along with my helpers) going through and tidying it up, which means getting rid of "pointless" posts that add nothing to the discussion, and merging threads that say basically the same things. Most importantly, all the silly squabbling about George will be removed!
I'm interested to know what all you adults think about this! Am I doing the right thing? Do I seem ungrateful and harsh? Basically, I think I'm faced with choosing between children and adults, and I choose adults. This isn't, and never was, a "children's site."
This post has 16 comments
Enid's writing is so ageless, immediate, fresh and full of vitality it would be the easiest thing in the world for someone newly tumbling into the Blyton world, to think that she's still around.These are a few thoughts on why you *may* be getting some heavy traffic re Enid's fan-mail.
Having mentioned Enid's 'timelessness' in her writing, I share with so many others the thinking that the books should retain as much as the original post-war setting as possible, especially in terms and language.
In the general discussion board it's interesting to see that newish Blyton readers are derisive of modern updates and would like to retain more of the original writing. It'll be a long, long time before the Blyton name will ever fade away, and I hope Blyton publishers, who probably cast an eye to these sites periodically, take note that many new Blyton fans, are rarely satisfied with the bland re-writes but go on to scour the net for earlier editions. I guess not a few of us echo the comment of "thank God for e-bay " et al.
However, I think that can occur when any age group discusses something they are passionate about.
Perhaps a new discussion format could be set up, whereby new topics can only be started by yourself or one of the helpers. Every week or fortnight, say, a proper discussion topic could be opened, discussed and then made read only.
It is a pity for the people you will have hurt now. But your aim is not to serve the whole world. It is to make a good site. And to reach that, decisions have to be made.
Greetings!
And Fiona, that's an excellent suggestion about opening the topics for discussion myself. I had a sudden vision of a page reading, "This Week's Topic is: What did you think of......?" and so on. Brilliant! It's not a particularly unique idea, but I wonder why I didn't think of it myself. This is the problem with being too close to something -- a fresh pair of eyes is vital from time to time.
And Nanny, you're right too. No site is ever going to be perfect for everyone. So I'll just do what I want to do, and hope that's best.
I don't know if cleaning up messages matters that much -- I scan 9 on-line newspapers daily in a few minutes which I suppose is nothing unusual. I also auto-skip your bloggers I know to be raving ranters -- and that's not always the kids!
And we all know -- or we should all know, that blogs are not comparable to quality broadsheets; more like a dinner party conversation instead.
A couple of suggestions if you decide to reopen.
1) post rules of behaviour (including no shorthand, namecalling, etc.)
2) Topic of the week (or month) is nice idea but you can also start various ongoing discussion threads with different headings so if people are only interested in one series, they could confine their comments to that topic/area.
3) appoint several trusted people to help you approve the postings so that the onus is on a wider group of people.
4) You could also set up a children's discussion area where the kids could meet and talk to each other but this is problematic for various sad reasons as well.
5) set up a regular poll that people can only click on answers rather than write them out fully. That would give the people who want to say "George is my favourite" or "Darrel is best" a chance without a lot of pointless entries.
Hope you work this out!
Welcome, Bonnie, and thanks for your suggestions! Thanks also to othehs who have commented -- Jane, Fiona, Nanny, Anita, Ilsa, Natalie, Hari and Rogoz. (Rogoz, don't worry, I wouldn't sell out to Chorion... or would I? Hmm.) This month has been a particularly busy one (hence no other blog posts so far!) but in July I expect to reinstate a slightly reformed Talk About Blyton section. I think this little hiatus has been worthwhile though. Sometimes it's nice to take a step back and see what's what.
POSTS ARE NOW CLOSED