review

Stories, by Lord Matt

Author: buzz42, 01/10

This is a slightly (very) biased review of Story by Lord Matt which is the new fiction site by Lord Matt.

It is a good looking site with an ongoing story and one off stories. It also sports an impressive range of guides for other fiction writers. The flavor is very much that of classic and speculative science fiction.

MINUS: He does not publish as often as I would like
PLUS: It looks good

What do we learn: When your stuff is good you can publish often

Revisit: oh yes. Often.


Layout: 8/10 Good layout. Easy enough to find things.
Look and feel: 9/10 Themed and looking good.
Wit and amusement: 8/10 Plenty of good stuff but it comes in batches
commentary: 7/10 The guides and "back stage" stuff is a good touch. Some stories have a hidden message too
Extra: 9/10 Each character has a profile page

TOTAL: 84% A good site for fiction

YourCreditNetwork.com :: Reviewed

Author: buzz42, 11/06

These days it seems that all the world and his wife want to offer you Credit Cards. But as long time readers of Which (UK consumer magazine) will attest - credit cards are not all built the same.

Yourcreditnetwork.com is a site that focuses informing consumers about credit, credit card offers and credit related news and humour.

But it is the Credit Card Blog that this review will be focused on.

Before we do that however let us quote the sites about page.

Your Credit Network is unique because we adopt a customer-centric approach to our business; we do not charge premiums, application fees, or any type of additional costs to our customers. Your Credit Network is meant to be just that – a resource, and we take great pride in offering the most comprehensive website about credit cards, credit card offers and financial planning around.

This is not the focus of the review but one still needs to ask - what is the level of authority of a site that i monitized by the products it discusses? There is no disclosure that they earn when you purchase. That sort of thing will cost a site in the final score.

As blogs go I have seen better but then I have also seen a lot worse. In the age of MySpace that is not saying much.

The main problem is that the blog is too bland. While the articles are quite interesting and written in an easy to read style where one feels one has learned something the fact remains that its a bit... well dry.

The dryness comes from not understanding the grease that eases the world of blogging. Trackback, Comments and ordered archives are all absent but the trappings of technorati badges and social bookmarking links are there.

I have no doubt that they will make plenty of money but they will miss out on the main prize because although it looks like a blog it has clearly been created to please some committee that has no idea what a blog actually is nor why they are powerful.

All the same as one designer to another good luck to them and their Credit Card Offer blog. Hopefully the blog will become more blog like soon.

After all this is a sponsored review.

MINUS: it\'s bland and missing the interaction aspects of blogging the \"conversation\"
PLUS: The articles scan very well

What do we learn: conversation is vital

Revisit: Only if I was stuck for some information that Google could not give me

Layout: 7/10 Good standard layout
Look and feel: 4/10 It's soulless and bland
Wit and amusement: 8/10 none that I found UPATE: untill shown - quite funny stuff.
commentary: 2/10 mild at best. It's more ditties on a topic than any comment on issues
Extra: 2/10 A few trappings can be seen even if the guts are missing

TOTAL: 46% Built to please people who don't "get blogging" (EDIT: but quite cool)

A Tip For You: Tip42.com

Author: buzz42, 14/05

Tip42.com may be one to watch in the coming months. It has all the hallmarks of a good idea.

MINUS: not all articles are equal
PLUS: Great idea and easy to follow

What do we learn: There is always one more great idea out there

Revisit: every day if you know what\'s hot


Layout: 9/10 It\'s a good clean layout - very nice
Look and feel: 8/10 It\'s good but it lacks a little flair
Wit and amusement: 8/10 There is a good collection of gems to be found
commentary: 7/10 Not huge on the comment front it does still comment
Extra: 10/10 Get your content linked to or republished and linked to - great.

TOTAL: 84% As I said - one to watch.

Can you blog to fame?

Author: buzz42, 12/05

This is a review of Blogging to Fame dot com which is a product of the same blogger as the blogspot blog of the same title.

This dot com is a competition of sorts where by the winner will get a pile of cash and be somehow magically transformed into an "A List" blogger.

Before we get down to brass tacks let us examine the rules page.

ontest Rules for Blogging to Fame Awards 2007: "Selection Criteria for Bloggers"

1. This competition will go on till (sic) the end date, and a total of 5 bloggers will be selected who will be liable to receive $5000 each.
2. Winners will be selected on the basis of their performance as a blogger, how much (sic) socially responsible they are and on their writing style. Quality here is most important.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

The reviewer found this to be simply to delicious an irony to pass up the chance to comment. This competition that will "...go on till the end date..." where quality is held to be the most important along with "...how much socially responsible they are..."

For those watching in black and white here are the self same rules written in a formal style.

1. The competition will be open and ongoing up to and including the published end date.
2. A total of 5 winners will be selected with each eligible to receive at least US$5,000.
3. Winners will be selected based on the following criteria: performance as a blogger, social responsibility and written style. (Written quality being the primary criteria for consideration).
3.a. "Social Responsibility" is defined as...






MINUS: As highlighted there seems to be a lack of example
PLUS: They give away a free holiday and cash too

What do we learn: If you define a standard to judge others be sure to do as well yourself

Revisit: Sure.


Layout: 9/10 Good clean layout
Look and feel: 8/10 The animation can annoy
Wit and amusement: 3/10 very little intentional entertainment
commentary: 7/10 Some inherent commentary
Extra: 10/10 That give away must count as the biggest extra ever

TOTAL: 74% All-in-all not so bad but the fun is all unintentional

Sexist Crap!

Author: buzz42, 27/04

Not normally one to do the review (especially with the staff anonymity thing going on) I felt I had to warn the bloggers that currently read this section.

jessicadoyle.ca is the sacrificial lamb being held up as an example of sexist crap that we can all do with out.

"This is a women’s only Blogroll." which is apparently fair and cool and good. But a men only blog-anything would have the world up in arms.

This is a large case of one rule for you and another for us.

MINUS: Sexist and elitist
PLUS: Well written

What do we learn: Sexism is a curse on humanity

Revisit: NO!

Layout: 9/10 It's a good layout
Look and feel: 6/10 It's a bit busy and the CSS needs a tweak for smoothness
Wit and amusement: 1/10 sexism is not funny
commentary: 1/10 I\'m giving the commentary a one or not worth reading even though the system guidelines say I should asses if they have something to say. This sort of something is not worth reading
Extra: 3/10 A reluctant three for having a CC tag above the fold.

TOTAL: 62% Sexist crap best avoided.

Here Comes A Storm...

Author: buzz42, 26/04

Here Comes A Storm In The Form Of A Girl is a blog that the reviewer found while surfing technorati. After begging the editorial staff I got the go ahead to free form review it.

Yes!

Warning Not fully family friendly.

It has one of those silly corner banners that make some sort of stand about some issue or other. I have always felt that if the issue matters to you then you will write about the issue rather than enhancing the pagerank of a site you never visit.

Also of note is the use of mild profanities. Thus the pointless warning above.


MINUS: silly corner banner
PLUS: Lively and well linked to

What do we learn: I loath those corner banners

Revisit: maybe

Layout: 7/10 A custom but average blogger.com blog
Look and feel: 7/10 Custom but still suffering the normal letdowns of blogger blogs
Wit and amusement: 9/10 Clearly an interesting read
commentary: 10/10 Plenty to say and the ability to say it
Extra: 5/10 Lots of the usual side bar tat but nothing that jumps out.

TOTAL: 74% This blog clearly wins on it's content and not on flashy design. Subscribe to the feed is my advice.

Can I Make Big Money Online

Author: buzz42, 25/04

This blog has the tag line "This blog reveals what I and others are doing to make money online."

Which seemed cool so we dug a little deeper.

However it seen became clear that it was more about what the anonymous "I" was doing in general with a strong money flavour. The "off topic quotient" (OTQ) had exceeded 20% but then there was a post at the very top indicting that this had been the result of some experimentation with blogging technique.

MINUS: seemed a little off topic
PLUS: cleanly written and presented

What do we learn: Keep 80% of your posts on topic

Revisit: Yes, I want to see if it was a "bad patch" topic wise and re-review.

Layout: 8/10 Good layout.
Look and feel: 9/10 Thematically very well chosen
Wit and amusement: 4/10 Not so much wit or amusement demonstrated.
commentary: 8/10 Plenty of commentary. Some a little off topic.
Extra: 10/10 A full ten for having some social avatar based content (MyBlogLog) and no intrusive adverts

TOTAL: 76% Overall a nice looking blog - it just needs a little more focus.

The work at home mom revolution

Author: buzz42, 24/04

workathomemomrevolution.blogspot.com is not exactly the easiest URL to memorise in the world but then again with all the best one's taken you have to go with what you have.

It's a blog by a mum who works from home.

Just to unconfuse you this is not "MLM work from home" no "letter stuffing" work from home but frelancer work from home.

(other types include reseller work from home).

It's a blogspot blog which drags it down a little but it makes the most of the platform.

MINUS: a blogger blg
PLUS: Uses an easy read background colour (good for some forms of dyslexia

Revisit: Probably.


Layout: 8/10 Blogger blogs do at least have good layout as standard.
Look and feel: 9/10 A good use of pale yellow for enhanced readability
Wit and amusement: 5/10 Not exactly stand up but with enough lightness to keep most people happy
commentary: 8/10 Commentry is good
Extra: 2/10 Not much by the way of extras here. But it is a blogger blog...

TOTAL: 78% Not too bad overall.

Holy Blank Page! it's blogclue.

Author: buzz42, 23/04

BlogClue is so new that currently there is nothing there at all.

Somehow this is strangely refreshing.

MINUS: a little lacking in content
PLUS: Clean and fresh

What do we learn: we need some content to hold interest

Revisit: sure, why not.

Layout: 5/10 Can not flaw it but they did cheat.
Look and feel: 8/10 Fresh and clean... but empty
Wit and amusement: 10/10 um...
commentary: 0/10 none
Extra: 0/10 none

TOTAL: 46% Well it's interesting for sure...

First Ever Review - lordmatt.co.uk

Author: buzz42, 20/04

Just to get things started let's post a review of "The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt".

This is definitely a slightly geekish blog with undertones of political dissidence and occasional ranting. It looks exactly like the wikipedia which is an interesting take on things. If you did deep enough you will find a wiki, just like the wikipedia. You will also find a largely pointless forum and a few bits that did not mean much to me at all.

One such part was the fact-o-page but then again this fact-o-page did claim to be some sort of basic test of a script he was working on so I suppose time will tell on that one.

MINUS: The current theme does not work in all browsers.
PLUS: One or more posts almsot every day

What do we learn: Complex themes cause complex updates when a new browser terns up.

Revisit: For sure!

Layout: 7/10 It is a good layout although not perfect for a blog
Look and feel: 9/10 Easy on the eyes. Feels nice.
Wit and amusement: 8/10 Plenty of that about
commentary: 10/10 Full on massive commentry on everything
Extra: 10/10 I have to give it to the guy he does provide plenty of extra stuff aside fromt he blog itself

TOTAL: 80% A good blog and worth reading.

General links: Visit site, Visit fact-o-page or Visit wiki

Tags: wiki, Lord Matt, SEO, first review, CSS.