Your ideas and suggestions from the 10yr birthday posting

I’ve compiled the comments and suggestions that were made to my The Gadgeteer Turns 10 Years Old posting and
am listing them all here with my comments. I would like to thank everyone that took the time to write in with a suggestion, comment or idea. As you can see below, I take each of your ideas seriously…

Overall Site Suggestions

# of users with this idea, idea description

15 Follow-ups to posted reviews – This idea was the one most suggested by all of you, so it will be the one that I definitely try to do. The only issue I can foresee is the fact that I don’t always continue using a product once a review is complete. This is especially true for items that are sent for evaluation only, like mobile phones. But, for those items that I do continue to use weeks and months after the review was posted, I’ll start adding a follow up paragraph or comment to the review to let everyone know how the item has stood up over time.

7 Post more frequently – As a rule, we post 4 reviews a week. Sometimes 5. Although I have a great team of contributing writers, it usually rests on me to write the bulk of the weekly reviews. It will be difficult to increase that frequency due to the fact that I also work a full-time day job. I will admit that I’m not very good at posting as frequently to my gear diary. I’ll make an effort to do so from now on. I just don’t like to post regular news there that people already can see on a bazillion other gadget sites, so it’s hard to come up with something new and interesting to say everyday. :o)

3 More videos in reviews and / or video reviews – I enjoy doing video spots and will definitely start increasing their frequency.

3 Implement a rating system (ex: 1 microchip for low and up to 5 micro chips as outstanding) – I’ve never been all that keen on rating systems. It’s so subjective. I prefer the pros and cons listing and allowing the user to pull the information from the review, to make their own informed decision. So for this idea, I’m going to skip it for now.

2 Recent reviews on sidebar instead of at bottom – I agree that the front page needs a overhaul. Do we have any web designers in the house that would volunteer to give me a hand?

2 Get rid of google ad at the top of posts – I can’t get rid of that top banner folks. But how about if I get rid of some the white space between the banner and the gadgeteer logo bar and then get rid of the Grey bar below it that says Gadget Review and Summary? Will that tighten things up enough for you? We might be able to integrate the logo and the banner into one item somehow too…

2 Link to price comparison site for review items – We already have this. If you look at the bottom of each review in the block beneath it, there’s a Chitika price box on the right side. Click on the Deals tab to see the store that sells the item for the lowest price.

2 A page where all the reviews are listed alphabetically either by product name or manufacturer – I totally agree that we need some better tools for finding reviews on the site. This is high on my priority list.

1 Search by manufacturer – Same answer as above.

1 Better categorization of links on category pages such as Palm – Same answer as above.

1 Implement a comparison system (ex: show all high end Nokia N Series phone reviews) – This is a good idea but probably won’t be implemented soon. I’d rather get better search tools first.

1 Divide the site by kinds of reviews (Phones, PDAs, etc.) – Although it needs some work, we already have this feature. The home page has the categories on the Left sidebar.

1 Ability for users to edit their comments – Agreed. We’ll get this implemented soon.

1 Site makeover – Totally agree. If there any web designers reading this that would like to volunteer their services, send me an email.

1 List more recent reviews at the top – This goes along with a site makeover, which I want to do soon.

1 Add the post date for each review in the archive listing – An easy fix. We’ll get this implemented soon.

1 Home link on every page – This is already implemented on every article and review page. It’s a link at the top of the Right side bar. For the other pages, clicking on The Gadgeteer logo at the top of the page will also get you back to the home page.

1 Ability to scroll the gear diary section on front page – That’s an interesting idea that we can consider. Right now, you can click on the gear diary header to go to the page that shows all the posts.

1 Change review archive to include thumbnail images – Great idea. As soon as Rob can implement some image manipulation features in his code, we’ll definitely put this idea into play.

1 User submitted review section – You guys can feel free to submit your reviews via email and I’ll be happy to post them :o)

1 User suggestion list of items to review – Interesting idea. How about just email me your suggestions until we can consider this idea further.

1 Guest reviewer program where you send people an item to play with and then they send in a review – Unfortunately, I’ve tried to do this on numerous occasions, only to have people take advantage of me and never send me their reviews. After this happened more than a couple of times, I’ve kind of lost faith in asking for review volunteers.

1 Most wanted gear list – This might make a cool future contest idea. Keep an eye out!

1 Everyday gear spot update – I keep my gear diary page updated with my latest devices and fave gear.

1 Gadget graveyard spot where the reviewer revisits a product after several years to talk about changes – This is sort of like the follow up review post idea, only with a much longer duration. Good idea.

1 Section for user created device articles – I like the idea of users sending in stories about how they use gadgets to solve problems. I think this would make a great on going article idea like the Gadgeteer of the Month stories.

Review suggestions / Ideas

3 More Mac related reviews –

2 Product comparisons / round up reviews

2 More smartphone reviews

2 More Windows Mobile related reviews

2 More gear bag reviews

1 Travel gear reviews

1 More portable GPS reviews

1 More musical instrument reviews

1 More iPhone accessory reviews

1 Handheld game reviews

1 Reviews of older products

1 More MP3 player and accessory reviews other than the iPod – I’ve been trying. We had a couple Toshiba reviews a few weeks ago and I’ve got another Insignia one coming up soon :o) It’s just that the iPod is so prolific and people are always offering accessories to me to review.

1 More interviews – I have more of those planned, so stay tuned.

1 More device reviews instead of accessory reviews – See answer above.

1 More real world product reviews – Well, I don’t think I want to review lawn mowers and can openers, but we’ll see what I can come up with. Just kidding.

1 More garage sales – Everyone likes a good sale right?! I pretty much depleted my stash with the last one, let me hoard some more first.

2 More contests – Definitely!

1 Gift idea posts – Yeah, bad Julie skipped the Christmas gift bundle this year…

1 Gear bag kit compilation articles (ex: small, effective survival kit, small, effective repair/sewing kit) – I really like this idea and will start working on them soon.

1 What’s in your gear bag, workspace articles – I also love these type of posts and will do more of them soon.

Specific product review requests

1 Axiotron ModBook review request – I’m supposed to be on a list to get an eval unit to review. I need to get a status check.
1 Nintendo Wii review request – Rob has one. I think I should twist his arm to do a review!
2 Asus EEE PC review request – I am seriously considering ordering one in the next week.
2 Kindle review request – Already done! Be sure to read Rob’s review of the Amazon Kindle.
2 Pleo dinosaur review request – I already have another robot review to do. Maybe after that one is complete, I’ll consider the Pleo. It is very cute.

Well, there you have it folks. Your wish (most of them) are / will be my command! Keep the ideas, comments and suggestions coming!