Unfortunately I forgot which site it was and did not check if it was entirely paywalled, but if I find it again and it is I will let you know! Thank you!
I'd argue there is a difference between a blog and a newsletter, but that would take longer to discuss than I have right now. But you're right that the boundary between the two is extremely blurry.
However, I'm guessing you tried to submit a Substack URL and was told newsletters aren't accepted? Even if I allowed newsletters, I wouldn't add any Substack newsletters because of the platform's fascist-supporting tendencies.
Give it a rest. The scope is in the FAQ. Blogs get added when I have time.
As you can tell from the site, there are many, many suggestions and I’m not finding time to add many new blogs https://ooh.directory/about/charts/
There is no guarantee any blog you suggest, even if it’s in “scope”, will get added before either of us die. If that’s a problem save yourself all this angst and don’t suggest anything.
Appreciate the reply. My submissions fell within the scope though. I think I took the rejections too personally. Sorry for that. I appreciate the time and effort you put into maintaining the site. I will give it a rest.
Sorry for being a pain in this thread. Wishing you all the best with the project going forward.
It’s not “useless” it just depends on what it is a user is looking for. I decided that alphabetical as default makes most immediate sense to someone arriving at the site. “Last updated” could also look a bit random initially.
But random orders lend themselves better for discovery? If somebody’s site is just AAA they will be at the top of the list forever, what value is there in that?
The value is that it's slightly easier to browse an alphabetical list than a random one (no, I don't have a citation for this).
But, yes, it would be nice to have the option to change the sort order, as well as the current filtering. One day, if it doesn't make the UI too complicated. I value simplicity.
if you know what you're looking for sure, but what if you're not looking for any specific site in particular, like the vast majority of people who visit?
Thanks for the kind words. The source is user suggestions and my own searching and browsing.
I do sort of track outbound links, so that I can show which domains a blog links to most, which can sometimes give a sense of what the blog is about.
But, while I haven’t analysed the data, I suspect the links from one blog to another would be a very tiny percentage of the overall outbound links. It’s the kind of thing that might have been more interesting/useful in the olden days of blogging when more people linked to each other, and replied to each other, via blogs rather than social media.
That’s one problem with categorising blogs - they often shift focus over time, like Simon’s. I’ve added it to the AI category now - thanks for pointing that out!
> You do seem particularly offended or annoyed that some blogs you suggested have not yet appeared on the site.
I'm not offended. Just a little frustrated that I took the time to make some submissions of blogs I thought were missing but never heard anything back.
But you're right that it is your hobby site, so you get to decide what goes in.
> The sole person running this site doesn't find the same things interesting than you do.
That misses the point. I know the site is run by a single maintainer and they are free to accept or decline whatever they choose. I have no qualms about it.
> The sense of entitlement displayed is really breathtaking.
Calling something "entitlement" is an easy way to shut down discussion without engaging with the argument. Labeling a concern instead of addressing it feels like a weak response. Good thing is that the maintainer did address my concern in a separate reply instead of just shrugging it off as "entitlement" and for that I'm thankful to him.
I respect the maintainer's authority over their own site. The only thing I am asking for is a bit of courtesy in return for the effort spent curating and submitting material. I do not expect submissions to be accepted, only that rejected ones receive a brief acknowledgement. If expecting that minimal level of courtesy counts as entitlement, then so be it. We all operate within a shared community, and I am only asking for the kind of consideration I try to extend to others myself.
If you missed it, I've also apologized to the maintainer for being a pain in these threads. My comments come off as overly negative and I'm aware of that. For that I apologize. But I also want to say that my frustration comes from putting effort into collecting good blogs (retrocomputing and gaming kind), submitting them, and then seeing no response or action. The maintainer has since explained that there's a large backlog which makes the situation understandable.
So in the end, all I can do is apologize. But suggesting that I'm somehow challenging the maintainer's right to make decisions about their own project is both inaccurate and disingenuous.
Calling something "entitlement" is an easy way to shut down discussion without engaging with the argument.
I have evaluated your discussion. I have read as many of your 'explanations' of your argument until I got a headache from rolling my eyes so hard. I find it petulant and entitled, and I called it out as such. Obviously, no discussion was shut down because here you are.
The only thing I am asking for is a bit of courtesy in return for the effort spent curating and submitting material.
And everyone else on the thread has made clear you are not owed this. No, the maintainer is not obligated to respond to every random submission to validate the time you took.
But suggesting that I'm somehow challenging the maintainer's right to make decisions about their own project is both inaccurate and disingenuous.
You clearly said a couple of lines up "The only thing I am asking for is a bit of courtesy in return for the effort spent curating and submitting material." You have done nothing but argue for your entitlement to tell the maintainer they are obligated to stroke your ego for submitting something. "Inaccurate and disingenuous" indeed.
Hi, it’s my site. I’m sorry you don’t feel this hobby site run by one person doesn’t have a sufficiently transparent process. The process is: I add blogs that are interesting, recently-updated, etc, when I have time. And there’s only so much of that in life.
Another problem is that I like to add a variety of sites so that people following what’s recently added don’t get swamped by loads of blogs on one topic. And last time the site got on HN the suggestions (not “submissions”) were swamped with mostly men with rarely-updated blogs about computers. I’m expecting more now :)
I also enjoy searching for blogs that I find interesting and adding those, rather than relying solely on the suggestions. Honestly, I’ve been thinking of removing the suggestions form entirely, because it results in exactly this level of expectation and uncertainty about what gets “approved”.
And, yes, of course lots of blogs are missing! Look how many blogs are in there and try to guess how many blogs there might still be out there!
Just wanted to say: thank you for making and maintaining this. I’m sorry that so many of the initial comments on this HN post are from one person complaining that their submissions didn’t get accepted. That’s the thing with the personal web: it’s personal! It’s what that person wants, which happens to be the thing that makes it great. If you don’t like it, the rest of the internet is still there.
To be fair, I appreciate the technical effort it takes to build and maintain a directory like this. It isn't lost on me that many people like it. Kudos to the author for creating this. I absolutely don't mean to be negative about it.
But that shouldn't stop me from sharing my experience as a user. That it feels frustrating when I spend time making a bunch of submissions and I never hear anything back. But yeah, it's their website and their rules. Yes, it's one person making the decision. Yes, it's personal. I understand all that.
I was more interested in finding something less personal and more community-ish. where the power to add or reject submissions does not lie with one individual. Wouldn't that be nice?
>I was more interested in finding something less personal and more community-ish. where the power to add or reject submissions does not lie with one individual. Wouldn't that be nice?
So, Hacker News?
Otherwise, be the change you want to see. if you haven't hit critical mass, the "community" will likely be 1-2 people getting he community off the ground anyway. How and if you want to scale from there will vary based on the ones managing the site.
>I was more interested in finding something less personal and more community-ish. where the power to add or reject submissions does not lie with one individual. Wouldn't that be nice?
This would be overwhelmed with AI slop within days.
> This would be overwhelmed with AI slop within days.
Why so? What's the logic? With ooh.directory, one person is curating it. With a community project, 10 people may curate it. What makes 10 people curating the list more susceptible to slop?
I think the challenge would be picking those 10 people, in a way that is satisfying to you and everyone. (Is there a good way to find 9 like-minded people on the internet who have spare time?)
And to prevent commercial and political interests from joining the community, and later overwhelming the original core team.
I think you're asking the author to organize a structure like Wikipedia, with talk pages and topic experts, which would be a significant undertaking.
This I understand very well. It wasn't my question though. No, I wasn't asking anybody to organize a structure like Wikipedia. I was challenging the parent's comment where they said:
>> This would be overwhelmed with AI slop within days.
So I asked:
> What makes 10 people curating the list more susceptible to slop?
I think a 10 person project would be less susceptible to slop than a 1 person project because more people can catch more slop or so I think. So I really wanted to understand why the grandparent thinks a 10 person project would be more susceptible to slop.
Have you looked at MetaFilter? I've been a lurker there for years, but have never contributed so I don't know what that process looks like. But their tagline is "Community Weblog". It might be worth checking out.
> removing the suggestions form entirely, because it results in exactly this level of expectation
I think the expectation is less about the suggestions form and more because of the tagline "a place to find good blogs that interest you". If the tagline was clearer that these were hand curated, then I think no one would care about the process you currently have.
There's always some friction between implicit assumptions of reader and writer. I assumed they were hand curated. I've never seen algorithmic selection produce the kind of variety I see on there.
>> Another problem is that I like to add a variety of sites so that people following what’s recently added don’t get swamped by loads of blogs on one topic. And last time the site got on HN the suggestions (not “submissions”) were swamped with mostly men with rarely-updated blogs about computers.
Essentially my trouble with every "share your blog" type thing that appears on HN. Some of the blogs do show some interest outside computers, but those posts are quickly swamped by more computer touching.
I appreciate the curation in favor of diversity of interest here.
edit: You can see it in a lot of the suggested alternatives elsewhere. I think it's hard for someone to really get it if computer touching is their life. Curation like this is vital to avoid regression to the mean.
Yeah, from a HN point of view I imagine most blogs are tech blogs. But for me, trying to curate a wider selection, tech blogs should be a very small minority. There are so many non-tech categories that I’m much more interested in populating, never mind categories that don’t even exist yet. A real joy is finding a niche topic where there are loads of current blogs, all linking to each other. Blogspot is full of that kind of thing.
I'm not the site owner but it might help to share some of the content you'll see in Gmail when you hit "show original". That'll show things like SPF and DMARC pass/fail.
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