Slowing to a Crawl, Taking Time to Reflect
This being the deadest week of the year save the one between Christmas and New Year’s, we’re going to take the opportunity to start unpacking after our move last week. As a result, all we’re going to serve up this week are the morning links to give you something to chew on. That, and one…
This being the deadest week of the year save the one between Christmas and New Year’s, we’re going to take the opportunity to start unpacking after our move last week. As a result, all we’re going to serve up this week are the morning links to give you something to chew on. That, and one discussion question.
As we start to approach our one-year anniversary in October, we think it would be a good time to solicit feedback about the site. We’re happy to hear any criticism as long as it’s given in a respectful tone, so please let us know what you like about Brownstoner and what you don’t as well as ideas for new features or services you’d like to see in the months ahead.
Thanks,
Brownstoner
I agree keep the focus generally Brooklyn. It’s always interesting to hear from those who live elsewhere and who bring a different perspective on brownstones/old homes and restoration, but it seems to me that Brooklyn is the heart of this site.
Keep it simple. I’d recommend having a tightly focused site, i.e., brownstone areas of Brooklyn, and renovations/restorations info. Some of the blog debates such as whether Brownstoner’s purchase of a brownstone qualifies his as “rich” aren’t informative, in my opinion. Plus, postings along those lines seems to bring out a mean-spirited crowd who post comments such as “your stupid and can’t spel”.
hey…moms drink beer too!
Since you’re a family man, why not enlist somebody single to review local bars.
I bet most folks interested in Brownstones are also interested in beer.
Even married Brownstoners need to let loose once in while!
I love Brownstoner.com too. I like that you have strong opinions and aren’t afraid to state them.
I agree with the guy who said “Keep it simple. Keep it about houses and homes, blocks and neighborhoods. Keep it useful and entertaining.”
I think the site is great as it is.
Real Estate rules! Long live Brownstoner!
As an Fort Greene homeowner in temporary exile, I’ve found your site invaluable for keeping up on the neighborhood. I think the low-hanging fruit in terms of improvements would be around the technical side: 1) make the comments flow top-to-bottom as 90% of other blogs do, 2) tag the posts (see, e.g., Technorati or del.icio.us), which would allow for some logical navigation to archives among other benefits, 3) organize material contributed to the forum and the outbound links in the left-hand column into a separate Resources page with a more useful layout.
I also agree that it would be worthwhile to expand the blog either in the direction of deeper coverage of the Brooklyn brownstone nabes or historical renovation. My preference would be for the former, and I think that a focus on things other than houses would improve the class-warfare tone on the site. Daily Heights, I think, is a great example of this kind of a neighborhood-focused site whose vibe seems much more positive.
I also read your site daily and think it has only gotten better over the past six months. But please keep the site Brooklyn based – I just don’t see how people expect you to be the eyes and ears of all brownstones all over the world, when you can barely keep up with the ones in Brooklyn. The neighborhoods are all changing so fast – did you hear about the Dunkin’ Donuts going in on Court and 1st Place in Carroll Gardens? Can’t wait to see that neon pink sign on our cute little street. Keep up the good work.
I love the site and have been a devotee for the past six or eight months. I consider one of its great strengths to be its elegant design and simple focus. There’s a lot of fodder out there on the internet – don’t underestimate the value of a clear editorial focus.
I think the core features are real estate and home improvement, with an obvious local anchor. Both subjects are ideal for a web log – offer up a property or issue, and harvest the collective wisdom of all the participants. To me, that provides a huge value to anyone in the market to buy/rent or trying/planning to fix up a place.
There’s a lot of entertainment value in these things as well – all the armchair real estate quarterbacking and house gawking. We also all love the flattery of seeing discussion of our neighborhoods in print.
The gentrification debates address a real issue and are an important to our community, but I don’t think they’re what draw people to the site. Frankly, I find some of the rants to get tiresome, but we can all read what we want.
I think the name “brownstoner” (and “Brownstone Brooklyn” for that matter) resonates with a lot of us. It denotes urban living, but urban living on a scale in which we can exercise some individual control over our own homes and some collective control over the community which we are a part of. It also denotes historic architecture and historic districts, and the happy fact that landmarking drives zoning that keeps our neighborhoods cohesive.
So my advice is to keep it simple. Keep it about houses and homes, blocks and neighborhoods. Keep it useful and entertaining. Post the news, post the new openings, but let the reviews write themselves. Harvest the collective voice and knowledge of the community.
Brownstoner, you do a great job on the site, and I like your voice in it. An occasional throwdown over class issues or wood stripping won’t kill us (I hope) — and I hope people will continue to put themselves out there with honestly considered opinions and experiences.
BTW, your housework will not be over when the renovation is over . . . but love to see other people’s renovations fill in the spaces, and hope My Brownstoner helps you do that. Comments there would be cool.
The Forum is the best part for me, and I too wish there was a better mechanism for listings of tradespeople/techniques/resources and running feedback. SO useful! At present it’s obviously getting bogged down in multiple unanswered posts of the same topic as new people tune in . . . and can’t/can’t be bothered to search out last month’s answers to the same question.