Dear Colonel,
Just wanted to mention a couple of things I had in mind regarding your blog. I like the blog archive addition.
In that connection, may I suggest:
+ You could have a guest poster appear on your blog with the solutions.
Someone like CV or Shuchi or Kishore or Sandhya or Veer or Richard (to name a few) who would be essentially doing what you do diligently each morning.
Once a week or may be twice a month, you could have someone else do that job?
Picking a Saturday and/or relaxing the 8.30 AM deadline depending on the guest poster might encourage them.
This need not become a fixed thing with days set for individual guest posters or involve any bookkeeping overhead. We can all just keep it random and impromptu.
As the blog owner, you could pick the poster at random with or without announcing it to the public at large.
+ You could also mark one clue as the best for that day. Hopefully visitors can follow your lead and state their personal COD.
+ On days when the going is slow (could be because there isn't much to discuss or debate in the crossword), you could introduce a random word for open clueing.
None of these ideas are new and in fact have been in use on other blogs. To be honest we do some on your blog too.
I just thought there is no harm in trying out a a few new things to spice up. Its loophole and eventual failure notwithstanding, I liked the rating idea for crosswords that you had trialled earlier.
Regards
Bhavan
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI am going to be away from the computer till lunch as I am off to attend the annual day programme of the KG section of my wife's school. So discuss the above points and give your suggestions if any, I shall consider them and decide on what is best.
I second Bhavan's views especially on the second and third points out of his 'couple of points' :-)
ReplyDeleteRegarding the first, if Deepak is unable to post, say be a cut off time of 9am, he could either communicate to any other blogger (somehow I don't see myself a poster-boy) to step in on his behalf or leave the field open for whoever else has the time, patience and is enterprising enough to try to step into his galoshes.
In case of substitute batsmen/women, the quality of play may not necessarily be up to the mark of the master himself but will at least keep the discussions going.
Any way, I am sure whatever the Colonel's decides will be okay with all of us.
I third it. :)
ReplyDeleteSimilar thoughts as Kishore on the subject. Not sure about the first point, but 2 and 3 are definitely worth trying. Also, it doesn't need to be all at once. Maybe as time passes someone will come up with an interesting idea that no one else has thought of...
Additionally, on days like this when TH is not published we could:
ReplyDeleteEITHER
---(have a CW from some other source being
---EITHER
---{Special creations like Bhavan's,
---Shuchi's etc}
---OR
---{From some other newspaper/magazine})
OR
---(Some other type of puzzle which could be
---EITHER
---{ a language based puzzle}
---OR
---{any other type of puzzle})
REM: The ultimate aim is enjoyment/enrichment.
Not very keen on the guest poster idea. Regarding the rest, I second Kishore's views :)
ReplyDeleteGood suggestions and good starting point for additions/ improvements to the blog.2 & 3 are already being done,but on a random basis.This could be made regular.Reg.Pt.1,Bhavan had summed it up correctly when he said-'As the blog owner, you could pick the poster at random with or without announcing it to the public at large.'
ReplyDeleteI also welcome Kishore's last suggestion for non TH days.Infact,I had requested Col. for something today.
A nice quote I read today-
ReplyDelete"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
- Mark Twain
I thought This is the best place where its significance would be felt very much.
I'm in agreement with others with the first suggestion. The solutions will be the same regardless of who posts it, so the concept of guest posts probably won't work here, unless Bhavan has something else in mind.
ReplyDeleteKishore @ 8:25,
ReplyDeleteI cannot decide at the last minute for someone to become a guest poster because firstly that person has to be made a contributor to the blog with his/her willingness of course. The contributor will be able to access all the features of blogger, so I would need to know who all will be interested in becoming guest bloggers based on which I can decide. Maybe I could start off with once a month and decide on an increased frequency at a later date.
The other points given by Bhavan of course have already been tried out on a couple of occasions.
I generally like the free flowing nature of the discussions in this forum - most days, the crossword discussion segways into other interesting topics that I like to read about even if I don't have anything to say of value on that topic.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think indicating COD's and running a ICW as a matter of course are nice as well though the moment one makes it a routine I think it starts to suffer a bit. One of the small pleasures in this blog is the somewhat impromptu nature of all things except the one post by the Col. @ 8.30 every AM.
It seems to me that what makes this blog tick is that it is not crossword centric but rather more of a inquisitive mind centric forum that uses a crossword to bring together some interesting personalities.
If the Col.needs a break from this activity, of course he can contact "guest bloggers" who have agreed to do so previously and can post and get the discussion started for that day.
In the end, I think this blog is a fine meeting place the way things are, but if the Col. wants to institute changes such as what Bhavan suggests and see if there is traction I am game for that as well.
+1 for the idea of marking a clue of the day.
ReplyDelete