My Favorite Pages on RateItAll

Like most obsessive RIA'ers, I spend most of my time on the recent reviews page. When I'm really bored, I'll sit there just hitting refresh until new stuff comes in. As RateItAll has grown, I usually don't have to wait very long to see new stuff.

I like that this page is always fresh, and I like that it's a good drop in point to catch "discussions" in the comments section, and to get ideas for things to rate.

Another page that I like is the new additions page. Recently, this page has been a little slow, and we've had to cap it at 1,000 items as so much new stuff has been getting added recently.

And finally, I also like to drop in on my favorite reviewers. I'll go to their profile page and then click the link to see their review history. For example, Abichara is one of the guys I like to read - especially around political season. If I miss his posts on the recent reviews page, I can go to his profile page to check them out directly. You can check out his reviews HERE.

Over the last few months, I've been obsessing over this so called "river" of content format. This is exactly what you see in the recent reviews page - a stream of reviews that starts at the top page, and slides down as new reviews appears at the top.

I like reading reviews this way. And I'd also like to see more things included in this page - maybe new stuff that is added to the site, reviews from my favorite reviewers, and maybe even topics that I'm interested in like basketball and beer and mexican food and san francisco and internet and the world champion philadelphia phillies.

I think it would be really neat to have a single feed - a single river if you will - made up of just the stuff that I was interested in. Posts from people that I find interesting, posts about topics that I find interesting, new site additions, activity on interesting weblists, new reviewers that others are discovering - and the key aspect of this river that it is totally tunable by me. So that my river doesn't look yours, and no two rivers look alike.

I also don't want to lose the global aspect - as annoying as some of the hit and run posters and MSers (IDK!) and FBers and Grizzlers and Dog Food Fundamentalists are that hit the site, it's nice to feel part of a larger community and to be able to discover new opinions and people outside of your regular realm.

Those who read my posts closely on the site may have seen hints that we are working on a big new release. I may pull some of the RIA regulars in to take a look at some stuff in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Calling All Gamers

We just added a boatload of new video game titles to our db.

If you are a gamer, please help us in getting these new sections off the ground.

Post of the Day

From Irishgit:

As is the case with Obama, McCain is undoubtedly polarizing, and moreso since his campaign became home to so many former Bush aides and operatives who have brought their style of campaigning with them.

This is not to say that polarization is intrinsically evil, but for the long term good of the nation it is the responsibility of all activists to keep it in check. The kind of extremist language and outright hatred used by partisans on both sides in this election has reached a disturbing point. Neither side is free of guilt in this, and neither occupies some kind of moral high ground.

It is a despicable thing when it has become politically acceptable to call the opposing side anti-American and unpatriotic because they happen to disagee with you. Both sides have been guilty of that, and of other extreme language, both on the campaign trail an on this site.

I remember a particularly good review someone wrote on here back in closing days of the 2004 election. Speaking as a GOP partisan he said:

"This (becoming a united nation after partisan strife) is the responsibility of the republican/conservatives. Dems will be able to be good losers if rep/cons are gracious winners. All such responsibility now for unification of the country is on the winning party. Don't expect amicability if you are spiking the ball in their faces, in their endzone. No touchdown dances, ok? At least, not in public."

The reviewer was Eschew Obfuscation, and the same applies this election. Those people some of you are spewing hatred at? Those are your neighbors.

You can react to the post HERE.

I'm looking forward to the end of election season

The political rhetoric, my own included, is starting to give me a headache.

I miss dog food and grizz reviews, and ratings of "4-Good!" with the review "three."

Any RIA'ers on Twitter yet?

If so, you can follow us here: twitter.com/rateitall

Those that click through can check out pictures of the fire that grazed our office building today.

Fewer Crap Reviews from MS and FB

You may have noticed a slow down on one word nonsense reviews from FB and MS.

This is intentional.

Irishgit, this one's for you.

The Passing of a RateItAll Reviewer

Harlock (formerly known as SpanishGonzo) has apparently passed away. She wasn't one of our community's most prolific reviewers, but she made an impact. From my limited interaction with her, I thought she was a sweet and nice young woman. She will be missed.

There are some memories being posted HERE.

All Time Record Traffic Day Yesterday

According to Google Analytics, we eclipsed our all time traffic record yesterday, finishing at over 42K visits.

I'm happy to say that our servers handled the load without even a hiccup.

Movies, Movies, (directors), Movies, Movies

Guys, we have recently added MASSIVE amounts of movies, directors, and actors to our database.

Our friends at Netflix have made their entire catalog of movies, tv shows, actors, and directors available to us (and other sites) via what's called an API.

We've loaded much of this stuff in - and are still loading.

So I challenge you to try and find a movie, a director, or an actor that we don't have. Seriously. Use the search box and search for anything. Click through to check out the Netflix Movies or Netflix Directors.

Oh yeah, this is also cool.... if you look in the margin of movie or director or actor pages, you'll find related items - movies that the director has directed, or actors that have appeared in the movie.

For example, check out this listing for the classic surfing movie Big Wednesday. Here's what you'll see in the margin:























For you movie buffs out there, I think it will be fun to follow the trails of actors, movies, and directors around the site.

Lots of New Categories

Those of you hitting the "browse" link in RateItAll's header will notice lots of new categories. We are in the middle of spring cleaning / re-categorization of all of our lists. As the number and diversity of the lists has grown, so has the need to create more specialized landing pages for various themes, such as religion, military, the arts, pets, and relationships.

The other thing you might notice is that RIA lists and Weblists are all mixed together now - this is a sign of things to come.

We are managing this project on the fly, so you may notice some odd and/or wrong categorization of things for the next week or so... please do not be alarmed.