Here's a sort of neat, unintended consequence of the Yahoo! Shopping feed. Need to a quick price check on something for your holiday shopping? Add that product name to one of your Weblists. Product images and prices will be immediately fed into your weblist page - I tried it with this digital picture frame.
I quickly learned that these things are pretty expensive.
12/5/06
Formatting Problems with your Widgets?
Here are two easy formatting tips to help your pages look better when you embed YouTube videos or Streampad Music Players or other widgets.
The line of space is particularly helpful between text and widgets in an item description of a Weblist. The Center command is particularly helpful for making YouTube Players look better.
Just type the appropriate code snippets above directly into the same field where you are pasting the widget (before the widget code).
Let me know if anyone needs help with this.
The line of space is particularly helpful between text and widgets in an item description of a Weblist. The Center command is particularly helpful for making YouTube Players look better.
Just type the appropriate code snippets above directly into the same field where you are pasting the widget (before the widget code).Let me know if anyone needs help with this.
12/4/06
RateItAll is PC Magazine's Web Site of the Week
Wow, RIA just got some love from the press. PC Magazine has named RateItAll its Web site of the week.
It's obvious that the editor really dug into the site - he gets that it's not the mainstream stuff that makes RIA unique - it's the bizarro, off the wall stuff.
Here's a quote that demonstrates this:
"The results that one encounters are equally fascinating, informative, and maddening. Users can not only discover what people think about a product—something that can be found just about anywhere on the Internet (for more comprehensive listings of actual products, you might do best to consult those other sites)—they can find out more than they could ever possibly want to know about people's opinions on just about every angle of the product on RateItAll. For example, the Dell Inspiron 8600 scores 3 stars; company CEO Michael Dell earns a nice 3.94 stars; one-time mascot "Steven" manages a respectable 3.5 stars (dude!); and his unloved replacements, the Dell Interns, get a paltry 1.69 stars. Clicking on a result will display an explanation of the subject, individual ratings, and user comments."
And I think this is the money quote:
"RateItAll is perhaps not the most professional of all consumer-based rating Web sites, but it's quite possibly the most fun."
It's obvious that the editor really dug into the site - he gets that it's not the mainstream stuff that makes RIA unique - it's the bizarro, off the wall stuff.
Here's a quote that demonstrates this:
"The results that one encounters are equally fascinating, informative, and maddening. Users can not only discover what people think about a product—something that can be found just about anywhere on the Internet (for more comprehensive listings of actual products, you might do best to consult those other sites)—they can find out more than they could ever possibly want to know about people's opinions on just about every angle of the product on RateItAll. For example, the Dell Inspiron 8600 scores 3 stars; company CEO Michael Dell earns a nice 3.94 stars; one-time mascot "Steven" manages a respectable 3.5 stars (dude!); and his unloved replacements, the Dell Interns, get a paltry 1.69 stars. Clicking on a result will display an explanation of the subject, individual ratings, and user comments."
And I think this is the money quote:
"RateItAll is perhaps not the most professional of all consumer-based rating Web sites, but it's quite possibly the most fun."
12/1/06
Merry Xmas / Happy Holidays
Hi everybody, first 25 people to send a message to lawrence from their RateItAll account get their choice of one of the new RIA t-shirts displayed here on the sidebar.
Here's the info I need:
name and address where you want the shirt sent
size, model, and color of shirt (probably easiest to send me the Zazzle URL)
That's it - if you want to send me a quick note to lock up the shirt, and then figure out what style you want, that's fine.
Feel free to tell your favorite RIA reviewer to check the blog.
I really wish I could buy everybody a shirt... but they're expensive, and I'm broke.
Here's the info I need:
name and address where you want the shirt sent
size, model, and color of shirt (probably easiest to send me the Zazzle URL)
That's it - if you want to send me a quick note to lock up the shirt, and then figure out what style you want, that's fine.
Feel free to tell your favorite RIA reviewer to check the blog.
I really wish I could buy everybody a shirt... but they're expensive, and I'm broke.
Widgets on Profile Pages
Guys, can I just say that I'm really enjoying what folks are doing with their profile pages? IJR has a few new videos up that had me cracking up.
This whole widget thing is really cool - and by widget, I mean anything that you can grab off one site (like a YouTube video) and plug into another site (like RIA).
Anybody who is interested in finding the latest and greatest widgets to plug into their profile page should check out another blog I write called Sexy Widget.
This whole widget thing is really cool - and by widget, I mean anything that you can grab off one site (like a YouTube video) and plug into another site (like RIA).
Anybody who is interested in finding the latest and greatest widgets to plug into their profile page should check out another blog I write called Sexy Widget.
11/30/06
Ad Network Slowing Down the Site
Apologies, folks. There's an Ad network that we run on RateItAll called Adbrite. When a RateItAll page is called up, Adbrite serves an ad from their servers.
Right now, for the second time in the last two months, the Adbrite servers are not responding, and it's breaking our site. Our pages won't load properly, because they're getting hung up on Adbrite's not-responsive server.
So we're ripping these guys out permanently now, as we speak. Things should be working properly again soon.
Right now, for the second time in the last two months, the Adbrite servers are not responding, and it's breaking our site. Our pages won't load properly, because they're getting hung up on Adbrite's not-responsive server.
So we're ripping these guys out permanently now, as we speak. Things should be working properly again soon.
11/28/06
Who says Yahoo! Shopping doesn't have a sense of humor?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping's matches for "proctologist" (in worst jobs in america).
You can buy either a "your proctologist called, he found your head" t-shirt, or "fanny floss" (whatever that is).
You can buy either a "your proctologist called, he found your head" t-shirt, or "fanny floss" (whatever that is).
Christmas / Holiday Shopping on RIA
Some of you may have noticed that we've just rolled in a Yahoo! shopping module on many of RateItAll listing pages. The cool thing about this module is that it's all dynamic - we send Yahoo! the name of the page (e.g. Nintendo Wii), and Yahoo! dynamically feeds us the lowest priced merchants from their shopping network for a product that matches that query. This communication between RateItAll and Yahoo! happens instantaneously, every time a page is loaded.
What this means is, no matter what page of RateItAll you are on, you will always see competitive, real time prices.
I think that this will be a useful feature as we approach the Christmas shopping season. So before you buy, see what your friends on RIA have to say about the product, and see what the lowest prices are. That's a pretty powerful combination, I think.
Here's a screenshot:
What this means is, no matter what page of RateItAll you are on, you will always see competitive, real time prices.
I think that this will be a useful feature as we approach the Christmas shopping season. So before you buy, see what your friends on RIA have to say about the product, and see what the lowest prices are. That's a pretty powerful combination, I think.
Here's a screenshot:
11/27/06
Big Traffic
Today was our biggest traffic day in quite some time. By the time midnight strikes here in SF, we will have done more than 32K visits to RateItAll for the day.
That's not bad for site run out of a living room, and I'm thrilled that the site seems to be stable again, and pages seem to be loading crisply.
Between big traffic and the aWiseguy video, it's already been a good RIA week :)
That's not bad for site run out of a living room, and I'm thrilled that the site seems to be stable again, and pages seem to be loading crisply.
Between big traffic and the aWiseguy video, it's already been a good RIA week :)
Display Your RateItAll Reviews on Other Sites
Hey, check this out. I've set up a feed of Magellan's reviews in this widget. It's easy to do, and it updates in real time - in other words, as Magellan leaves reviews, this display will update.
11/26/06
Best. RIA Video. Ever.
aWiseguy has outdone himself with this one, I think. Check out the choreography on this RateItAll Video.
11/23/06
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving RIA'ers one and all.
In true RateItAll spirt, here is a list of Thanksgiving related ratings:
Rate Thanksgiving Foods
Rate Thanksgiving Guffaws
Rate Thanksgiving as a holiday
Rate not having school or work on Thanksgiving
Rate Poor Thanksgiving (i don't know what this means either)
Rate the Dr. Quinn Episode called Thanksgiving
Rate Thanksgiving Dinner (in Numbah's favorites)
Rate Thanksgiving (in American Foods)
Rate Thanksgiving (In usurped American Holiday Symbols) (?)
Rate Thanksgiving (in things to love about autumn)
Rate the Agency episode called Thanksgiving
Rate things that sound dirty at Thanksgiving but aren't
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
In true RateItAll spirt, here is a list of Thanksgiving related ratings:
Rate Thanksgiving Foods
Rate Thanksgiving Guffaws
Rate Thanksgiving as a holiday
Rate not having school or work on Thanksgiving
Rate Poor Thanksgiving (i don't know what this means either)
Rate the Dr. Quinn Episode called Thanksgiving
Rate Thanksgiving Dinner (in Numbah's favorites)
Rate Thanksgiving (in American Foods)
Rate Thanksgiving (In usurped American Holiday Symbols) (?)
Rate Thanksgiving (in things to love about autumn)
Rate the Agency episode called Thanksgiving
Rate things that sound dirty at Thanksgiving but aren't
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
11/21/06
New Comment Alerts Now Live on old Reviews
OK, we've run the script. Any time anybody comments on any of the hundreds of thousands reviews in the RIA db, the publisher of that review will get an alert.
This is helpful for us old timers who have been on the site for a while...
This is helpful for us old timers who have been on the site for a while...
Weblist Duplicate Item Bug
You know that bug where if you add items to your Weblist then click "back" on your browser, the new items duplicate?
Well, we're working on it now.
Here's the schedule for fixes:
This Morning: Fix a bug that made it impossible to change their email addresses in their RIA account
Tonight: Add new review reply alert for every review in the database
Tomorrow: Fix that Weblist duplicate item bug
Well, we're working on it now.
Here's the schedule for fixes:
This Morning: Fix a bug that made it impossible to change their email addresses in their RIA account
Tonight: Add new review reply alert for every review in the database
Tomorrow: Fix that Weblist duplicate item bug
11/20/06
Comment Alerts Rolling in Tomorrow Night
Guys, I've postponed rolling in the comment alert stuff on legacy reviews until tomorrow night. Traffic is very high today, and I don't want to risk slowing the site down.
Shoot me a note if there are any little annoying bugs that you'd like to see fixed tomorrow evening. Maybe I can put numbers back in the rankings per your request.
Shoot me a note if there are any little annoying bugs that you'd like to see fixed tomorrow evening. Maybe I can put numbers back in the rankings per your request.
Keeping Track of Replies to your Reviews
One obvious thing we need to do is to provide a better way for folks to know when their reviews have been commented on. There's some discussion of this issue HERE.
I think we have this solved. We've written a script that will set as a default an email alert for all new comments on any review.
The problem is that RateItAll is SO big, with so many reviews, that it's going to take a while to run this script over the whole site.
We're tentatively planning on running this thing tonight at midnight PST. The site will most likely be down for a few hours while this happens.
Once the default option is for folks to be notified when someone responds to one of their reviews, they'll be able to turn off those alerts as required.
I think we have this solved. We've written a script that will set as a default an email alert for all new comments on any review.
The problem is that RateItAll is SO big, with so many reviews, that it's going to take a while to run this script over the whole site.
We're tentatively planning on running this thing tonight at midnight PST. The site will most likely be down for a few hours while this happens.
Once the default option is for folks to be notified when someone responds to one of their reviews, they'll be able to turn off those alerts as required.
11/10/06
Site Wide Search
We finally have site wide search.
Searching for something will now show all the results across the whole site for a given query. Here's an example with Jessica Alba.
In my opinion, this makes the site INFINTELY easier to use.
Searching for something will now show all the results across the whole site for a given query. Here's an example with Jessica Alba.
In my opinion, this makes the site INFINTELY easier to use.
Some Fixes
We've been pretty busy. We've expanded out the reviews to full length, so that you can now read the first 20 reviews of any item without having to go through that "click full review" stuff. You can give feedback on this tweak HERE.
We've also fixed the email alerts for new reviews on a given item. You can now activate and disable email notifications for new reviews directly from the item page, by clicking the link in the "actions" box in the right hand column. In this example, it is displaying the turn off alert option, because I already had the alert on.
We're also working on implementing a default site wide search (RIA, Weblists, Topics). The search engine may be a little buggy for a few minutes as we work through the issues.
We've also fixed the email alerts for new reviews on a given item. You can now activate and disable email notifications for new reviews directly from the item page, by clicking the link in the "actions" box in the right hand column. In this example, it is displaying the turn off alert option, because I already had the alert on.
We're also working on implementing a default site wide search (RIA, Weblists, Topics). The search engine may be a little buggy for a few minutes as we work through the issues.
11/5/06
aWiseguy Video
Check out aWiseguy's profile page. He's embedded a video in which he discusses RIA, partisanship, and some ideas for a weblist. I think it's pretty cool how he uses this new medium to communicate with his readers.
How did he do it? He shot a video of himself, uploaded it to YouTube, copied the embed code, and pasted it into his RateItAll profile page.
Let me know if you see other folks doing cool things like this with their profile page, and I'll mention them on the blog.
How did he do it? He shot a video of himself, uploaded it to YouTube, copied the embed code, and pasted it into his RateItAll profile page.
Let me know if you see other folks doing cool things like this with their profile page, and I'll mention them on the blog.
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