Back Back!
Finally, my site is back up. I’m finally moved to a new hosting company. Said goodbye to my old hosting company (Anhosting/Midphase), with their propensity to switch off my site randomly for no real reason every time I get a bit of decent traffic. I will probably write a detailed posting about how POOR their service is if I can muster the energy to do so.
So, that’s a bit of good news. The other good news is that yesterday was my birthday and my wife got me a brand new 8-gig iPhone. How cool is that? I’ve been too busy with work and with trying to get my site back up to open the box, believe it or not.
Moving my Wordpress blog to a new host was an interesting experience. There are still some kinks to be ironed out, but at least for the moment my site and all the links seem to be working again. Anyway, there are a number of changes that I will introduce to this blog, as follows:
- I would like to move away from the idea that every post has to be a full-fledged review. This will allow me to make short and frequent postings that just say "hey, check out this software that does X, it looks like its pretty cool" rather than have to write-up all of the features and pretend to be an expert on each and every piece of software that I want to write about.
- I will probably take out the star rating system altogether. Or only rate posts that are actual detailed reviews. We’ll see.
- I’m also considering changing the look of Freewaregenius. I may even invest in a custom-made template.
Anyway, its great to have my site back up. Oh, and starting next week you can hopefully expect more posting frequency.
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It’s nice to have you back! You might want to reconsider blogging about your bad experience though. A lot of things that I’ve read before say that doing so can give people a negative view on your blog, even if you meant it to be informative. Just a thought.
Hey Samer - glad you are up and running again! I’ve been checking it every day waiting for your return…must’ve been those Lifehacker readers eh?
Also glad to see you back! I bet the Lifehacker readers did do a number on your bandwidth, especially since they started linking to over half of your recent posts!
I kept meaning to write a comment about your star system. Maybe they’re here somewhere, but I don’t believe I ever saw a review with less than 4 stars, even those where you listed lots of cons with the program! In order to make it useful, you need to use the whole scale (or at least more than the top two ratings), and it’d probably be too much work to go back and reconsider each one with that in mind.
Sympathize with you about hosts and moving sites, been there done that.
Welcome back, as long as you find cool stuff we’ll be here, long reviews, stars or not. If you are thinking about changing the look, one humble suggestion is to get rid of the almost 3 column look.
I’ve always really, really liked the details and depth in the reviews, so I hope you continue to do at least a few. Maybe more than a few…
About the rating system, I figured you only reviewed pretty good items, so they would always be a four or five. I wouldn’t mind if it went away, but it would be nice if a BAD freeware was indicated as such.
I’m very glad to see that you have returned. I missed the site the few days that it was gone.
You said: I’ve been too busy with work and with trying to get my site back up to open the box [8gb iPhone], believe it or not.
What kind of a geek are you?!? Priorities, man!
Glad to see your back and the possible changes to the site sound good so far.
Congrats on your move, your new toy, and better days ahead. I am a new peruser of your site and I must say I was very worried when it was down. Very glad to see it back up.
About your ratings, etc. First, I understand the work involved (I’ve done similar things), believe me. I like your idea of posting short “scouting” reports on interesting new software. But, I do find the long reviews very useful (they’re what attracted my attention initially), so I hope you keep them. Maybe just do a long review on the really, really good stuff (explaining why it’s really, really good;).
And I hope you keep the star ratings or something similar. Even if most are 4 or 5 stars. When I’m looking for something I need in a hurry, they help. You might also consider having a “reject” list of things you looked at and found wanting. Sometimes knowing what’s bad is helpful, too. Especially crippleware, adware, and stuff that just sucks.
And, hey, try to have some fun with it all!
Thanks for a great site and best of luck!
Happy birthday!
Just thought I would add my two cents.
I loved your site just the way it was. It was easy to navigate and I really liked your detailed reviews and the star system. I found that your site was easier to pick out good free reliable software than other sites that are similar but don’t give such detailed reviews.
I like to know that what I try has been tried by someone else who liked it and didn’t have problems with.
I think most people are afraid to try new software just for the sake of trying it. They like to know that they are not risking their machines just to see what something will do.
I really appreciate the trouble you go to with this site.
Thanks so much for your efforts.
I am glad to see your site back up. It has become one of my favorites. Keep up the great work.
Welcome back… missed the site: it’s a check-every-day place for me.
Re reviews: I agree with the previous posters who would like to continue to see reviews of some length. I have found a higher excellent software-to-review ratio at this site than any I visit (usually 6-7 daily). Perhaps you could form a board of trusted reviewers who’d like to assume the Mantle of Fame that comes with posting good reviews online (for little/no money, eh?).
Anyway, welcome back… Happy Birthday… and Godspeed!
I’m so pleased to have you back!
Happy birthday btw!!
I agree that the star rating system should go. After all, you wouldn’t review the software if you didn’t like it! =D
I must admit, that the longer reviews tend to get me down as I feel that I simply don’t want to read it all! The sorter ones to the point I feel tell me what I want to know better. If I want to know every feature, I will check out the website.
Maybe this is because I’m among your younger readers, teenage, and so what short and to the point with key parts.
I think more personal opinion rather than facts of what it can and can’t do is a better way to review.
As for the theme, it might be nice to have a few ideas and put them to a reader vote? just a thought there.
More posting frequency?!! yay!
I simply can’t get enough of this GENIUS site! (get what I did there? Sorry it was toooo tempting)
Releequest
Thanks guys for all your comments. These have been real eye openers.
I’d like to know what host you switched to and what plugins you use