[Freak'n Big Panda]

Maybe it's just me but it seems like B3D is seriously lacking in content these days. The R600 performance piece never came to be as promised, there was no R670 review only a first look article that lacked any real content. No idea if there's even a a 3870X2 review the works... this lack of content is really starting to hurt the site IMO... b3d has a lot to offer the community and I hate to see that potential go unused.

[Rys]

Originally Posted by Freak'n Big Panda

Maybe it's just me but it seems like B3D is seriously lacking in content these days. The R600 performance piece never came to be as promised, there was no R670 review only a first look article that lacked any real content. No idea if there's even a a 3870X2 review the works... this lack of content is really starting to hurt the site IMO... b3d has a lot to offer the community and I hate to see that potential go unused.

You're totally right. Put simply, I don't do Beyond3D full-time any more. Not even close at the moment actually. There's a 3870 X2 review in the works (I have a board) along with a bunch of other stuff, but with the rest of Team B3D getting their asses kicked by real-life too pretty much, us getting the content out of the door is hard at the moment.

The changes in my personal life which means I don't do it full-time any more started not long after R600 showed up. It's no coincidence not much has happened since then. Being a full-time hack on the web is really hard and doesn't always work out the way we want it to. Wavey had the luxury of an understanding missus and day job. That's no excuse, but the simple fact is I don't have either just now (thankfully my good lady doesn't read this )

Anyway, 2008 is a new year and what have you, so there's fresh impetus and drive. Back to the GPU analysis for me, hope you (and others) understand.

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Have you thought about recruiting some new writers to fill in the gaps? There's got to be some out there.

[AlStrong]

Who would you trust with a 3870X2? But more importantly how many out there would (or much less...could) go into depth on the hardware architectures as befitting B3D?

[Rys]

Originally Posted by Freak'n Big Panda

Have you thought about recruiting some new writers to fill in the gaps? There's got to be some out there.

There are, but that's a very difficult thing to organise and get started. I spoke to one guy recently but it didn't work out. There's kind of a reason that the best guys in this industry writing content are the ones that have been around the block since pretty much day zero, plying their trade, still at pretty much the same sites they were at in 2002. 5+ years is a long time doing this stuff, and it buys us something extra. So we're still all around doing it for a reason, and finding guys that know what they're doing to help us and eventually step into the shoes is difficult (but not impossible, some great 'new' guys are around doing their thing, plugging away).

That said (and here's where I start talking to everyone, including F'n Big P), if anyone thinks they can write something good enough to go up here (and hey, if I can do it....), they've always been free to drop me a line. Read the following and do so.

Our biggest challenge has always been to do something different, but putting things in place to do that well is really really difficult. Nobody really gets it. Why compete on grounds that sites with more resources and great writers stomp all over already, anyway? For example, we partner with The Tech Report precisely because Scott is already arguably king of that particular castle, and I've no desire to tread on his toes when he does it better than I would anyway for that particular audience. I wrote for that kind of audience (and lots of you are at B3D, which rocks) for years before I hit B3D, and he beat me down back then too, like he does today. That's A Good Thing(tm), too, because it focused me to do this instead.

But again, with that desire to add something different to the pages you read comes a reluctance from the people who usually help tech sites prosper (with sponsorship and ads and the like) to maybe do something different with us and advertise to a different set of guys and gals and what have you, because we're not like your regular established sites. There's not really anyone willing to help us do our thing, because we don't show our pages to millions of graphics card customers a month (and maybe never will) or pump out 20 reviews a week. Quantity gets the ad dollars, not quality. Heck, ask Scott how hard it is to write your ass off and take your time pushing out real quality, but still make a living out of it and do something non-generic. He'll use blue language and gesticulate wildly, which coming from a quiet, softly spoken guy shows how hard him and I and the others try.

So that's all a real struggle, with knock-on effects.

I didn't finish the performance analysis of R600 beyond what I touched in the arch piece precisely because at the time it would have been TR-style, and TR got there on day zero and did it better and deserves those reads.

B3D plays in a different space and looks at a GPU from a different angle, with different tools and a different mindset. We do very different things with industry and financials, and the forums too (that much is obvious if you've spent any time around here). We need to complement TR with extra goodies, not compete with the same old. WaltC is right about that, sort of, Ghu help us all.

Holding my hands up, I'm definitely remiss in not doing our arch analysis properly for RV670 and G92, but that's arguably all that I've missed providing that you can't get elsewhere, in the last 6 months, other than 3870 X2 where we'll dissect multi-GPU. It's not too much to catch up on, and it's what I'm doing now. The rest of Team B3D continues to assist when it's able (Arun's kicked some ass with his brand of news and analysis recently, and he's championed the forum reorg), but remember we're still man down now that Tim's off to NVIDIA soon.

Believe me when I say that behind the scenes when it looks like nothing's happening around here, things are, just slowly (sadly), and somewhat because of all that stuff above.

We soldier on

Read that WaltC-length missive, complete with his trademark and still want to help? Give me or G a nudge in private.

[ShaidarHaran]

Why doesn't Mark do any reviews? He always had the most thorough reviews in terms of IQ and performance. Couldn't Mark do the performance and IQ tests and someone else do the tech brief?

[Squilliam]

Arun is the man! His work has been great recently, ya know? He's doing a lot of thinking and tinkering in the background, and im sure he will come up with some awesome work.

Besides anything else, with popularity comes problems. You don't want a bunch of brash "noobs" coming in and scaring away all the knowledgeable people.

[Kombatant]

Hopefully you guys will sort it out soon... B3D's unique reviews are still needed, and I don't think there's a site out there that can fill in B3D's shoes

[MrGaribaldi]

How is the article on the technology of a 3D Engine coming along?

[Freak'n Big Panda]

Probably not going along at all. Seriously rys, arun, anybody else who runs this site please work on getting some articles out. The forums are good of course but shouldn't be the only/main draw for hits. Of course you can get all the info you ever wanted from reading the threads in the 3d tech section but articles are far more concise and concentrated and generally a much better and more reliable way of getting the info.

Moral of the story: I miss B3Ds in depth articles on 3D hardware/technology.

[Rodéric]

If you can find a way to get Rys bills paid so he can work on it full-time, it'll happen.

I'm curious, would some of you guys pay a premium to have access to the articles first ?
(Or do you have any other idea how to pay Rys for his work ?)

[BRiT]

I'm sure London Boy would offer up his services...

Yes.

[MulciberXP]

Originally Posted by Rodéric

If you can find a way to get Rys bills paid so he can work on it full-time, it'll happen.

I'm curious, would some of you guys pay a premium to have access to the articles first ?
(Or do you have any other idea how to pay Rys for his work ?)

Easy, post daily, controversial (hack) specs of upcoming chips and use the added ad revenue from the extra hits to pay him

[ShaidarHaran]

Originally Posted by MulciberXP

Easy, post daily, controversial (hack) specs of upcoming chips and use the added ad revenue from the extra hits to pay him

If B3D ever becomes Fudzilla, I will leave and never return.

Watch that be next year's April Fool's prank

LOL, heck, they may just do it right now

[Arun]

What if the rumours were all correct?
More seriously, that's not really an option and remember you need to be linked from other sites to get ad revenue for that. And I honestly doubt it's that lucrative either way.

[I.S.T.]

Perhaps we could put the intellitext thing back up for a vote?

[epicstruggle]

Originally Posted by BRiT

Yes.

I wouldnt mind either.

[MrGaribaldi]

IntelliText, with an option to buy free (when logged in) would be good imo.
The everyone can contribute and enjoy the site in the form they prefer

[3dcgi]

I voted no concerning Intellitext previously and said something like only pop up ads are worse. After unfortunately visiting many sites with Intellitext I have to change my opinion. It's more annoying than pop up ads.

I'd be willing to subscribe for a nominal fee since I visit nearly everyday, but I'm not sure early access to articles will garner enough users to make it worthwhile over a simple donation.

I wonder if Intellitext actually makes money though. I never heard anyone say they clicked on a link intentionally.

One problem with making money on the web as a content site is there are lots of business models (usually variations on advertising), but there's no way to know what works in most cases.

Articles and books have been written about the concept of a third place. For many Starbucks or a local pub serve as this third place besides home and work. A virtual community like Beyond3D is also a third place, the biggest difference being I don't buy a drink when I visit.

Maybe Beyond3D could work out deals with vendors to provide a discount for Beyond3D members. Many forum goers seem to buy a lot of hardware so this might be useful. As always I'm not sure if it will make any money...

[epicstruggle]

Originally Posted by 3dcgi

Maybe Beyond3D could work out deals with vendors to provide a discount for Beyond3D members. Many forum goers seem to buy a lot of hardware so this might be useful. As always I'm not sure if it will make any money...

I always wondered why we dont see that. i buy quite a bit from newegg,zzf, and a few others. Wouldnt mind going through an ad to buy the stuff.

[MrGaribaldi]

How about becoming an affiliate withAmazon.com, or NewEgg (as mentioned above)...


3dxgi> The thought was that people who dislike Intellitext could get rid of them by paying a small subscription.
Though another option that I noticed on another board I used to frequent was that you'd get IntelliText ads when viewing as unregistered, but they disappear when you log in/register. That way whenever you get the great influx of guests because of links, as An0nym0us complained about, they'd generate income That would probably be a better solution all around...

[Arun]

The problem is that the majority of our audience isn't in the USA (Google Analytics says as much); it is obviously the single largest country, but anything that everyone would see but only USA visitors could use might not be very pratical. Could always add country-based detection I guess... Sadly the only trans-european NewEgg equivalent I can think of is Komplett, and I don't think they have an affiliate program.

[stevem]

Originally Posted by Arun

The problem is that the majority of our audience isn't in the USA...

Interesting that S. Korea ranks 3 & Iran 7...

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/tr...s/beyond3d.com

[Arun]

Heh, Alexa is a piece of shit... Neither even ranks in the Top 25 according to Google Analytics.

[3dcgi]

Originally Posted by MrGaribaldi

3dxgi> The thought was that people who dislike Intellitext could get rid of them by paying a small subscription.
Though another option that I noticed on another board I used to frequent was that you'd get IntelliText ads when viewing as unregistered, but they disappear when you log in/register. That way whenever you get the great influx of guests because of links, as An0nym0us complained about, they'd generate income That would probably be a better solution all around...

By that argument why not use pop under ads as well? I wouldn't use either on a site I run. Though I only try to make enough money to cover hosting costs so I've never been tempted to join the dark side.