[Broadway Ad Network]

[Broadway Ad Network]

  • Thanks for taking the survey! We had just over 1000 responses to the survey and I wanted to address some of the topics you brought up.

    First of all, for clarity and posterity, here are the six questions from the survey:

    1. How often do you read BroadwayStars.com?
    ---- A. Daily (92%)
    ---- B. A few times per week (8%)
    ---- C. A few times per month (<1%)

    2. What time during the day do you usually visit?
    ---- A. Before 10AM (41.8%)
    ---- B. Between 10AM and 2PM (40.1%)
    ---- C. After 2PM (18.1%)

    3. Are the links on the left hand side of BroadwayStars useful to you?
    ---- Yes (65.3%)
    ---- No (34.7%)

    4. If the links on the left hand side of BroadwayStars were removed, would you be sad?
    ---- Yes (49.2%)
    ---- No (50.8%)

    5. What do you love about BroadwayStars?

    6. What do you hate about BroadwayStars? (that's okay, we can take it!)

    Today, I'd like to focus on question number six.

    Many responses were similar in nature, so I pulled a few of them and will address them one by one. Maybe even two by two.

    "Sporatic filing times and no report on Saturday (usually)"

    We are working on a new system so that updates can be published on a schedule, seven days per week, at certain times during the day. (And a morning email blast too!)

    "doesn't seem to work on my blackberry" (or iPhone, iPod, Droid, etc...)

    We have had a mobile version of the front page of BroadwayStars for the past three years (It was developed when the first iPhone came out.) The fact that so few people knew about it is my failure. I should have done more to promote it. The good news is that it works well for Blackberry and Android, as well as the iPhone / iPod Touch. The link has been renamed "Mobile" and is at the top of the site. http://broadwaystars.com/m/

    "Duplication of stories"
    "Lack of organization of stories"

    With the new system we hope to be able to filter out duplicates and group stories that are similar together so that you can more easily choose the stories you want to read.

    "...having the center section scroll separately from the main frame is annoying..."
    "scroll bar within the scroll bar"
    "...i HATE how the headline scroll moves differently..."

    Wow, this was the most hated thing on BroadwayStars. We got rid of it even before the survey was over and I promise it won't return! So sorry. I wish I knew how much it was disliked.

    "You can't print the stars column"

    You can now. It was a problem with the scroll bar that I just mentioned above.

    "When you put a big picture of someone on the front page with no caption. I always think--"have they died?""

    Yes, we have a technology challenge with captions and photos. I think we have it solved for the new system in the Fall. And we will have more photos and videos once we get this solved!

    "Sometimes I find other articles on other sites that I find interesting (broadwayworld, etc.), and it feels like there is an editorial position taken on broadwaystars about what is included and what isn't."

    Well, sure, we do have an editorial stance on what is included and what isn't. Robert Diamond from BroadwayWorld took me out to an overpriced lunch a few weeks ago at a really nice place, so we started to link to them. You will see more linking of different websites that don't typically get linked on BroadwayStars in the past -- many of you indicated that you really like those articles that you would not normally see. (Like the article from Las Vegas Sun we linked to on Saturday.) And PS - if you do find an article that should be on BroadwayStars, suggest it to us!

    "Please finally come up with "Something Clever Goes Here". Please."

    Okay, I got rid of it. It just made me smile so I left it for longer than it should have been.

    "...all that chat, it gets long winded and needs some new blood..."
    "... the same ATC members trying to run the show by insulting seasoned theatergoers."

    Huh? You do realize that All That Chat is on TalkinBroadway.com and not BroadwayStars, right? (We got a surprising number of comments about how we should change TalkinBroadway.) Sure, we have a button on our front page for All That Chat, but that is because BroadwayStars does not have a message board and the folks at TalkinBroadway are the best! For the record, we are not the same company.

    So, that is a brief update of what we are up to this summer. We still have a lot of summer left, and we are working on bringing you the best Broadway website that we can.

    If you do have anything additional to add, please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected].

    Stay golden, Ponyboy.

    Published on Saturday, July 24, 2010

    James Marino is the founder of BroadwayStars. A technology geek with a love of theatre, he has been involved with many aspects of show business throughout his lifetime. James lives on Long Island with his wife and two kids. He loves to email and is never very far from an internet device. You can contact him in many ways:
    Friend him on Facebook
    Follow him on Twitter
    Connect with him on LinkedIn
    Email him at: [email protected]
    or just pick up a phone and call 646-873-7695


    Why are you looking all the way down here?
    For more articles by James Marino, click the links below!

    Previous: REASONS TO BE PRETTY, BILLY ELLIOT, AND UNIVERSAL ROBOTS TAKE TOP HONORS IN FIRST EVER THEATER BLOGGER AWARDS

    Next: Getting your stories listed on BroadwayStars

    Or go to the Archives

[Broadway Ad Network]

[Broadway Ad Network]