Website Maintenance

[Mikari]

I agree with leaving shrines up in archive mode, then at least they can be viewed even if they're not updated. Letting the visitor know they're archived is good to so yes to both. :D

You're not a bad shrine owner, just busy, it happens, but you still keep your sites in mind, otherwise you wouldn't be concerned about being a good owner. The fact that you think of that means that you're good.

[Robin]

@Destinie seconding Mikari. Busy IRL = hobbies take a backseat, so we understand. ^_^

Also, I think your idea of putting a little "Archived" graphic at the top of your archived sites would be great! Really cute way to signal it without having to type out a specific message for each site.

[Todd]

I used to do a lot more in the way of touching up my sites and would like to come back to them every month or few months. I feel like a bad shrine owner recently....

Don't feel like a bad shrine owner! I haven't touched my sites in months, either. I think sometimes real life gets in the way. Have you considered making an "Updates" site or page for your entire collective? I'm thinking about doing something like this to tie all of my sites together. The page can be linked from all of my sites, and even if I don't touch a site in a while, updating my other sites from time to time will let everyone know I'm still active.

[Crystal]

The only problem I have with putting a shrine in archive mode is if I hate it and feel embarrassed by it I don't want it sticking around. At this point in time I feel like I can do so much better and seeing it there just bugs me because I know it needs to be fixed but I have no desire to do so because of either not being into the series at the moment or just loss of interest with the subject. The only thing really keeping me from closing them is the fact that people still like them so it's tough.

[Todd]

I hesitate to put an "archive" notice on old, complete sites, because I worry people will stop visiting them, or if I decide to add something down the road, I won't be able to because it's archived (and if I do, it won't have an audience).

[Robin]

@Todd : Hm...so you're looking for something less permanent than an "archive" status, but less updated than a "hiatus"? Maybe these completed sites could become part of a "showcase" of sorts?

[Todd]

@Todd : Hm...so you're looking for something less permanent than an "archive" status, but less updated than a "hiatus"? Maybe these completed sites could become part of a "showcase" of sorts?

No, I was just saying if a site is complete and I have no intention of touching it again, I'll just link it as a completed site without ever putting an "archive" notice on the site. If it's complete, it's enjoyable and can be visited anytime. I'd only freeze or archive a site if I wasn't proud of it and it needed work I didn't want to ever do.

[Robin]

@Todd: Oh. Yeah, that works, too :)

As another point to add to the "website maintenance topic": I think mental organization has a lot to do with how we choose to update and maintain our sites. I lead a mentally cluttered life, and thus I need a LOT of reminders to finish something--if I don't put stuff on a schedule, it will literally never get done. But if a website owner is super-organized (aka, not me at all), they might not have to put alarms on their phone and computer and post-it notes to remind them to work on sites ^_^;

[Crystal]

@Robin: I have that problem too. I made something like this to remind me of everything I'd like to do. I need to update that list though because some things have changed. I gotta remind myself to update a list to remind myself about things. Oh boy.

[Sarah]

When I do website maintenance it tends to be spontaneous, so I don't have a schedule. If I am looking at one of my sites and notice a grammatical error or typo, then I will usually fix it on the spot because knowing it is there and people are seeing it is embarrassing. Other times I will just do stuff like clean out links when I think of it. (I just did this a week or two ago with some of my fanlistings.)

So, I don't really plan it. I just tend to do it when I think of it or if I really feel the need to at the time.