I just discovered that the domain name speedforce.org was available. I couldn’t pass it up. Now I have to figure out what to do with it.
I’ve toyed with the idea of separating out all the Flash stuff from this blog and creating a dedicated comics blog. I’ve also thought about renaming the site, Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning (it’s an awkward name*, no matter how you slice it), though it’s got enough mindshare that I’d rather just simplify it to “Ride the Lightning.”
Any suggestions?
*Come to think of it, I have a history of picking names that seem perfect at the time, only turn out to be awkward later on. The Alternative Browser Alliance seemed like the perfect name, but I got so sick and tired of typing www.alternativebrowseralliance.com that I registered altbrowser.net just so I could use it more easily.
First – I wanted to comment on this the other day, but I didn’t have time.
Second – you should share this news with the group/boards. All the Flash fans at the various boards recognize your site (Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning) as THE site for the Flash. But I have no idea how many of them look at this blog.
What to do with speedforce.org? That is a tough one. Having it as redirct like you do now seems like a waste of money. You could move everything over and keep the long name F:TWRTL but that name doesn’t really fit anymore since you cover all speeders not just the Flash. And as you said – it’s an awkward name and so is the addy. Of course the same would be true if you renamed it to ‘SpeedForce’. Not all speeders access the speedforce (Marvel) and who knows when another writer is going to get rid of it. But the name ‘SpeedForce’ is much cooler (IMO) than F:TWRTL. Even your idea of just ‘Ride The Lightning’ would be easier.
As for a Flash/comics blog – there seems to quite a few comics blogs out there already. there are even one or two just for the Flash. The Flash ones don’t do much for me. They’re not bad – they just can’t compete with your site. If you could do a Flash blog as well as you do your site – then I would vote for that. You could probaly tie the two together and make one serious Flash blog/site. You already have THE Flash site.
Of course I’m not the one doing all that work or spending the money for it. I’m sure maintaining the site you have already is alot work (and THANK YOU for doing it – seriously).
But again menton it at the group/boards and you might get some really good feedback.
I suspect only a few Flash fans read this blog regularly (and West seems to be the only regular commenter these days, aside from Katie and myself), though I do get a decent amount of traffic through the “Related Commentary” links. That’s part of why I was thinking of starting an all-comics or all-Flash đŸ˜€ blog: generally speaking, tightly-focused blogs collect a more regular audience than those that wander all over the place like this one does.
Bringing the question to the boards is a good idea, though. I’ll have to drop in on at least Comic Bloc and the RTL mailing list tonight.
Come to think of it, maybe I’ll post something on the front page of the Flash site, as well.
Oh, yeah — which Flash blogs have you seen? The only one I know of, Crimson Lighting, is on hiatus right now, and I’m curious as to what else is out there.
1) I get your RSS updates – so it’s mixed in with my other blogs.
2)Crimson Lightning
I keep thinking I had another one. I might be thinking of ‘Major Spoilers’ – http://majorspoilers.com/
He does alot of reviews; espicially DC. At least enough to keep me pretty well informed.
I guess thats it – I sure thought there were more. We really need a good Flash blog then…
I just wanted to say that I think “Flash: Those Who Ride The Lightning” is a great name for the site. If you wanted to make it more “general” because covering all speedsters you could use just “Those Who Ride The Lightning”.
Just that. And I will also thank you for the site: it’s really great.
[…] Since I started adding news items to the front page of Ride the Lightning, it’s started to get a bit crowded. I thought about converting it to a Delicious feed, but then I realized it really ought to be a blog. There hasn’t been a major Flash-focused blog out there since Crimson Lightning shut down, so I figured I’d step in and fill the gap. And I could use the domain I picked up last year! […]