A Poll on the Future of the What’s In John’s Freezer? Blog

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A Poll on the Future of the What’s In John’s Freezer? Blog

February 23, 2013 by John of the Freezers

We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of this blog. I’ll discuss that anniversary and do a retrospective when the time comes; I have plans…

But first: Frosty feedback time! I want to involve current blog readers in guiding where this blog goes in the future. I renewed the URL for another year, so there will at least be that much more, and probably more than 1 year, since I have plenty of ideas and energy left and am enjoying this.

Let’s let the poll do the talking – and you, too! I hope for some discussion- please, your constructive criticism and suggestions! What do you honestly want more/less of, or totally new, within reason? Maybe I haven’t thought of everything I could do. In fact, I’m sure I haven’t.

3 choices at most per user (you don’t have to use all 3), please. And I think the poll will allow new entries (“Other”) to be added (EDIT: Hmm, doesn’t work the way I thought it did. If you do click “Other”, please add a comment below explaining it. Otherwise I don’t know what “other” means… EDIT EDIT– OK, if you’ve read this far, I will find out what you put in the “Other” box (it shows up in my WordPress admin stuff) but it isn’t made publically visible- see here if curious).

If there’s something you feel strongly about, such that 1 vote just doesn’t cut the mustard, speak out in the comments below. (Sorry, no, the bad jokes and terrible puns are here to stay 🙂 )

Go for it! I’ll let the poll run for a week or so. Blog lurkers, please de-lurk! I want to hear from you, too.

Thanks,

John of the Freezers

Posted in Poll | Tagged admin, freezer love | 27 Comments

27 Responses

on February 23, 2013 at 9:09 pm | Reply Mike Taylor

Hi, John. My take is that you should always blog about exactly what you want to blog about. The moment you’re worrying about what your audience wants to read, it’ll stop being fun and start feeling like an obligation. (That’s why we ignore the “of the week” part of our blog title.) So long as you’re excited about your own blogging, you’ll draw the audience that’s excited about those things. And, really, who else do you care about?
- on February 23, 2013 at 9:38 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Well, I think there’s plenty of room for doing both. I won’t do what I don’t want to do. But I’m very open to inspirations for new things to try that happen to please others and me. That’s the point of my request for feedback.
on February 23, 2013 at 9:19 pm | Reply Carol

I don’t comment often but I always read. Love your enthusiasm, so it really doesn’t matter to me what the content is, I always learn something.
- on February 23, 2013 at 9:35 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thank you!
on February 23, 2013 at 10:27 pm | Reply Mark Robinson

Yeah, pretty much keep doing what you have been, altho’ I wouldn’t object to some changes or new additions if that’s what you and other readers would like. I even like the terrible puns and other word-play, I feel that it gives me permission to occasionally drop some in my comments.
- on February 24, 2013 at 12:39 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Mark!
on February 24, 2013 at 1:11 am | Reply hypnotosov

More pictures of Freezersaurus!
- on February 24, 2013 at 7:30 am | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Ahahaha! You like our foremost celebrity, eh? Well, let me see what I can fit into his schedule.
on February 24, 2013 at 8:18 am | Reply Mieke Roth

I join the others: please continue as you do and as you see fit. I really love your blog (these kind of blogs are my favorites: the ones that gives an insight in ones work and discipline) and I hope that you will continue for a long time.
- on February 24, 2013 at 12:38 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Mieke! 🙂
on February 24, 2013 at 12:24 pm | Reply RH

As you can probably tell I really like what you are currently doing.

Although one can never have too many dissections with lots of labelling, I like learning about anatomy, not always easy to get hands on with such a wide variety as you have in your freezer.
- on February 24, 2013 at 12:38 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks RH!!
on February 24, 2013 at 7:38 pm | Reply Crispin

Much like the other commenters I think the blog is ace as it, with a nice diverse range of content, although I agree with RH that you can never have too many labelled dissection photos. I’m slightly relieved Freezermas is over though, as I will no longer have to explain to people why I’m humming On the Twelfth Day of Christmas to myself at the end of February!

This might not apply to some of your other readers, but for a comparative novice such as myself, the more explanation that goes along with the answers to mystery pictures the better. Plus comments on just how precisely the specimen can be indentified from the view (sex/species/approx age etc) are always very interesting as well.

Finally, thanks for continuing to put all this time and effort into the blog – it’s a real pleasure to read it.
- on February 24, 2013 at 8:06 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Crispin, that is excellent to hear! And it amuses me that another person was the victim of the Freezermas Ultimate Party Tune! Maybe someone can remix it as the next dance craze? The Freezer Shuffle?
  
  On providing more explanation for mystery answers, this is something I’d rather blog readers ask about themselves in the Comments. It would surely stimulate more discussion. And, to be frank, I don’t want to do all the work- I could see myself putting much time into adding long explanations to each answer but never being sure if it was enough, or clear, or even helpful to anyone. I’d prefer active engagement, even if it’s every mystery answer leading to a comment “Hey folks, how did you get that answer? I could use some help understanding.” Although I’d probably reply anyway, others would probably enjoy trying to explain the answers, too.
  
  Regardless, it is a very reasonable thing to want more clarification on any post. And the last thing I want to do in such cases is stifle conversation, or make this blog such a niche thing that “novices” don’t feel welcome- so thank you for this request! It has been thought-provoking.
on February 24, 2013 at 8:02 pm | Reply Stella

Here’s another vote for “it’s great as it is”. But I would like more coverage of anatomy papers – yours and other people’s.
- on February 24, 2013 at 8:08 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thank you Stella! Yes, “more anatomy papers” seems to be the most popular idea, and it is one I could have fun with– I’ll get back to that subject once the poll closes and I have some time to think about how I’d approach it.
on February 25, 2013 at 10:05 am | Reply PaoloV

I can only second many of the other comments – your blog is great and you should do as you please with it, but I for one would love to see more coverage of anatomy papers – being the only one of an anatomical bent in my place of work means that I miss out on so much interesting discussion and so many good observations that I now mostly get online.

Keep up the great work!
- on February 25, 2013 at 10:32 am | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Paolo!
on February 25, 2013 at 10:07 am | Reply Mike Taylor

Poor John. He wants constructive feedback, but all he gets is praise!
- on February 25, 2013 at 10:10 am | Reply Mieke Roth
  
  annoying isn’t it? lol!!
- on February 25, 2013 at 10:34 am | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  🙂 But actually the poll results have been truly helpful already.
on February 25, 2013 at 10:59 am | Reply saurian

John – as an aside to “continue the good work” I, for one, would appreciate more comparative anatomy where appropriate and when you can, and also the occasional demonstration of how, and indeed where, muscles attach to the bone. This would be really helpful.
- on February 25, 2013 at 5:30 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Mark! I will try!
on February 28, 2013 at 2:38 pm | Reply Stuart Pond

Sorry for the late comment, been away.

I agree with everyone praising the blog – it’s brilliant and one of my favourites. I love that I learn so much from it, so keep up the excellent work!
- on February 28, 2013 at 2:43 pm | Reply John of the Freezers
  
  Thanks Stuart!
on March 1, 2013 at 2:18 pm | Reply John of the Freezers

Thanks for all the comments and votes- looks like at least 44 of you turned out, which is good. I’ll consider the results in an upcoming post, very soon…
Oh, and the poll is now closed.
on March 3, 2013 at 7:34 am | Reply What’s It Like Spending a Year in John’s Freezer? | What's In John's Freezer?

[…] final duty for this post, heralded by my poll earlier, is for me to peer into my frosty crystal ball and report on the future of this […]