TXP Magazine rises

Destry · 2012-03-07 11:40:50

Algaris, Ross…

Thanks. We hear you. Jonathan wrote something similar above and we on the editorial side of TXP completely agree that we need to promote in every channel. Blacklisting the forum was never the intention.

Here’s the deal. Straight up. Maybe by sharing it we can all go back to regular programming:

The magazine is not a horse committee affair. It doesn’t operate based on the opinions of the 1%. (Yes, another new concept for this community). That’s how the magazine used to operate and that model didn’t really work. Nobody should be surprised by that.

That’s why I chided Bloke (he knows I’m pulling his leg) about starting this thread because I knew it would turn into a ‘my opinion this… my opinion that’, and that’s simply not productive.

Keeping a simple frequency open in the forum for mag announcements is a good idea, but this is what to expect on that:

It will go in Textpattern’s websites and social channels because that’s the right forum.
There should be no need for multiple threads from us (the editorial side); a single thread that we update with news, when we have something to update will suffice. (This one, perhaps, if it’s moved, but maybe we’ll start a new one titled “News from the Mag”, or something equally silly.)
The information we give will be announcement type information. We will not indulge discussion regarding magazine direction, editorial decisions… magazine business in general. We have our own planning channels for that, and they are not public. (The trick to accessing that level of detail is to participate on the team when an opening comes up.) Debating in context of a given magazine article is, of course, encouraged.
We will never announce anything here first. All official announcements will be in TXP directly, typically in the From the Editor column each issue. Everything else is just rippling from where the pebble hit the water.
We will not try and syncronize the same messages conveyed through all social channels. Some things are just better suited to certain channels. We don’t have the time or people power to be quite so redundant. We leave some of that sharing responsibility with the community.

We will still push our social channels because NEW and POTENTIAL users of Textpattern CMS are TXPs primary target audiences (that doesn’t mean the only audiences). Those people certainly don’t have accounts in this forum. We need to go out to them, as best we can. It’s no more conniving that that.

I think we can all get along with this.

Destry · 2012-03-07 11:43:38

Would people feel better if I change my avatar pic…maybe stand in the sun with a suit and tie on or something? Put a hamburger in my mouth, or a cigarette up my nose, to lighten the mood.

Algaris · 2012-03-07 12:05:59

Thank you for your reply Destry. I very much agree with what you’re saying and believe that Textpattern and TXP should be pushed strongly through the social channels. I guess my main concern was that I might fall out of the loop as I don’t have access to them when I’m in ‘Textpattern mode’.

We’re living in very exciting times for Textpattern.

Bloke · 2012-03-07 12:15:37

Uhh, yeah, sorry. In the cold light of day my opener sounds unduly harsh. It was late.

I should have said we’re simply using the social channels primarily to promote mag business to reach a wider audience than those that have forum accounts. Magazine stuff like that filters down to the forum, rather than the traditional approach of the forum being the centre: it’s now one of many discussion outlets.

The forum is fine for people like me, to discuss plugins (currently: I haven’t yet embraced Git but may do), float ideas around about the CMS, chit-chat about this CMS and that CMS, and so forth. I do that here, I do that on Facebork and occasionally G+ when I remember I have an account there. But I try not to duplicate the message because that gets boring real fast.

Twitter: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Facebork: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
G+: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Forum: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
stefdawson.com: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
…

People with accounts or feeds from all those places tire quickly of others using a megaphone. It’s like that damn Clippy thing from Micro$oft Word (Hey, it looks like you’re writing a letter)!

So, as Destry says, each channel has its own flavour of information; and the type of info will be relevant to the strengths of that channel. As the other sites in the Textpattern universe come up to scratch (meh, .org one day) and each have their own focus, stuff will start to gel a little better and we can all choose how we like to be kept abreast of one thing more than another.

The end result is we all get info that’s of interest to us at the same time as promoting the CMS and the community. Most importantly, the various channel flavours invite discussion in the most suitable location for that content, in context.

Last edited by Bloke (2012-03-07 12:16:30)

colak · 2012-03-07 13:33:20

Twitter: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Facebork: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
G+: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Forum: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
stefdawson.com: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out

I wonder if there’s a way to have feeds here in the forum from the social networks for those of us who either are not members or who just don’t follow them.

I like the new look of txp mag by the way:)

Algaris · 2012-03-07 14:37:14

Bloke wrote:

Uhh, yeah, sorry. In the cold light of day my opener sounds unduly harsh. It was late.

Stef staying up late on a work night? ;-) I wasn’t pointing my stubby little fingers in your direction, just a general observation. =)

Bloke wrote:

I try not to duplicate the message because that gets boring real fast.

Twitter: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Facebork: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
G+: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Forum: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
stefdawson.com: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out

Yeah we want to avoid that. Anyway I’m quite reassured and won’t derail this thread anymore than I already have.

linguist · 2012-03-07 15:08:48

Destry wrote:

Also, we are not the “Txpolice”; it’s no our position to tell you are anyone else what to say or write outside of Textpattern’s official copy. We’re not concerned with blogs and forums around the world, or even this one, really; we’re concerned with establishing some consistency in our own work so that other publishers are less likely to make mistakes with the brand. That’s not a bad thing. And that’s why brand use conventions are being prepared. Editorial guidelines will be used for TXP and Textpattern Docs copy at the very least, arguably the two most important places where content needs to be as clear as possible. That’s all any brand has control over—their own content—and we’re no different.

Destry,
Thank you for answering.

Maybe it’s really not that important what the abbreviation TXP refers to, or will refer to from now on. But I still believe that for the sake of consistency and brand recognition one should use, expand and strengthen what already exists. Radical changes may lead in the opposite direction, unfortunately.

My Google search for TXP shows seven related results on the first page: five out of seven for Textpattern CMS and two for TXP Magazine. On the second page, five results for Textpattern CMS. On the third page, six results for Textpattern CMS and one result for TXP Magazine. Sites shown on the first three pages of Google search for the term TXP include textpattern.com, forum.textpattern.com, textpattern.org, textpattern.ru, textpattern.net, txptips.org, txpmag.com, welovetxp.com, txpbuilders.com, txp-fr.net, txp-plugins.netcarving.com, txp-templates.com and some others.

By the way, TXP is even listed in an online dictionary (http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/TXP):

Acronym Definition
TXP Transponder (aircraft radio that responds to radar)
TXP Tape Transport (usually open reel tape deck)
TXP Taxoprexin DHA-paclitaxel
TXP tumor xenograft pharmacology
TXP Transaction Processor
TXP Transmit Power (communications technology measurement)
TXP Textpattern
TXP Transaction Protocol

Of course, we should use the term Textpattern when referring to Textpattern CMS, especially in formal context. But TXP is a useful and catchy abbreviation for Textpattern in less formal context, used in the same way as other informal abbreviations are used: WP for WordPress, EE for ExpressionEngine, FF for Firefox, etc. Just found an instance where Dean Allen used it informally in a funny way: Txp bee one 3 for Textpattern beta 1.3 (http://textism.com/article/687/txp-bee-one-3).

It’s understandable that using TXP only for the magazine (and not for Textpattern) may help promote the magazine a little, but at the same time it may diminish Textpattern’s recognizability. Besides, in my opinion, the name TXP Magazine, or TXP Mag, sounds much better and is more consistent with the rest of Textpattern-related products, projects, and sites. At least, that’s my opinion.

Last edited by linguist (2012-03-07 15:19:28)

sacripant · 2012-03-07 15:47:21

Linguist +1

Creation of an acronym, an abbreviation, a nickname is human. Especially in France, where everything becomes acronym:

Dominique Strauss-Khan = DSK
Bernard Henry Levy = BHL
WordPress = WP

and

Textpattern = TXP = TEXTPATTERN, It’s like that

Of more, communications tools like SMS or microblogging incite the use abbreviation.

So using the abbreviation of Textpattern for the magazine name, I think you wanted this confusion, but I have trouble understanding this strategy.

maruchan · 2012-03-07 17:29:24

It’s almost like .net :-) I think it’s just great to use “TXP” for the magazine and I think it looks a lot bolder, more dominant than whatever might happen to be longer and easier to comprehend.

tye · 2012-03-07 23:51:32

Bloke wrote:

I try not to duplicate the message because that gets boring real fast.

Twitter: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Facebork: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
G+: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
Forum: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out
stefdawson.com: Hey I’ve got a new plugin out

I know it gets boring, but I think its needs to happen this way… I’ve missed so many things (like the mag launch – good work) because I am a social butterfly – one week I may login to Twitter more, the Next Facebook etc… (Google+… is that a failure?)

Ask Destry – I had to email him at the forum to find out where I had posted a comment about some mag topic.

But seriously, if you are serious about getting things out in the Social Channels – this is what you have to do as your audience, past and future, may not be limited to the one you choose to use…

I’m sure if everyone helps to get the message out, this is possible without being boring.

Facebork <— lol

Bloke · 2012-03-08 00:28:30

tye wrote:

I know it gets boring, but I think its needs to happen this way… your audience, past and future, may not be limited to the one you choose to use…

Oh we’ll use them all! My point (probably poorly made) was about just copy ‘n’ pasting the same thing to each channel… then everyone retweets / +1s the same message and people ultimately switch off.

Acceptable spammage might be playing to the strengths of each medium:

Twitter: Hey I’ve got a new #date #textpattern plugin out. The #humans are coming!
Facebork: Like my new date-based plugin for Textpattern and vote for the feature you find most useful.
G+: Ever wanted to display more human dates in Textpattern? You can now with the newest plugin from +StefDawson.
Forum: Anyone who wants to try and break the new date-based smd_ plugin, grab a copy and post your findings here. Thanks!
stefdawson.com: Here’s a look behind the scenes of my latest date-based Textpattern plugin.

Subtle difference. Still pimping it, but using each channel’s features to twist the message to the intended audience. It’ll be the same with the mag I should think. Perhaps we’ll tweet when the new issue is ready, highlight a topical article on the G+ stream, run a related poll on Facebork, focus on a techie angle for discussion on the forum, and post the table of contents to LinkedIn. All of the mentions have links to the mag whereby people can discover the new issue and read related things of interest, but we haven’t just done the equivalent of standing on a crate with a megaphone in Times Square, yelling the same thing down each street until the police arrive.

Does that make sense?

tye · 2012-03-08 01:27:32

Bloke wrote:

but we haven’t just done the equivalent of standing on a crate with a megaphone in Times Square, yelling the same thing down each street until the police arrive.

Are you sure you haven’t wrote a plugin to do that?

More than happy to help when I can if you need me – just yell on your megaphone :)

jpdupont · 2012-03-08 10:49:50

TXP reanimation ????
Thus our favorite CMS was ready to die?

I use Textpattern since 2004. TXP = Textpattern.

Linguist, sacripant +100

I had no idea it was so easy to steal the nickname of Textpattern …

Last edited by jpdupont (2012-03-08 12:45:24)

tye · 2012-03-08 22:55:45

Maybe a service like PixelPipe can help streamline things… I see if there are any similar sites

Destry · 2012-03-09 01:15:26

jpdupont wrote:

I had no idea it was so easy to steal the nickname of Textpattern

Nice performance. It doesn’t dignify a reply, but since you reference my article I’ll give you one anyway.

“TXP” was always a part of the name. Downplaying “magazine” isn’t stealing.

TXP is a magazine about Textpattern. There is no conflict of interest.

I’m a user of Textpattern since 2004 too. So what?

New readers of the magazine don’t care about pet “nicknames”, they care about the content. Good content.

You guys keep using “TXP” in the way you want to. Nobody is stopping you. All roads lead to the dog house.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#16 2012-03-07 11:40:50

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#17 2012-03-07 11:43:38

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#18 2012-03-07 12:05:59

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#19 2012-03-07 12:15:37

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#20 2012-03-07 13:33:20

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#21 2012-03-07 14:37:14

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#22 2012-03-07 15:08:48

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#23 2012-03-07 15:47:21

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#24 2012-03-07 17:29:24

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#25 2012-03-07 23:51:32

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#26 2012-03-08 00:28:30

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#27 2012-03-08 01:27:32

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#28 2012-03-08 10:49:50

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#29 2012-03-08 22:55:45

Re: TXP Magazine rises

#30 2012-03-09 01:15:26

Re: TXP Magazine rises

Board footer