Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

IDEAS PLEASE!

I'm currently at a loose end, and decided I need to sharped up certain web skills. Looking for ideas...

Want something that allows the use of a database, is user-driven (visitors will be able to enter stuff to be read by others, for example), and has good revisiting potential for users.

Given my movie obsession, I was thinking a movie review site where users can post their reviews, tied in to a discussion forum about each one... but that's exactly was IMDB does, so maybe not...

Anyway, the other critieria are:

- if I develop it, I want to show it to clients, so no pr0n.
- not poker - don't wish to compete with 2+2!


Not too bothered if I can't tie it to money-making, as it's really to give me something realistic to refresh my skills in certain areas...

I already have a server etc, so no suggestions needed for that side of things.

thanks all,
db

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Instead of reviewing movies, what about reviewing either products or companies?

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Any sort of forum helps to drive traffic. A scheduling program on your site can use db.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Have you thought of opening an Anti-Dynasty webpage?????

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Do you collect anything? A prices database, perhaps from several sources, could be something people would want to check up on. I know there are comic book sites that just list their own price figures.

How about a "just found" registry of microchips for lost pets to let owners check the web to see where their pet is? Could have a link to tie-in to yahoo maps or whatever for the shelter, maybe, if you wanted to go to that trouble or could afford what you might have to pay. Look like a hero while doing it. Might even get a grant or some donations. I know I'd be very happy to be able to find a lost pet by checking a website for its number. And if someone couldn't contact me by phone for whatever reason, I could check the site, even from work.

You could have a section where people could post about their lost pet and it's number, too.

Laboratories often buy stolen dogs too, so maybe if people got in the habit of confirming the dog was surrendered voluntarily by checking chips, you could prevent dogs and cats from a very gruesome fate. You could probably even get some volunteers to help out and maybe sponsorship by pet food and supply companies if you got it going.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Given my movie obsession, I was thinking a movie review site where users can post their reviews, tied in to a discussion forum about each one...

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if you do this and want to use any of mine, send me a PM or something.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

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Have you thought of opening an Anti-Dynasty webpage?????

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Not enough interest there. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

bump for the morning crew, and needing some ideas!

-- Blarg
I have indeed writtten systems that can collect info off any web site - just never made money from it directly, is all!

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I had a thought of a website that I thought would be funny.

Sort of spinoff of OOT. The most entertaining things to read in OOT are often the "Trip Reports" of random adventures. If there was a site dedicated to this, fueled by the OOT crowed initially, I think it could blossom. I thought about doing it myself, but I certainly don't have enough OOT weight, but I think you do.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I like this trip report idea. Sorta 'Other Rough Guide...' to any place, anywhere...

I'm going to see another developer in my employ in a bit, I'll see what he thinks...

I'll post back a TR on it [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

EDIT: Just to be clear, it is not my intention to poach OOT traffic and won't do anything that may be taken as this, okay? [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

db,

I have to say, the trip report idea is pretty great....and I have a friend who would be able to start it up with some great ones...

For instance, he's currently flirting with a 20 year old who was disowned by her family at 16 for some accident that made the news....

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

how about a site that has a big doormat on the front page? it could be a jump to conclusions mat. there would be different conclusions and you would jump to them.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I've always wondered why there isn't an imdb for pop music. But maybe there is?

Also, how 'bout a database of OOT music threads? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]


EDIT: Another idea: Something like meta-critic, except for message boards. All english speaking forums around the world nominate their favorite OT threads of the day and y'all index them. Reading that hornfan thread made me realize there are some funny dudes out there beyond OOT...

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
how about a site that has a big doormat on the front page? it could be a jump to conclusions mat. there would be different conclusions and you would jump to them.

[/ QUOTE ]
Or a site where you can make your own pizza pie!

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

That is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life, Tom.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

real suggestions:

art database. catalog every famous piece of art in the world by artist, location (museum/private collection), estimated value, etc. actually this sounds pretty boring and would rely heavily on user submissions.

sports card (maybe pokemon and magic the gathering crap too) database. lookup how much your [censored] is worth. online trading / sales / auctions. chat. forums. stats. pretty graphs. descriptions of famous collections (jacked from wikipedia of course). maybe even make up some game(s) (tweaked fantasy leagues) based off of all the stats accumulated. you could probably sell ad space to sports book websites. please give me money if you profit from this idea.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I like the Trip Report Idea , but you could format it so that certain things have to be included

kinda like an undergound destinations guide of hip places in each destination...along with random trip reports like I went to taco bell today etc.

Say someones going to Vegas, it could have everything to do along with user comments

Im just rambling by the way

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I like this trip report idea. Sorta 'Other Rough Guide...' to any place, anywhere...

I'm going to see another developer in my employ in a bit, I'll see what he thinks...

I'll post back a TR on it [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

EDIT: Just to be clear, it is not my intention to poach OOT traffic and won't do anything that may be taken as this, okay? [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

No, we decided against it [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] We thought it'd be too hard to get the initial interest going, and various other issues I can't remember.

We're sorta thinking a cross between a bulletin-board and a autofeed from news sites/music sites/entertainment sites/dvd sites, so each area is a bulletin board with new subjects autofeeding in for discussion (you could start your own ones too!).

Sorta cross between a news site and a discussion site...


Any opinions on that? I really can't tell... I can see it maybe being awesome, but also being a complete waste of time when no-one shows up...

Still thinking about it though, and we're not convinced by this one, so keep em coming, if you've got any [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I like this trip report idea. Sorta 'Other Rough Guide...' to any place, anywhere...

I'm going to see another developer in my employ in a bit, I'll see what he thinks...

I'll post back a TR on it [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

EDIT: Just to be clear, it is not my intention to poach OOT traffic and won't do anything that may be taken as this, okay? [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

No, we decided against it [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] We thought it'd be too hard to get the initial interest going, and various other issues I can't remember.

We're sorta thinking a cross between a bulletin-board and a autofeed from news sites/music sites/entertainment sites/dvd sites, so each area is a bulletin board with new subjects autofeeding in for discussion (you could start your own ones too!).

Sorta cross between a news site and a discussion site...


Any opinions on that? I really can't tell... I can see it maybe being awesome, but also being a complete waste of time when no-one shows up...

Still thinking about it though, and we're not convinced by this one, so keep em coming, if you've got any [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the key to a winning site is a niche. I don't think your current idea has a niche unless i'm missing something, what do you think?

It's like that tucker max site, it's pretty entertaining, cause he has good stories. Now, not everyone has that many good stories (true or not remains for debate) but with the combine efforts of many people, I think a site just reading about people's funny stories could be okay.

That was my original idea with teh trip report style site. Unforuatenly, with any site, it's going to be hard to have initial intersest, thats what 90% of making a good site is about, consistency untill you get a proven audience.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

People are pretty much set into places like Fark already. They kind of have the market cornered. I'd vote for the trip reports site if I had a vote.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

We should try to corner the porn market before it gets too big.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I worked on a dvd pr0n site once, you get sick of seeing the covers/backs. I'm not kidding.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

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People are pretty much set into places like Fark already. They kind of have the market cornered. I'd vote for the trip reports site if I had a vote.

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Don't you think that if, say, Fark had the ability to comment and make a thread under an news item, you'd have quite a bit of potentiial fun/shenanegans/bitchiness/comments going on there?

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

so you want to make slashfark?

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Fark does have that ability, If you click the blue numbers on the right there are threads miles long about all kinds of stuff...

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Fark does have that ability, If you click the blue numbers on the right there are threads miles long about all kinds of stuff...

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lol - my bad! Back to the drawing board...

Back to the Trip Report idea...the problem I had is it takes a lot of work to do a TR. Now on an established site, people might be ready to do it, but on a low traffic site (as all starting sites tend to be), people just wouldn't be bothered to, and the site would just dry up completely. You see the problem?

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

My guess is that you'd need about 15 core people willing to write full time for the site. I think you'd need a startup minimum of 50 TRs. Then if those 15 people each wrote two TRs a month you'd have a pretty decent magazine type site. As popularity grew you'd get people who wanna write something for the site and of course you'd let them. If you look at the TuckerMax site he only has about 50 stories all together and people seem to think that site has oodles of good content.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]

How about a "just found" registry of microchips for lost pets to let owners check the web to see where their pet is? Could have a link to tie-in to yahoo maps or whatever for the shelter, maybe, if you wanted to go to that trouble or could afford what you might have to pay. Look like a hero while doing it.

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This is a good idea, but a HUGE undertaking. There are at least 3 or 4 different microchips and even more different registries. Not even all chips are inserted in the shoulder area, some vets put them elsewhere. Many shelters do their own registry in addition. And the current registries probably wouldn't give you the info for free if at all.

And what about the other methods of ID like tatoos and collar tags? Most people don't even chip their pets yet, so the service wouldn't be that useful for most people and their animals.

Also, microchip registries (whoever you filled out your paperwork and paid your fee to when you got your animal chipped) are supposed to call you when your animal is found. Vets and shelters are supposed to scan all animals, living or dead (but not every county requires it). So, all you need to do is keep your phone number up to date with the registry and you don't need a web based database.

But the larger problem is that there isn't a nationwide database for all found animals regardless of chips.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Well, you know how phone tag goes, and spacey people leaving it up to somebody else to do something, and that something eventually getting forgotten. Also, people change their phone numbers, and move. I'd find the ability to look it up on the web quite handy.

Heck, a shelter could even use contact with a database as a sort of receipt and proof that they didn't kill an animal or start medical experiments on it without doing something traceable to try to find the owner. Anyone can claim to have made a call, but they might be harder to trace and verify than an entry in a database.

Microchip companies or shelters or medical research facilities might see it as losing something to give out information on found pets, but they could also see it as a free service that helps them prove their value to the customer and their being above-board in their dealings with dog sellers. Really anyone who deals with lost or sold animals could use it and probably find some value in it.

Tattooes, collar tags, whatever, same deal. Just have different fields in the database to put that info into.

The thing is, you don't need info from all tagged pets, just the lost one. So the data entry wouldn't be a gigantic hump to get over on start-up. You don't have to care about the pets that have never been lost, only the ones that have, and that's a tiny minority. A shelter would just have to fill out a few fields in a database form, and it's done. Heck, I'm sure there are programs out there that could take that info and send out e-mails and/or make phone calls automatically.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Dude, plenty of shelters have online databases of their animals. This is NOT a new concept.
The thing that would be cool is merging all the databases and keeping accurate, up-to-date records. (Which is why it would be a huge undertaking).

But really, responsible pet owners MUST go down to all the shelters themselves and see the animals in person. Photographs are not always accurate since they're taken when the animal is caged and may act/look strange/ different. Chips are not always reliable because people entering info into databases transpose numbers, and make typos because they're either volunteers, paid very little, or just plain tired or stupid.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

DB,

If you come up with a winning start up idea and want a fresh faced University of Warwick Economics graduate to come and work for you let me know [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

edited to add : i promise not to mention poker in my interview

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

How about putting together a web-portfolio for my photos? I can't do anything near as professional looking as I'd like, so right now the url I have for my would-be portfolio just directs to my daily site (ok, fine, it's a blog. But I hate the connotations that go with that).

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
DB,

If you come up with a winning start up idea and want a fresh faced University of Warwick Economics graduate to come and work for you let me know [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

edited to add : i promise not to mention poker in my interview

[/ QUOTE ]

--T-Bone
I'd never forget you! And do you seriously think any interview I give - at the pub usually, over a steak and a beer - would be about anything else? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Diebitter: I have an idea for you. How about some sort of tracking system? You've heard about http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ right? Or what about http://www.bookcrossing.com/ They both track things that just move around freely, money and books. You could showcase your webdesign and database skills, but completely limit the project to whatever level is suitable for you. And since it's just for fun, no worries about maintaining it when you're tired of it.

Blarg: http://www.homeagainid.com/
Registers all brands of microchips (there are about 20, by the way) and stores database online that you can check online or by calling. They charge about $15 per animal, but it's totally worth it.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

I'm sure something like this is already out there...

Diebitter:

Create a website for previously unknown musicians to post their original content. Marry up with some producers/record companies and have your community (listeners) rate each submission. Once a submission gets enough positive votes, forward the band's track(s) and info on to the producers/record companies and see what happens.

Take a cut of the action.

Profit.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

Cool, Elaine.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

All, This is locked and loaded. We're creating a mixed news service/discussion forum.

Basically a big discussion forum with the added X-factor that it also gathers news stories on different subjects (health, entertainment, current affairs, cars etc) and presents them, and these can seed discussions. You can use it as a news source, or for talking about news (or anything).

A bit like Fark, but way better and lots more happening.

It's not for making money, it's to help develop/refresh our skills in certain areas, BTW.


Thanks for all the ideas though.

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

seriously? a news blog is what came out of all this?

Re: Ideas for a website? anyone?
 

[ QUOTE ]
seriously? a news blog is what came out of all this?

[/ QUOTE ]

50% right. It's not a blog.