Revolving Floor
August 31, 2009 5:06 PM   Subscribe

The Revolving Floor is a curated community of writers and artists, focused on finding creative ways to share diverse perspectives through creating content around shared topics. Every month, a new topic. Several times per week, a new post, each time by a different author. [via mefi projects]
posted by netbros (11 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
I, um...hurm. I want to say something vaguely snarky like, "At last, a place on the web for essays," but these seem like they could be good essays, and the site did just start up. That said, I think an opening topic that's sort of...more...um...less...not...that...interesting...might have been...uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:22 PM on August 31, 2009


Oh, but I like the poem, though. She's really good. I'll just mention that, since I seem to be the only one here and I don't want this thread to be just me lifting an eyebrow at the site. You should read the poem; that's good work.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:32 PM on August 31, 2009


The eggs remind me of Gordon Ramsey's wonderfully sublime scrambled eggs, sourdough bread, vine tomatoes and half a pound of butter and crème fraîche.
posted by geoff. at 6:41 PM on August 31, 2009


Hi folks... I'm the publisher of Revolving Floor. Thanks for the post, netbros. I must admit that this is a bit sooner than I expected to make it to the blue.

Actually, this post catches RF right at a point of a few major transitions. Tomorrow is a new month, so there will be a new background design and logo very soon, to go with the September theme ("seconds"). We're also in the process of implementing the Disqus commenting system, so please be patient if you see any issues there. And finally, we are very soon (now maybe sooner than planned) going to start hosting all the major images on Amazon CloudFront, so if you think the site is slow now, you can look forward to a faster experience in the near future.

Also, please be aware that there are two pages worth of front page previews; you can see the earlier stuff here.

kittens for breakfast: The monthly topics are meant to be jumping off points for the contributors to do whatever they want, and the assumption is that they are all talented and interesting enough that the draw will be them and their work, not the topic. In fact, one of my elevator pitches for Revolving Floor is simply this: a community of people who can find something interesting to say on any subject.

And, when I say "community" in that context, I also mean commentors. Not every piece will thrill and entrance every user, but I'm hoping that a group of observant, sophisticated, and conscientious people will always (or at least usually) keep the discourse that results from any given contribution interesting in itself.

I might as well mention that several MeFites are contributors to Revolving Floor, including myself (so much for any anonymity that this account every enjoyed), mdn, jessamyn, and Bromius. And there are a few others I've been talking to. If you think you might be interested in contributing, let me know. And I certainly welcome everyone as a commenter. And feel free to give me your feedback on the site in general, publicly or privately, any time.

(p.s. kittens for breakfast: Which poem did you like? There are three on the site at the moment.)
posted by bingo at 7:37 PM on August 31, 2009 [2 favorites]


(p.s. kittens for breakfast: Which poem did you like? There are three on the site at the moment.)

Oh snap! There are indeed -- I didn't think to include the poem with the accompanying art, and I didn't realize there was another page (which, having seen it, does make the whole thing appear a little less essay-centric). I meant "Brooding."
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:45 PM on August 31, 2009


kittens for breakfast: The monthly topics are meant to be jumping off points for the contributors to do whatever they want, and the assumption is that they are all talented and interesting enough that the draw will be them and their work, not the topic. In fact, one of my elevator pitches for Revolving Floor is simply this: a community of people who can find something interesting to say on any subject.

I think that's pretty admirable, but the problem I see with a kind of banal topic is that it's not very compelling for a new visitor to the site -- and if you're familiar with the contributors (or are familiar enough with the site to know it's got a high standard of quality), then that's okay, because it doesn't need to be. But at present, I think you're as likely to get people who visit and are like, "Uhh...so this is a website about eggs?" I'm just saying, man!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:50 PM on August 31, 2009


kittens: Yes, you are right, that is a risk. But what can I say, that's the way we're set up. If I had started with a more...topical topic, like "childhood trauma," then people would have thought the site was about that. My hope is that having open-ended topics will actually lead people into the content. Will many people actually say "Huh, a site about eggs" without looking further? I guess that's possible, although our bounce rate has been pretty low, so I think that isn't happening very often. Still, I admit that the 'about' pages could use some fleshing out.
posted by bingo at 8:17 PM on August 31, 2009


This site went into my RSS reader right away when I found it in Projects. I didn't find the topic lacking at all; I actually thought it was kind of cute, and so it was startling and wonderful to see something so poignant like 'Brooding' come out of it. Looking forwards to more content!
posted by andeles at 8:36 PM on August 31, 2009


Great site I voted for it already in projects. As for eggs, strange things they are, but once my college roomie pointed out that eggs are just boneless chicken, I got over them.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:16 PM on August 31, 2009


Oh, nice! Great design, good reads... I love "eggs" for the first issue, and "seconds" for the second. Maybe I'll submit something for this month (well, it's September here, anyway). Congrats, bingo, and thanks, netbros, for bringing it to the blue, because, yeah, I always forget to check Projects.
posted by taz at 4:49 AM on September 1, 2009


Thank you all for the kind words. If anyone is interested in submitting something, please think in terms of the third topic, "This Is A Test." Pieces related to that theme are due Sept. 30 (I recommend querying with the basic idea in advance), and will run in October.
posted by bingo at 8:50 AM on September 1, 2009


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