Hi again,

Almost a week has gone by since my first blog on ‘Ringo’ on the Safari.TV blog and a lot has happened since then. So time for the next one, on the WildEarth.TV blog this time. (Just to keep everyone guessing ;-)

The main event for the week has obviously been the launch of the new site, which, although certainly not 100% perfect, I think has gone fairly well. We’ve received lots of feedback and are working our way through this to first fix those things that do not work as they should and then start making the site better by modifying and adding features.

This is a huge amount of work (as was the creation of the site) and will probably never be truly finished. I think it is therefore high time I introduce the people behind the scenes. WE have partnered with a company called PixelProject, based in Cape Town and owned and run by Preston Thomas and Rahle Dusheiko. Preston is the technical wizard, while Rahle has been working her magic on the look and content side of things. This new site is not simply a once-off project for them, but part of a long-term partnership with us and they will continue to maintain, expand and improve the site. We believe this is a win-win-win situation for WE, PixelProject AND all our viewers!

Now, if I would try to summarise your feedback so far in one sentence I think it might go something like this: “The new site looks great, but where are the archives and could you change … on the new chat room?”

To the first WE would simply like to say ‘Thank you’ and forward the compliments to Rahle, Preston and the rest of the PixelProject team. The second and third parts require a somewhat more detailed response.

Firstly, the archives. To paraphrase a favourite action here of mine: “They’ll be back!”, and bringing them back has the highest priority now that the site has launched. One important point to note is that while the archives are currently not accessible on the new site, the recording continues so no sightings will be lost.

Also, as those of you who’ve used the archives, and especially those that have been creating seek points/hotspots know, the ‘old’ system was not very user-friendly. Therefore it would not do to simply try to rebuild it as it was. This is a unique opportunity to come back with something much better, more intuitive, something user-friendly and simply plain fun to use! More information on this will follow soon.

Then on to the third part, and the area we received the most feedback on; the chat rooms. The amount of feedback on this feature shows once more how important these are! Preston has been keeping a close eye on them and the feedback about them and has already started working on ironing out some of the glitches you’ve reported. Most of them should therefore disappear over the coming couple of days.


Finally I want to thank everyone who has sent us feedback, and ask that “y’all” keep doing so. There is only so much that can be tested and prepared beforehand, and also our ideas might not always match your preferences or actual experiences. So hearing back from you about what you like and don’t like, and about what does not work as it should, is extremely valuable and much appreciated. To make sure your comments and suggestions end up in the right place, please send them all to webmaster @ crm-api-integ-220516.mystagingwebsite.com.

— Peter