| Author |
Topic:
GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/2 7:34pm
Subject:
GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/2 7:39pm (4 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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Hey folks:
I launched a new site today. I read the rules of this forum and we're supposed to give three things:
1) Title: GalacticBinder
2) URL: http://www.galacticbinder.com
3) Description:
It is already the largest Star Wars specific directory in the world. We have 1,100+ sites already, and we literally launched today. The goal is to have 10,000+ in one year's time. If you want to suggest your favorite sites that aren't in the directory, use the "Fan Suggetion" link on the homepage. If you are a site owner... use the "Owner Add Listing" link at the top after signing up for a free account. Everyone is welcome (and encouraged) to join! This isn't some trashy web ring. This is the Death Star of directories. The Star Wars Yellow Pages if you will!
We have a feature interview with Star Wars artist Randy Martinez to kick off the interviews section. And we're sponsored by Gentle Giant and ACME Archives - so we'll be giving away a ton of loot. (Some expensive stuff to boot.) Our first giveaway is for a Gentle Giant PROMO Mynock Hunt Chewie bust. Come over and enter every day!
Oh... and don't forget to write a site review/comments for TheFoce.net! I leave it up to you guys to make TFN the highest rated site in the directory. Do a search for it, then click "Site Info" and leave your comments/rating!
I hope you guys will use GalacticBinder (or GB as I call it!) to search for Star Wars sites you never knew existed. There is a HUGE galaxy out there... and all I'm trying to do is bind it all together like Obi-Wan said, "...it binds the galaxy together."
I look forward to all of your thoughts!
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darth_nemisis
Title: Host:
Acolytes of Darkness
Forum Feud Winner
Registered:
May '04
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Date Posted:
6/2 8:04pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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That's definitely a cool website! Very nice idea, one that probably boosts activity in certain fan sites, I would assume. It seems very well organized too. 
I will have to add my site to it. 
Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
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 ~Dark Lord - Acolytes of Darkness (SWC)~ My new homepage! http://www.aaronnemisis.com !~!~stormBoards now available~!~! http://stormboards.aaronnemisis.com/
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/2 9:34pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/2 9:35pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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Awesome Nemesis. I look forward to you adding your site!
Thanks for the kind words. No one has ever tried to build a Star Wars directory on this scale before. It is a daunting task. But I'm hoping to look back in a few years, when the site has tens of thousands of quality listings... and smile.
By the way, we have extensive tools to make sure the site stays updated and SPAM free. We test for broken links and remove them etc. We hand review every single site before it is listed. This will not turn into some garbage pile in a month.
For site owners , we hope to provide a meangingful link to help them with SEO. Since this is a targeted directory it should help for sure. And not to mention... it'll drive traffic to ya!
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NarCranor
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
6/3 2:12am
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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Well, its a cool idea, and I know its brand new, but none of the links on the left side work, even after signing up, and it wont let me submit my own website now that I have signed up...might have wanted to wait until these features were live before advertising, and there were a lot of sites on there that barely or don't, IMO, qualify as star wars websites. Walmart.com, kellogs.com? Cmon. just because they once did a star wars promotion at some time doesn't qualify them as a star wars website. I mean...is there even any star wars content on their site at present? Same with barnes&noble.com. I know you can buy star wars books there, but so what...the site generating that product, like hasbro or del rey, fine, but having every retail shop on there is a bit much. I mean....by that logic, every single comic book store in the nation should have a site up on your page. IMO that just ends up cluttering what would otherwise be a supreme listing of official and fan sites, which, BTW, need some sort of separation via category or something. This may already be planned, but since the categories don't work, its hard to tell.
In any case, the site would appear to have great promise, but until its actually working on the coding end at 100%, ill have to reserve full judgement.
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/4 2:08am
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/4 2:10am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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NarCranor posted:
Well, its a cool idea, and I know its brand new, but none of the links on the left side work, even after signing up, and it wont let me submit my own website now that I have signed up...might have wanted to wait until these features were live before advertising, and there were a lot of sites on there that barely or don't, IMO, qualify as star wars websites. Walmart.com, kellogs.com? Cmon. just because they once did a star wars promotion at some time doesn't qualify them as a star wars website. I mean...is there even any star wars content on their site at present? Same with barnes&noble.com. I know you can buy star wars books there, but so what...the site generating that product, like hasbro or del rey, fine, but having every retail shop on there is a bit much. I mean....by that logic, every single comic book store in the nation should have a site up on your page. IMO that just ends up cluttering what would otherwise be a supreme listing of official and fan sites, which, BTW, need some sort of separation via category or something. This may already be planned, but since the categories don't work, its hard to tell.
In any case, the site would appear to have great promise, but until its actually working on the coding end at 100%, ill have to reserve full judgement.
Wow. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you visiting.
First, I saw today that our quick links on the left side are not working in Firefox. Sorry about that. Yipes! A fix is on the way.
Second, you tried to submit a site and it "didn't work"? Not sure what that means. Please e-mail me at pete@galacticbinder.com and I'll be happy to help sort out what the problem is. We've had many sites added today... and no one complained of any problems at all. But please contact me... I don't want ya having a bad experience!
In terms of what sites qualify for the directory... I kind of differ in my opinion with you. Why would Wal-Mart NOT qualify again? Do me a favor. Go there and search for "Star Wars". Find anything? People shopping might very well want to go there don't ya think? Same with B&N. By your logic... NO retailer would qualify other than maybe starwarsshop!
And Kelloggs made C3PO's for cryin' out loud. Who didn't love those (lol!?) See the cool Youtube video for the old commercial? How could we not post that? Do me another favor... go to the home page here at TFN and search for Kelloggs. There's THREE pages of results! I'd say they did more than a promotion or two! They've been part of Star Wars for decades!
I think you are defining your view of the site pretty narrowly. Not every site has to be 100% Star Wars to qualify IMHO. And where would you draw the line? 75%? 50%? It's all opinion.
Lastly, in terms of official sites versus fan sites etc. What is your definition of an "offfical site"? I guess there's really only one of those! We do have a tag inside of listings for "Offical Lucasfilm License" and "Approved Lucasfilm Artist" for the appropriate categories. But breaking these down by "official" and "Fan" confuses me. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks again for checking us out. I hope you'll contact me about your site being listed.
All the best,
Pete
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NarCranor
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
6/4 12:23pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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I am sure my inability to post my site is related to none of the link working in firefox, though when I click the owner submit site button or whatever, it just says the section is locked by admin. Basically, all I was able to do on the website was browse sites already listed.
As for the retailer thing, we clearly have polar opposite views, which is fine, its your site after all, you run it your way. As for where I would draw the line? I would include licensee manufacturer sites, such as a dark horse, gentle giant, etc, which also have online retail stores in many cases, but not commercial retailers that sell those same products. Again, its your site, do it your way, thats just me.
As for what constitutes a fan site vs an official site, an official site would be something related to lucasfilm via money, in the most simple of terms. Artists who have been paid by lucasfilm or one of its licensees to create star wars material, the companies that produce licensed materials, etc. A fan site would be any star wars site without that official connection, in my mind. But you said you have tags, and that works. I just need the site to work in firefox is all, then i am sure I can submit my site and all will be well!
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/4 7:07pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/4 7:34pm (4 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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Very insightful post. Thanks for that feedback. It certainly gives us stuff to think about.
My tech guy is working on the Firefox issue right now for the quick links - we have temporarily disabled them so no one esle had the same problem you did.
As far as adding your site (which is cool by the way... I checked it out!)... that is not a Firefox issue. That is done by design. I'm assuming you were on the home page when you clicked "Owners Add Listings" from the top menu. That "ROOT" page of the directory is locked because we don't want people adding listings to the home page.
I think the answer is for us to give a more descriptive error message! I apologize for it not being clearer. I have updated the error message to give you this result:
"This category is locked by administrator.
If you received this message after clicking the "Owners Add Listings" link, please follow these steps to add your listing:
1. Make sure you are logged into your account
2. Navigate to the exact category and subcategory where you wish to add your listing
3. Click the "Owners Add Listings" link from the top menu
4. Fill out the form and click submit"
By the way, the answer was in our FAQ page. Here's a link. Check out the second FAQ. It deals with your exact issue. But it's up to us to make it simpler and clearer for the users. So thanks for helping us improve the site. Where were you when we beta tested? (lol...!)
http://www.galacticbinder.com/faq.html
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/5 10:18am
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/5 10:19am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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Sorry for the double post... but two things
1) The Quick links are fixed in Firefox. 
2) I want to give a big thank you to Dan Curto for giving us a big front page plug here at TFN!
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darth_nemisis
Title: Host:
Acolytes of Darkness
Forum Feud Winner
Registered:
May '04
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Date Posted:
6/5 1:27pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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Link to the front page TF.N post.
Very nice!
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NarCranor
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
6/5 8:25pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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Signed my site up for it, you need a way for a site to enter more than one category. For instance, my site has fan comics, fan fiction, and fan RPG material. Thats three separate categories, and as far as I know, I can only choose one...
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/5 9:52pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/5 9:53pm (2 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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NarCranor posted:
Signed my site up for it, you need a way for a site to enter more than one category. For instance, my site has fan comics, fan fiction, and fan RPG material. Thats three separate categories, and as far as I know, I can only choose one...
Thanks for joining. Glad it went much smoother this time around.
We already have a way of cross-referencing your site - and in fact we have added you to the three categories you mentioned. In many directories (not ours) cross-referencing is a premium service and is charged $$$ for. We don't believe in that. We think every site should get in every category it rightfully belongs in.
But almost no directory in the world lets people do cross-refercing themselves because people would click every box and it would become a mess fast - creating a ton of work for the admins and editors. But since we human edit anyways, we take time to look at each site listed and figure out what they do and what the site is all about. Then we cross-reference when necesary - like in your case.
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darth_nemisis
Title: Host:
Acolytes of Darkness
Forum Feud Winner
Registered:
May '04
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Date Posted:
6/6 2:19pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/6 2:20pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
darth_nemisis
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Nice. You guys seem to care about your users, which is good. I'm glad I don't have to pay any money. 
I will report when I get my site listed.
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~Dark Lord - Acolytes of Darkness (SWC)~ My new homepage! http://www.aaronnemisis.com !~!~stormBoards now available~!~! http://stormboards.aaronnemisis.com/
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/6 10:16pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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darth_nemisis posted:
Nice. You guys seem to care about your users, which is good. I'm glad I don't have to pay any money. I will report when I get my site listed.
We look forward to your site.
And yeah, our users come first and foremost. Just FYI - we have received hundreds and hundreds of e-mails already, and we've answered every one - same day (often same hour). I've slept about three hours a night since Monday. THAT's how much we care.
Yes, some directories are paid listings only. We don't roll that way. (Although if people do want to buy sponsorships to get a premium listing that is cool with us. It's just like the phone book - some people want the big flashy listing.) But the whole point is to make this inclusive for everyone and for it to be a resource first and foremost. You are welcome to join for free. And if you give us a reciprocal link, you get upgraded to "Feature" for free also.
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NarCranor
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
6/12 5:10pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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Alright, so my listing is up and all (fandom comics), but I do have some questions about how the site works.
1.) How does the pagerank system work? I have gotten several votes for 10 stars (6 apparently) and Im still ranked 2/10, and the stars still dont show up next to my site listing. ALso, when I view the category I am in (comics) descending by rank, I am in 2nd to last place. If I do it ascending by rank I am 4th to last, out of 8 entries total. So is this system currently still being coded and just totally broken? Or am I missing something?
2.) If you download my site's clone wars fan sourcebook material, I would think that I would qualify to be included in the inside the universe categories. (all of them, really, we have detailed write ups for basically every character in the clone wars era, some of which go on for 12 pages, as well as the rest of the categories in there, save planets and locations.)
3.) trashcompactorchronicles.co.uk really is a fan comic...not fan fiction...it was a suggestion by me, only reason I bring it up. Fan comics dont really seem to have their own category...and perhaps should. I do have an entire thread in here listing like 50 some odd star wars fan comic websites, in which case fandom comics should be in that category as well. Ill bump it for you if its not on the main forum page.
anyway, site is looking good, just waiting for the traffic to start heading my way from it!
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jamesehomepage
Registered:
Mar '05
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Date Posted:
6/16 9:20am
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
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Sites like this have existed before, e.g. StarWarsSearch.com and I think, not to offend anyone, this is not new and it's debatable whether it deserves a news story.
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swabie2424
Registered:
May '07
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Date Posted:
6/17 8:29pm
Subject:
RE: GalacticBinder.com - The Ultimate Star Wars Directory
- Date Edited:
6/17 8:52pm (5 edits total)
Edited By:
swabie2424
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jamesehomepage posted:
Sites like this have existed before, e.g. StarWarsSearch.com and I think, not to offend anyone, this is not new and it's debatable whether it deserves a news story.
No offense taken. You're entitled to your opinion. We are certainly aware that there's been a few attempts at a Star Wars directory before. The one you listed above has been around a while. I just venture to say that no one has ever attempted to really "go after it" for the long term like we have plans to do. Most of the ones set up before GalacticBinder were merely abandoned shells parked to collect an occasional dollar or two from Google Adsense. I mean StarWarsSearch.com has existed since 2002 and it has just over 300+ links. I'm not taking anything away from the person who started it, but we think we're going to do a lot, lot better. Also, we're actually working hard to keep adding new features to the site. We have feature interviews (our second will be posted any day now), giveaways, a Star Wars coupon page, original articles and we have a cool new game we're launching soon also. We're also getting involved in supporting Star Wars charities... which I think sets us apart.
On to the questions from NarCranor (asnwers in bold)
1.) How does the pagerank system work? I have gotten several votes for 10 stars (6 apparently) and Im still ranked 2/10, and the stars still dont show up next to my site listing. ALso, when I view the category I am in (comics) descending by rank, I am in 2nd to last place. If I do it ascending by rank I am 4th to last, out of 8 entries total. So is this system currently still being coded and just totally broken? Or am I missing something?
Pagerank is your Google pagerank - and has nothing to do with your star rating. Google uses a complex algorith to set pagerank, and it gets updated every so often. I've got to go look at your rankings to see more details. I'll get back to you on that. WE've had no complaints that it was broken.
2.) If you download my site's clone wars fan sourcebook material, I would think that I would qualify to be included in the inside the universe categories. (all of them, really, we have detailed write ups for basically every character in the clone wars era, some of which go on for 12 pages, as well as the rest of the categories in there, save planets and locations.)
We'll look at cross-referencing you to Inside the Universe Category. Remember, for this kind of stuff.. e-mail me over there. PM me here if you need my e-mail addy.
3.) trashcompactorchronicles.co.uk really is a fan comic...not fan fiction...it was a suggestion by me, only reason I bring it up. Fan comics dont really seem to have their own category...and perhaps should. I do have an entire thread in here listing like 50 some odd star wars fan comic websites, in which case fandom comics should be in that category as well. Ill bump it for you if its not on the main forum page.
We can look at adding fan comics as its own category. But aren't comics merely a form of fiction?
anyway, site is looking good, just waiting for the traffic to start heading my way from it!
Thanks man! I hope we'll send people your way.
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