Another year is almost over.
First, the overview:
- 38 shows added
- 117 characters added
- 1 character died
WordCamp US
What does that mean? Well… This site runs on WordPress. WordCamps are the official conferences of WordPress, where we all go and talk about it, teach about it, and learn about it. This summer and fall I traveled around the US using this site as my case study for quite a lot of things. If you’re into that sort of thing, the culmination of these talks is called Lesbians, Damn Lesbians, and Statistics.
Not to be outdone, Tracy talked about normalizing the world and your company by being inclusive of all that we are. She explained it using the power of Shonda Rhimes in her talk, Diversity Works.
Basically we’re big ol’ geeks here. In building this site, I learned a lot more about WordPress code, which is good. It is actually something I get paid to learn!
Podcasts!
No, we’re not making one. We’d love to, but Tracy and I have a severe issue of not getting our shit together for that. No, instead we’re on other people’s podcasts!
We were supposed to be on LezRepresent but there was a traumatic mic incident. We have to reschedule, which is always a trick when I end up getting up at 7am for a 10am eastern four-way with Harold… They’re Lesbians. I’m not sure what I was thinking (and yes, I picked that time). Hopefully we’ll be able to work out a good time for LezRepresent as well as Lez Hang Out.
There are a lot of lesbian themed podcasts …
If you run one and are interested in two TV loving lesbians in STEM who built a site like this, drop us a line. If you want to hear what we sound like first, tune in to the January 4th episode of “Harold… They’re Lesbians.”
Actors, Actors, Actors!
This is all Tracy’s fault. We were at the aforementioned WordCamp US and she turned to me. “We should change actors to their own posts.”
Now, there’s a long, dramatic, code talk involved, but basically she wanted to change up how we stored data for 2200 characters, and move it to something new. And it would be on me to write the code to migrate it. I won’t bore you, but we now have a list of actors for you to peruse and (best of all) each actor page will show you all their characters and some vital details. We’re working on filling that out, as we have over 2000 actors.
If we have an actor wrong, please let us know. We made the choice to err on the side of the closet whenever it came down to their gender or sexuality. This was because the world is still not safe for all queers. I wish it was.
Still. At least I made Tracy lie down on the floor in the middle of the venue and wail about the complexity that is Sara Lance before I wrote the code. Hey, it made me feel better. And…
Amazon
There was a little drama with our Amazon Echo skill (formerly ‘Bury Your Queers’). After three people left 1-star reviews, complaining it was hate-speech, I found I was unable to update the skill to write a new description. So I decided rewrite it entirely as a new skill, with some help from Amazon (they actually called me about it, they like the skill!). The cool news is you will be able ask it new things, like “Alexa, ask LezWatchTV what happened in 2017” and you’ll get a run-down on the year. You can even ask for specific months and days.
In a way, it was a good idea to take the time to make the code more positive. This site is, by in large, positive. We’re pro-life, certainly, but the death is a big aspect. By making it more ‘everything’ we’re able to show the good and the bad. Like how many characters we add a month (or year) and how many shows with queer female or trans characters are out there.
With that in mind, if you have an Amazon Echo (or a Dot) you should install the all new LezWatchTV News skill! You can ask it all sorts of cool new things, including “Alexa, ask LezWatchTV if Laverne Cox is queer.” Oh yes. We did that. All thanks to Amazon owning IMdB and Tracy suggesting we reorganize actors.
Character of The Day
If you follow us on Twitter, you might have noticed a new tweet that pops up twice a day, announcing the Character of the Day. That character is randomly generated every morning at midnight, and we have no idea who it’ll be. It probably needs some refinement, but for now, I’m happy to have someone randomly announced a day.
Another Year in Review
We’ve learned a lot of about development on this site, but also in what people are looking for and how we can deliver. While we’re keeping track every month and making incremental improvements, I feel good that we’re going to run into 2018 with the same fervor and awesomeness as we’ve handled 2017.
I’m also super excited about One Day at a Time and Jessica Jones coming back in 2018!
Oh, and we’re going to start going to cons in 2018. See you there!
