December 2011 site update

[albummaster]

BEA gets significant spikes in traffic over the Christmas and new year period as everybody hunts for end of year lists, so there won't be too many changes to the site this month as we don't want to risk destabilising the site. So, this seems as good a time as any to wrap up 2011.

You might recall, there were four main goals on the BEA roadmap for 2011:

• Moderation system
  
• Larger user charts
  
• Multiple charts per user
  
• Charts by 'tag'

Massive amounts of work have been carried out this year to implement the above changes, and three out of the four items have been delivered.

In addition, loads of unplanned improvements have also been added to the site this year. Particular highlights are as follows:

• Chart widget on the resources page.
  
• YouTube videos on each album, band, and track page.
  
• 'Similar' charts now displayed on each chart page.
  
• Ratings graphs on each album, band, track and chart page.
  
• A 'bestology' on each album page.
  
• A new member rank scheme (to be expanded in 2012).
  
• Chart of the day.
  
• Ability to drill into the composition of each chart.

'Charts by tag' was the only item from the roadmap not delivered in 2011, and this will be deferred to 2012. Listed below are some of the bigger ideas which are under consideration for 2012's roadmap (which will be published shortly):

• Completion of the membership ladder (year charts, name your own rank, charts for fun, premium membership)
  
• Charts by tag/genre (to be carried over from 2011)
  
• Tracking of collections versus multiple lists (A bit trickier than first thought because BEA's aggregate lists are always changing!)
  
• iPhone/Android app

(N.B. If something has already been suggested on the forum, and it is not listed above, it's probably considered a smaller (or less strategic) change. We are only interested in bigger changes here as they can take a lot of time to implement and need more planning. There's a couple of weeks or so before the above list is firmed up, so what changes would *you* like to see in 2012?

Support us
If you'd like to support BEA, you can do so in any of the following ways:

• Link to BEA from other websites. Talk about us on other websites, create a buzz and get people to check us out (but be careful not to do this in a spammy way!)
  
• Buy your music via BEA. If you discover a new album or track, with help from BEA, use the iTunes, Amazon and eBay buttons on this site to buy it from your favourite store. BEA gets a small commission (pennies), and it helps to pay our hosting fees.
  
• Subscribe to our newsletter. Keep up to date with the latest site news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
  
• Use our chart widget. Share your chart on Facebook (or any other website)! You can find our chart widget on the resources page.
  
• 'Like' us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Liking us on Facebook is a great way to promote BEA! If some of your friends see that you 'like' us, they might check us out too!

Enjoy the site and more soon...

albummaster