February 28, 2013

A reader's suggestion

A reader kindly offers this idea for a header for the blog. I like it a lot, although I probably won't use it as a permanent header.

By Steve Sailer on 2/28/2013

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where is that, Torrey Pines?

2/28/13, 9:08 PM
x said...

i don't know why you don't have an banner yet steve, i mean it's totally par for the course on these sites nowadays

hehe

2/28/13, 9:17 PM
Anonymous said...

Steve, that's pretty good. Better than your current one.

2/28/13, 9:43 PM
Anonymous said...

Why don't you start a lil contest and choose something? U need to brand yourself. U r not even in the conversation on twitter.

2/28/13, 10:02 PM
Anonymous said...

I like the golf course architecture theme, Steve. However, I think your biggest potential untapped demographic is younger SWPL types - and I'm not sure if golf sells to the hipster twenty or thirtysomethings.

ISteve kinda has the appeal of an indie band that has yet to break through to mainstream success. Your cool combination of laid back SoCal attitude with ideas that are actually "rebellious" (not phony warmed over 60's radical retreads) could get you a lot of readers if you marketed it a bit better.

It's a shame you don't have any background in marketing... (sorry, kidding!)

2/28/13, 10:07 PM
Anonymous said...

"ISteve kinda has the appeal of an indie band that has yet to break through to mainstream success."

I read Steve Sailer before he was famous.

"Your cool combination of laid back SoCal attitude with ideas that are actually "rebellious" (not phony warmed over 60's radical retreads) could get you a lot of readers if you marketed it a bit better."

Interesting people like Pinker quote him, so yeah Steve does have a mystique about him.

Oh and you're all RAYSIS!

2/28/13, 10:17 PM
Portlander said...

That does look sharp. The black font needs some work though. I assume the reader is reading the comments. :-) I'm not sure which direction to take it, but black is too stark.

Another change I'd recommend is making your head shot b&w, and turn down the exposure a stop or two.

2/28/13, 10:24 PM
minoritarianism said...

You don't even have a mobile/tablet layout set up for the blog so why bother now with a banner.. And it adds no value for your visually impaired users who get their content read out in a Stephen Hawking voice

2/28/13, 10:26 PM
Anonymous said...

"I read Steve Sailer before he was famous"

Like a collectible? Or an underground SWPL joke? One of the interesting/sad things about SS is that when he's dead his influence will be much, much greater than it is now.

BTW- the black lettering looks crap (no racist)- just harsh and imposing..

2/28/13, 11:07 PM
Anonymous said...

It's nice but no more golf please!

How about this?

http://babyanimalzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cute-baby-pigs.jpg

STEVE SAILER'S iHog Blog

2/28/13, 11:08 PM
Reg Cæsar said...

That looks like the inner sleeve of a Joni Mitchell album. But without the nude Joni.

2/28/13, 11:20 PM
Steve Sailer said...

"but black is too stark."

Green is my favorite color. Would that work against the sea/sky blue?

"Another change I'd recommend is making your head shot b&w, and turn down the exposure a stop or two."

Thanks.

3/1/13, 1:34 AM
Steve Sailer said...

"Where is that, Torrey Pines?"

Right, Torrey Pines South in La Jolla, CA, 3rd hole, 198 yards, site of the PGA tournament each winter and the 2008 US Open that was Tiger's last major championship. I walked out to the tee on Thanksgiving 2007 when the whole place was deserted (about the only time of the year this municipal course isn't jammed).

It's sort of a Redan hole where the idea is that if you can draw the ball from right to left you can take the shorter, safer route over the canyon to the right and land it on the sharply sloped fairway to the right of the green and have the ball trickle over to the dangerous lefthand pin position. On the other hand, it looks like the green slopes up to the left, which would defeat the purpose of being a Redan hole. Anyway, Rees Jones' redesign is a big improvement over the dull Billy F. Bell 3rd hole I played in 1972.

http://www.torreypinesgolfcourse.com/_tpgallery/viewer-slideshow-course.htm?1

3/1/13, 2:37 AM
Hunsdon said...

I like it----and I suspect it could be tweaked and revised to work even better. Not only do I like it, I think it's a good idea. There's a reason so many people have moved to California---it's frickin' gorgeous, and nature shots are calming/soothing.

I personally don't enjoy the golf posts as much as some others, but please keep writing about anything that interests you: it's always a fun journey. I mean, that's why we're all here.

3/1/13, 4:32 AM
Truth said...

Too egotistical.

3/1/13, 6:53 AM
Auntie Analogue said...


Gosh, I can almost see that proposed header through my...Spyglass.

3/1/13, 6:57 AM
L said...

That's a gorgeous picture. You could do a lot worse than that, Steve.

3/1/13, 8:09 AM
Douglas Knight said...

The green font is fine on the water, but not on the hill to the left. But I think that the black font was fine in the first place.

3/1/13, 9:17 AM
FWG said...

LOL, that's awesome, wouldn't be a bad change-up from time to time.

3/1/13, 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...

Good picture. But you might not want to use an image emblematic of a dimension of your personality that is usually unrelated to your blog. It might make give the first impression that you are self-absorbed. Also, you might want to avoid the appearance of having a topical golf website. If I were you, I might find or commission a vista over a beautiful landscape (19th C. Hudson River School-ish) that only turns out to be a golf course on close inspection.

3/1/13, 10:51 AM
Paul Mendez said...

I think you need to PhotoShop a burning cross in there somewhere.

3/1/13, 11:15 AM
Anonymous said...

Paradise must have a serpent.


r. daneel goatweed

3/1/13, 11:24 AM
played early today said...

Might as well put in Hogan's swing, too.

3/1/13, 2:14 PM
Evil Sandmich said...

I'm not a graphic artist, but I play one on TV. It would seem to need a title and tag, which you have now, but they're backwards. As well, the photo should be 'framed' with something up close so that the horizon has depth for the viewer. I mocked this up: http://www.toadlickgames.com/files/headerTest.jpg
But I can't say as I'm very pleased with it (I never am, as I am not a graphic artist). If you really wanted to got that route I (as in me) would spring for a golf course stock photo that would fit and put something together that was more pleasing.

As it is though, since you've been using a canned blogger template for years I'm guessing that this post was somewhat in jest.

3/3/13, 9:16 AM

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