Comments on: Dethroner Housekeeping: Private, Invite-Only Forum; Suggest a Theme

By: mr skin

mr skin — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:50:04 +0000

I am tiring of the hype of Sin City. Both the movie and the city are pits of despair.

By: Marc B.

Marc B. — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:51:50 +0000

It’s Sunday night and I didn’t spend the weekend cleaning my apartment like I should’ve.

How about a week on keeping your place clean? It’s dull work and not something anyone likes to do but it’s not a story (or section) one ever reads about in the fashion/gadgets/food/money/entertainment men’s universe.

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 17:46:57 +0000

Ooh, if you do spies, you can point out how crappily a CIA field operative gets paid. It’s kind of sad. you risk your life, have decent benefits, but cap out salary-wise at somewhere around 55k.

By: BananaRocket

BananaRocket — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 06:38:24 +0000

Here’s a few off the top of my head:

PORN – hows that for a topic! Not actual porn seeing as the great Internet delivers enough of that. Articles about porn stars, the industry and other ranchy bits.

A great Suit – Ya, you covered cloths in general, but a great suit is totally different. A truly great suit can be that extra little bit that helps the average guy get that job, or rise, or girl, or innocent judgment….

Shoe’s – like it or not guys, it’s your second most important tool (after the suit) to look Dapper, not crapper. Car, Cleaning, Brands etc

Airlines – I travel a lot and I want the inside dirt one what really in the lock cabin!

Hockey – I can’t help it, I’m Canadian. Skates, sticks, beer and missing teeth.

Las Vegas – The best Sin City in the world, there is always some thing to do and see. Best buffet, best peelers, best roller coasters, best free show etc

Britain – How are we different, how are we the same, and whats with the bad teeth?

Power Tools – Risking your fingers are FUN!

Weddings – How to do it with out spending a fortune and not end in divorce!

Retro Toys – Spiderman, Transformers, He-man, Gi-Joe; all the wonderful politically incorrect toys of the the days of yore are back. Highlight the best and the nostalgic.

Disasters – Reading about huge losses or life is fun and educational! Pompeii, Katrina and the future collapse of the tower of Pisa

Coffee – Starbucks sucks ass, it’s bitter and flat, no matter what the brain washed Seattle army thinks. There is far better stuff out there, like Kicking Horse. And different countries make in different ways, check out Turkish or Vietnamese coffee.

Spys – CIA, MI6, Kremlin, Mossad. Who are they? What do they use? And how to become one?

Post Secondary Schools – Which one has the best parties, worst hazings, highest price?

By: spinguru

spinguru — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:34:28 +0000

I’m a dropper-offer as well. Some of the themes didn’t interest me, and some of the stories/advice were a little too generic. That said, I still check back a couple of times a week, so I know generally what’s going on.

As for suggestions, how ’bout:

Coffee: How to make it–espresso, drip and press. Where to buy it. Best coffee roasters. Best coffee houses.

Politics: maybe it’s just me, but there seem to be too many people out there who just don’t know basic things about our political system.

Travel: From the low-rent to the exotic. Roadtrips to dream vacations.

How to buy things: cars, real estate, electronics. . .when’s the best time and how to work a deal.

Doug’s idea on clothing care–laundering, ironing, etc. Polishing shoes.

Ummmm, that’s it. I’m out of ideas.

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:17:51 +0000

Not being a dude, my opinion might not count. But holding your precious Pico-Z hostage at my house, it might. Having bought a number of pyro effects in the last week for my shoot tomorrow, I think you should have a week all about fire. I have this nifty little thing that shoots fireballs out of your hand. and a whole lot of colored gunpowder. We’ll play at Thanksgiving.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:55:30 +0000

Reading the comments, I am pretty sure I am not your target demo (32, married, 2 kids) but I have enjoyed the site since the beginning.

Regardless, here are some suggestions:

-Real Estate (buying 1st house, etc.)
-Stock Market
-Bachelor Parties
-Home Improvement
-Deals/Bargains (how to negotiate)
-sports theme — Super Bowl Week, March Madness, etc.

Keep up the good work — I enjoy what you are doing and love the “theme” idea!

p.s. because of your site I got a Picoo Z — my wife makes fun of me for playing with a toy helicopter. A lot.

By: Joey

Joey — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:20:12 +0000

Overall I like the site, but I too am a dropper-offer, only because a couple of the themes didn’t apply to me. I like the idea of questions that can be asked anonymously (or not) and answered by the panel, and while each week may have a theme, maybe it’s less work to make each month a theme. While still touching on past themes and having regular weekly features like a Friday-Fashion-Faux-pax_Fear where someone asks a question about dressing for an event for the coming weekend, etc, the central focus is still the theme of the month.

Hey has anyone suggested a bachelor pad week?

By: Micah

Micah — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:24:59 +0000

I definitely love the site. All your topics have been interesting and even the somewhat off-kilter ones are greatly appreciated, some variety is good for all the scum that would never know about any of that stuff anyhow… you know, stimulates your mind, man. But on a serious note, having themes makes it killer and I’ve not seen many sites that do that and even if I don’t catch it every day I might be enjoying a smoke in the stairwell pretending to be in a meeting and think to myself, “hmm, I wonder what this weeks theme is on dethroner…” But yeah. Good.

By: npinero

npinero — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:09:37 +0000

How about “Fashion Essentials for the Regular Working Guy”.

I work at an advertising agency and our client pops into our office every so often. Our agencies dress code is failry loose, (e.g. dress shirt and nice jeans allowed occasionally).

I have always found myself having to run off to Banana Republic or a simialr store to pickup pants or a nicer shirt to go out with the client at night becasue most of my clothes are home.

Should I have a set of clothes at work that I could prepare in case the client comes knocking at any given moment? Should I have a pair of brown and black shoes? belts? ties?

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:27:53 +0000

Clothing care. Ironing, washing, dry cleaning, how to shine your shoes, different kind of tie knots, etc.

By: Joel

Joel — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:23:28 +0000

Ho-lee crap. You guys rule. Loads of great criticism and ideas here.

Ochen, et al: I think I’ll split out three feeds instead of the two now: One with all content, one with just the main column stories, and one with just the asides. That should make everybody happy.

gwg: That idea is blindingly obvious, which must be why I didn’t see it.

By: kingturd

kingturd — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:16:58 +0000

There are quite a few places you could go with the topics to keep things interesting. Here are a couple suggestions:

- fine liquors
- beer (I know you’ve been there but we all love it)
- cooking (maybe more specific themed weeks like barbecue, mexican, etc)
- visitor’s guides (things to do, see, eat and drink in a specific city)
- cool jobs
- how to build things
- camping / outdoors
- sporting events (how to scalp, how to paint your chest, how to heckle, etc)
- fun/dangerous science experiments
- body products (what’s queer, what’s not)
- must-have gadgets
- how to succeed in the business world / at your job
- man movies (man books?)

Actually, beer might be made better by having a person designated to try a new beer once or twice a week and post a review of it with pictures and all that stuff. That person could be you as well.

I’ve really liked some of your themes and I keep the RSS feed visible so that I can see if there are things each week I’d like to read, but a few weeks have been lacking in content (as I’m sure you know). Overall, I think the site is off to a great start and I enjoy reading it.

By: kagrocery

kagrocery — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:23:18 +0000

The forums have EXPLODED with new registrations…!

By: mty

mty — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 04:21:33 +0000

Gizmodo was the first blog I ever read religiously and more than my love of gadgets it was the writing style that kept me coming back, and the same is true of Dethroner. I think the site is at its best when the posts maintain a balance between long, interesting stories/instructions (along the lines of some of the smoking posts and some of the recipes – I loved the braciole – and howtos) and short, quick pictures or couple line posts linking to other cool things. The original, and community contributed, information is what makes the site I think – rather than just constant links to the outside world, so keep that up. In terms of specifics, I like the setting up in a new city idea and things along those lines, some work-related stuff maybe?

By: james

james — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:58:38 +0000

Seeing as NYE is coming up, maybe it’s time to look at NYE resolutions; in particular getting an early start on building up will-power to stick to them.
You could probably throw in some interesting activities to achieve the usual suspects (i.e. lose weight, make friends, drink/smoke less) – dragonboating is one that worked for me. 22 people in a boat (basically a big canoe) out on the water and in the sunshine for a couple of hours a week.

By: t2urner

t2urner — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:37:09 +0000

Oh–and I agree with Ochen re: Asides (and filter sites). I already get my Lifehacker, Boing Boing, MAKE, Digg an’ all that enough so’s I don’t need the sidebar stuff, knaamean? I’d make the Asides sort of a “Best of Commentary” area, referring to things the casual/infrequent reader might have missed–perhaps a teaser of sorts to get people to look back and dig mo’ better.

By: t2urner

t2urner — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 01:29:35 +0000

I’d put in a vote for men and friendships: maintaining ties as well as establishing new relationships. As an “I’ve moved so many times I don’t know how to answer when someone asks the inevitable ‘So…where are you from?’” person, I find the process of (finally, sorta) settling down in one place to be somewhat daunting. Friends (from law school, my undergraduate days, et cetera) are scattered all over the place; it takes work to maintain those relationships and becomes a second job almost to create new relationships where I am now.