Creating a better, closer knit, community

In this scene, people love anything that gets them a little bit of attention, so maybe have something like 'interaction points', and every week maybe a top 10 list on the 'popular' page listing the top 10 people. People could get points for commenting, uploading, etc etc. Could even perhaps be tied into the user levels. Once someone gets 1000 points or whatever, they'd go up a level.

To get extra download "points". Example, 1 point per post/comment. 5 points=2 megabytes of downloads.

To be honest, the forum interface is a bit strange. It is crowded with stickies, and even though it is broken into sub-forums, each of those has sub-forums and user doesn't know which forum a thread might be in until they view it. The search needs some work, too. A cleaner, more intuitive interface might be esier to use and encourage more posts.

Something I would like to see is more comments on other people's work. Personally I try to comment if I have any opinion. I think when you comment you encourage not only other comments, but also encourage people to "click your name" and see what you're about. This intra-net of links between visitors and authors alike is well supported by the personal and my skins pages, but I feel if commenting itself could be stimulated, the community would benefit. Maybe this could be achieved by status-only titles for prolific or helpful commenters, or by adding more links, not just to the commenter's info page, but another directly to their skins, and another to their main page, if they exist.

I also feel visitors here enjoy customization. The more options a person has in how their personal page looks, how their avatar looks, their title, even a signature--the better. Not to mention different skins for the site itself.

my2c

Suggestions:

1 - Create a section or page that is dedicated to outlining the how's and why's of commenting and participating in the community - along with some correct and incorrect examples. I know this information is generally available, but having it in one easy to access area would help generate community activity as well as helping newcomers who might want to take a larger roll in the community.

2 - Perhaps a work sheet indicating areas where help is needed, and a sign up sheet if it is a project with specific requirements.

3 - Some interactive tutorials or online classes that would allow for a specific program to be worked with, questions asked and answered, and a project for completion (beginner level to start) using the program which would last say 30 days. If the project was a 10 - 14 day project stretched out to 30 days, it would give all interested members and the instructor a chance to participate with the time they have - as well as a chance to just talk with each other over the month without scrambling to catch up with class. This would also give the programs (potentially 12 per year) some "air time" to show off their abilities and possibilities.

4 - Question and Answer section for any computer oriented items. I am thinking of a section for questions that are not provoked by troubleshooting an issue, but more off-handed: "I was just wondering what......." type of thing.

As a side note, I apologize for not having more mini tutorials and some technically interesting posts - very busy with work lately. I will have some more mini tutorials up this holiday season which will focus on customization and Stardock products, as well as a series of "basic hardware understanding 101 - for beginners" in the mini tutorial format (pictures and basic text) to help those who may be looking into new purchases and would want to know what the basic difference is between a dual processor and a single processor?, an AGP vs. PCI video card?, What does a lot of memory do for me?, what characteristics to look for in a monitor?, etc.

Note - these will be simple articles giving the beginner an understanding or picture in their mind of how these items generally work - not an advanced in-depth white paper on hardware. I am more adept at teaching on a "children's" level - or at least have more fun teaching in that way.

That's it for me.

A few new Moderators and Wizops have been added as of recently. You need to start there. They need to lead by example. They need to comment more on skins and get involved in the community more. 2 recent threads stsrted by myself to boost community morale didn't even see a single comment from most of the Community leaders. That is not setting a good example.

Before anyone goes flaming me.. think about it.

No flame....

I am probably guilty on that count....

Will do better, NT.

3 - Some interactive tutorials or online classes that would allow for a specific program to be worked with, questions asked and answered, and a project for completion (beginner level to start) using the program which would last say 30 days. If the project was a 10 - 14 day project stretched out to 30 days, it would give all interested members and the instructor a chance to participate with the time they have - as well as a chance to just talk with each other over the month without scrambling to catch up with class. This would also give the programs (potentially 12 per year) some "air time" to show off their abilities and possibilities.

I thinl this would be great! I can do and understand certain things, but so many of these tutorials are written under the assumption you have a level of understanding. I want to make a WB, but by the time I figure out the tutorial I have, the version will be way passed it. (I believe it already is) I want to the skinning contest, but after looking throuhg tutorials, I am still not sure where to start...bit depth's..etc, etc. I won't even get into DesktopX or the other's. Hell, I'm still trying to understand html when I build a webpage. (By the way, could someone look at what I have so far and tell me what the hell I am doing wrong?)

AS far as suggestions of my own...this may already exist within Stardock...but 'sub-communities'. Something similar to what DA offers, in that, members could form their own 'groups' and include other members of similar interests and expertise.

Well...I think I'm rated at No#1 with  "skin ratings" and No#2 with "WC General"...which certainly takes a bit of time/effort....

Getting people to interact more requires them to 'want' to interact more.....and hopefully not through the appeal of the 'flame-fest' or the 'self-destruction' of the recently disillusioned.

One thing that 'bugs' me is that along with the interconnectivity of the various sites' 'forums' comes the odd thread or three that has invisible comments...where half a conversation is going on merrily and people here on Wincustomize have to stare at it/them dumbly and guess.  This does not imbue anyone here with a sense of 'community', not when a bunch of people are invoking some quaint 'cone of silence'.  This needs to be fixed....

There must be a site-coded mechanism put in place to enable 'accountability' [not anonymity] for any and all 'alterations' of any forum threads, no matter what their origins.  Eg, if a Moderator removes a thread a comment should pop up to insert a reason so others are informed.  If a thread or comment poster edits a thread/comment then again an auto 'note' should be inserted to state time/date/who/reason.

Point awarding for comments made, etc....only IF those comments are something more intelligent than one-word 'spam'....eg. "Nice".

A system for personal one-on-one instant messaging...on-site.....nothing is better than 'instant gratification'...it's a 'now-society'...

Any and all bits of info in the 'About' section of the site...and all other bits that a user might stumble across...all need to be contemporaneous...ie. Up-to-date.

A system perhaps setup to allow people to 'compare themselves' [for want of a better term] by being able to list fellow users via their Access level....eg. "who else is a Journeyman like me?"

The threads' icons to be setup a little more logically.....closed envelope for one you have not read....open envelope for one you have read....and open envelope and new 'letter' for one you have read that has had a new comment since you read it.

Have the site's time-coding able to be set to the user's location, so there is a quick understanding of how long ago something happened, etc.

OK...there's some......I can probably dream up more....as no matter how good something is there is always room for improvement...

Point awarding for comments made, etc....only IF those comments are something more intelligent than one-word 'spam'....eg. "Nice".

Maybe points will help those who already post a lot, but I think those that make 20 trips a day AND DON'T interact aren't going to change to gets points. I figure it's almost a gaurantee that someone WILL start doing the "Nice" thing again just to watch their name move up the totem.

The private messaging thing is something I'd like to see also, but could end up taking some people off the boards instead.

My biggest suggestion for the forums would be to improve the search to the point where it can search through content and not just titles. I don't know that it would improve interaction but it sure would help those of us who try to provide support to those with questions.

Personally, I think the community here is great already. I've belonged to BBS's back in the late 80's and Compuserve in the very early 90's and the community here is among the best I've ever encountered. This forum is my homepage and that's because I lurked for quite a long time before I ever posted.

THE LURKERS are the ones you want to draw in. They come here often read the posts and maybe occasionally post a reply and even more rarely start a thread. I hate to look down the list and see a thread with 0 replies. That's gonna keep someone from posting again if their not used to it.

As for the promotions, I have no idea how they work or what the criteria is. I've seen several threads talking about overdue promotions and it might be better to clarify how the system works versus what it means to your access.

One thing that 'bugs' me is that along with the interconnectivity of the various sites' 'forums' comes the odd thread or three that has invisible comments...where half a conversation is going on merrily and people here on Wincustomize have to stare at it/them dumbly and guess. This does not imbue anyone here with a sense of 'community', not when a bunch of people are invoking some quaint 'cone of silence'. This needs to be fixe

DITTO

Thing is, when a comment is made, it is emailed to a mod, and then that mod decideds whether they get their point.

Thing is, when a comment is made, it is emailed to a mod, and then that mod decideds whether they get their point.

Heck, I hope not...I get enough emails already...

I am asking cause I don't know...What is the purpose of points? Besides 'standing' and or 'ranking' in the community, how else do you benefit from them?

I hate to look down the list and see a thread with 0 replies. That's gonna keep someone from posting again if their not used to it

I can relate to this. Especially, when it seems like the admin's are the only ones who reply out of a sense of obligation and/or commitment to the site.

Point awarding for comments made, etc....only IF those comments are something more intelligent than one-word 'spam'....eg. "Nice".

This is true. And I have been guilty of this on occasion. The problem I have, and 'maybe' some others, is that I have trouble 'critiquing' something that I can't create myself. (Example..WB's..heavily scripted stuff).

I agree with most of Jafo's input and really do not disagree with any of it ((Dont gasp Jafo!..LoL))

As for the "Point system" I really dont know if I like this idea..It does seem as if it will just open the door to mostly nonsense just to get points, or "Spam" if you will... It will end up to be an all out "Popularity Contest"

Anyway, just my thoughts on the point system..

No, there would be special comment mods.

No, there would be special comment mods.

I suppose that would work Meowy, if you had enough mods that could keep up with the flow of comments...

I mean if I understand correctly the suggestion involves Skin comments as well as Message Board posting...Exactly how many "Mods" would it take to keep track and award all the "Valid" points in a single givin day?

I dont know how anyone else feels but I would say that it would seem to be ALOT of work..I could be wrong, it happens..occassionaly..LoL

The comment would post and show up.

Then a mod would get an email containing the comment. They would then click a button to give the user the point.

See, it doesnt have to be real-time.

See, it doesnt have to be real-time.

Real time-consuming, however...to check the veracity of the comment you'd have to see the skin/object in question as well...and any prior comment/s.  Dealing with some of the current 'issues' can take an inordinate amount of time....this one would be a killer.

Example....one unobscured screenshot wall?....3 uploads and a grand total of 8 emails to and fro.  Total time expenditure? 'Lots'.  Value in the real world pertaining to this site? 'Insignificant'.....

Heck, I hope not...I get enough emails already..

And theres one comment on that note..

At any rate, I just do not think it's a great idea, and it really has little to do with how the points would be tallied...

We'll see how those that actually "matter" feel about it, LoL

roughly 3,000 people visit this site more than 20 times a day.

Out of that 3,000, how many are interactive?

I wonder what the daily total for forums and skin comments would be.......with 2000+ people posting one each that would require a lot of emails. I don't think that's practical.

If you had 10 comment mods, that's still 200 each. Even then without the context of a conversation they have no way of knowing if a comment is valid or "nice"

Guess I typed too slow

Out of that 3,000, how many are interactive?

If you looked at just the forums I'd guess somewhere in the neighboorhood of 100. The thing is there are other "groups" like the screenshot section. The few times I've looked in there it seemed there were a lot of comments with the same nicks, but they were nicks I hadn't seen before. There's also a lot of people commenting on skins that rarely or never post here in the forum. On top of that you got the chat area which I'm not young enough to have figured out yet.

There is a person who was good at community. He was not very diplomatic nor was he a good porter. In about a years time his DA site has 15,000 hits. This is due to him making comments and then people checking him out. I know he is here, why not let him off his leash? Every skin had a comment and although the spamming got annoying (you know it's true my friend), I'm sure he has learned many lessons. There was another as well who encouraged communty but it started to turn negative and he started disrespecting the authority here. He may have learned a lesson as well. You would be a better judge of that, I guess.

I won't be so bold as to tell the admins their business because I simply am not qualified to do so.. There are very good reasons why these people are not here. But if it's community comments you want, turn the bees loose.

Just a thought.

There was an 'example' of what's needed to be a 'close knit' community on IRC just earlier today.  Bit of misunderstanding and wrong inference between two people who have 'known' each other for quite a while...yet it all went a bit 'silly' when it had no reason to.

One way we define 'friends' and 'mates', whatever is through familiarity...and time/shared experience.

That comes through getting to know people...not just via a 'nick' here...but also their lives outside Wincustomize.com [yes, I believe there IS an 'outside' though it's elusive].

Nicks should be permanent, for starters...so people can keep track of who is who [part of that IRC problem].

Personal profiles/pages could have much more 'info' opportunities for people to find out about others' likings, interests, etc....

turn the bees loose.

I believe one of those has returned. That or someone hijacked his nick.