community feedback

[abhorsen.]

as we said +here, we're going to move forward with getting rid of clubs.

c&p-ing our last paragraph from that post:

we do agree that a smaller environment can be a nice way for new/returning people to get to know others without the somewhat-intimidating feeling of the full site, and that's something we definitely want to preserve. we also agree that giving members a chance for recognition on a smaller scale would be really great. we'll be posting a thread for y'all to talk about what you'd like to see, but some of the things we're looking at doing once we have more time freed up include:

• trimming down parts of the forums; somebody mentioned there being a lot of unused space, and we absolutely agree.
• a "start here" club/subforum where new/returning/shyer/whatever members could pop in and introduce themselves, complain about writing together, and generally participate in more small-scale activities.
• a "story spotlight" or something along those lines where our team keeps an eye out for lesser-recognized stories we want to highlight;
• more flash events/games similar to those kris has posted this year - e.g., leaving short reviews, etc.
• the cc-team getting back to hosting more writing events.

do y'all have any other ideas for things you'd like to see that you feel could improve our community?

[Darling_take_off_the_mask]

So I have a half-baked thought about forum activity levels and I don't really know what the answer is (which is... entirely unhelpful, I know) so I'm just throwing it out here hoping it might spark some discussion or encourage others to give their input if they've felt similarly.

One of the reasons we got rid of House CR's was that they were pretty dead, and it seemed to me that their activity levels declined after the site went multi-fandom and we got rid of the annual House Cup (which makes perfect sense).

It felt like back when the site was HP-centric, having the House Cup going on all year was a tangible thing to be constantly working towards, if that makes sense? I mean, some members don't care one way or another about the competition aspect, but it was like a cohesive goal for the whole community, and not just at 2 or 3 times during the year. Like right now it feels like we have "OMG NANOWRIMO!" in November and then "OMG REVIEW EVENT!" in March and... what happens in between? We all just kind of hang out and forget this place is here. (Edit: I lied, we also have the winter gifting event, which is super fun, so really it's like the site is slow from April to October. )

What we've seen is that everyone really likes to be engaged in things like the mini-gifting events or the review event we had earlier this year where you could claim a team. So when there's a "goal" of some sort, people get active again.

Is there a way to translate that into something that encompasses the entire year? I don't know what the answer is.  Also, we definitely can't all be going 110% all the time because burnout is a thing. But I'm wondering what aspects of the old model can continue to apply to the present site?

(Also, at what point would the mini-events result in diminishing returns? Because it seems like the more "special"/ temporary an event is, the more activity it gets, whereas things that are similar and are always around are super dead, like the review tag thread -- which is the same concept as the mini-review/gift threads but nobody bothers with it?)

[Hawksquill]

On 9/6/2021 at 9:58 PM, RonsGirlFriday said:

So I have a half-baked thought about forum activity levels and I don't really know what the answer is (which is... entirely unhelpful, I know) so I'm just throwing it out here hoping it might spark some discussion or encourage others to give their input if they've felt similarly.

One of the reasons we got rid of House CR's was that they were pretty dead, and it seemed to me that their activity levels declined after the site went multi-fandom and we got rid of the annual House Cup (which makes perfect sense).

It felt like back when the site was HP-centric, having the House Cup going on all year was a tangible thing to be constantly working towards, if that makes sense? I mean, some members don't care one way or another about the competition aspect, but it was like a cohesive goal for the whole community, and not just at 2 or 3 times during the year. Like right now it feels like we have "OMG NANOWRIMO!" in November and then "OMG REVIEW EVENT!" in March and... what happens in between? We all just kind of hang out and forget this place is here. (Edit: I lied, we also have the winter gifting event, which is super fun, so really it's like the site is slow from April to October. )

What we've seen is that everyone really likes to be engaged in things like the mini-gifting events or the review event we had earlier this year where you could claim a team. So when there's a "goal" of some sort, people get active again.

Is there a way to translate that into something that encompasses the entire year? I don't know what the answer is.  Also, we definitely can't all be going 110% all the time because burnout is a thing. But I'm wondering what aspects of the old model can continue to apply to the present site?

(Also, at what point would the mini-events result in diminishing returns? Because it seems like the more "special"/ temporary an event is, the more activity it gets, whereas things that are similar and are always around are super dead, like the review tag thread -- which is the same concept as the mini-review/gift threads but nobody bothers with it?)

 +1 to all of this.  Also I don't really have developed thoughts or suggestions about how to fix this, but I feel like the short-term team events can be very high intensity.  I know I should be able to dial back my participation to the level that works for me but I end up overcommitting myself and then getting mega burnt out on the site.  Like I feel like I'll be super active in short spurts during the events and then I just find the whole thing so stressful that I don't engage for weeks or months at a time because it's associated with that fun-but-stressful-thing-that's-finally-over, so I should take a break.

Basically I wish there were longer term, lower intensity team-based friendly competition type activities.  I get that this is hard to plan and everyone already works so hard so this isn't necessarily a helpful suggestion.  And long-term team things might not work as well now that we're moving away from house cups and house stuff in general.  Buuut just throwing it out there in case it sparks some totally brill idea.

[Owlpost68]

What's a fun new concept to me is the daily, "who has won the day in points". What could increase activity is if we had review or writing activity awards that who ever wins gets a shout out on the news ticker with the encouragement to check out their AP and reward them with a review. This would help people be inspired to write more and review more and be exposed to stories they wouldn't necessarily know about any other way. Since this could be weekly/biweekly more new users could win instead of seeing lots of familiar users win. Don't get me wrong, it makes sense for more seasoned users to win more events because they've literally been here longer, but it's also part of why it discourages new users from participating. Maybe?? 

(P.S There would need to be a couple of threads to post links to activity in to check for these things. To prevent so many posts, we could ask users to keep track of their links until the day before the "Awards" are distributed so that way it's easier to tally and less work for the volunteers. The links would just be to verify the dates users wrote/reviewed on. Each user could have their own thread to keep track of their work to say what they worked on, edited their stories, reviewed others. Whoever has the most posts on their thread (Once daily between the start and end of the award period) would win).

Sorry if this is too confusing an idea, but it could be a start? I like the idea of having somewhere to keep track of what I did and maybe get an award for it. Right now, if I update a story, maybe someone will read it if we do a swap, but I'd like to encourage the idea of just reading and reviewing something because We Like It not because we've committed to it/have to in order to get something back.

[Darling_take_off_the_mask]

2 hours ago, Owlpost68 said:

What's a fun new concept to me is the daily, "who has won the day in points". What could increase activity is if we had review or writing activity awards that who ever wins gets a shout out on the news ticker with the encouragement to check out their AP and reward them with a review. This would help people be inspired to write more and review more and be exposed to stories they wouldn't necessarily know about any other way. Since this could be weekly/biweekly more new users could win instead of seeing lots of familiar users win. Don't get me wrong, it makes sense for more seasoned users to win more events because they've literally been here longer, but it's also part of why it discourages new users from participating. Maybe?? 

(P.S There would need to be a couple of threads to post links to activity in to check for these things. To prevent so many posts, we could ask users to keep track of their links until the day before the "Awards" are distributed so that way it's easier to tally and less work for the volunteers. The links would just be to verify the dates users wrote/reviewed on. Each user could have their own thread to keep track of their work to say what they worked on, edited their stories, reviewed others. Whoever has the most posts on their thread (Once daily between the start and end of the award period) would win).

Sorry if this is too confusing an idea, but it could be a start? I like the idea of having somewhere to keep track of what I did and maybe get an award for it. Right now, if I update a story, maybe someone will read it if we do a swap, but I'd like to encourage the idea of just reading and reviewing something because We Like It not because we've committed to it/have to in order to get something back.

I think you did lose me a bit in the first couple of paragraphs  but what I think you meant is like, the users who are most active around the forums for whatever [activity period] (a day, a week, etc) get a little shout-out in a banner and other users are encouraged to visit their AP and perhaps leave them reviews?

I definitely think there’s something to the idea of recognizing people for activity levels. I’m not entirely sure this would necessarily translate into higher AP traffic and receiving readers/reviews. Based on experience and observation. Like if members aren’t already taking the initiative to go leave reviews for someone who posts in the new story thread or a status update about a new fic, I’m not seeing that behavior would change when someone is identified as the member who won the [activity/ time period].

I know it can feel kind of… uh, is squicky the right feeling?… to think people are leaving you reviews out of “obligation” like in a swap or something. But I’m actually working on a blog post about this now. A great way to build readership and relationships where you get feedback is to do things like swaps and review tag and review requests and so forth. From one perspective it can appear transactional but really it’s about the give and take of being part of a community as well. And a lot of my favorite stories are things that started out as review requests in my thread or review swaps, or from a challenge entry or something I found on someone’s AP when I was leaving challenge prize reviews. The archives being as large as they are, coupled with the demands of RL, I think for many people this approach can be less overwhelming as well. 

[Owlpost68]

5 hours ago, RonsGirlFriday said:

I think you did lose me a bit in the first couple of paragraphs  but what I think you meant is like, the users who are most active around the forums for whatever [activity period] (a day, a week, etc) get a little shout-out in a banner and other users are encouraged to visit their AP and perhaps leave them reviews?

I definitely think there’s something to the idea of recognizing people for activity levels. I’m not entirely sure this would necessarily translate into higher AP traffic and receiving readers/reviews. Based on experience and observation. Like if members aren’t already taking the initiative to go leave reviews for someone who posts in the new story thread or a status update about a new fic, I’m not seeing that behavior would change when someone is identified as the member who won the [activity/ time period].

I know it can feel kind of… uh, is squicky the right feeling?… to think people are leaving you reviews out of “obligation” like in a swap or something. But I’m actually working on a blog post about this now. A great way to build readership and relationships where you get feedback is to do things like swaps and review tag and review requests and so forth. From one perspective it can appear transactional but really it’s about the give and take of being part of a community as well. And a lot of my favorite stories are things that started out as review requests in my thread or review swaps, or from a challenge entry or something I found on someone’s AP when I was leaving challenge prize reviews. The archives being as large as they are, coupled with the demands of RL, I think for many people this approach can be less overwhelming as well. 

I realize I was a little rambly, sorry, I just couldn't think of another way to explain it. I guess it's more of a personal thing, if I see that some people are getting recognition for leaving the most reviews, I would check their stories out and make sure they are getting reviews too so they don't feel it's one-sided. To me, it has felt a little "Squicky" as we can now refer it, doing so many swaps, but I don't know if I ever thought of it as a way to build readerships and relationships. It does make it easier for people to review in their own time if RL is getting much. I think I've just been through a lot in the past where swaps are forgotten and I never get a review that's promised... That's my experience that's jaded I guess.

 

I just wanted to offer some specific suggestions so thanks for reviewing them, so to speak  We'll keep thinking. I still like the idea of a shout out on the news ticker, I know it'd make me feel special to be up there!

[abhorsen.]

3 hours ago, Owlpost68 said:

I realize I was a little rambly, sorry, I just couldn't think of another way to explain it. I guess it's more of a personal thing, if I see that some people are getting recognition for leaving the most reviews, I would check their stories out and make sure they are getting reviews too so they don't feel it's one-sided.

i think that is a really nice thought! a great place to start doing this to recognize people who leave a lot of reviews would be looking at something like the review requests area, keeping track of who leaves the most reviews during events, or checking out the top reviewer board +here.

  

3 hours ago, Owlpost68 said:

I still like the idea of a shout out on the news ticker, I know it'd make me feel special to be up there!

i can totally understand why you'd feel that way! putting that kind of effort into maintaining the ticker is not something that the admin team has the bandwidth to do, though - this needs to be stuff that anyone on the staff team can take on as they have the time, rather than be something specific to a particular role.

[Owlpost68]

16 hours ago, abhorsen plague doctor. said:

i think that is a really nice thought! a great place to start doing this to recognize people who leave a lot of reviews would be looking at something like the review requests area, keeping track of who leaves the most reviews during events, or checking out the top reviewer board +here.

  

i can totally understand why you'd feel that way! putting that kind of effort into maintaining the ticker is not something that the admin team has the bandwidth to do, though - this needs to be stuff that anyone on the staff team can take on as they have the time, rather than be something specific to a particular role.

I didn't know there was a top reviewer board. Maybe once in a while a staffer (or anybody for that matter) could put it in a status. Another problem I sometimes have is that the "Recent posts" column is below the statuses and I don't scroll down that far. Maybe moving it to above the statuses would help users remember there are lots of interesting topics to check out here. Most of the time, I just don't know where they are or if people are really active there.

I didn't know what went into maintaining the ticker, so that's fine. Just a thought

[abhorsen.]

those are definitely some interesting structural ideas that the staff team will certainly discuss as we trim down the forums.

[Oregonian]

Hi, staff members.  Here are a couple of thoughts about recognitions.

Since the computer update last summer, recognitions have switched from being based on writing and reviewing to being based on forum participation (posts, blogs, reactions received, followers amassed, longevity on the site, etc).  I have not seen an official description of how the new system works, but I have figured out some things by simply looking at the badges already earned by longtime active members.  I discovered that if I click the down arrow next to my name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, I see a little drop-down screen that tells me how many more points I need to earn to progress to the next level, and day by day that number decreases, but I don't know specifically what actions on my part make that number decrease, or how many points correspond to each level.  And I don't know what the badge named "Reacting Well" recognizes, although one might hazard a guess.  It would be nice to see a description of the way the system works, a list of the available badges & their increments, and the point values for forum activities and level standards.  I assume that the computer program automatically flags when a member earns a badge or proceeds to a new level.

Prior to the present badge system, this site had a recognition system based on writing and reviewing.  Members were recognized for milestones such as total numbers of stories written, chapters written, or word counts.  Also for story types (novels, various shorter works, drabbles, poetry) and subjects (number of HP eras, number of different fandoms).  In reviewing, we were recognized for total number of reviews, number of different authors we reviewed, multiple reviews of the many chapters of a novel, review sprints (lots of reviews over a short span of time).  Also for number of challenges entered  and/or won, site-wide and house-wide awards earned, and so on.  I believe that the members had to keep track of their individual progress, and apply for badges when they had earned them, and a staffer had to verify the count and award the badge.  That must have been a lot of work since the computer did not do it automatically.

Since this site has two functions, writing & reviewing and discussion & camaraderie, it would be nice to have the two kinds of recognition.  I'm thinking of a topic in the spirit of Writers' Journals.  Call it something like Writers' Milestones, and each writer can start their own thread, like their writer's journal, where they can post when they reach a milestone significant to them.  Perhaps the introductory blurb could list examples of possible milestones for us to shoot for.  To keep things easy, no staffer would verify the claims (honor system), and no actual medals would be awarded, but it would be a place to give us goals to shoot for and to celebrate our achievements or congratulate one another, especially the new members as they write, post, and review.