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Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?
JavaJones:
That may be true, but it's kind of ironic since as I recall the DC search function was specially written by a DC member to be an improvement on the default SMF search (and then published as a module for the SMF community). I wonder what further improvements could be made. Maybe some smarter auto-sorting, rather than the default "relevancy" (or making "relevancy" more intelligent).
- Oshyan
IainB:
@urlwolf and @JavaJones Maybe we need to think outside the box here. We need to round the square and put our best foot forward, making the most of the potential synergies. We need to kick ass! You can bake shoes in an oven, but it won't make them into biscuits! I kid you not - do eagles flock?! (Note: Taken from an EDS management vocabulary training handbook.)
Whether the search function is "broken" or as good as it might have been could be irrelevant if the user came away from the search with a really good feeling after the experience. Who cares then whether it worked or not? This is what the "user experience" is all about. It's all a matter of perception.
Look at the stats: The gender distribution of search users over the past 12 months was mainly (i.e., not counting hermaphrodites or other people who understandably might be confused about their gender) 97.3% male, and only 2.7% female. That's right! You can see who your target audience is right there! It's the guys! Of those users who had a "bad" or disappointing user experience because of the search quality/result (approx. 44% in both groups, interestingly), 27.6% of the males and 0.25% of the females have said that THEY WILL NOT USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION AGAIN. This could be quite serious, and is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. That's why you need to think outside the box, because the answer is unlikely to be inside the box, especially if it is a very small box, though I suppose if it was the Tardis then it might be in there, somewhere.
Moving on.
Going forward together, with synergy, what could be done to:
(a) effect a significant improvement in the user experience?
(b) encourage the self-absented/disappointed users to come back?
The answer is simple!:
* (a) Build a delay into the search response of (say) 10 seconds after the search has been started. (The optimum time delay could be decided by experiment.)
* (b) Have a largish (say) 4cm high animated icon of a naked Angelina Jolie - or maybe any babe - blowing you a kiss or doing something nastier, but only during the 10-second delay i.e., it stops after the delay, when the search results are presented. An example of the sort of icon thingy I am talking about is attached.
* (c) Announce that the search function has just been upgraded to perform 120% better.
Results?
* This would be guaranteed to blast the user experience up by a factor of 150% (at least)! Do the math! :Thmbsup:
* The take-away would an enormous feel-good factor for 99.97% of your target audience, who will tell 87.3% of their friends about it, 99% of whom will rush off to try it out and tell their friends about it, thus increasing the number of users of the DC Search function at an exponential rate! :Thmbsup:
* The big king hit in this? Nobody in the target audience will be driven away, and THOSE WHO HAD LEFT WILL COME BACK. That's right, they will drag their sorry asses back when they hear about the new search function (99.8% probability). :Thmbsup:
How d'you like THEM apples?!
This thing could go viral, man! You'll have millions of people pushing that "Search" button all day long! I know I would be! Server overload! None of them will give a fig about the quality of the actual search or its results, and ALL OF THEM - that's 100% - will be happy campers now! In fact, you could disable the search itself and just print the same fake results page every time - save the server load - and still no-one would notice!
Editor's note: 93.75% of statistics are made up.
[EDITED TO REMOVE ADULT PICTURE -- mouser]
40hz:
Does Donation Coder have anything like a current mission statement?
Maybe part of what's happening is that the DoCo is evolving in directions not intended (and possibly not wanted) by the administration and/or general membership?
The reason I ask is because (purely from my perspective as a non-coder participant) the name Donation Coder does not seem to accurately reflect what the site is about.
For some, that would be considered a positive development showing how the site has shifted emphasis in keeping with changes in membership interests and demographics. For others, it could be seen as an sign that things having gotten out of control, or indicative of a lack of focus.
So I guess a big part of the question is whether it may be approaching the time when DC wants to "get back to its roots" so to speak.
The bulk of the concerns seem to revolve around issues like "signal to noise" and "search and retrieval." From my experience doing websites, those are issues that only come up when a site has either become overly generalized - or has gotten divorced from its original goal.
So...is this an issue that also needs to be considered?
Is DC trying to be too many things to too many people?
Or perhaps more correctly: do too many people want DC to be too many things? :)
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ADDENDUM: (Note: NSFW)
Spoiler
;)
Shades:
+1 with what 40Hz said in the previous post.
@IanB (and maybe the rest of the DC crowd):
If you would walk here through the city center/shopping malls on any given day in the summer, you would utter the words: "Angelina who?" within 20 minutes.
In other words, not that impressed with Miss Jolie/missus Pitt
MilesAhead:
afa AJ goes... for those like myself not enamored of plastic surgery, I recommend the flick
Foxfire
Not only does AJ display the goods pre operation, but the movie actually has a pretty good plot. It does tend to devolve into cliche in the last 1/2 hour though.
Like many flicks, the first 45 minutes or so are interesting.
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