Special User Sections > Site/Forum Features

Discussion: How can we Improve DonationCoder?

<< < (9/18) > >>

Dormouse:
Seems to me that DC has an awful lot of members for a site like this, so I don't think many people are being put off by the idea or practice of donating. Also seems to me that there's a lot of posts and threads and a lot of continuity of ideas and discussion as well as a lot of new ideas and discussions; not many sites have that either, and I don't think we'd have that if the mix of posters changed.

AFAICS, the site is for people interested in software (writing/using or both) and has a high proportion of nice, helpful and knowledgeable posters and a lot of that character comes across because threads do veer from serious and focussed to inconsequential and funny.

I'm not sure there's a great deal broken in any of that and I wouldn't want it to change. Not to say there aren't things that could be done better, but we don't want to risk losing anything to do it.

Which sort of brings me to the wiki. In some ways I like the idea, but I do have a concern about whether it is really the way to go. For a wiki to be useful, it needs to be kept up-to-date. There's a lot of subjects we would want in it and keeping a lot of things up-to-date on a forum as active as these would take a lot of effort and even more commitment, however many people it was spread across. I'm sure we'd be able to set it up, I'm not so sure we would succeed in keeping it going at the same level. And a lot of that effort would just be recycling stuff that is here already (even if it is not always easy to find). I just feel that there is probably a more productive way for that time to be used.

But there is a real issue over reviews. Useful reviews are ever more difficult for Search to find on the net, being swamped by software download sites and short opinions/reviews/blogs often of a single product by people whose experience and expertise is debatable once you have read the review. There is a lot of knowledge and expertise in forum members and a lot comes through in the forums. What the old, big reviews had was a systematic approach by what seemed to be a single person (?) per review, probably with extra input, and it was possible to see the biases and factors they believed important. I suspect that our time would be better spent getting closer to that model again. Possibly with comments & relevant threads being edited and maintained in an accompanying wiki, and with updates. Before a review was tackled, we could all comment on the factors we personally find important in that type of software and suggest which software should be looked at. I wasn't really around at the time, but it does feel rather like the old model.  I don't know if it is possible, but I do know that if I was looking on the net for something, it is what I would be searching for.

40hz:
The name of the site doesn't perfectly match what the site is anymore.. But i'm not sure it's practical to change it.. Names have a way of gaining emotional traction and momentum, and changing the name would cause all kinds of havok and confusion.
-mouser (April 26, 2010, 03:26 PM)
--- End quote ---

+1 with Mouser on that point. The name doesn't have to perfectly fit the site so long as it's recognized.

There's a good amount of brand recognition associated with the DC name and it would be counterproductive to change it. And  it's also getting fairly difficult to find a good succinct domain name with all the new registrations that have taken place.

cranioscopical:
+1 with Mouser on that point. The name doesn't have to perfectly fit the site so long as it's recognized.
-40hz
--- End quote ---
+1 again.

The name is also nicely ambiguous, viz. donation to coder for software/donation of software by coder.

mouser:
Also let's face it, when a friend asks "what is donationcoder?" one already has to reserve time for a 30 minute sit-down and powerpoint slide show to explain it. Changing the domain name would at best cut the presentation down by only 1 minute, so it hardly seems worth the effort.

40hz:
a 30 minute sit-down and powerpoint slide show
-mouser (April 26, 2010, 09:21 PM)
--- End quote ---

I'm ok with the 30 minute sit-down...but I beg you - not the dreaded Powerpoint presentation!


Please, please, pretty please?

I promise I'll be good from now on...  :'(

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page