DocAndersen
Ellie had a great suggestion (no not her oblong ball game known as American Football) instead of that the site needs to be improved before new authors are brought on. Several people noted that the quality of the site is part of the problem now. We lost a writer today, who is tired of waiting for their posts to be approved. I suspect that it is time for us to start being a little louder about what we need. While I certainly understand that we, as authors, do not own this site. Without our content, this site will fade away. I know I bring between 800 and 1000 views a day to this site. If we count all the authors on the site, we are routinely bringing the views that pay the salaries of the admins.
We have a right to ask for improvements. So let’s do that! Please don’t waste my time telling me that we don’t own the site and that the admins don’t care. They have responded to our requests in the past. So far, they have done 8 of the 17 things we have asked. Within days last July within weeks last February. We have the content that makes this site go.
The reality of sites like this one is that it attracts writers. We can be a beautiful warm community and welcome new authors, once the site is fixed. So I’ve listed the fundamental issues from our previous discussions as a community for us to take to the admin team again.
- Functional Drafts Folder
- A 48 hour (other than a weekend) publication guarantee
- We need clearly defined site rules
- We need clear and concise communication from the admins
- We need, once the site is fixed, a way to invite new authors
- We need polls fixed!
I have been told over and over by the admin team that they do not read posts. When they moderate, they check for plagiarism (previously published information). They do not check for grammar, spelling, or content. As a community, we are responsible for reporting content or authors that we feel violate the community rules (that we need to be published by the admins). We are the reason the site goes. Let’s work together to get it moving in the right direction!
This work is Copyright DocAndersen. Any resemblance to people real or fictional in this piece is accidental (unless explicitly mentioned by name.)
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Question of
we need a functional drafts folder
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Yes
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No
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Question of
we need (other than weekends) posts moderated in less than 48 hours. We are losing authors because of this delay.
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Yes
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No
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Question of
We need clearly defined site rules.
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Yes
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No
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Question of
We need clear and concise communication from the Admin team
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Yes
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No
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Question of
We need, once the site is fixed, a way to add new authors
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Yes
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No
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Question of
we need polls fixed
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Round one pick as many as you find critical!
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Yes
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Q: WE NEED A FUNCTIONAL DRAFTS FOLDER
Yes (8 votes) – 100%
Q: WE NEED (OTHER THAN WEEKENDS) POSTS MODERATED IN LESS THAN 48 HOURS. WE ARE LOSING AUTHORS BECAUSE OF THIS DELAY.
Yes (8 votes) – 100%
Q: WE NEED CLEARLY DEFINED SITE RULES.
Yes (7 votes) – 88%
No (1 votes) – 13%
Q: WE NEED CLEAR AND CONCISE COMMUNICATION FROM THE ADMIN TEAM
Yes (7 votes) – 88%
No (1 votes) – 13%
Q: WE NEED, ONCE THE SITE IS FIXED, A WAY TO ADD NEW AUTHORS
Yes (7 votes) – 88%
No (1 votes) – 13%
Q: WE NEED POLLS FIXED
Yes (8 votes) – 100%
Q: ROUND ONE PICK AS MANY AS YOU FIND CRITICAL!
Yes (5 votes) – 100%
You are bringing 1000 views to the site every day!!!! This is amazing. Congrats. Will not pay us again every time we comment and read other posts????
The reason they stopped paying for comments was to cut down on the people that were commenting on every post on the site and never responding. We have posters that rarely comment, and comments that rarely reply.
the site tried to fix both of those problems. No more than 6 posts a day. No payment for comments and views on other posts.
Not much to add here, everyone said it all. Let’s hope you succeed Doc.
i have gotten the admin team to make 8 of the 17 changes we’ve asked. I admit that there is a couple of long term asks on this list, that are really hard.
but the communication one – that could happen…
Any improvement is worthwhile and appreciated Doc. I’m lagging behind and have bad internet comms. Hopefully, things will improve soon.
i am sorry about your internet. I miss reading your posts!
Thank you, appreciated as always.
I remember on Helium, another since closed writing site, they allowed a “writer” to become part of the Admin team.
On Wikinut, a good site while it lasted too, the moderators were actually writers, that got “paid” for their role as moderators. They got double the value of views, I think, plus some of the value of the views of the writer’s articles that they moderated too.
We were all vying to become moderators there…lol…
Doc, you are fast becoming an “unpaid” member of the Admin team too.
i have a day job so Ill pass on the unpaid admin role 🙂
I was friends (online) with the creator of Niume. I stayed there long after it stopped paying because I believed in what he wanted to do. I only left when he passed away.
Communication is the key here!
Communication with the right type of language, and spirit of cooperation, give and take, and understanding of each other’s position helps too, I would say.
at this point, from the admin team, any communication would be welcomed!
All of your suggestions are great and absolutely necessary if we want to keep this site. I hope the admins are aware of that too.
i am going to make them aware, i don’t quit!
I hope you succeed. The proverb says: perseverance is a beautiful virtue 😊
yes, that is a much nicer way than the other one “the only one left is the most stubborn person in the room.”
You are right. A lot can be achieved with a nice word. I’m pretty stubborn, too. 😊
my grandfather always said the following:
When all there trees in a grove are knocked down by heavy wind it is not a stubborn tree that grows. It is a tree that is going to be knocked down.
basically we have to balance stubborn with intelligence!
a kind word in fact takes us a lot further!
It can be seen that your father was very smart and intelligent. Problems must be solved with common sense.
yes he was – i wish I could be as smart as he was.
I think you are also very smart and intelligent.
Yes to all, as you know, communication should be #1 but nobody listens to me for years now. 🙁
communication is number one in my heart without a doubt!
#6 should read (IMHO): “we need polls and quizzes fixed”. I came to this site originally while looking for a site to host my quizzes. If the quiz-making program had been as dysfunctional then as it is now, I wouldn’t have stayed a week.
Apart from that, I think you’ve done a great job of singling out the most important changes that are needed. Here’s hoping…
i am so sorry, i thought i should add quizzes but to get the polls to work takes so long. You are right quizzes are critical!!!
Look, I know how to make a quiz by circumventing, via circuitous means, the current dysfunctionality. But if a new user tried to make a quiz right now, they would give up before ever making one 🙁
yeah, i spent 20 minutes building this poll so that it would work. You are right and so is Ellie, we have community and knowledge, take that away and you have a new user. Yes we would welcome them, but the frustration of the platform would drive them away.
i added quizzes to the new poll today, sorry again I didn’t include them originally
That’s cool, I saw that 🙂
sorry again 🙂 sadly we didn’t do well on the new poll (Polls and Quizzes) but communication did well so Carol will be happy!
Communication is very important – no doubt about it.
These are all great suggestions!
thanks for knocking me back on track. I really appreciate the kindness! we need things working to bring on new writers.
that is my new mantra!
That’s a great mantra! We have our friendships and happy memories here but a new user wouldn’t have that benefit so it’s really important that things work decently for someone new to stay.
yes it is, I am going to clean up today’s poll and put together something to send to the admin team!