In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
A fine dilemma!
It seems a shame to disreguard the information that has been collected over the (?) years.
I suspect that those who are unwanted will be more motivated to rejoin than those who are genuine and pass by occasionally. Again, shame to lose people
Is there anyway to create another class of member - say provisional, with limited permissions - where we can put all current members - with a clear path to "full" membership, which requires the new steps that you want to put into place?
With my "advertisers" hat on - I am interested in forum membership as well as quality visitors to the magazine web pages, and in that context I am (a small) contributer to google ads and ItalyMag's own ads.
From a SEO point of view losing content and contributors may be a little detrimental, mainly if we don't get things back up and churning good content quickly. I'm sure you know a lot more about this than I do.
Item 4 - does that imply a period of parallel running? Where a founding group examines one site and nominates content to the other?
From my past (migrating users from IT system to IT system for example) people liked to be consulted (does not have to be a big consultation) and liked their data and identity moved seamelessly, even if the functionality is very different. Appreciate there is a massive difference between a business system for employees and a "web2" free forum by the way.
What are the business objectives for the change (not a trick question) - does it include resolving some of the past issues, or more towards future functions and features? Any thing else worth discussing either in this forum or wider?
Happy to help however I can
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]A fine dilemma!
It seems a shame to disreguard the information that has been collected over the (?) years.[/quote]
True - we would keep the existing forums accesible so the infromation will be available via search.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
I suspect that those who are unwanted will be more motivated to rejoin than those who are genuine and pass by occasionally. Again, shame to lose people [/quote]
Unfortunately I think you are right. However the challenge is to find an effective way to deal with that because they just don't want to give up. If they do sign up pretending to be someone else the question is how can we effectively monitor discussions so as to deal with that.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
Is there anyway to create another class of member - say provisional, with limited permissions - where we can put all current members - with a clear path to "full" membership, which requires the new steps that you want to put into place?[/quote]
This is an interesting idea - it should be possible to achieve this. Ask for people to verify membership in a way - or "renew interest".
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
With my "advertisers" hat on - I am interested in forum membership as well as quality visitors to the magazine web pages, and in that context I am (a small) contributer to google ads and ItalyMag's own ads.[/quote]
Well one of the reasons of the upgrade is to integrate the forums with the rest of the website and as an advertiser I am sure you will be happy with what we will be doing. There will be tons of more information available and navigation should be significantly improved.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
From a SEO point of view losing content and contributors may be a little detrimental, mainly if we don't get things back up and churning good content quickly. I'm sure you know a lot more about this than I do.,
[/quote]
The way things stack up right now there will be a drop but that is not that significant (especially since we will be keeping these forums accessible just switching off the ability to register.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
Item 4 - does that imply a period of parallel running? Where a founding group examines one site and nominates content to the other?[/quote]
Yes - that would be the idea.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
From my past (migrating users from IT system to IT system for example) people liked to be consulted (does not have to be a big consultation) and liked their data and identity moved seamelessly, even if the functionality is very different. Appreciate there is a massive difference between a business system for employees and a "web2" free forum by the way.[/quote]
I agree - and perhaps the dual membership level is the right solution for this. I also appreciate that there will be some discontent but hopefully the fact that the old forums will live on with the content will partially alleviate that.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
What are the business objectives for the change (not a trick question) - does it include resolving some of the past issues, or more towards future functions and features? Any thing else worth discussing either in this forum or wider?[/quote]
The long term objective is to make community an integral part of the ITALY website. This cannot effectively be done with the current forums both because of infrastructure and the historical problems with members, etc. We want to create a community space that is more 'modern'. Less funny faces and more useful information and honest exchange of opinions by people who care about italy and are interested in connecting with other people who are sharing similar interests.
[quote=piedmont_phil;82494]
Happy to help however I can[/quote]
The first step is to decide whether there is any merit in the clean slate approach and if there is then start discussing about the community we would like to see. Between moderators to start with and then also invite people who are interested to join in.
Ronald
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
eeeeeeeeeeee!
It strikes me that you have already decided, Ronald.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi David, no haven't decided yet although I am clearly leaning towards the clean slate approach. Wonder whether you have any arguments against that?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Here is another idea:
An invitation/membership application only forum with a much stricter entrance policy + a Wiki for information sharing.
The aim of the forum would be too create a community with a much smaller user base (in the dozens probably) but higher quality discussion and none of the crap focused on discussing the issues that people care about when interested in Italy. With more space for people to say what they like but less space for people to just waste everyone else's time. A place where you can speak you mind because it is ALL behind closed doors (not indexed by Google, etc) and every person coming in is vetted through an application process. People agree to use real names, etc and we try to check things as much as possible to ensure this is the case.
The Wiki on the other hand is a place where anyone can join to share information about Italy -just like Wikipedia. We would work to flesh out the Wiki with information already on this forums as well as add more material from what ITALY has published over the years.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[COLOR=black]I think the wiki is a great idea and in line with a lot going on in the web. Don't underestimate the amount of politics & opinionated self publicising that can be generated via a wiki - and once out there will take a life of its own.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Private message board does not excite me too much.[/COLOR]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Ok - so currently we are with maybe clean slate but add a Wiki. I realise that Wiki's can be just as contentious/if not worse than forums so we will need to keep a careful eye on things. The only good thing is that debates are focused on specific topics and the accuracy or not of facts and happen "behind" the article as it were...
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi, I am glad you are leaning towards a clean slate and new structure/system because I think the forum format is a bit of a clunky old dinosaur, and we need to move with the times. I think it sounds really interesting, and possibly if the discussions are behind closed doors as you seem to suggest, perhaps the lack of audience will discourage baiting etc?
The wiki idea is very important I think, particularly when people come looking for information. Having knowledgable editors that monitor input is vital though.
I should add that a lot of the user generated content in the Grand Tour would be transfered over in the case of a clean slate start.