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Shirker
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« Reply #60 on: January 09, 2008, 04:25:41 PM » |
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When we last raked over the coals a year ago I suggested steering DDN more towards general tech rather than towards web design, if indeed it needs to be steered anywhere. I personally think there is more life in a general tech community than a focused web design one. Then again, that's because I'm not a web designer and not particularly interested in that any more, but I do like tech. However, for my two penneth, something more tech related, with the foum at its heart as the front end (the forum IS ddn) and other stuff used to give the forum support and depth, would be a way to go.
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Mr Tickle
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« Reply #61 on: January 09, 2008, 05:09:10 PM » |
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When we last raked over the coals a year ago I suggested steering DDN more towards general tech rather than towards web design, if indeed it needs to be steered anywhere. I personally think there is more life in a general tech community than a focused web design one. Then again, that's because I'm not a web designer and not particularly interested in that any more, but I do like tech. However, for my two penneth, something more tech related, with the foum at its heart as the front end (the forum IS ddn) and other stuff used to give the forum support and depth, would be a way to go.
Yeah I agree with this. Web design/development is done to death elsewhere IMHO. That doesn't mean it can't be discussed, but I'd see it as part of a broader techy site. I wouldn't want DDN to turn into a geek site though. Maybe gadget reviews, inventions (not necessarily IT) could be covered but in a laid back non-geeky DDN way IYSWIM, as well as the other off topic stuff of course. I think the photography forum is good too and maybe that can be developed a bit more ? Just brainstorming a bit here really. |
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Scooby
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« Reply #62 on: January 09, 2008, 05:45:45 PM » |
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When we last raked over the coals a year ago I suggested steering DDN more towards general tech rather than towards web design, if indeed it needs to be steered anywhere. I personally think there is more life in a general tech community than a focused web design one. Then again, that's because I'm not a web designer and not particularly interested in that any more, but I do like tech. However, for my two penneth, something more tech related, with the foum at its heart as the front end (the forum IS ddn) and other stuff used to give the forum support and depth, would be a way to go.
Yeah I agree with this. Web design/development is done to death elsewhere IMHO. That doesn't mean it can't be discussed, but I'd see it as part of a broader techy site. I wouldn't want DDN to turn into a geek site though. Maybe gadget reviews, inventions (not necessarily IT) could be covered but in a laid back non-geeky DDN way IYSWIM, as well as the other off topic stuff of course. I think the photography forum is good too and maybe that can be developed a bit more ? Just brainstorming a bit here really. As a 'newbie' I'd third that. I lurked around here, and the old forum for a while, but never really contributed... the 'old' front end was generally passed by, as most the info was not of interest to me directly (having said that, i originally found DDN from googling (or whatever it was in those days) for some random php code)....... You could got down the road of www.aelon.net - although its effectively a gaming blog i know one of the contributors, and although its gaming focus, the contributors submit more or less what they like in their area of interest / expertise etc... Having said that, there forum is dead... go figure. The only thing i would say... if the forum is the heart, that should be on the landing page.... at the moment, a casual stop bye reveals no new content and no 'attention grabbers', what prompts me to look further, or invstigate the forum etc.... not that my opinion amounts to bugger all though.  |
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Shirker
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« Reply #63 on: January 09, 2008, 06:02:13 PM » |
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The only thing i would say... if the forum is the heart, that should be on the landing page.... at the moment, a casual stop bye reveals no new content and no 'attention grabbers', what prompts me to look further, or invstigate the forum etc....
not that my opinion amounts to bugger all though. That's a good point - the forum being on the front page bit, not that your opinion amounts to bugger all. The only time I ever see the front page is if I'm logging in from a friend's PC or a hotel PC, etc. |
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yawner
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« Reply #64 on: January 09, 2008, 06:16:58 PM » |
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As a 'newbie' I'd third that.
Welcome newbie Scooby!!  |
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"Far less of a c*** than you used to be" - Mrs Y
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Mike@TheWhippinpost
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« Reply #65 on: January 09, 2008, 06:27:39 PM » |
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Since frontend content is the problem, why not either have a selection of forum excerpts: "Post of the day/week/month"?
Or simply have the frontend auto-grab (and publish) excerpts anyway?
Currently, there is just one link to the forum from the home page. Doing the above will make life a lot easier for the SEs etal.
As an aside, I notice the forum now has RSS; does the forum software auto-ping the aggregators?
This is, I presume, about getting new blood on-board; as such, I personally think worrying about a redesign is missing the point - Go to any forum and you see the same ole' designs. Does anyone join and contribute to them any less, or more, because of the design?
It is about the community, as Nige says - Analysing the merits of a redesign - let alone getting it done - will just mean we'll (once again) be having this conversation next year, IMO.
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This sig is sponsored by International Gayboy of the Decade, Deepthroat Yawner. Yawner - A man who takes it all  |
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THiNK
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« Reply #66 on: January 09, 2008, 06:49:36 PM » |
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Being someone who was here from the start DDN has gone through a few changes in the years its been live. My personal view and one thats been made even more apparent during the time I've been way is the fact its lost all direction and reason. A lot of people have left that were very regular posters for one reason or another and thats had a huge effect on the forum element.
Time's also a huge factor for DDN as not one of us has been paid for anything that happened in the past and I guess its still the same. So it's always going to be hard to get the focus a site like this has always needed.
As a spin of from .net the forum and front end always had a focus. Web design/development. The one thing we had over .net was a general discussion area. However it seems the whole forum is more of general chit chat rather than a specific forum and i believe this is a reason DDN has lost direction.
Based on the fact DDN was always here for the user, the user must have some input on the direction of the sites. Based on this, why not set up a poll asking for a view? Should DDN become more Web focused again in the style of a forum and/or blog, or should it take a different route?
Just my personal thoughts.
Dany
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kimpossible
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« Reply #67 on: January 09, 2008, 07:19:00 PM » |
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not that my opinion amounts to bugger all though. To the contrary, I think your opinion is very important. |
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Steve Lampkins
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« Reply #68 on: January 09, 2008, 07:48:42 PM » |
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A lot of people have left that were very regular posters for one reason or another and thats had a huge effect on the forum element. OK, I'll come back, just to stop Mattian sending begging PMs. |
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Matt
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« Reply #69 on: January 09, 2008, 08:05:01 PM » |
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Thats so last forum ;-)
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slaughteredlamb
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« Reply #70 on: January 09, 2008, 09:04:55 PM » |
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Getting back on track.
Reading everyones comments I think the one thing that we all, or virtually all, agree on is that the big draw of DDN for the existing members is the forum due to the fact that we can all have a laugh whilst doing more serious and useful stuff. So the forum needs to be a key feature or possibly the main feature of any new version of DDN.
I remember when DDN first started and one of the main reasons why I stopped using .Net was that useful information was posted, at that time it was HTML/CSS stuff mainly and there were a few tutorials on the front end that I found invaluable being the HTML newbie I was and still am.
This is just my personal point of view but I think having a front end (for want of a better description) be that a blog kinda thing or a magazine/portal kinda thing that is mostly going to be effectively news stories as in 'have you seen this...' or 'Adobe launch....' is utterly pointless. There are a million and one websites doing just that and such information is certainly just better posted in the forum as it currently is. Instead any 'front end' I think should focus primarily on tutorials. Think about how most of us joined DDN or how why you joined any other forum you are a member of. The chances are it was because you wanted an answer to a question or a solution to a problem. Therefore new members are going to searching google for their answers and will hopefully come across this site IF we have a bunch of tutorials. I can't write any tutorials on webby stuff but I'd happily right a bunch of stuff on Photography if a photography section is needed/wanted.
I personally also think it might be a good idea to explore the idea of having a 'shop' side to DDN where members can sell ebooks they've written, sell website templates, skins for Wordpress, Joomla, Coppermine etc etc as again these are things that new members could and probably are searching for and the fact that the person who designed them is a member here would hopefully boost confidence in people putting their hands in their pockets.
Now it could, quite rightly, be said that all of this (with the exception of the 'shop') was available on the old DDN but nobody used it. In response to that I'd say that, in my opinion, nobody used it because nobody was aware it was there. Almost certainly the forum is the landing page for all existing members and as the forum is and always has been totally removed from the front end how was anyone expected to know when something had been added? Don't forget most people are fundamentally lazy and won't click anymore than they have to. Also it was complete news to me that anybody could write a tutorial/article for the old site. Where was this stated? I suspect it was just on the front end (if at all) which suffers the same problem as previously described. I suspect that the way people were 'expected' to submit an article was to e-mail it to a member of the admin team? If so then that was doomed to failure as again, people are fundamentally lazy. By using a CMS where the tutorial can be written and submitted online then there is more chance of people making use of it.
What I think is essential is that the forum cannot continue to be a totally isolated part of the website as if that happens things will stay exactly as they are. Again, by using a CMS be that Wordpress or Joomla modules can be displayed either side of any content that shows the latest posts in the forum and any new tutorials etc that have been published thus ensuring that all content is always viewable wherever you are on the site.
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BenDJ
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« Reply #71 on: January 09, 2008, 09:18:42 PM » |
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I think we need to appoint a CEO, a Treasurer and a Secretary for starters. Give me 5 minutes and I'll think of some more
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Mr Tickle
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« Reply #72 on: January 09, 2008, 09:44:47 PM » |
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I think the photography forum is good too and maybe that can be developed a bit more ?
This didn't get enough love  Oh and welcome Scooby. I hope Scrappy didn't come along - he annoys the fook out of me   |
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« Last Edit: January 09, 2008, 09:49:40 PM by Mr Tickle »
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BenDJ
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« Reply #73 on: January 09, 2008, 09:48:17 PM » |
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I think the photography forum is good too and maybe that can be developed a bit more ?
This didn't get enough love I heard you were quite active with your camera phone |
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Idoru
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« Reply #74 on: January 10, 2008, 08:53:33 AM » |
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From what i read from everyone, why change? No matter what we change in DDN, we will all be here anyway, and that's what makes it hard for new comers.
At best we should have a community blog to where we can post, associated, or not, with the forum. Because let's face it, DDN is general discussion, and a couple more categories that get posts moved from general discussion. It's better to keep things as they are and still be here than to have a huge amount of work that will amount to nothing and dying in the process.
Most of us see DDN as the place to relax, ask a few question about whatever is going on with your life at the moment and ocasionaly learn something techy.
I think that the drive for webdesign/development died long ago, we gained something better a group of friends, let's focus on that.
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Mr Anderson
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« Reply #75 on: January 10, 2008, 10:34:56 AM » |
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So.. why don't we have a blog with a handful of writers/submitters who flag up relevant IT/Web Design stories on a simple blog format on the homepage. The problem with that idea is that besides the time taken to write a post you have to spend a lot of time researching before you can write a post. The emphasis on the blog that is already there was originally that, and it becomes a PITA to try to keep it updated, and people (including the posters) lose interest as a result. That was done before, and it was poo. Everyone lost all interest in reading it, and posting on it after a month.
The first time around the blog died because one of the many server moves after it was switched from Host Rocket killed the login system, and so you couldn't post even when you wanted to. It took a year or more before that was fixed by which time the impetus had been lost IMO, and the effort required to research posts, as mentioned above, just became too much. Personally, if there's going to be a front end of the site I think it would work better as having sections for tutorials and a variety of articles that members could submit and these get posted into defined categories. If there's going to be a blog then I think that would work best as a simple multi-user blog where all the contributers post to the same section so that one blog page is updated with each new post, instead of having the added pressure of one blogger needing to keep their one section updated regularly. Obv. the posts can be archived in separate categories as with any normal blog. I think I could cope with being an occasional contributer to a multi-user, broad focus blog, as well as writing the occasional tutorial or article on a few different subjects; but not with the way the old blogging setup worked. |
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Notorious MCSE
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« Reply #76 on: January 10, 2008, 10:44:06 AM » |
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The problem with that idea is that besides the time taken to write a post you have to spend a lot of time researching before you can write a post. The emphasis on the blog that is already there was originally that, and it becomes a PITA to try to keep it updated, and people (including the posters) lose interest as a result.
Indeed! I spend around 90mins per day blogging, inc research! |
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Charisma Bypass
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« Reply #77 on: January 10, 2008, 11:03:36 AM » |
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I think that I have the answer. Everyone should punch themselves in the balls. Matt should do this twice. HTH.
How about;
~ forum as is
~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date).
~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to.
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Chris H
Resident God Botherer
Global Moderator
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« Reply #78 on: January 10, 2008, 12:11:05 PM » |
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I think that I have the answer. Everyone should punch themselves in the balls. Matt should do this twice. HTH.
How about;
~ forum as is
~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date).
~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to.
Sounds good to me, although admins will need to retain the ability to publish. I dread to think what ddn would look like without modding. |
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Ben
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« Reply #79 on: January 10, 2008, 01:46:57 PM » |
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I think that I have the answer. Everyone should punch themselves in the balls. Matt should do this twice. HTH.
How about;
~ forum as is
~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date).
~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to.
Yea I'd do with that. Pretty much what I said above, but succinctly. |
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Matt
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« Reply #80 on: January 10, 2008, 01:48:20 PM » |
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I think that I have the answer. Everyone should punch themselves in the balls. Matt should do this twice. HTH.
How about;
~ forum as is
~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date).
~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to.
Pretty much what Ive said in both threads! Apart from the hitting in the balls part. ¬¬ |
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slaughteredlamb
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« Reply #81 on: January 10, 2008, 02:48:56 PM » |
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I have repeatedly punched myself in the testicular area. How about;
~ forum as is - YUP ~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date). - YUP ~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to. - YUP But what will be the content of the 'blog'? Anything that anyone wants to say about anything - subject to admin approval? Anthing that anyone wants to say about an agreed set of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Tutorials on agreed sets of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Code snippets? I'm still a little vague as to what this 'new content' is actually going to be. Just as an idea maybe there could be an area where anyone who has a website on a subject that is in the same 'field(s)' as DDN could have their RSS feed displayed thus adding content to DDN and potentially attracting others to visit their site too? I do still think that the forum and the front end need to be more intergrated as otherwise people will just continue to use the forum and the front end will just die again. |
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Idoru
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« Reply #82 on: January 10, 2008, 03:03:07 PM » |
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I have repeatedly punched myself in the testicular area. How about;
~ forum as is - YUP ~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date). - YUP ~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to. - YUP But what will be the content of the 'blog'? Anything that anyone wants to say about anything - subject to admin approval? Anthing that anyone wants to say about an agreed set of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Tutorials on agreed sets of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Code snippets? I'm still a little vague as to what this 'new content' is actually going to be. Just as an idea maybe there could be an area where anyone who has a website on a subject that is in the same 'field(s)' as DDN could have their RSS feed displayed thus adding content to DDN and potentially attracting others to visit their site too? I do still think that the forum and the front end need to be more intergrated as otherwise people will just continue to use the forum and the front end will just die again. what he said |
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Charisma Bypass
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« Reply #83 on: January 10, 2008, 03:17:55 PM » |
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What's the point in using other people syndicated content?
I bet I could come up with all sorts of stuff that wouldn't make it onto my other blogs.
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slaughteredlamb
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« Reply #84 on: January 10, 2008, 03:22:29 PM » |
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Because some people may have content on their site that would be useful to others who would visit DDN but won't want to have to rewrite/submit etc it to have displayed here.
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Matt
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« Reply #85 on: January 10, 2008, 03:29:07 PM » |
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The same stuff the forum is on, because thats what the site is, the forum - it will just be a place where people might post a few more interesting things for members to see, and new people to see which may draw them in to see more or discuss the things I have repeatedly punched myself in the testicular area. How about;
~ forum as is - YUP ~ front end nuked (most the stuff is wayyyyy out of date). - YUP ~ front end turned into a multi author 'blog' that any forum member in excess of (say) 100 posts and/or those deemed suitable by admin can post to. - YUP But what will be the content of the 'blog'? Anything that anyone wants to say about anything - subject to admin approval? Anthing that anyone wants to say about an agreed set of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Tutorials on agreed sets of topics/areas/subjects/fields? Code snippets? I'm still a little vague as to what this 'new content' is actually going to be. Just as an idea maybe there could be an area where anyone who has a website on a subject that is in the same 'field(s)' as DDN could have their RSS feed displayed thus adding content to DDN and potentially attracting others to visit their site too? I do still think that the forum and the front end need to be more intergrated as otherwise people will just continue to use the forum and the front end will just die again. |
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Charisma Bypass
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« Reply #86 on: January 10, 2008, 03:36:35 PM » |
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Because some people may have content on their site that would be useful to others who would visit DDN but won't want to have to rewrite/submit etc it to have displayed here. I understand. Isn't the point to have the front-end of DDN a place where content can be found which draws in *new* users/readers? I think that an eclectic mix of "what was on telly last night" to "how to do mkae up like the pro's" to "how to earn $100 in 10 minutes" to "how to run a guest house" to "pringles cans, what are they good for", would get a real good mix of readers on the front end. With the right set-up it would be simple to ping the aggregators, web2 sites and all that gubbins. New posters (in the "blog" frontend) would be able to receive an email giving the address of the forum "for more fun and frolics" and so on. It's a case of needing good(ish) content that can't be found anywhere else... |
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yawner
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« Reply #87 on: January 10, 2008, 06:32:49 PM » |
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I think that an eclectic mix of "what was on telly last night" to "how to do mkae up like the pro's" to "how to earn $100 in 10 minutes" to "how to run a guest house" to "pringles cans, what are they good for", would get a real good mix of readers on the front end.
and its all here lying dormant somewhere just waiting to be used. |
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"Far less of a c*** than you used to be" - Mrs Y
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Mr Tickle
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« Reply #89 on: January 13, 2008, 11:38:40 AM » |
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Hey I could even feed in my poker blog AMIRITE ?  |
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