Suggestion to the Site

[Awesome_Paul]

I was reading around the site, and spotted the old editorial, and an idea popped into my head to help the site.

Well the idea was closely related to the editorial slightly, yet different.

 

The idea is:

-Every Monday, an random user gets selected (well use staff then select users randomly)

-Between Tuesday-Thursday, users can send in questions which they want the selected person to answer.

-On Friday, you pick out 5-10 questions from the pile. and ask the selected user, then places it in the site.

 

Its mainly the editorial, But rather than asking the site (well the person that answers the emails :P)

They can ask the selected person a question.

 

It may bring more active users to the site, and as course it will be entertaining/amusing.

[Superfly]

I really liked the old editorials TDN had, they rocked!

 

If I remember correctly, I e-mail Ian about them when they closed wondering why and they were closed do to not getting enough solid questions and page views were minimal.

 

I think I might have a reason why they 'failed' for lack of a better word, e-mails are lame. They forced people to open up their own e-mail, and all that junk. If there was a submission form, like the current editorial or the contact us page here on TDN. It would be a bigger success. Making it so that the users have less work is what makes them want to participate in things like this.

 

I would have to say the random user idea isn't the greatest, as it can easily be done by a staff member, an if a form was created it would just go to the staff, and the user part would by null and void. (no offense vivi)

 

I think it would be enjoyable and amusing all at the same time. :) A great feature to add to the site, and I'd give it a 10/10!

 

Oh yea, and I bet 4 out of 5 dentists would recommend it! :laughingsmiley:

 

Anyway, all-in-all this is something I would really like to see come back to TDN in the future, but maybe with more user-friendly options. :yes:

[Awesome_Paul]

None taken, but when i meant a random user, I meant

For teh first 7 weeks, use all the staff.

then when all staff have been asked, use some of the people that have been with TDN for awhile/who is very active, like you/penguin/mini etc.

[Superfly]

So, sort of like an open panel of questions to different people?

[Awesome_Paul]

Yeah basically, One person gets selected, and many people ask them questions (well not loads of people, otherwise that be crazy :P)

[Superfly]

I think it would be cool to have an editorial editor, like one staff member for a week. I just think it would be a little weird to have you or me, or someone on the forums answering random questions sent in by random users of TDN. Most (probably some percentage over 50) of TDN's users do not even have an account on the forums, meaning that they would be submitting questions to someone they don't even know. I think one staff member a week, that that makes like 6 - ish. Depending if certain ones wanted to participate or not, would answer questions, and that would give the other staffers a couple weeks break in between.

 

OR

 

The other option would be to just hire someone to be the 'editor' full time / select a current staff member to do the job.

[Samuel]

*Almost-but-not-quite-official response*

 

Hey guys,

 

We're pleased you liked the tutorials! They were removed some time ago, when other sections were released, for need of tab space and because they recieved very little page views compared to other pages (in fact, some pages in the category were less than old, barely used content!). In addition, there weren't always many valid questions that could be answered.

 

Whilst your idea is great, I'm not too keen on having random users managing it, after a fashion. Issues could be raised over fairness to others who want a chance, and who won't be content with a waiting list of many weeks before they'd get to answer any questions; and the quality of answers could change week-on-week, and guests wouldn't place too much trust in it if low quality answers show up, or if some questions are answered by less-experianced members.

 

With that in mind, bringing back the editorial is certainly an option if ran by staff members (or, possibly, Fantastic Members as a benefit, or users whose Neopets account is of a certain age). And, yes, there would most certainly be a form to submit questions if it were to come about.

 

The problem, however - and I'm sure is what spurred the idea into your head - is that Jellyneo, a popular competitor, has just released a similar editorial feature. It would have to be some time before we released such an item again, because of the complaints of lack of originality, and even copying, that could ensue.

 

But never fear! We're already in the beginning stages of another project that could incorporate something in a level similar to this.

 

Feel free to carry on discussing how this could be run, though!

 

Many thanks,

Samuel

pp TDN Content

[Superfly]

The problem, however - and I'm sure is what spurred the idea into your head - is that Jellyneo, a popular competitor, has just released a similar editorial feature. It would have to be some time before we released such an item again, because of the complaints of lack of originality, and even copying, that could ensue.

 

Feel free to carry on discussing how this could be run, though!

 

That we will do, Samuel, thanks for the input. :D

 

This may seem a bit rude, and I'm sorry in advance, but all-in-all you know I'm trying to help out in anyway possible. Please take that into consideration when you might get mad at me!

 

How come JN is coming out with all these new features, and are able to being them out so fast. They have enough staff to run these things, they are constantly getting new and original ideas. Why isn't this happening here, I love TDN, and it seems to me (and again no offense) that TDN is in a way, going down hill. The last thing to be released was the search, I forget how long ago. Y2 is completely died, the layout which was deemed boring is still active, and there is no plans, except for the dead Y2, to change/update things. I personally think TDN needs more staff to help generate these ideas or put current ideas into action, and I'm not just saying that to get my trial or anything, I would give up my staff-hood to other people to see TDN succeed. Bring in more people that can program stuff, so Ian isn't doing it all, bring in people who specialize in this area, or that area. Who cares if you add people before Y2, if they can be added to the staff now to help Y2 or any other feature come faster for the users, who cares. Everything seems to be in the beginning stages, and has been there for a while. :(

 

As far as the editorial is concerned, how can TDN be accused of coping, if they are bringing back a feature that they use to have YEARS AGO. TDN thought of this FIRST, but it was retired and now just because the big powerful JN comes out with one, TDN can't bring theres back for a long time, if ever. There are no rules, as far as I understand, and running a website is hard, and when a competitor comes out with something you can't just say oh well, guess they got there first, and then never do that, you have to make it, so that they don't get all the page views with this and that, and you are here with nothing.

[Samuel]

Oh, no, I'm not mad in any way at you! Sorry if I gave that impression away, it was by no means my intention :)

 

I'll address your other concerns, whilst I'm here. =]

 

In an effort to keep the noise down about our projects, we closed beta, took in the comments raised, and set to work again. Y2 - whilst not on beta (and, we can confirm that it will not again enter the beta stage) - is very much the opposite to dead, and is well underway; I daresay that you'll hear more of it in the coming days/fortnight.

 

As with regards to our other projects, we're discussing various other little tidbits - I've mentioned that one's on the go currently - and Matt and Eric have a whole site plot lined up for you, which will be on Y2 and is very close to completion. In addition to that, we've talked about various new means of content - including video content - and VoIP possibilities.

 

Please, be rest assured that this site is most certainly not dead, and is not on the road to doom, neither.

 

If you have any ideas that are original to the site, please share them with us! We're also looking into other "big" projects, that Ian can work on with the site, but these things take time.

 

Remember NNoN (and then JN)'s 'Guide to Neopia'? That was planned, and work began on it, for the current website. Due to both sites releasing it, we abandoned it. We have to produce original and diverse content, and unfortunately we can't release something just after another site has released the same darn thing.

 

We always have content staff applications open; always. We never get any good applications. Your trial - and I'm certain that you'll pass - will start the very day that Y2 is released. There's no point starting any new staff yet; we have a whole new admin panel for Y2, so it's just useless training to teach them to use the current one. As for coding, a lot of things would require access to the root server and databases, something which will hardly be given away to a stranger who Ian doesn't know; and, in any case, Ian has proved that he likes to be an extremely independant worker when it comes to creating projects. We'll discuss this aspect in future staff chats.

 

I see your point on the editorial, but we don't want an argument to ensue regardless. People who won't know of our editorial previously would say, "hey, you copied" and we'd politely tell them of the editorial's history, but that brings bad press and bad light the very second that argument starts. We could well bring it back, but it's just common courtesy to leave it a few weeks, no?

 

We're not saying that they got their first and hence we give up, but we just don't think now is the right time to release any sort of editorial, considering the very recent release of JN's. We're competitors, sure, but we compete on a friendly scale - we're not some sort of Apple vs Microsoft rivalry.

 

If you have any other ideas that could be put to use, please do tell us.

[Superfly]

I would like to start off by saying sorry, I didn't realize that Y2 was indeed so close. :) Very cool! But, if you don't mind helping me understand a few things:

 

As far as keeping noise down about Y2 and such, why? I mean, as far as I know no beta tester was releasing information, and all the projects are on the coming soon page. So, was information getting out somehow that it was in need of closing, or did the staff just want beta to end for some unknown reason. From what I understand, there was no reason. Since improvements are indeed being made, why wasn't beta kept open, I just feel as if we (as members) aren't getting the whole truth.

 

I in no way thought the site was dead, I was just implying that the site seemed a little slow, or the fact that the users weren't / aren't aware of anything happening.

 

The coding issue, and giving Ian some help. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are other places that someone can create some of this stuff. I'm not saying someone should actually help Ian, allow him to work independently if he chooses, but have someone else who can work on the next project or something, so things do get released faster and won't "take time".

 

Ah, the 'Guide to Neopia'. This is partially the point, TDN began working on it, and just because 2 other sites released it around the same time, TDN just 'abandoned it' which is sad, in my opinion. Work was already being done, and now it's gone or still lurking in some file somewhere, but the work started was wasted time. If something is started why isn't it finished? Can't it be released a few weeks / months later, I know it seems bad because the whole coping thing comes up, but it's better than nothing. AND. If TDN had the idea, knowing that another site was coming out with about the same thing, why wasn't effort put on that project instead of dropping it, so that TDN could release it first and then the other sites would get the bad press. Knowing that another site is coming out with something is all the more reason to put effort on it, and bring it out in record time and be the first to release it then. ;) To simply drop something, seems weak to me.

 

I would like to know more about this friendly competition, because to me it seems there is no competition. TDN is in no competition, right now. TDN needs to jump in there, and I'm sure when Y2 is released TDN will be back in the rank and fighting, but TDN has been working on Y2 for WAY TO LONG, again, in my opinion, but this has allowed all the other sites to take a huge lead in the race by releasing several other features on their sites.

 

I would like to applaud you, Sam, for your great work here. I personally think you are the best staff member here, when it comes to site stuff. :) You are always on the ball with news post, including odd, but interesting news regarding budgets and weird corporate stuff. You set off alerts all the time, on the newest stuff, avatars, and BREAKING NEWS stuff that TDN gets all the time. (you just need to take them down on time then *cough* Darigan Pteri Alert, pet is to old now :P *cough*) - Oh, and I know the alerts is you, because all the other staff members I know, don't do that stuff, they tell me it was you. :P

 

So, you want some ideas, well then! I've been storing them all up inside me as not to delay the release of Y2, which I though was dead, but it turns out it's not. Anyway, here you go:

• I force my sister to use TDN, and not any other site. Anyway, she was checking out the avatar list and told me that it stinks - she thinks that there needs to be more detail for some of the avatars, like the new mote avatar. It would be more helpful to users if there was a list of motes there that you are able to get the avatar with, instead of having to just guess. So, maybe an updated avatar section, with more detail and such.
  
• removed.
  
• Speaking of closing alerts, the custom alerts you like to make all the time, could be have a close option, some of them are annoying, no offense, especially the pteri ones because I already have the avatar, and most other people do as well. They are nice and all, for people who don't and in a great location, but a close button please?
  

I use to have a whole list, in my head, but it's blanking from me. :P I'll let you know when they come to me. Anyway, don't let any of those delay Y2 - or I will hurt myself - they can be done after Y2 is out.

 

I think big posts allow a little leeway on the whole smiley limit, don't you. I'm only 2 over. *begs*

 

P.S. - If you like the adam idea, erase it from this post, so no other sites can take it.

[Matt]

*ding* Matt enters the conversation.

 

If Y2 was a cat, it would be well and truely out the bag now. Heh. In fact, I think with Sams post up there, the bag has broken from so many things trying to come out of it at once. :P

 

The avatar lists are one of the things we want updated too, but there's only so many things one boy (Who seems very hard to get hold of at times) can do. I'd be willing to help, as will all other staffers, to get the content stuff sorted if Ian does the whole technical side he likes doing by himself. In fact, that's what's been happening for the past month... but I didn't say anything...

 

The reason Y2 has been delayed so long is because it's... well... you'll find out soon enough. Don't get your hopes up, though. Imagine it as Pokemon Rubby and Pokemon Sapphire. You've played through Ruby and have saved up for a long time to get Sapphire... and I'll let you take that analogy how you please. :)

 

Like Sam said, TDN is certainly not dead, by any means. Just a couple of weeks ago we were rushed around behind the scenes.

 

And back on topic, the Editorial is something I joked about in Staff Chat. I noticed someone had posted a comment on the news post where JellyNeo announced their editorial, but someone made a witty remark back, so I won't link to it. :P

[Samuel]

With regards to the beta testing, we thought that the process was taking longer than it should of, and it's purpose was to give a platform for us to gain ideas, build upon comments made, and to gain an idea of what the public wanted from the site - and these ideas have indeed been incorporated into what we're currently producing. In addition, comments started to fade away, with no new contributions made; and we weren't entirely happy with our original result, so we set out to see how innovating we could be, taking into account other websites, the web 2.0 generation, your comments, and staff ideas. To make it easier for this to happen, beta was closed. We praise everyone involved for their timely and very indepth comments, and they have been thought about!

 

I'll take the issue of Ian's coding help up with him personally, and see what he thinks about it. It may be that we could advertise for a programmer, and give them their own directory for which to work on their own projects independantly and in their own time, and the more successful ones can be worked on with Ian also. We'll look into it; I can't promise results straight away, though, unfortunately.

 

With the Guide to Neopia, the files have in fact been deleted. As to why we didn't release it, or continue working on it, we were busy with the current version of TDN, plus the Altador Plot. It was sidetracked as we needed to focus efforts on producing top-notch plot content, with very minimal staff. (Have you realised how many staff members we have? Very few compared to NL and JN!) It may be a weak move, and I'm saddened by this approach, but we felt that after two sites had released it, it would become slightly pointless to bother with it. How many people would even use it? I'm sure you wouldn't, if you've been on Neopets for more than a few months. In addition, remember that we had no knowledge of JN releasing it until they did, and after two sites do it, the idea seemed a little redundant.

 

In regards to competition, TDN has continuously been the third most popular Neopets help site (according to Alexa, with JN and PinkPT beating us), and dominates Google's search pages (they send us over three thousand unique hits a week); we recieved 710,000 users Jan-March (I've yet to recieve accurate figures for the current month). There is definately competition! It might well be that we're getting members who aren't as used to Neopets as JN's users are, but once they see our content, they tend to come back. New features are of course fantastic, and we're glad to produce them, but our number one priority is Neopets help; this is what people come to our site to look for. We do fine without graphics! And an important thing to remember about Y2 is that Y2 is simply a layout and a new way of organising content. It's not a new feature per se, so it won't attract new members. Other sites may have taken steps to create new features, but on the whole they're nothing that brings them more users (does anyone actually use NL Avatars? Everyone uses AvLog (and in my opinion, for good reason)).

 

Thanks for your praise :) Do remember, though, that everyone here takes part actively and I'll take this oppurtunity to praise each of them for this. Matt consistently runs the Avatar Lending Program, almost single-handededly whilst Eric is ill, Ryan creates interesting and well-authored content, and Anime joins the other two in managing the forums very well. Everyone has their own niché; I tend to deal with the site, answering Content Dept emails, setting up alerts, news posting. However, on the forums, I only moderate when I see something wrong; I've got 19 pages in my inbox mostly consisting of unopened forum reports, which I leave unread because I know that very quickly, our dedicated team will be have dealt with the issues. We work as a team doing each and every little part of the site, and no member of this team could do it without another.

 

The avatar lists is something that we're aware of; we'll go through each one soon, and I'll propose to Ian some new ideas regarding avatars on the main site. Thanks for your sister's support :P

 

I'm intrigued by your Adam Alert suggestion. It's possible, I'd expect; I'll again, talk to Ian when I can, and see if this can be incorporated into Y2 (there is no point doing it for the current site, we're close to completion anyways). It's definately original, and benefits all users.

 

I'll look into the close button :)

 

As for the editorial, it will not be forgotton :)

 

More suggestions welcome!

[The Big Cheese]

Also, don't forget that creating a new layout is not only about coding and making it look good, you also have to redo some content, and make everything fit correctly in the new layout and even the new admin panel. Hence why it takes so long.

 

I just can't make huge posts that everyone else seems to be ablee to do :P

[Samuel]

After much deliberation, I'm unable to find a code that will be able to add a close option to non-safety alerts. I'll continue looking; for the moment, I can't find the correct show/hide div javascript code that I need that incorporates session cookies.

 

I'll ask Ian to look into it whenever he's around.