Two Homepage Changes (Page 2 of 2)

Something I would find helpful, maybe in this spirit, maybe against it: Once I have reviewed a chapter of a work, putting new updates to that work in a prominent place.  This way I don't have to explicitly declare a connection and get evern poem, essay, and short story when I am following and reviewing a novel.

What about starting a forum or thread with advice for newcomers?  The first few articles should be carefully composed and maybe subjected to a review process for improvement.

Sol, it could also be worthwhile to rather give new members extra points say for their first 5 reviews of other writers as opposed to everyone on the site including members who has more recip reviews to get to than time and some may not even need the extra points (slow writers like me for example :-) ). I truly believe that part of the problem could be new members not doing reviews for whatever reasons such as being new to this etc. and expecting reviews without actively "looking" and trying to get something going? And something like this may nudge them in the "better/right" direction before they simply give up and leave?

These are my thoughts:

1. The changes to the front page are awesome, generally speaking.

2. The thumbnail front-cover images do clutter the page a bit, but I think it's correct to have them there. As aspiring/consolidated writers we must start our marketing right from the very workshop process. A good cover is a must, even if it's only for this site.

3. The part showing our connections' bookshelves might be bit too much. I would suggest to put a button which takes you to another page where the bookshelves are shown rather than to clutter the front page even more.

4. The "Articles" and "Essays" part needs to be reduced to the last 5. It's not that people post articles and essays that frequently. BTW, in the case of articles and essays, I would eliminate the book cover thumbnail. Since they are not books, it's unlikely that there would ever exist a book cover for them, even if they are published. For those arguing that the same might be valid for poems and short stories--which are typically published as anthologies--I would answer that many of them do come with illustrations particular to the poem or short story within the anthology. The latter is seldom valid for essays, even the published ones. Articles... well, if they end up in magazines, many times there's an illustration, but it all depends on the article and the magazine. Anyway, I'd eliminate the thumbnail images for Articles and Essays looking forward to uncluttering the front page.

5. Connections didn't exist in the previous site. However, I'm sure that many of us developed some practical way to check whether the people we reciprocated with had published anything new. So, I wouldn't say that a front-page section showing what our connections have published recently is discouraging the reviewal of material posted by newbies.

6. The above said, I'm in favour or providing extra points to anything published by new member under 3 months. Also, I'd suggest to create a new section on top of the page (right below "New Writing to Review from Your Groups") showing the latest 5 works published by members under 3 months, despite whether they are novels, short stories, poems, essays, or articles. All this would increase the attention provided to newbies.

7. A good idea might be that, once a new person signs in, a sort of wizard pops up asking her whether she wants to post in the Premium forum introducing herself. The wizard can guide the newbie who can fill the blanks with her name/pen name, genre, preferred reading, published works (if any) and stuff of the sort about her literary preferences. Blank extra space for personal, optional info could exist too. In the previous site, those newbies who introduced themselves in the "New members" forum often received more reviews than those who didn't.

Kiss,

Gacela

This already exists. The orange buttons under each category on the homepage do this.

Instead of having what our connections are reading and have published at the bottom why don't you highlight new member's writing? Or at least tag the first posting with new writer and give extra points for the first three reviews. Remove them from list as soon as they get three reviews. Also have a buttom at the end the way you do on the other lists we could click to see more new writers.

Once again, you are asking the newcomer to know enough to take these steps.  How are they supposed to know?  (I know, I know--flashers, drop-downs, highlighted messages, etc. ad nauseum)  Those are things you pick up with time and exposure to the site and its workings.  What's wrong with building a kindness into the system?

Taking that a tiny bit further, once folded, have to title bar change color to indicate new entries.

~Tom

As long as we're redesigning the home page for Sol (grin), I suggest adding the genre for works listed on the page. There's enough room next to each work, since the icons are tall enough. I was browsing the latest ten looking for sci-fi stuff. I know it's only a few clicks away, but as long as we're going to display the works on the home page, we might as well add other useful information.

Thanks, as always.
Dirk

But the orange button exists after a list which is as far as most folks get; they never bother with the orange button. Without that preceding list, the orange buttons would mandate a much broader exposure for all works, not merely the few on the current front page. And lo and behold, all those entries on the front page some are afraid of missing would still be the first ones you see on a more inclusive list.

As noted earlier, I would think the broadest exposure for all works (from new and established members alike) would be the primary goal.  Just clarifying my opinion. But, I'm flexible; I can live with or without the changes; a click here or there is not going to drain all my energy or ruin my day. Take care. Vern

We made a few changes you suggested.

1. We reduced the number of slots on the homepage dedicated to articles, essays and shelved books.

2. The writing from new members now pays a 50% bonus for their first month on the site. This bonus is marked on the actual content and we'll be rolling out flags shortly on the homepage and the Read page.

Thanks,
Sol