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| Author |
Message |
mynxcat
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Getting people involved
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Dec 4 21:21 UTC 2003 |
We seem to have discussed this to death in other items of this cf, so
I'm starting a new item here. A little background.
I have been arguing that a lot of users do not have a sense of
belonging here. Maybe a misperception on my part, but I'm not the only
one who feels that way. I have mentioned conversations I've had with a
couple of users, and Jamie has posted an email from a user who would
like to get more involved, but isn't sure how, and besides, does feel
a bit unconnected to the rest of the community.
I'd like to use this item to brainstorm. How do we get people more
involved in grex as a community. While there are the lunches in AA,
I'd like the focus of this item to be people who are not in AA.
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| 39 responses total. |
jp2
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response 1 of 39:
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Dec 4 21:24 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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gelinas
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response 2 of 39:
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Dec 4 21:26 UTC 2003 |
I disagree. It has worked for grex: we get lots of new users. What we
don't get is members.
I don't think focusing on off-line actions will help. The community is
online.
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mynxcat
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response 3 of 39:
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Dec 4 21:35 UTC 2003 |
Here are a few suggestions I have
a. Welcome message in a newuser's Inbox. Given the whole issue we've
had with the spamming this last week, this may need some discussion on
the technical cons of this idea. Would populating the new user's
mailbox with one message be called spamming? Would it put a load on
the system?
b. "Advertising" bbs and party and any other community related
features of grex. I'm thinking motd, but are there any better ideas
out there
c. Survey on how grex could be improved. I liked Jamie's idea with
this one. However, his modus operandi didn't quite fly. Is there a way
to still conduct this survey? Maybe a message in motd to go to BBS and
post in an item? Or email someone with their response?
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mynxcat
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response 4 of 39:
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Dec 4 21:37 UTC 2003 |
Re 2> We get a lot of new users, true. What we don't get is more
people into the community. That's what I want to focus on with this
item. Once you get people interested in the community, the paying
members will follow
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tod
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response 5 of 39:
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Dec 4 21:47 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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aruba
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response 6 of 39:
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Dec 5 02:19 UTC 2003 |
Thanks for entering this item, Sapna. I think we could do a survey of
nonmembers (or anyone) if we discussed it here and reached a consensus on
how to do it, when to do it, what questions to ask, and how to report the
results. I think it's a good idea.
Some questions: do you feel connected to the Grex community? (Well,
something like that; it might sound too weird to people that way)
Do you participate in BBS? Do you participate in Party?
What things do you like about Grex, and what don't you like?
What brought you to Grex? What made you stay?
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mynxcat
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response 7 of 39:
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Dec 5 02:29 UTC 2003 |
Good questions, Mark.
Besides the survey, we should also discuss making features of grex like bbs
and party more visible to the average new user, or even those that come on
just for email and the shell prompt.
Also, I saw a response in agora where a user wanted to know if grex would host
a game he'd written. I know we do house a few games. Is this an option. I can
understand if this could be more of a headache than anything else to staff,
but this might be worth looking into - letting budding unix programmers
program no-risk games. I realise this nees to be discussed in-depth before
it is adopted (or maybe the answer is a simple no?)
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gelinas
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response 8 of 39:
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Dec 5 03:31 UTC 2003 |
Putting a message into a new mailbox as it is created is trivial and not spam;
the file has to be created any way.
I *thought* we were already doing such, but it is not in my mailbox now. I
_could_ create a new account, but I'm kinda busy on other things. :(
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mynxcat
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response 9 of 39:
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Dec 5 03:46 UTC 2003 |
I just created a new account. No mail
(Please delete tstacct1. Thanks)
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other
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response 10 of 39:
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Dec 5 05:22 UTC 2003 |
I'm in favor of creating new user mailboxes with a message included
which does two basic things: Serves as a reminder of the terms of
use, and explains briefly what Grex is about and how to participate.
How the message is crafted will go a long way toward determining the
effect it has, assume anyone actually to read it.
If a poll is to be conducted, I would not want to see it implemented
any other way than in bbs, though responses could be sent by email
if the user wishes to remain private about their answers. The
intitial message referred to above could link or point to the poll/
survey, but spamming people with surveys is still spamming them.
Sapna, one thing you've mentioned a bit is the MOTD, and this is a
sore point for a lot of people. I don't know why it is such a big
deal, but a lot of people get annoyed when the MOTD gets large, and
a lot of people don't ever even see it. People get practiced at
ignoring it, even if it doesn't scroll past them and out of view
faster than thay can read it. The upshot is, I don't have anything
against using the MOTD, but I don't think it is nearly as effective
a communication tool as you seem to think it would be. I could be
wrong, though.
Despite the way jp2 went about it, the notion of somehow
selectively contacting non-member users who login within a certain
time period just to find out what keeps them from joining up is
intriguing to me. It presents sort of a slice of life, or a
statistical sample which can be valuable for several things, as the
result jp2 claims appear to suggest. When the new machine is up,
perhaps implementing an automated system which sends an email
crafted by a Grex outreach person or team to non-member users
logging in on a specific day or week, a few times a year, might be a
n interesting idea.
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