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Grex > Coop10 > #18: The future of the Intro conference | |
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valerie
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The future of the Intro conference
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Jul 20 02:33 UTC 1997 |
This item has been erased.
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| 49 responses total. |
steve
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response 1 of 49:
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Jul 20 04:17 UTC 1997 |
I think probably the best thing for the intro conference might
be to make it a "voluntary" conference (ie making the default
agora once gain), and steer people towards it?
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robh
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response 2 of 49:
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Jul 20 13:20 UTC 1997 |
Last I heard, new users were asked which one they wanted, so
it's sorta voluntary now.
My idea for the Intro conference was that the f-w(s) would be
very aggresive about making sure that the items were active,
and items that became inactive would quickly be replaced.
Having an Intro conference with months-old items is no
improvement over the dozens of other confs with no activity,
and it's actually worse if we're billing this as "a sampler
of what Grex is really like". Though it pains me to say it,
I'd rather see new users shoved into the chaos of Agora than
be put in a dead conference.
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dang
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response 3 of 49:
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Jul 20 23:53 UTC 1997 |
I blush to admit that I've still never actually read any of intro, except for
a little bit right at the begining. That said, from what I've heard and seen,
it might be better to dump them back into agora.
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valerie
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response 4 of 49:
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Jul 21 14:39 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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richard
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response 5 of 49:
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Jul 21 16:15 UTC 1997 |
should dump new users into a conference menu which lists the
cconfs. As I suggested in previous item, such a menu is more workable
if dead, dormant, repetitive subject matter and no/absent fw confs
are elimninated or merged by cfadmin. I suggested cfadmin set aside
a 60 da period and have every fw submit a renewal request for their conf.
This will make it obvious which ones to kill and could help cfadmin
encourage mergers of others.
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e4808mc
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response 6 of 49:
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Jul 21 16:44 UTC 1997 |
I (surprise, surprise) totally disagree with richard. While inactive/dead
conferences may not sound like an attraction to new users, in fact they were
facinating for me. One can always enter a response, and usually, someone will
answer you back. For many of those conferences, there are active lurkers who
keep them in .cflist and would be delighted to have some new people enter a
question/answer/retort.
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krj
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response 7 of 49:
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Jul 21 18:51 UTC 1997 |
A conference menu which is presented to new users doesn't *have* to
list dead or decaying conferences. The menu could even have an
entry call "The Graveyard" which would lead users like Catriona
into the byways of cyberarchaeology.
Let me rephrase this a bit. We should come up with a "consensus"
list of most-active-conferences and offer this as a recommended list
or menu to new users. Doing this has no implications about any other
conferences.
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dpc
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response 8 of 49:
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Jul 21 21:08 UTC 1997 |
Thanx for taking off the wrapper, valerie!
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richard
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response 9 of 49:
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Jul 21 22:28 UTC 1997 |
#7...yeah, a default cflist could be drawn up of the four or five
most popular confs and instead of dumping folks into agora, dump
them into a *preset* cflist that *starts* with Agora. Make it
clear that they can change the .cflist at any time.
\But what would be the default .cflist?
1. Agora
2. Arts
3. Sports
4. Cinema
5. Books
Agora plus four good confs that just about anyone would have interest
in...or myabe the four most popular could be in the default?
In this way every new user would see more than just agora...they'd
see several confs automatically. This is worth trying.
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dang
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response 10 of 49:
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Jul 22 00:50 UTC 1997 |
I have to disagree with a preset list of cf's. For example, of those 5, I
read Agora, and might be talked into reading Books. I most likely will never
read any of the others. If I had gotten that list as a representative of Grex
instead of finding out my own favorites, I might not be here today.
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rcurl
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response 11 of 49:
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Jul 22 05:17 UTC 1997 |
I agree. It would be better to create a simple to use presentation of
all the conferences from which the user is encouraged to create an initial
.cflist. For example, number all the cfs, and have the system request
the user to make an initial choice of cfs by number.
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valerie
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response 12 of 49:
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Jul 22 16:18 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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richard
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response 13 of 49:
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Jul 22 19:47 UTC 1997 |
hmm..so what we're getting at is a menu screen that new users would see
giving them an umbered list of the most popular confs (numbered list) and
asking them to orprompting themto create a .cflist right off thebat?
might be worth a try..
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krj
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response 14 of 49:
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Jul 22 20:26 UTC 1997 |
Rane has my idea in #11: except that, by default, I would limit the
conference options presented to new users to maybe 10-20 "healthy"
conferences, with a bottom option to "list all confs."
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valerie
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response 15 of 49:
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Jul 22 22:31 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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richard
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response 16 of 49:
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Jul 23 14:34 UTC 1997 |
But just dumping into agora didnt work, thats why Intro was
started. going back to what didnt work wont work again.
Maybe the "other conferences on grex" agora item can be made into
a public file, so by typing !confs, they can or new users can get
the file where the other fair witnesses talk about their confs. This way
it woulnt jus tbe stuck of in agora where it can be easily missed.
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mta
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response 17 of 49:
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Jul 23 17:09 UTC 1997 |
Dumping people into Agora, while a bit overwhelming, has worked both
here and on many similar systems over the years.
I think the menu idea is a good one, though. Is it feasible to have an
option to see comments about a conference from the menu? For instance:
Conference Comments
Homme ^h <Alt h>
Femme ^f <Alt f>
Cooks ^c <Alt c>
kids ^k <Alt k>
Where the control command puts you into the conference and the Alt
command gives you a paragraph or two (as in the "other conferences"
item) and maybe a number of new responses in the last 30 day or last
date of a new response?
It seems like that would be very usable for new folks, but I don't know
how feasible it is technically.
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richard
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response 18 of 49:
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Jul 23 18:12 UTC 1997 |
But dumping people into agora *hasn't* worked here...it doesnt
get many people into the other confs. It is done like that
because it is theasiest option. The menu option
is a better idea.
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valerie
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response 19 of 49:
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Jul 23 20:30 UTC 1997 |
This response has been erased.
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robh
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response 20 of 49:
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Jul 23 21:29 UTC 1997 |
Dumping people into Agora has always worked fine - for getting
more of the kind of people who like Agora. >8)
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mta
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response 21 of 49:
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Jul 23 21:33 UTC 1997 |
Well, yes, that's true Rob. Anyone likely to be easily overwhelmed
would be frightened off by Agora, so we've selected for people with too
much time on their hands. <g> (Who me?)
That's why I like the idea of trying the menu idea -- there are quieter
conferences to start in and maybe a specialty conference is just the
place to start new folks. But only if they choose it, I think.
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senna
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response 22 of 49:
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Jul 23 21:43 UTC 1997 |
The other conferences, most of which haven't been restarted in a while, can
be equally overwhelming. If someone is dropped into agora early in a season,
it's rather easy to get into. It's hard to break into crowded conferences,
though, particularly if you don't know what items are dead and what items
still warrant responses.
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remmers
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response 23 of 49:
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Jul 23 21:56 UTC 1997 |
The beauty of conferencing, though, is that a new response can
bring a long-dormant item back from the dead. I've seem numerous
instances.
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scg
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response 24 of 49:
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Jul 24 05:32 UTC 1997 |
re 17:
That exact implementation wouldn't work, for some boring technical
reasons I won't go into, but there are several very similar ways to do teh
same thing that would work quite well. It's a good idea.
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