Hedir Review : OPINION POLL

lakhya · Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 473 15240 Hedir Points

One member here at hedir suggested that having separate forums for major categories in hedir would help the submitters.

What do you say? Any pros or cons of such forums that you can see...

Señor COOL · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 3:44 pm Post subject:

The biggest con I could see in it is that people would stick to 1 or 2 topics only and perhaps not broaden their horizons. That wouldn't be so bad in the future but we don't have enough regular reviewers yet to pull that off.

It also leads to potential self-interest promotion among the categories.

The pro obviously is the expertise factor...some of us know more about some things than others.

I think it's a good idea, but not yet.

Edmond Dantès · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:29 pm Post subject:

I also think that it's a good idea, but not yet. We need more reviewers and moderators.

Now, I repeat, the best thing for HEDIR is eliminate 190 pages of spam.

winterfrost · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:34 pm Post subject:

As ADAM said, I think that the biggest risk is that you have some categories which go unwatched because people have no interest/expertise in that category. As francesco said, this might work better when there are more reviewers, but not now.

lakhya · Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 473 15240 Hedir Points

So thats it. We are scrapping the plan for now. Thanks to all for your inputs.

baggeroli · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:04 am Post subject:

No, we don't need category forums (yet). All arguments made above still apply.

We certainly don't need 97*3 = 291! forums. I really don't see these extra forums attract extra reviewers. What I do see is a whole big mess of forums of which the vast majority will have no moderator or reviewers.

We also don't need Adsense: it's ugly, it takes away HEDIR's uniqueness and worst of all, nobody is gonna click it.

What we do need is to test the Hedir Review Center. Where is it? I hear nothing about it anymore. Funny thing is: this whole Adsense business was implemented within a day. All those 291 extra forums are already in the "search" pull-down list, within a day! (Do a search and try to specify a forum to search in, it's a joke!). I would like to see "Josh" et al. to spend their time on the Review Center.

So that old HEDIR bug rears its ugly head again: set your priorities straight!

It's a directory build by reviewers --> when you have a certain amount of reviewers, you put some moderators on it --> when there are a lot of reviewers, it's time to break it up in some major categories and put some moderators on it, selected from the steady reviewers --> when there's really A LOT of reviewing going on, you break it up in even more categories and assign another bunch of mods.

The plans now are the other way around: 1) you create 97 forums --> 2) assign moderators --> 3) let the reviewers come. The first is no problemo, but it ends with the second: where do you get 97 moderators when there are only 5-10 steady reviewers?

IMO this is exactly the same as your plain old Directory with editors. Since there are no reviewers, the category-moderators (editors) do the reviewing.

Señor COOL · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:02 am Post subject:

I would agree with everything that baggeroli said, except for the AdSense. I would say the same thing regardless of whether I was able to potentially earn from it, too.

The simple reality of the situation is that, in order to grow, HEDir needs the green. And AdSense is one of the highest-paying methods to get that green. As long as it gets reinvested in the site, features get added (e.g. the HEDir review), then that's good enough for me.

I tend to agree with the splitting up of the forums. Right now, we need more regular reviewers than anything, get them reviewing in all categories, and THEN split it up if you're going to at all. Mind you, for the reasons I mentioned above, that's not gonna happen.

Between GJ, baggeroli, and to a much lesser extent myself, we've now gotten the spam issue more under control than it has been since my time here. So let's work on building out the directory, getting reviewers, and then splitting it up if necessary (although I wouldn't.)

baggeroli · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject:

I agree with you on the "HEDIR needs the green" part, ADAM. But I don't think Adsense is the way to go. I must confess I'm no Adsense expert at all but I think a forum will not pay your bills unless it's a REALLY BIG forum. I hope I'm wrong for HEDIR's sake.
In addition: I fear this Adsense will not end with that one (rather big) ad at the top-right. There will be more added soon.

Now since this is a directory, I think it would be much wiser (and more profitable!) to stick to selling sponsored listings. I kind of liked the idea of opengrid.org with a strict division. Only in HEDIR's case we should make a division between community reviewed sites and non-community reviewed sites (which have to pay to get in, obviously).

I also think that the HEDIR owner(s?) can not expect to make HEDIR a mind-blowing profit center in a short time. It has to grow gradually and as PR increases, so does your price for sponsored listings. Pretty much standard procedure for any serious directory.

baggeroli · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 2:56 pm Post subject:

Speaking of paid listings: I just checked out the Added Forum and I see a lot of sites added which never went through the community review system. Still, they don't show up as Sponsored Listings. What's up with that?

Check all the November 24 submissions at the bottom of the Added Forum.
It goes on on the next page.

Question

topgun9 · Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 19 718 Hedir Points

Problem statement: Increase the number of people from 5 to 50 who are committed to the idea of a open directory.

Solution: Keep innovating

Why I vote yes ?
I like animation, and if there was a animation category forum, I would have found it simpler to review animation related sites and have animation discussions.

In this era of information overload Hedir can provide great service by giving community stamp of TRUST to sites.

Nothing needs to change. The same site can appear both under animation category forums and also under the main forums.

So please guys I hope that the category forums are implemented.

Señor COOL · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:47 am Post subject:

I may be missing something (I'm sure I am) but what exactly makes the addition of an animation forum simpler to discuss animation-related websites as they are submitted? If you mean that animation "experts" will appear mystiouersly out of the woodwork to discuss their sites, I don't see that happening myself.

However, I do have a compromise idea that MIGHT work.

Keep the category forums, but set certain guidelines to avoid mob mentality:

1) Every added site must have at least one positive review provided by a mod or admin.

2) Until we get enough reviewers, no user can post more than 50% of the time to any one category. This way, reviewers broaden their horizons and all sites can get reviewed.

3) If we're going to appoint category-specific mods, they should rank below general mods such as baggeroli, GJ and myself to avoid favouritism; and they should also have at least one site in that category that has been successfully added.

e.g. Bob can only be eligible to mod the Home and Garden category if Bob has a home and garden site in that category that has passed review.

Just some thoughts.

topgun9 · Joined: 13 Nov 2005 Posts: 19 718 Hedir Points

AjiNIMC · Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 516 18600 Hedir Points

This is a real good move initiated by Adam, the reasons are as follows:-

Introducing Perfect Competition: This will help the www have independent forums for discussion, an open market philosophy forcing ideal competition. Say in case of car loans we will be able to involve the ten listed sites under the forums. They can offer in public and customer gets more choices and better deals. AVOIDING SCAMS. Hedir moderators can even earn marginal commission on those commercial leads. Why will I not participate if I am getting benefit out of it? If I get referrals and business I will surely be a part of it. So we invite all listed sites to participate and people vote for them if they are helpful in our forums. This will help Hedir know whether their services are good or not. This is a SEXY IDEA. Adam you are great.
Creating community transactions: Read my latest blog on transaction based communities. This is the right move towards the greener pastures.
This will attract more and more customers to come to hedir. Hedir categories will have real good and helpful content. Genuine help, better directory and more traffic.

I am for.

Edmond Dantès · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:26 am Post subject:

anthony · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:19 pm Post subject: