Hedir Review : A word about The Community Review system

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

Hedir web directory is the first directory to implement the system of community review for submitted sites. As with all new systems, there will be loopholes here and there which we need to plug. To improve the system we need feedback from all.

Let us know what you think about this system,in what ways we can improve ..

Do not hesitate. Shoot your questions, suggestions, comments straight to us !

acorus

This should be the way of free submission recommended for all Directories. ODP included. Public evaluation is the way for all of us. But this should be the last warning for people who do not see community but machines. I'm going to forward info about missed posts with explanation to local SEO firms. Let's bet which one is going to make profit out of it Wink

. No! It was a joke. They hate me Smile

I will do it myself, haha. But I guess eliminating nowhere competition will forced me to do it some day.

winterfrost · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject:

lakhya/acorus, I think you may want to consider making clear a set of criteria on which to judge the submitted sites. It's clear that acorus and I have very different views. My recommendations have been based on whether a site is likely "legitimate" or not (i.e. it contains actual content, is not likely to be a linking/referral site, etc.), while acorus' reviews have been primarily on the technical and design side.

Is the intention of community review to critique every site for features/content/design so the directory is populated only by elite, professionally designed sites? Or is the community input meant to filter out the garbage/referral sites in favor of those with legitimate content?

Either approach is acceptable, but hedir needs to make it clear what it is looking for! I would argue that if you are also accepting paid directory placements, it's unrealistic to assume that all of those paid placements will be of superior quality. Therefore it's unlikely that hedir will have only "the best of the best."

I'm sure most developers would welcome feedback on their sites, but I don't believe that a certain layout, design, or lack of features are reasons to reject a site for listing... unless that is what is desired for hedir's directory!

Finally, you need to consider who the community is. Clearly acorus is a seasoned web designer and he's put together some wonderful sites. Someone like me, on the other hand, has only limited experience in web design. I'm a small business owner looking to promote my website. I'm happy to contribute to the community to help with that objective, but I'm not capable of doing a thorough technical or marketing design review of sites. Who will be the anticipated major contributors to hedir's community?

Just my thoughts...

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

We aim at providing a directory of helpful resources,hence,
we want our community to review and choose the better ones.
We believe our community will be able to suggest good
resources and will also help us eliminate the bad ones.

Who is this community ? - The people who contribute to select
good, relevent resources forms our community. The initial idea
was to let people make open judegements on a site without any
restrictions imposed.

We believe, making a judgement on a site is simple. Think
from users perspective.Answer this simple question - will
you find it useful as a user? Yes / no. Its as simple as
that.

Some people argued that not all people can make judgement on
a site since a person knowledgeable about mortgage may not be
able to make judgement on a site about ski diving in canada .

But then where is the need to make judgement if you know
nothing about ski diving ? Say you know computer hardware
and one site is submitted to that category. You can easily
say if that site is a good one or not , right ?

When we say good or bad we are talking from users
perspective. People come to directories to find resources
with relevent information,service or information.They donot
visit a site to see whether it is poorly designed or not. If
they are, then maybe they are looking for web design sites,
and if you know something about web design you are most
welcome to judge a site about web design. Thats the way it
works, or should work.

winterfrost, we appreciate your comments. Our system is still
undergoing development. So constructive ideas are always
welcome.

Send us your suggestions anytime.

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

winterfrost · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:17 pm Post subject:

We're completely on the same page, lakhya.

I have been reviewing sites on the merit of their content and intent more than design -- I just wanted to be sure that this was the same criteria hedir was holding. Unless a site is actually difficult to view due to color, layout, or design errors, I don't think it is fair to exclude it for appearance or design reasons. The content and intent (i.e. actually providing information which users may find valuable -- not simply a front for another site, or link/referral page) should be the primary criteria.

Finally, I certainly wasn't criticizing you for accepting paid links -- I fully understand the need to make money! Smile

I simply wanted to clarify hedir's intention. If the wish was to have a directory of only elite/professionally designed sites, then it would be counterproductive (and hypocritical) to accept any site as long as they paid.

The system of community ranking of listings sounds like an excellent idea.

winterfrost · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:07 pm Post subject:

Actually I had a couple of other thoughts that I sent to acorus in PM, but I thought I'd post them here:

1) Can a site be DENIED access to the directory by a certain number of rejections? It's possible that a site could have 1000 negative votes, but under the current system all they need is 10 positive votes to be approved.

2) Might the voting be better handled through polls? I know it's less personal, but it might be easier than sifting through pages of comments to see if you have reached 10 votes.

3) I can quickly see sites getting buried and never reviewed. I think a clear "bump" policy should be put in place.

4) Many people may "post and forget" which destroys the whole "community" that hedir wants to review these sites. I suggest that in order any site to be approved, the initial poster must review at least 10 other sites.

acorus · Last edited by acorus on Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:48 am

I posted HeDir.com categorisation of user review in articles section. There are some ideas waiting for Your feedback.

Winterfrost You pointed out, in Your earlier post in this thread, so much inspiration for reflection that I need some time to think it over, of course I agree with Lakhya posts. From the very beginning I haven't seen any conflicts. My perspective is different but we will discuss it, I'm sure we will agree in most cases.

But first I have to clarify some topics. Mostly I use Firefox or Opera to browse www, usually I see sites in text only mode. I would never say anything like this, that design is important and I can bring You many quotes from HeDir.com forum. What I'm looking for is clear, cold, professional service or exact information. Winterfrost could You point when I was talking about layout of suggested sites? The only requirements I have for layout is HTML basic navigation on every page in Your service and link to Your site map.

Here is my answer for Your pm message. I waited, because i did not know where to post, when forum users use only pm, forum dies. Thou there are some situations we should use it.

bantychick · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:14 am Post subject: How does this work?

Can anybody like me just hop right in if we see a site that we want to add a review and help it get approved?

Also wondering if it is all right if we only give positive reviews and just say nothing rather than give a negative review.

And if there might be some hints to give to a webmaster on how to improve the site, is it all right to suggest improvements AND give a positive review at the same time?

I like this idea of community reviews. It looks like a fun way to process sites and learn something at the same time.

acorus

bantychick · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:55 am Post subject:

No I was speaking from the point of view of somebody who doesn't know how to do the community reviews. Sorry for not being more clear. I was thinking about trying to contribute some reviews of the sites someplace here, and I wasn't sure what you expected and how to go about.

I would be afraid to make many negative reviews, but I wouldn't mind making some positive ones if I can find any sites that seem especially neat to me.

By "we" I was speaking of the group of us who would be contributing here. Just wondering what the rules or guidelines were.

bantychick · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:57 am Post subject:

I think I'm confused here. Does a site need to get 10 positive reviews to be approved into the directory? I was reading the rules, but then I was reading about some changes to the policy. So now I'm not sure.

acorus

bantychick · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:42 am Post subject:

Okay. If there is one place to look up how to do the community reviews, then it would make it easier if there could be a link to an official set of guidelines for this. Then when anybody makes a suggestion or opinion, that is good, but we could keep looking at the "official" page. If that does not change, then we will know what to do. That is the easiest way I can think of to have a clear path on how to do the reviews.

Other than that, is it okay if I post reviews here of these sites that are being submitted?

Probably I should read the guidelines carefully first, no?

I did read a lot, but I think I read too much at one time.

acorus · Last edited by acorus on Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:18 am

Sorry for changing my mind (and post) I think, I was wrong. How can we make guideline for review. It depends what You do, what is Your profession? Are You SEO or business owner trying to add Your site to as many places as You can? We shouldn't say to user: OK here is the list of categories Your comments should contain following subjects....
It should be the same as with art. You see the site and You have impression. There should be no rule for that. If You can say something more and share helpful thoughts with other owners, maybe they will come and visit Yours site.