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Timothy
Support Chimp
—
4th April 2011 (1 year ago)
Is WPMUDEV interested in building a stronger community here?
I ask because there are a few things I'd like to see which I think could help promote a community and community involvement including:
+ Messaging (PM - Private Messaging)
+ Friends List
+ Quarterly Member recognition voted by users. So lets say I wanted to nominate Shawn or WPCDN (non staff members) they could be placed in a hall of fame for that quarter for helping the community grow. No prizes or anything, just thanks and recognition. Its like an employee of the month but quarterly and for community members to help promote their involvement. :-)
I'm sure there are a few other things people here would like to see?
Is WPMUDEV interested in building a stronger community here?
I ask because there are a few things I'd like to see which I think could help promote a community and community involvement including:
+ Messaging (PM - Private Messaging)
+ Friends List
+ Quarterly Member recognition voted by users. So lets say I wanted to nominate Shawn or WPCDN (non staff members) they could be placed in a hall of fame for that quarter for helping the community grow. No prizes or anything, just thanks and recognition. Its like an employee of the month but quarterly and for community members to help promote their involvement. :-)
I'm sure there are a few other things people here would like to see?
Nice suggestions, can I add a few on the technical front:
- Signatures
- Custom titles & avatar designs (nice looking borders etc.) for core community members [this could be handled manually]... this'd be a bit like the 'hall of fame', current core members could nominate new ones
- Extra privs for core members [like moderation]
I would say that new posts should be listed first or you should be able to order the how posts by a user are seen, sometimes I miss older posts because you have to go through the pagination to find them and see if there are newer replies. I don't use subscriptions on all threads either.
Some kind of flagging would be good for notifying the powers that be about urgent issues (forum abuse).
All the suggestions here sound good to me. One thing about signatures though, you might get link spam abuse from members so it might be wise to limit it to 0 or 1 links. We had to do that in one of our forums.
i would like to see more integration of buddypress social activity on network blogs. if a blog belongs to a BP group that blog should display the forum, comments and user activity for that group.
the social features seem to only be on the root blog
i would like to see more integration of buddypress social activity on network blogs. if a blog belongs to a BP group that blog should display the forum, comments and user activity for that group.
the social features seem to only be on the root blog
I think you miss the point of the thread, we are talking about improvements to the WPMUDEV for the benefit of user interaction here on this site not WordPress, plugins or themes in specific. :-)
I like the reputation bar that you have now, but it would be cool if you could add community badges under the avatars that users could earn. (similar to what Envato does on some of their sites like themeforest.net)
Wiki sounds awesome. Maybe it could work like this...
online instruction manual including every plugin with a table of contents... at the end of each page there would be a comment list. To leave a comment you must have reached 100 rep points in forum.
The type of comments I imagine are helpful community-based plugin recipes and tips and tricks. of course these can be moderated by WPMUdev when neccessary.
I'd definitely restrict PMs by making sure the person writing a PM has a certain number of points, otherwise I'm sure you'll be swamped by PMs pointing you to different forum topics :-)
I'd definitely restrict PMs by making sure the person writing a PM has a certain number of points, otherwise I'm sure you'll be swamped by PMs pointing you to different forum topics :-)
I would not personally restrict paying members on the use of private messages however I would make it clear (above the messaging area) that this channel of communication is not intended for support and that forums are for this purpose. Perhaps even go as far as stating that any support requests initiated by the subscriber will go unanswered, thus still allowing someone in a position to support the opportunity request further (sensitive) information that way if required.
Yeah, I agree with @Timothy... PM is much different than adding content to an official wiki page or online instructional manual. Paid members should be able to communicate freely. EDIT: Maybe just ability to block PM from violators is all thats needed.
Example: Let's say Timothy has been helping me through an issue I'm having and he needs to email something to me that could help me out. I don't want to post my email address on the forum so I hit Timothy with a PM containing my email address. I should not have to earn a single point to do this because it helps WPMUdev when I engage in this way and helps them to fill their promise of great support, which has been paid for. Win-Win. I think so anyways...
But the content on official WPMUdev documents is SACRED!! It should be added to much more frequently but I'd rather have these guys making/improving these great plugins. So community assistance is the only way to go. But you need to be per-qualified to post. Chances are that after 100 points you've either gained some knowledge to pass along that's not already documented whether you're a pro or not. And that will make the docs great for both beginners and experts. Heck after 100 points you're gonna be good at something even if you started out clueless!
+1 +1 +1 ;)
My pet peeve: please change the number of posts in a topic (in the forum indexes) to the number of replies. So one post (usually the question) gives a count of '0', not '1'.
This is standard in many other forum sw, I keep on opening posts as I have the same question as the OP and find out that '1' means that there is no answer yet.
As I said, pet peeve!
It would be nice to have a couple of extra foum sections.
General
A place where members can just chat
How To
The place where users can go to ask How do I? This would be a good place for members to earn their points. The idea of this would be for people trying to do things in WordPress, not for WPMUdev themes/plugins.
Excellent ideas... Anything that facilitates and promotes interaction between members is a good thing. These forums have been extremely helpful to me and having more ways to get help only increases the value (though hopefully not the cost) of a membership. ;-)
A bit off topic, but I'd like to see a feature that would allow co-funding of Custom projects. Quite often an enquiry about complex functionality can lead to the need to customize one of the plugins. I've see quite a few enquiries from members with similar needs to my own but there is no way to contact a member to see if they are interested in co-sponsoring a project (expect by posting to the forum)... enabling PM would allow potential sponsors to communicate directly (without necessarily revealing their identity).
I would like something a notch up from the SHOWCASE tab. I want to know who is using what plugins and themes and see how they have used them and customized them. From there we can not only get great ideas, but also communicate with them and maybe even pay them for 'their version' of the WPMU DEV products or their code that they invested either their time or resources in.
@James: I didn't see that request as wanting a plugin for co-funding but rather about the ability to get a custom plugin here from WPMUDEV that you are placing i.e. low priority on but i.e. lets say 10 members do want it and are willing to co-fund it.
Please correct me if I am wrong?
+1 for badges
+1 for co-funding plugin/custom development.
Prioritizing development resources with member feedback and requests is great, but would be nice to have some place to see where a particular request or suggestion ranks. Assuming a popular request is most likely to be developed soon.
Responses (30)
Founder & CEO — 4th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Nice suggestions, can I add a few on the technical front:
- Signatures
- Custom titles & avatar designs (nice looking borders etc.) for core community members [this could be handled manually]... this'd be a bit like the 'hall of fame', current core members could nominate new ones
- Extra privs for core members [like moderation]
Would love to hear other ideas too!
Making this a sticky as well :)
Member — 4th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
+1 from me. I think Tims suggestion for messaging and friends would be a good idea
Founder & CEO — 4th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Another one I was keen on was mucho improved profile pages:
e.g. better versions of http://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/profile/tim
Support Chimp — 4th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Why whats wrong with my photo! ;-) lol
I would say that new posts should be listed first or you should be able to order the how posts by a user are seen, sometimes I miss older posts because you have to go through the pagination to find them and see if there are newer replies. I don't use subscriptions on all threads either.
Some kind of flagging would be good for notifying the powers that be about urgent issues (forum abuse).
All the suggestions here sound good to me. One thing about signatures though, you might get link spam abuse from members so it might be wise to limit it to 0 or 1 links. We had to do that in one of our forums.
Member — 5th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
i would like to see more integration of buddypress social activity on network blogs. if a blog belongs to a BP group that blog should display the forum, comments and user activity for that group.
the social features seem to only be on the root blog
Support Chimp — 5th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
I think you miss the point of the thread, we are talking about improvements to the WPMUDEV for the benefit of user interaction here on this site not WordPress, plugins or themes in specific. :-)
Member — 6th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
I like the reputation bar that you have now, but it would be cool if you could add community badges under the avatars that users could earn. (similar to what Envato does on some of their sites like themeforest.net)
Founder & CEO — 6th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
I agree, badges would rock.
Lifetime member! — 7th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
+1 for all that stuff AND the translation section....
Founder & CEO — 7th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
We're planning on introducing a members wiki soonish - so the translation section would be a nice part of that I imagine.
Member — 8th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Wiki sounds awesome. Maybe it could work like this...
online instruction manual including every plugin with a table of contents... at the end of each page there would be a comment list. To leave a comment you must have reached 100 rep points in forum.
The type of comments I imagine are helpful community-based plugin recipes and tips and tricks. of course these can be moderated by WPMUdev when neccessary.
Founder & CEO — 10th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Yeh, that's a nice idea, granting privs based on points - I've given you some for sharing that :)
Member — 11th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
I'd definitely restrict PMs by making sure the person writing a PM has a certain number of points, otherwise I'm sure you'll be swamped by PMs pointing you to different forum topics :-)
Support Chimp — 11th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
I would not personally restrict paying members on the use of private messages however I would make it clear (above the messaging area) that this channel of communication is not intended for support and that forums are for this purpose. Perhaps even go as far as stating that any support requests initiated by the subscriber will go unanswered, thus still allowing someone in a position to support the opportunity request further (sensitive) information that way if required.
Member — 11th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Yeah, I agree with @Timothy... PM is much different than adding content to an official wiki page or online instructional manual. Paid members should be able to communicate freely. EDIT: Maybe just ability to block PM from violators is all thats needed.
Example: Let's say Timothy has been helping me through an issue I'm having and he needs to email something to me that could help me out. I don't want to post my email address on the forum so I hit Timothy with a PM containing my email address. I should not have to earn a single point to do this because it helps WPMUdev when I engage in this way and helps them to fill their promise of great support, which has been paid for. Win-Win. I think so anyways...
But the content on official WPMUdev documents is SACRED!! It should be added to much more frequently but I'd rather have these guys making/improving these great plugins. So community assistance is the only way to go. But you need to be per-qualified to post. Chances are that after 100 points you've either gained some knowledge to pass along that's not already documented whether you're a pro or not. And that will make the docs great for both beginners and experts. Heck after 100 points you're gonna be good at something even if you started out clueless!
Member — 14th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
+1 +1 +1 ;)
My pet peeve: please change the number of posts in a topic (in the forum indexes) to the number of replies. So one post (usually the question) gives a count of '0', not '1'.
This is standard in many other forum sw, I keep on opening posts as I have the same question as the OP and find out that '1' means that there is no answer yet.
As I said, pet peeve!
Member — 17th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
It would be nice to have a couple of extra foum sections.
General
A place where members can just chat
How To
The place where users can go to ask How do I? This would be a good place for members to earn their points. The idea of this would be for people trying to do things in WordPress, not for WPMUdev themes/plugins.
Member — 21st April 2011 (1 year ago) #
+1
Member — 29th April 2011 (1 year ago) #
Excellent ideas... Anything that facilitates and promotes interaction between members is a good thing. These forums have been extremely helpful to me and having more ways to get help only increases the value (though hopefully not the cost) of a membership. ;-)
Member — 2nd May 2011 (1 year ago) #
Excellent ideas indeed :)
Member — 3rd May 2011 (1 year ago) #
A bit off topic, but I'd like to see a feature that would allow co-funding of Custom projects. Quite often an enquiry about complex functionality can lead to the need to customize one of the plugins. I've see quite a few enquiries from members with similar needs to my own but there is no way to contact a member to see if they are interested in co-sponsoring a project (expect by posting to the forum)... enabling PM would allow potential sponsors to communicate directly (without necessarily revealing their identity).
Lifetime Member — 3rd May 2011 (1 year ago) #
I would like something a notch up from the SHOWCASE tab. I want to know who is using what plugins and themes and see how they have used them and customized them. From there we can not only get great ideas, but also communicate with them and maybe even pay them for 'their version' of the WPMU DEV products or their code that they invested either their time or resources in.
Member — 5th May 2011 (1 year ago) #
I don't really care about PM, but I think badges would be cool!
Member — 27th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
+1 for co-funding of Custom projects - I'd really love that feature, its so much better than just posting on the job board :-(
Member — 27th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
bizpod that is a great idea..
+1
Founder & CEO — 28th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
In a way you are co funding projects by being members and requesting them here.
However, a collaborative funding plugin - using for example paypal just as a start, could be a cool thing to develop and try out here!
Founder & CEO — 28th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
And I'd like PM and badges too :)
Member — 28th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
@James: I didn't see that request as wanting a plugin for co-funding but rather about the ability to get a custom plugin here from WPMUDEV that you are placing i.e. low priority on but i.e. lets say 10 members do want it and are willing to co-fund it.
Please correct me if I am wrong?
Founder & CEO — 28th June 2011 (11 months ago) #
I'm thinking how we could do both... as a kind of experiment and with a release at the end of it too
Member — 28th January 2012 (3 months ago) #
+1 for badges
+1 for co-funding plugin/custom development.
Prioritizing development resources with member feedback and requests is great, but would be nice to have some place to see where a particular request or suggestion ranks. Assuming a popular request is most likely to be developed soon.
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