Search, Directory, Review Guide and Activity Stream

In the past week or so, I have added 4 new updates to the site. Let me go over with you these updates:

1. You might notice a new tab called Review Guide. This guide will display submitted files in order of days aging with 0 replies, 1 reply, 2 replies and 3 replies. The idea is to provide visibility of which files have never been reviewed on this site, or have only 1 to 3 reviews. The goal is to decrease the number of files on this review guide to a minimum. As of this writing, there are 60 files that have not been reviewed, and we should get this down to 0.

I realize the new system is taking some time to get used to, but now we have an easy way to see which files have not been reviewed. Simply click on the Review Guide tab and as you review works from this guide, this list will automatically decrease.

2. The directory is another powerful new addition, leaving the user with the power to search by category, subcategory, composer name, unit of time, and pieces needing reviews by color code.

3. The search was difficult to implement, but after some good research, I was able to get something up. There is a good explanation box that will explain the search further. Basically you are free to search two sections of the site (music and forum). The search will autocomplete as you type, which I feel is the main attraction.

4. And finally, I was able to come up with a current activity stream which I won't even link to, because it is obvious where it is located. This will display who has been active on the site within X minutes (so far the cutoff is 30 minutes). As users click around on the site, the number of users online will increase. This will be a good test to see how many users show up when I do my newsletter to let people know of the new and improved website. Note, if you sign in anonymously, the activity tab will not track you.

Doing these projects has greatly helped me learn how to manage and improve this site on my own. I feel I have enough knowledge from this point on to make improvements, thus, I encourage you all to contact me (through Marius), in order to see new improvements, and features. Some of the things I would like to do next:

• Music you may like
  
• Topics you may like
  
• Similar music
  
• Permanent activity stream along with the real time activity stream
  
• Improved Facebook integration
  
• Comment map
  
• Friend relationship map (depending)
  
• Followed content map
  
• Groups (this one is easy, there is a modification that I can buy)
  

*cough*

And where was this when we had a myriad of reviewers?! This would have been IMMENSELY helpful then.

That said, good hunting!

63 files with 0 reviews

This is awesome. I think we can pretty much say problem solved. I mean, the new music submission area is so much more enticing than just mucking them all up and around with the other forum posts. Instead of just ignoring all the posts coming through with music I have actively been searching and listening to music all week. I think it helps that there are new posts that hang around for a while in the new post section so people can get around to checking them out and getting interested in them before they disappear into the abyss. I also like the "grading system". It brings interest not to the new piece but to the ones that others have shown interest in. So now you have new pieces getting checked on and the ones that are universally considered good checked on my more people and now you can have the ones that are not getting attention start to get some attention. It is kind of like why I go to check out random videos that I know nothing about on youtube.

This is all very helpful. Can't wait to see how the music submissions flourishes now.

My only issue with it is that the title suggests a tutorial rather than a functional area, so perhaps we can think up a better name for it, but beyond that this is excellent.

Agreed. Good work here, Chopin!

oh and I'd still happily get back my reviewer status if needed :innocent:

I might reconsider a review staff, but I will discuss this with Marius and Robin. Perhaps if I purchase a groups modification, we can then keep track of all our reviewers this way. Before, management was a nightmare which is why we put the review board on hold. But now with our new functionality, a review board might actually make sense. I can even keep a scoreboard of how our reviewers are doing which might help encourage reviewers.

I vote for no special "pedegree" or "title" associated with reviewing stuff. Isn't everyone supposed to be doing that anyway? Pay-it-forward so to speak?

so what's up with the Reviewers ? I kinda resigned so I stopped, but the rest ? none of use appear in the "moderating team" page.... I still have that reviewer badge, so the others, I only said I'd like the teacher badge in exchange

I like this idea. Before, you could usually count on having some reviews in the week after you put up a composition, but these would stop once it dropped off the bottom of the page. It was a system that implied only the latest compositions were worth reviewing because folks didn't bother clicking through 80-odd pages. Now we can see everything written on one page, and better still older compositions are at the top so these will still be seen as people scroll down to find the latest ones.

I vote for no special "pedegree" or "title" associated with reviewing stuff. Isn't everyone supposed to be doing that anyway? Pay-it-forward so to speak?

This.

I felt people applied for the title and often did less work once they had it than those who didn't. Also, when I first joined the site.. I assumed they did the reviewing, so it was a few weeks before I started giving my opinion on other pieces, a few weeks before I realised I could.

I would suggest having the three admins you have now and then 5 or so moderators who take care of the day to day stuff, like crowd control. This was bought up and agreed upon by everyone at I think, the first skype meeting the staff had a year or so ago. All that came from it though, was the deleting of the reviewer staff.

The new review tab is great! I think you're going to need more forum mods. Bring back Reviewers? Maybe that would be unnecessary, but it depends on how frequently everyday users comment on the compositions.

Some thoughts here...

I don't mind not bringing reviewers back, but if we entrust it all to the members then we need to have a sticky or some message that appears to all new members that describes the way the site works (i.e. you post stuff, then you review other peoples' stuff). I think the new tab will help facilitate this in a way that's never before been the case on the site, so that's a good thing, though I'm still not happy with the name. Pending content sounds like stuff that's not yet been posted...any other ideas? Reviews Needed? Something?

I also really like the idea of a monthly "Review Day" where we all come together to get that queue of zero reviews down to...zero. That's a terrific idea and if we market it as an actual thing then it can be something we all look forward to — people will know that their stuff is going to get some comments. We have to make sure they don't all just post the day before though and then leave, expecting everyone else to review. That will no doubt happen to some extent but we can probably minimize it.

Yeah, the name's not great. And is an extra heading in the navigation really necessary? Why not make Reviews drop down from Music instead?

Why hide it in a drop-down when keeping it as its own tab ensures it's always visible and easily accessible? Especially since the whole idea behind the module is to make people visit it as often as possible. Lots of folks never read this stuff, so making it impossible to miss is the only way to get them to keep going there.

Some thoughts here...

I don't mind not bringing reviewers back, but if we entrust it all to the members then we need to have a sticky or some message that appears to all new members that describes the way the site works (i.e. you post stuff, then you review other peoples' stuff). I think the new tab will help facilitate this in a way that's never before been the case on the site, so that's a good thing, though I'm still not happy with the name. Pending content sounds like stuff that's not yet been posted...any other ideas? Reviews Needed? Something?

I also really like the idea of a monthly "Review Day" where we all come together to get that queue of zero reviews down to...zero. That's a terrific idea and if we market it as an actual thing then it can be something we all look forward to — people will know that their stuff is going to get some comments. We have to make sure they don't all just post the day before though and then leave, expecting everyone else to review. That will no doubt happen to some extent but we can probably minimize it.

Maybe you could make a header the 1st of august in between the shoutbox and the forums saying: 'Review-day', so everbody will know it's that day?

Yup, if we end up working with it we'll definitely have a shoutbox announcement banner about it.

Yup, if we end up working with it we'll definitely have a shoutbox announcement banner about it.

This will most likely be something that needs some persitance. The first time it will only be a few people that will be contributing, but if it's something that's returning it will become more popular. My advise is to just go with it and evaluate it after three or four months. And if a few people make an extra effort this is still beter than nothing.

People are often a bit hesitant to new initiatives and will watch to see if others put in the energy. If they see others do it they will be eager to be a part of this. So I expect it needs some time to settle, but it will eventualy.

I agree with you, and what will help is getting our staff engaged and talking about it in the shoutbox and such. Not spamming, just reminding people and making it apparent that we're motivated to do this. As you said, we have to try it out for some months and refine it as we go. :)

Why hide it in a drop-down when keeping it as its own tab ensures it's always visible and easily accessible?

But Reviews isn't its own tab... It's a dropdown from Pending Content. Are there more dropdown options to come under Pending Content?

Other than on this topic, I can't even see "reviews." I'll keep looking ;P. Otherwise, I think the elder members could at least review 1 or 2 pieces a day or something. It's not that hard.

Here's a little update. I've been hard at work, working on a color coded directory that will help you guys navigate through submissions. Red, Yellow and Green boxes indicate at a glance which submissions need work. The directory seems bug free, and much quicker than the previous version. The directory can possibly replace the "review guide". Or we can have both, you decide :)

I was happy with just the review-guide. I think the directory is usefull too. I wouldn't really mind if you decide to go for the colour layout, but for me guide was clear enough. Besides I found it at elast interesting to see which compositions were left without a review longest.

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After working with it for a while the colour setup is really annoying me. It's hard to read, it's confusing and it give me a headache, it's looks unprofessional and it's unappealing to look at.

Erggh!

Review guide > colour directory. Hands down. Good idea, but looks hideous.

Ew. Get rid of it. The Review Guide was great. This is not.