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DPChallenge Forums >> Web Site Suggestions >> DPChallenge Site 'Suggestions' (Wish List)
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 11/02/2005 06:07:38 PM · #1
The below are some 'site improvements'/suggestions I would like to see implemented at some point in the future. Many have been suggested before (I did a search of the Forums using the new 'revamped' function - thank you). I realize there are other priorities, but wanted to 'post' these for reference (in no particular order):

1. More Challenges
- done, thank you 'DPC' (even via the 'splitting' in Open)

2. 'Member Expires' changed to 'Membership Expires'
- done, thank you 'DPC' ("phew")

3. 'New Comment' received notification,ie: a 'highlighted' or 'bold' number indicating 'unread'/'unviewed' comments (current Challenges or 'portfolio') - another idea could be, the same as the 'received & helpful' list in My Profile, a 'helpful' under the 'Comments Received' box, would also indicate which 'you' have marked helpful or not (again this possibly brings up the 'comment read/acknowledged' debate)

4. Dates showing on Challenges in Challenge History, ie: when browsing through past Challenges, the date is indicated somewhere

5. Challenge Description included below Challenge Title at the top of every voting/submission/entry page

6. An 'elaboration'/'review' of the Site Etiquette (not only for new users) and the Site Etiquette linked or displayed 'more' around the site, possibly also a 'review' of the FAQ, especially for new members

7. Notification on submissions of 'Critique requested from Critique Club', or, better (as I have stopped 'requesting CCC' to ease the 'load' - yet I do welcome any comment/criticism) a 'Comments Only' / 'Comments and Criticism' / 'New User/Photographer' (something) checkbox(es) - sometimes people may not (legitimately) want in-depth comments/criticism and it would be good to know that when commenting/viewing (this may also be beneficial to portfolio content)

8. More 'benefits' to Members, ie: access to more detailed 'Site News' (see #11 below), the ability to hide your 'online status' or even just 'time online' (&/or perhaps just showing 'Member') to all but other Members for those who wish it, possibly (highly debatable) the ability to post to Forums anonymously (with a 'hidden profile' link for contact) which may encourage more 'input' from the 'quieter' Members (could work adversely too), priority on Critique Club 'critiques' and generally just more 'perks' for Members

9. A review of the voting process, especially in regard to 'skipping a photo' (or implementing a '0' vote) affecting the final tally, or at least some clarification on the impact of doing so 'somewhere' in 'Guidelines' (I still don't know the implications of skipping v '1')

10. More Polls and easier navigation to old ones

11. More 'Site News' more reading on DPC 'news'/'issues'/'events' (even if only a sentence or two), ie: how many prints sold this week, new members/users, if anyone was 'caught' cheating the past Challenge (if this really is an issue (no names obviously)), sponsorship/advertising initiatives (I am all for the site making (more) money) and just general site/community info, etc

There are more 'ideas'/'suggestions' but throwing these ones into the ring for now. I realize that the site is currently(?) in the midst of a major database 'rollover' and that the 'Admins' do a lot of work as it is behind the scenes. "... pay no attention to that man behind the curtain". ---- No 'timeframe' here, just a 'wish list'----

Thank you 'Admins' for an excellent and unique site. Thank you Site Council for your professionalism and impartiality. Thank you also to the 'DPC Community', for keeping the site so 'alive'.

'DPC', you are educational, creative, challenging, competitive, 'therapeutic' and.. a good (too good maybe) little 'pastime'. Long Live DPC

11/02/2005 06:11:05 PM · #2
You have some good ideas and have stated them quite well. Why is this in Rant? Shouldn't it be in Web Site Suggestions? Or were you expecting some flaming?
 11/02/2005 06:13:07 PM · #3
Did you really want this in rant or shall I move it?
 11/02/2005 06:15:43 PM · #4
'Oops'. Yes please - move it. Thanks.
 11/02/2005 07:48:07 PM · #5
Oh Waaaahhhh! "I want this on DPC", "I want that on DPC", as soon as they implement one thing, crybabies like you come screaming for more! Can't you just be friggin happy?? Sounds to me like you just need to take a chill pill and accept things the way they are! I am so sick of people like you who come in here screaming about more benefits to members or more polls or whatever - why don't you just get a freakin life before you have a freakin heart attack??!!!

... uh... hmmm... Oh - I thought this was in the Rant forum. Nevermind. Good suggestions, Macrothingy. ;-)
 11/02/2005 07:52:52 PM · #6
Originally posted by macrothing:

3. 'New Comment' received notification,ie: a 'highlighted' or 'bold' number indicating 'unread'/'unviewed' comments (current Challenges or 'portfolio') - another idea could be, the same as the 'received & helpful' list in My Profile, a 'helpful' under the 'Comments Received' box, would also indicate which 'you' have marked helpful or not (again this possibly brings up the 'comment read/acknowledged' debate)

I would really like to see something like this...
 11/02/2005 08:03:01 PM · #7
Well hopefully that takes care of any potential 'jinxing' I may have done. A bit bipolar there - but both acknowledged, 'thanks'.
edit:removed quote and added:

Originally posted by cpanaioti:
You have some good ideas and have stated them quite well. Why is this in Rant? Shouldn't it be in Web Site Suggestions? Or were you expecting some flaming?

I thought I was in Web Site Suggestions when I made a 'New Post' - apologies.

Thank you for your help MK.

Originally posted by christie3:
I would really like to see something like this...

Re: 3. 'New Comment' received notification; Something like this introduced would be good. People take the time to comment and it is good for the commenter to also see that/if(?) it was helpful, or even 'read'. Again, comments are not always 'apt', see #7. Thank you for the input.

Message edited by author 2005-11-05 06:12:07.
 11/02/2005 08:11:20 PM · #8
Originally posted by macrothing:
A bit bipolar there - but both acknowledged, 'thanks'.

I thought it was over-the-top enough that I wouldn't have to even use a smiley or a "j/k" but I guess you just never know these days. :)

and actually I'm Quadrapolar but I'm not doing half-bad today. ;-)
11/03/2005 06:39:59 AM · #9
'Ok', now, back to the original post.
edit:removed 'bipolar example'

Message edited by author 2005-11-05 06:05:27.
 11/03/2005 07:36:37 AM · #10
12. Links to previous related Challenges - I have mentioned this before (and it's trivial to implement...) but with Landscape II, Garbage II and Free Study IX, it's worth repeating. In the Challenge description and on pages of Challenge results, make available links back to previous Challenges

Dave
 11/04/2005 08:02:09 PM · #11
Originally posted by dsa157:
12. Links to previous related Challenges - I have mentioned this before (and it's trivial to implement...) but with Landscape II, Garbage II and Free Study IX, it's worth repeating. In the Challenge description and on pages of Challenge results, make available links back to previous Challenges

Dave


I think that this is a good idea in part, mostly for convenience. A link usually gets posted in the forums &/or it is not difficult to go to 'History' and find it. The negatives I see in 'advertising' the previous Challenge is it may stifle individual creativity and may even stifle learning/growth (especially if the Challenge is 'technique'). One reason people refer to previous Challenges is to learn what the technique is, but this can (should?) also be done by researching 'photography' or by a forum thread on the 'technique'. The other negative is, for those that wish to 'emulate' past 'winners', (which is not always a bad), it is easy to do so by seeing what went over well in the past, and trying to replicate it. I would rather see 'fresh approaches' and think overt linking to past Challenges may reduce the likelihood of 'new ideas'. Trivial (easy) to implement yes, but I am unsure on the 'benefits', other than a 'short cut' to what the Challenge (or technique if apt) is 'about', which could be 'gleaned' in other ways. edit:reworded

Message edited by author 2005-11-05 06:04:57.
 11/28/2005 12:20:20 AM · #12
13. Portfolio Image 'Uploaded' Sort Date enabling portfolio sorting by last uploaded.
- done, thank you 'DPC'

14. Child/Youth Identifiers I would like to see some type of identification system put in place that can easily identify a child photographer/user. Obviously children/youth who participate at this site for the purpose of improving their photography skills while also entering a Challenge (playing a game), should be welcomed and encouraged to participate via entering Challenges, voting and commenting. Forum posting I am not sure on and perhaps a debate (& poll) could be put in motion to garner community ideas. However, I am sure there are legal aspects of this that the Admins have already researched, so it may be something that they make a sole decision on. But knowing that a user is a child/youth that you may be receiving a comment from, or indeed making one to, should be easily identified and people (the adults) can adjust their language or 'style' accordingly. Two ideas are; a special 'icon' in place of the boy/girl/neutral generic ones, or, perhaps a different colored font on their usernames. Lastly on this, I think (and this is not just my opinion) that if this site is a 'family oriented' site, that users should watch their language and indeed, any 'colorful' language should be kept to the Rant forum, and children/youth should not be allowed access to that forum. --Note:--I have 'officially' suggested this and as it stands, the current number of young users does not justify the extra work involved in implementing these new features, but it is 'on the cards' should the demand be there in the future. Just for reference.

15. Special Challenges It would be nice to see an occasional (quarterly?) Challenge held that is an 'aside' from the 'normal' Challenges. Two examples that come to mind would be; again on the child/youth note, a "Under 13"/"5-10 year olds"/"Teenagers", etc Challenge. Where the submissions will only be minimal obviously, but it would be good for morale and encouragement and indeed may teach the adults a thing or two as well. Another idea is some type of set Challenge, voted on only by the Admins, or perhaps even 'judged' by them, if the voting system wouldn't work. Perhaps a one month membership could be awarded in such Challenge(s), don't know. Also, I would really like to see some type of 'head to head' Challenge, just for fun and involvement of the Admins, of them - pitted against each other and then voted on by all users - this is obviously subject to their agreement, not intending to 'force hands' here.

16. This Submission Has Received X Comments So Far, or similar wording. People often state that they would like to receive more comments during a Challenge, but with the anonymity it is impossible to identify who is lacking. Some type of 'stat' visible that shows the number of comments a submission has received, may encourage people to comment on the 'less commented' shots. Of course the popular shots will have a lot of comments already, but that is obvious even without being 'shown' that. If people really think that would be some type of 'bias', then perhaps the 'stat' only showing if someone has receieved, say, less than 10 comments. This suggestion would ideally be coupled with the suggestion in #7 that there also be some 'box' that indicates if, and/or to what extent, a comment is welcomed or desired. Perhaps even a way for the thumbnails to be sorted via comments received after finished voting. Lastly on the 'comment' note, if the 'preview' pop-up could be extended a few more seconds would be good.

17. Prints Wish List Not sure if this is currently in place regarding DPPrints, but I see a 'Wish List' appear in the stats section on the homepage, but nothing in the user profile. Apologies if it only 'appears' once you actually have something in/on a Wish List. This is relevant to people 'wish listing' your print(s), as well as you 'wish listing' the print(s) of someone else.

18. Mark Comment Helpful Accessible via 'Browse Comments' It has been suggested before, I think it would be a good idea to be able to have 'the option available' to mark a comment as helpful when browsing your own comments received pages, rather than having to open up the photo page. Not sure how much work (coding) this would involve, but may certainly 'facilitate' that box getting checked (if apt) more often.

19. Image Protected/Right Click Disabled. Controversial perhaps (and I have no idea how often images are saved from this site), but it would be beneficial and somewhat reassuring to know there is some safeguard in place to protect images. I know that there are times that fellow users/members save images of others in order to 'help' with pp etc, so perhaps this could be restricted to members, and a check box 'unprotect' (or such) available. The issue of 'search spiders', ie; Google, etc - perhaps should also be debated, if indeed there is a way to hide images from these 'spiders', not sure.

20. Feedback 'Box' Some type of feedback box (good/bad) for DPC, allowing for anonymous or named 'posts' could be beneficial. This is similar to 'Website Suggestions', but also allows for perhaps, some 'positive feedback', which would surely be a nice 'read' from time to time.

21. Post Challenge Comments 'excerpts' included with photos/photos commented on when browsing (once a preselected option is checked)showing e.g.; last five comments received, rather than having to open the photo page separately.

22. Amount of Comments Received stat shown while browsing challenge results.

23. Open in New Window when clicking/viewing photos in galleries and portfolio, as is in the forums - automatically opens in a new window.

24. 'Dead' Thumbs in Galleries "This image is owned by a user who is no longer a member with us and therefore not viewable." thumbs removed.

25. Comment Read Box Similar to #7 and other related suggestions, but a 'Comment Read' tick box (and it's been suggested & debated on a few times before) would at least let you (and the photographer if apt) know if your comment has at least been 'seen', whether it was 'helpful' or not is another matter. The two boxes side by side I think would be a good idea, and may even give more 'meaning' to the 'helpful' box.

...................

As stated in the first post, none of these have 'timeframes', just wishlists of mine, but if anyone would like to add anything they're welcome to. Obviously 'opinions' on any suggestions are welcome too. Perhaps I should have made a thread for each suggestion, but given I see these as just 'wish list' items, I've chosen to list them in this way, just for reference. Posting this at rollover time in an effort to be discreet.
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