Brainstorming MAS version 4.0

[Atash Hagmahani]

Here are my contributions to the discussion:

* More consistent and distinctive look-and-feel throughout the site.
* Attention-getting graphics.
* Better navigation and tighter integration throughout the site.

Now for some fuzzy ideas that need some refinement:

I am not sure that forums are the ultimate form of "community". Instead of a forum, it would make sense for each member of the website to have his or her own "space", where he or she can post blog-style...ending up in a "commons" area on the site, in an aggregation and sorted by categories or tagwords.

Speaking of aggregations, it would also be great to have an RSS aggregator built-in.

How about a feature that would RSS aggregate stories from other websites, then let readers rank the stories so that "hot" stories bubbled up?

And the common area could be defined in terms of modules that each person could add to his or her custom view into the rest of the site, according to her interests. One should not have to search for new articles or items of interest.

The commons space should have features that encourage collaboration and interaction above and beyond chit-chat. Including commercial features that encourage inter-member commerce (yes, I realize I am opening up a can of worms...but it might make sense to think big these days).

Have a look at this website, which doesn't have any of the features I am talking about, but does have an interesting interface:

http://www.2advanced.com/

Go down various menus, for example,

http://www.2advanced.com/#company/pressnews/news

One reason that my website does not have better pagerank is because I lack a "coolness" factor. But the whole website is crippled anyway, due to its archaic and poorly-integrated interface. I think that we don't have as much personal interaction as we could have, if the system itself encouraged it. Instead, we have to actually use our brains and get creative from time to time. 

I wonder how much a real website would cost?

[Atash Hagmahani]

Is there portable, "on the go" equipment available to do a fairly decent audio recording, to add audiocasts ("podcasts", regardless of whether you actually play on an iPod or not)?

I can't sit by a computer and record audio. But sometimes I could do it while doing something else.

[Mike]

As freaky cool as this sites' http://www.2advanced.com/ homepage is, it puts me on guard with the expectation that it will lack substance.   I don't know why, but most sites with substance are heavy on text and light on effects.

I'm not complaining about your site's integration.  I've seen much, much worse.  But you are probably right, it could be integrated better.

Forums tend to have an anchor poster or two, and everyone else adds feedback and body. 
Forums are generally dieing a slow death.  Blogs seem to be on the increase.  Blog readers add comments and depth.

The idea of forming community around bloggers is interesting.  In a way, that is what is going on at www.wallstreetexaminer.com wallstreetexaminer is morphing towards a pay-to-read type site.  Originally it was mostly free-to-read and it was organized around three main bloggers: Lee Adler, Russ Winters, & Lee Wheeler (RIP), and some lesser bloggers and lots of readers with comments.

The idea of connecting blogs by tags is really interesting.  At this site, in the forum, I make an effort to not create too many threads; and to continue in a thread from long ago.  An ingenious use of tags might make it almost automatic.

[Dame]

When I first came upon this forum, I read the objectives information on the wiki and then the posts and concluded the people, their objectives and the simplicity of the forum were its strong points.  These met my personal investment critieria for my time and contermplation of the issues.

The lack of frills and the required learning curve that goes with them were contributors to my decision to actually frequent and post.  Adding complexities of navigation, dressing it up may well distract from the capacity to have a life to post about and to have the time to contemplate content.  Somewhat like seminar classes which need people to think before they speak rather than leave the work to the instructor to make it 'entertaining' for them. 

What do you want this site to achieve?
What is your target group? 
Would you prefer an audience? 
Would the current group of people continue to contribute if they were part of an audience? 
Would the quality of response degrade to what can be found on many of the more technically complex sites? 
Are these questions that you want discussion on and if so, with whom? And which questions?

[opsec]

This plan sounds complex. I would worry about people becoming overwhelmed with information overload and surfing away or becoming bogged down in the cyber-maze of everybody's individual blogs. I like the centralized feel of the forums, but then I am something of a technophobe.

[Ryder]

Luddite's unite

[Atash Hagmahani]

Luddites rejoice. The whole point is to make it easier for you to find content, by delivering it to you instead of making you go look for it.

And we are talking multimedia content. Not just text, but pictures, video, and sound/music. How would you like to be able to share pictures from your life with your internet buddies, but control who can see them?

How about features that encourage members to make the best of their precious time here at a specific times of day? So that instead of going from extremes of "addicted" to "forgot about", visiting the site turns into a predictable routine that helps people plan their lives. For example, I want to add a calendar feature, more sophisticated than the one on the forum, in which we can all plan events and announcements.

This project will take a while, but I think it will save my website. If you look at other websites, a lot of the forums eventually die out.

I will develop it in parallel, so that this site won't be adversely impacted.

In a former life, I was a software developer. I know something about user interfaces. We can keep it friendly and very easy to use. Maybe we could have an extensive wizard system, so that anything you don't know how to do but want to know how to do, the system itself can lead you through.

This isn't a promise by the way. Offer subject to availability. Got a lot of things going with new baby daughter, a land-scouting trip, some work that needs to be done to my rental property, and other projects. Plus, I need to not blow too much money on this. I think, tho, that if I did it right, I could turn the site into a revenue-generator to help pay for itself. As it is now, everything is one a shoestring, and my webstore does not pay for more than a very small fraction of just my webspace rent.

[Wellspring]

Wow Atash~
What you offer is exactly what I'm always wanting at Forum sites. 
I will hold a powerful intent that the stars align correctly to allow you the time, energy and spirit to
evolve this site to a more user friendly experience.

I'm certainly willing to contribute to the expense in appropriate ways to my needs in order to have
this kind of dedicated, resource-rich site.

Cheers mate

[opsec]

You could charge money for a "paid membership" that offers more features or something like that.

[Lady Lilya]

I'm thinking about the forums I go to most.  All we do there is talk to each other.  That's it.  And yet that keeps us coming back again and again and again. 

I'm not a big fan of bells and whistles. 

I find the current version of MAS easy enough to navigate.  Easy enough to see what forum posts are new.