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ID Requester Behavior Patterns = Cha-ching?
Posted by hrant in
21 Mar 2012 — 9:11am
21 Mar 2012 — 9:11am
http://typophile.com/node/91144
(Original post was edited to remove "for free".)
Providing a service is useful. But not if it drains
too much energy/focus. On the other hand, when
you provide one service people might stick around
for another, and even start helping others.
Especially if there will not be a way to filter the
browsing experience on Typophile, I suggest that
Punchcut conduct a quick statistical analysis that
aims to find out: what proportion of people who ask
for type IDs never do anything else here. If we find
that most people who get IDs here only use this site
for that purpose, I propose that we start charging
US$1 per ID request.
Although this might raise a modest sum over time,
the main goal is to discourage ID parasitism. But that's
assuming ID requesters don't hang around for much
else; if they do, I for one wouldn't mind keeping it free,
but then filtering would be needed after all.
hhp
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21 Mar 2012 — 9:42am
Let's go all the way, then! Asking for a registration fee may also finally ward off those ^$$!% spammers. (Today we had yet another one, but at quick glance it seems the tainted threads are restored correctly -- thanks, Jared et alii!)
I would not be opposed to paying a small sum for my access to the cumilative expertise of this forum members.
(Edit.) Such as comments on how to spell "cumulative" :-P
21 Mar 2012 — 10:00am
I would agree with this if the number
of ID requests per user per year is low.
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 10:06am
Everyone loves a good riddle. What's tiresome are posters who obviously haven't made the least effort on their own, and the ones who demand service ASAP.
21 Mar 2012 — 10:08am
Ah, a rush charge? :-)
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 10:15am
The Type ID Board alone generates more traffic than General Discussions.
If you start to ask money, people will simply go elsewhere with their requests.
Ivory tower anyone?
21 Mar 2012 — 10:24am
> people will simply go elsewhere
Sure. Who wants parasitic traffic?
It's not about elitism, it's about the
facilitation of focus.
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 10:24am
A very easy solution is
1. for new accounts with thread count < 5 ...
2. when they submit new thread ...
3. add a new step and ask if the post is an Font ID question ...
4. if it is, then put the question into the Font ID forum ...
5. and let the poster know it was placed there
Ta-da.
21 Mar 2012 — 10:31am
This is not about making sure IDs end up in the
right place, it's about reducing abuse. Unless we
can implement filtering I think this is a good way
to make sure frivolous users don't continue to
dilute Typophile's usefulness.
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 10:38am
Just don't look in the ID section and the perceived usefulness will spring up to where it belongs.
21 Mar 2012 — 10:39am
If the Type ID Board is clearly separated from the rest of the forum, there’s no risk of dilution.
21 Mar 2012 — 10:57am
Alex, for people who want to skim threads
for worthwhile ones, clicking on one forum
at a time is tedious. It would be nice if the
tracker* could be customized to exclude
the ID forum.
* http://typophile.com/tracker
hhp
21 Mar 2012 — 11:10am
Well, this is a problem not with the /tracker or the noise or new users posting into whatever default section, but with the lack of basic usability provisions on the forum. The /tracker should allow subscriptions to the forums you are interested in. It should allow subscribing to new posts of the users you are interested in. It should allow subscribing to the new comments in the posts you are interested in. This is trivial to implement. Like "few hours of poking around the code" trivial. The fact none of this has been done in - what? - 10 years of Typophile's existence just shows that it is not likely to be ever done at all. Making members' lives on the forum more comfortable is clearly not a priority for Typophile's admins.
24 Mar 2012 — 12:23pm
Like this guy
http://typophile.com/user/21907
should be paying. In 4.5 years he's made 157
ID requests and contributed a real post* once.
* Using the term as loosely as a
prohibition-era hooker in Chicago.
http://typophile.com/node/37575#comment-232011
hhp
24 Mar 2012 — 2:38pm
Please, Hrant, don’t start to call out names. It’s pretty clear the Type ID Board dwellers have very little interest in the discussions that happen in the forum. To me the solution should be a clear separation of things.
But, as already have said, I’m not holding my breath in the waiting.
24 Mar 2012 — 3:08pm
I was just trying to illustrate by example.
I'm not after rockberto, and he probably doesn't care about all this.
hhp
24 Mar 2012 — 5:46pm
If Typophile needs cash then we should be pimpin' merch. T-shirt, coffee mugs that have life changing properties, an annual poster or calender ... that kind of stuff.
If we charge a fee for type IDs then that forum's activity will be greatly reduced. I think most who use that forum are those who wouldn't pay. And those that are left over are very few and far between.
Perhaps we could create one of those quick question forms for them to check a box or two about what and why they use the Type ID forum before they can post up their request? In that way we could glean the info needed to create a user fee or not. That form alone will knock down traffic.
24 Mar 2012 — 5:53pm
Or they have to get a minimum score on some type trivia quiz! :->
hhp
30 Mar 2012 — 9:27am
Please ghetto-ize the ID Board aysap.
hhp
30 Mar 2012 — 10:08am
Please limit weekly comments to under 100 aysap.
30 Mar 2012 — 10:20am
It's not about quantity.
http://typophile.com/node/90717
Oh, and stop removing comments that challenge you.
hhp
30 Mar 2012 — 10:25am
I can even remove commenters that challenge me if I want.
30 Mar 2012 — 10:37am
Thanks, Indra! I needed a good laugh today :-)
30 Mar 2012 — 10:49am
But not here. Here you can't pretend everything in your
world is hunky-dory. And the more you do that anywhere,
the slower you grow. Controlling your designs is one thing,
controlling people is another.
hhp
30 Mar 2012 — 11:16am
Thanks, Hrant! I
needed a good laugh
today.