What should replace the Writing Gooder block on the front page? Top 5 reviewers? Reading recommendations? Recent posts? Knowledge base articles? A talking paperclip? Something else?
Knowledge Base articles! It's one of my favourite places but I know that some people rarely, if ever, venture over there, despite its extreme usefulness.
Otherwise, I like the idea of a talking paperclip. (Although not one that gives me tips about the website or how to use MS Word.)
I seconded Roserndorn. I mean, Knowledge base articles isn't a bad idea too, but showcasing five top reviews would do since YWS is more focus to the amount of reviews.
"Writing, though, belongs first to the writer, and then to the reader, to the world.
The subject is a catalyst, a character, but our responsibility is, has to be, to the work."
You are like a blacksmith's hammer, you always forge people's happiness until the coal heating up the forge turns to ash. Then you just refuel it and start over. -Persistence (2015)
You have so much potential and love bursting in you. -Omnom
I am so excited that we're bringing up talking paperclips. They could tell you a bit of information or a fact about writing maybe, and if someone just joins yws, it will welcome them and then give them a fact. That would be a very interesting thing, to have a talking paperclip, and I'm for it.
I agree with Lav on the knowledge base articles going there.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives once ~George R. Martin Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about recreating yourself. ~George B. Shaw
To be honest, there's no big needs to feature on Knowledge base articles. They should be featured when less attentions are given to them, but as I've been roaming around that area, I found that although the feedbacks to such articles weren't much, the views were satisfying. On Grammar & Research area alone, the topics in average got at least 500+ views, which was good. Plus, some reviewers had linked to them in the reviews, promoting more the articles.
Examples of good reviews, on the other hand, doesn't have much room for themselves, unlike Knowledge base articles. We've told to make quality reviews but the articles that dedicated themselves to tell us about how to make them are not much. In accordance to that, giving examples of good reviews by promoting them would attract more reviewers to improve their reviews, and also make them want their reviews to be featured.
To sum it up, I just think attention to good reviews should be our first priority here instead of promoting articles that already have satisfying views.
"Writing, though, belongs first to the writer, and then to the reader, to the world.
The subject is a catalyst, a character, but our responsibility is, has to be, to the work."
Sadly, featuring top reviews isn't really possible. There are simply not enough likes, and there's really not even enough to pull the top 5 for the previous month. You could go the curated route, but YWS runs on an all-volunteer staff who have busy lives.
Plus, the top reviews can now show up in the Literary Spotlight, although I don't believe it's happened yet.
If featuring top reviews isn't possible, then I'd be all for featuring some Knowledge Base articles. They're really helpful, and some people on the site might not realize just how far the KB goes in helping people out, so they might not even think of it unless they see something featuring the articles.
Not to mention, a lot of the KB article views have been amassed over years. So it's not 500 people viewing them in the last six months, it's 500 people viewing them since maybe 2011 or even earlier.
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