My suggestions to improve OBC

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zaynab_m
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My suggestions to improve OBC

Post by zaynab_m »

(The following was sent to Scott as a PM. I am now posting it as a separate topic on this forum. Feel free to reply with your own suggestions, and tell me what you think of mine.)

On the page "Review Popularity Guide" Step 10 stated that I should "give suggestions to Scott" regarding the topic of promoting reviews; I am here to do just that: give suggestions. I have a few, so I'll list them.

1. Whenever a new (official) review is posted, a notification should pop up in the corner of the user's screen, informing them of the publication of a new review. I find it slightly tedious to keep checking in the "New Posts" area, and refreshing the page every few seconds.
2. You may feel that too many (official) reviews are posted by users, repeatedly, and that it may get irksome for other users when every few seconds a new notification pops up. That could be remedied in two ways:
(a) Only when a user's friend posts a review does he get a notification.
(b) (This does not concern notifications that pop up at the corner of a user's screen.) There is permenantly a bar on the right-hand side of the the user's screen that add the name of each new review posted, as soon as the review is published. (The addition of reviews to the list should be done preferably without the user having to refresh the page.)

***

The following does not concern the promotion of reviews, but rather, they are suggestions on how the website, overall, can be improved.

1. There should be a "Like" button for each post or reply a user makes, perhaps located next to the "quote" and report buttons. The review popularity could then be judged based, also, on the number of like the review gets.
2. There should be a notification option (different from the popping-up-in-the-corner-of-the-screen option). Instead, this should be a small icon, perhaps an envelope, situated near the "New Posts" and "Your Posts" buttons. By clicking on this notification button, the user opens up a list of his notifications (the list doesn't cover the entire page. Kind of like in Facebook.) A user's notifications could comprise of, any new likes he got, if anyone quoted him, if anyone added him as a friend, or if anyone replied to a new topic he started.

OnlineBookClub is great as website. I haven't been here 2 weeks but have been hooked ever since I stumbled upon it. But after using it for even this short time, I did feel that it could be slightly improved, making the website more user friendly, and a greater experience for us users. There is nothing major to be improved here; it's awesome already! The minor things I mentioned above will only "embellish" the website a bit more.

Lastly, I thank you and the site managers of OnlineBookClub.org for the amazing opportunity you have brought to readers, writers and reviewers alike. This site is a great way to get reviews on authors' books, and also for other readers who haven't yet read the book, know what to expect beforehand. Reading other people's reviews, feedback and opinions on various topics, and exploring different styles of writing is an informative experience. I feel that in the short time since I've joined, my writing skills have improved greatly (if I may say so myself) and I owe that mostly to the myriad of reviews I have read eagerly and posted replies on.

Thank you for OBC, and I hope my suggestions help.
-Zaynab M
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
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Post by gali »

I like your suggestions regarding reviews. :)

I am fiercely against adding the "like button" as it will cause users to respond less to reviews/posts, and it will prove tiresome in the long run. From experience on other forums many don't bother to press "like" anyway. Also it's too much like Facebook to my taste, and I find it impersonal to boot.
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Post by bookowlie »

I like the fact that, as a new member, you have taken the time to give your perspective and suggestions. :) I'm glad you are enjoying the site.

I agree with Gali. I am against adding a "like" button. I don't think it will be an accurate judge of popularity as it would be easy for members to just click "like" rather than take the time to read and respond with a thoughtful comment.
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Post by rssllue »

gali wrote:I like your suggestions regarding reviews. :)

I am fiercely against adding the "like button" as it will cause users to respond less to reviews/posts, and it will prove tiresome in the long run. From experience on other forums many don't bother to press "like" anyway. Also it's too much like Facebook to my taste, and I find it impersonal to boot.
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Post by Fran »

@zaynab_m
It's good that you have given some thought to how the site could be imporoved.
However I'm afraid I too would be in agreement with gali and rssllue and would be completly against a "like" button - I fully endorse what gali posted & feel it would be a very negative development.
I also have reservations about pop-up notifications which IMO only annoy and clutter the site - it would certainly need to be accompanied by a blocking option.
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Post by gali »

Fran wrote:@zaynab_m
It's good that you have given some thought to how the site could be imporoved.
However I'm afraid I too would be in agreement with gali and rssllue and would be completly against a "like" button - I fully endorse what gali posted & feel it would be a very negative development.
I also have reservations about pop-up notifications which IMO only annoy and clutter the site - it would certainly need to be accompanied by a blocking option.
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Post by zaynab_m »

Everyone's points are completely valid. It's interesting to know other people's opinions as well
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Post by TrishaAnn92 »

gali wrote:
Fran wrote:@zaynab_m
It's good that you have given some thought to how the site could be imporoved.
However I'm afraid I too would be in agreement with gali and rssllue and would be completly against a "like" button - I fully endorse what gali posted & feel it would be a very negative development.
I also have reservations about pop-up notifications which IMO only annoy and clutter the site - it would certainly need to be accompanied by a blocking option.
:text-yeahthat:
I completely agree but on the other side of the fence it may also be a good way to increase the popularity score because more people would be able to see the review. It's difficult and time consuming to jump from genre to genre to see all the new reviews that publish and commenting on them.
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Post by gali »

TrishaAnn92 wrote:
gali wrote:
Fran wrote:@zaynab_m
It's good that you have given some thought to how the site could be imporoved.
However I'm afraid I too would be in agreement with gali and rssllue and would be completly against a "like" button - I fully endorse what gali posted & feel it would be a very negative development.
I also have reservations about pop-up notifications which IMO only annoy and clutter the site - it would certainly need to be accompanied by a blocking option.
:text-yeahthat:
I completely agree but on the other side of the fence it may also be a good way to increase the popularity score because more people would be able to see the review. It's difficult and time consuming to jump from genre to genre to see all the new reviews that publish and commenting on them.
I think the negative (about the like button) outweighs the positive. New people still won't get like, so it won't increase their popularity score. One way for people to increase their score is to be more active in the community. 8)
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Post by rssllue »

Very true! :text-goodpost:
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Post by Gravy »

I prefer to not have a "like" button. Personally, I am not a fan of that aspect of social interaction on the internet.
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Post by rssllue »

Agreed! :)
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Post by gali »

Graverobber wrote:I prefer to not have a "like" button. Personally, I am not a fan of that aspect of social interaction on the internet.
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Post by anonanemone »

I feel like the facebook link we have for sharing books to our Facebook accounts is as close to the like button as we will probably get and I'm pretty ok with that.
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Post by Ryan »

I too am against the idea of a "like" feature. Scott and the rest of the moderating team have come up with a feature in which a "New Reviews" link would be displayed at the top of the page, similar to the "New Posts" feature. This means that the reviews are separate from the rest of the forum threads, which would save users time searching for them. It also means that all reviews are getting the same amount of exposure and no kind of "cliques" develop. I personally prefer this method.
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