Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
Improve Dieselpunks!
Steampunks! Dieselpunks! Lend me your gears!
As I look over this website, I see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new friends.
Now I ask you, the community, how can we improve Dieselpunks?
Take the axe. What would you chop?
Take the hammer. What would you add?
Are there series that you're sick of seeing? Are there things you can't wait for each week?
Are our policies too strict or too open-ended to be understood?
I'm looking to you, because this website isn't a vanity piece. It's supposed to be an inspirational hub for artists and dreamers.
Without you, Dieselpunks has no way to grow. And unless we keep moving, we'll fall to rust.
Speak now. Your voice will be heard.
Views: 23
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Johnson on -
Well, kind of like Facebook or Last.fm. Not completely, just the style and the way everything's placed. Oh, Playfire.com is another example. It's just a suggestion.
Tome Wilson said:
Have any ideas or examples we could try to follow?
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on -
Hi Chris,
That's a little too broad. Is there anything specific about the way those sites are organized that you like?
Chris Johnson said:Well, kind of like Facebook or Last.fm. Not completely, just the style and the way everything's placed. Oh, Playfire.com is another example. It's just a suggestion.
Tome Wilson said:
Have any ideas or examples we could try to follow?
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Permalink Reply by Chris Johnson on
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Umm, maybe a streamlined notification system, where there's one icon and it shows replies to all your discussions and things you've posted, shows when you have comments on your profile, etc. Maybe like a feed, where it's just a page that contains all the updates that relate to you on the site, such as things you're following and whatnot. Is this less broad? I'm trying to figure out how to convey what I mean. :D I just hope it helps.
Tome Wilson said:
Hi Chris,
That's a little too broad. Is there anything specific about the way those sites are organized that you like?
Chris Johnson said:Well, kind of like Facebook or Last.fm. Not completely, just the style and the way everything's placed. Oh, Playfire.com is another example. It's just a suggestion.
Tome Wilson said:
Have any ideas or examples we could try to follow?
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Permalink Reply by Lawren H.B. on -
I just noticed; We can sign into dieselpunks using google but into the chat with google.
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on
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GTalk doesn't have an API that I can use just yet. As soon as I can figure that part out, I'll add it to the site.
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by J.R. on -
One thing I noticed is that the number of forum categories seems, to me, to be way too high, and is possibly inhibiting discussion in some avenues. 20 categories is a LOT, and many categories like 'artwork', 'projects' and 'fashion' have so much overlap that they could be easily condensed into a general 'creative' section.
From what I discovered running forums (I used to be a moderator for one of the largest forums on the 'net) fewer categories means more cross-talk between topics, more active users and a more lively general community. Just throwing it out there :)
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on
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Good suggestion!
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Permalink Reply by J.R. on
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Thanks!
I suppose if you wanted to break it down a little further, it's possible that five or less categories would suffice. Maybe something like:- Creative lab section (project notes, fashion, trading post, any other DIY or user-generated media)
- Community projects (website rules, website suggestions, contests)
- Diesel media (movies, music, fiction, artwork, games, pulps and serials and whatnot)
- Diesel culture (Introductions, culture, icons of dieselpunk, classic cars, crazy technology, history and real-life stuff)
- Off-topic discussion
To prevent the individual categories from seeming over-crowded, you could expand the numbers of topics visible at any one time. There are currently 10, but if you made it 20 or 25 or even more, it'd be easier to get around. The fewer times people have to click to get to what they want, the better your interface becomes.
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Permalink Reply by Lawren H.B. on
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I kind of agree with that. I've sometimes had trouble figuring out were to put a thread because there were multiple areas that I felt I could put it in.
Though, if the forums were to be reorganized, I'd want to see a sticky or something to explain what types of things are in each forum. (It could be in "The Big Rules" as that thread is usually featured.)
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Permalink Reply by David Mark Brown on -
I have to admit, I had never taken the time to look at all the forum headings until I read these comments yesterday. There were so many I just kept moving. I usually only respond to strings that I am already involved in (because of email notices). I only get involved in a new forum organically if i happen upon it. I rarely put in the initiative to hunt one down. This is sort of lazy on my part, but I am assuming others are similar to me and maintain a presence in multiple spots around the net. I cruise in and out of them looking for shiney objects.
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on
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Give it a shot now > http://www.dieselpunks.org/forum
What do you think?
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Permalink Reply by J.R. on
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Good start, Tome!
The 'Interact' section is by far the biggest, but ideally you'd want several categories of roughly equal size. The nature of Dieselpunk as a DIY / grassroots sort of collection makes me think a 'creative lab' section would be appropriate, so that content can emerge from within the community and have a place to roost without being buried amidst the larger discussion.
In the main Interact forum, here's a suggestion: Instead of new users posting an Introduction thread, maybe there could just be one introduction thread that new users can add to? Introductions rarely get many replies / discussions so they come off as forum clutter, although you still want a place for people to informally meet and say hello.
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