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[Added lugnet.general to newsgroups list]
In lugnet.admin.general, josh_spaulding@hotmail.com (Josh Spaulding)
writes:
> I'm relatively new to Lugnet, and it is difficult for me to keep track of
> the other users. I think it would help to unify the postings if there were
> a way that users could fill out a survey/bio form (simlar to the RTL roll-
> call).
Hi Josh,
We've got some ideas in mind on the next steps we want to take with regard
to people/bios/community/sub-communities/groups, etc., but it's likely
that things won't be as cut and dry as the RTL Roll Call because we don't
want to reinvent the wheel and because we would also like to create
something more expressive.
One approach that I kinda like is providing a "blank whiteboard" (for the
inclusion of biographical information in paragraph form) and a set of
"stencils" to help (optionally) fill out some of the blank areas. As an
example of what I mean by stencils, have a quick look at the four bios
here:
http://www.visi.com/~lehman/cats/
These are some pages I made a few years ago for four delightful cats I
once lived with. Obviously there are zillions of other possible fill-in-
the-blank items or pseudo-questions that would be more appropriate to LEGO
enthusiasts, but you get the idea. Note, BTW, that each of the four bios
uses a slightly different set of fill-in-the-blank items, since not all
items are applicable or tell-tale in every case.
What we want to avoid, then, is a framework which focuses too much on
quantification (e.g., how many unopened LEGO sets someone owns or how
many LEGOLAND trips they've taken) or too much on categorization (e.g.,
someone's gender or what themes they collect).
What we do want to see is a framework which focuses more on personality
and spirit -- a framework which encourages insights into who people are,
what they enjoy about LEGO, maybe a little bit about their life
philosophy, how they like to spend their time, etc. Something free-form
yet slightly structured.
> Each
> posting could link to the author's survey answers. This way, a single
> click would tell me if a message comes from a single, twenty-four year-
> old engineer and technic fan, or a middle-aged castle fan with a wife,
> two kids and his own retail business.
That's probably going to be more information than you'll get from a
typical user, but of course it'll be up to each person how much or how
little information they'll want to provide about themselves.
We won't require anyone to write down their age, their gender, their
marital status, their sexual orientation, their occupation, or anything of
that nature. They certainly can if they want to, but it's up to them.
The important thing is that people feel comfortable with whatever they do
choose to write down, and that there be some reasonable set of starting
ideas to choose from.
Everyone's personal bio is going to be different from everyone else's.
People aren't data sets. :)
We might create a special newsgroup lugnet.people for something like this,
with a web-front-end which collects the information and assembles, posts,
and indexes a news article.
As far as categorizing people based on common interests or locations, this
is the larger role that the topical and geographical groups will soon be
playing. A byproduct of the upcoming URL reorganization will be ways to
formally associate people with various sub-communities of the larger
community -- in a way where you can go to the homepage for a sub-community
and see a list of like-minded people and related resource links,
basically.
If anyone has ideas on what sorts of things they'd like to see included,
excluded, encouraged, or discouraged in user-specific pages, or if you
have thoughts on how to bridge the gap between the casual user and the
(later) permanent memberships, feel free to add your thoughts, wishes, or
suggestions here on this thread.
--Todd
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: linked user bios?
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| Yeah, I agree with just about all of what you've said. (...) I DO think categorization can be very useful and informative, but... Your suggestion of an open format doesn't exclude such things, of course. If a user feels that such personal info isn't (...) (26 years ago, 11-Mar-99, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | linked user bios?
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| I'm relatively new to Lugnet, and it is difficult for me to keep track of the other users. I think it would help to unify the postings if there were a way that users could fill out a survey/bio form (simlar to the RTL roll-call). Each posting could (...) (26 years ago, 11-Mar-99, to lugnet.admin.general)
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