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Subject: 
Links Management Thoughts
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general, lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.admin.suggestions
Followup-To: 
lugnet.admin.general
Date: 
Fri, 2 Aug 2002 11:19:25 GMT
Viewed: 
2297 times
  
Hi all,

I hope I’m not jumping the gun or stepping on any toes by posting about this
when I myself am not a Lugnet Admin, but my curiosity on the matter is strong...

I was wondering if anyone had a complete and comprehensive list of links to
all Lego related websites.  I had gone so far as to consider designing one
of my own on my site, but then I concluded such a list would be better as
part of Lugnet proper (since Lugnet aims to provide enthusiasts with as much
info as possible).

Then I remembered the powers that be (Suz I think) created this little ditty:

http://news.lugnet.com/admin/helpwanted

As indicated on the top line of that page, Lugnet recognizes the problem I
am discussing.  We do have a link on the Lugnet front page that leads to a
copy of the old Everything Lego, but that has a number of dead links, and
certainly does not list each and every personal fan site available.  It also
doesn’t list all the nice info pages hidden on Lugnet (like the one I just
mentioned, which I would not have known of if I didn’t read a particular
thread).  A number of pages like this are not easily accessible from the
front page, and perhaps including them on a general links page (maybe under
their own category) would be good.

Furthermore, I was thinking it would be nice if each personal site had a
short description as to its contents (maybe akin to how Yahoo shows their
listings).  I also thought a ranking system might be nice (stars), but
concluded on my own that such a system would only prove to discourage some
people.  We don’t want a popularity contest; we want everyone to feel
encouraged to build Lego related sites.  So I don’t think any rating system
would be appropriate.  Still, a line description of contents would be nice
for reference.  A search function could also be good, but would likely
require far more technical investment (not worth it if you ask me).

Also needed on such a page is a means of submitting new URLs.  Ideally, this
would be as simple as a mailto link that a user could use to quickly mail
their URL and site description to an admin.  Perhaps more complicated, but
it would be nice if when a member added a URL to their personal Lugnet page
if the system automatically alerted the links admin.  And that gives me the
idea that perhaps the links page could group personal fan sites by whether
or not they are Lugnet members (not really rating them, and not alienating
non-members, but simply placing members in a group higher on the page –an
incentive to join!).

The admin’s job could be made easier if the page included a mailto for users
to report dead links.  Otherwise, the admin will be checking out every
website on the list all the time.  (Wait, considering some AFOL sites, maybe
that isn’t so bad... but time consuming!)  The time saved might be used by
the links admin to proactively search the web for other sites of interest,
hidden jewels in old Lugnet posts, etc.

Basically I am just brainstorming here, but it would be great to have a
complete and relatively up to date list of sites readily available and easy
to find from Lugnet proper.  And I think it would be nice if you could get a
sense of the subject matter of each site from the start.

All of this would of course require that the volunteer position mentioned on
the page above be filled.  I for one don’t think of myself as the best
computer person, and I might not know exactly where to start without some
initial guidance, but I would be willing to help out if no better candidate
volunteers.

I will keep an eye out for the admins to officially open this discussion...

FUT .admin.general ('cause I'm not sure where else to go with it).

Cheers,
-Hendo



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