Review It
Hi. I've started a new wiki called review it, only i have no members and no reviews. I would love some input on the site.
Please Add reviews.
PLEASE!!!
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Review It
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» The Community / New Wikidot sites
» Review It
I have a few comments (well, you did ask!)
Join Module
It would be best to put a joim module on your start page rather than being slightly buried in the sidebar link to the system:join page.
Tag Cloud
You should limit your tag cloud to just the categories containing the reviews, otherwise you will get the tags for the home page and other pages that are not so relevant having a large size.
What to Review
You are asking for reviews on dining, music, games, books and movies. Of course the choice of what to review is entirely up to you but I think you are spreading yourself too thin. Why not limit it just to, for example, dining? Your community can become the place to go for reviews of restaurants, cafes and so on.
Reviews
You have not put in any reviews yourself. You must do so if potential members are going to take you seriously. You should have quite a few reviews in there to kickstart the site otherwise it is not very inviting for potential members. If they see no reviews they won't be tempted to add any themselves. Unlike the "build it and they will come" quote in the film "Field of Dreams", creating a community takes more work than just buulding the structure of the site. But before you add any reviews, see the comment I have made below about dataforms.
When you click the button to add a review you are are presented with just the editor page with nothing in it. As a result you have not given your users any idea of what you expect them to write, how long the review should be, what the subject headings might be or anything else about the structure of the review. It's just like giving them a blank sheet of paper and it discourages them from starting to write.
Dataforms
What I think is a better approach is to use a dataform which the reviewer can fill in. Dataforms are a recent and very powerful additiona to Wikidot's features. If you go to a page on my testing site at http://vineyard.wikidot.com/review you will see a button to create a new review page and also a listpages module with a linked title to a basic review dataform that I have created to show you what you can do. The reviews are created in the reviews category which is autonumbered to remove the problem of duplicate restaurant names. I have relaxed the permissions so you can try it out and create a new review. As you will see, a nice form opens for the reviewer to complete - much better than a blank editor! And it shows the reviewer what information you are expecting to be input.
The syntax for the dataform goes into the live template page of the review category which is at http://vineyard.wikidot.com/review:_template.
I hope that's given you something to think about.
Rob Elliott - Strathpeffer, Scotland - Wikidot first line support & community admin team.
Strathview ~ Wikidot-based wikis, websites & intranets and online database development. For community groups, villages, charities, business and government.
@Rob: Anyone that isn't a Pro user with the wikidot toolbars disabled can see the "Join this site" link in the topbar too, which I used to instantly become a member.
I agree though, a join button on the home page would be easier for visitors to find.
Shane Smith ★ Website: Wikidot Development & Programming.
STE Wikidot Editor: Windows & Mac OS X. ★ Try it for free!.
I'm also on Twitter, follow me there! ;-)
I mentioned dining in my earlier comments and the example I gave for you to try, but we can't tell you what your site should be about: it is what you are interested in that matters as a strong interest in the subject will help you build up a community.
Rob Elliott - Strathpeffer, Scotland - Wikidot first line support & community admin team.
Strathview ~ Wikidot-based wikis, websites & intranets and online database development. For community groups, villages, charities, business and government.
I'm a Gamer at heart. So Games it is
@Rob
As for tag cloud, I was just trying to make it look slightly more spherical, as I had only two tags before I went a bit overboard
Working on dataforms :-)
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reviewit
/forum/t-347840/review-it#post-
