I have a new plan for expansion. I blogged about it on Ealain but I was hoping for more feedback than I got there so I decided to post here with it. Feedback is greatly appreciated. In fact, I will plug on the next update anyone who comments with feedback. (As well as plugging the person who gets the song in this update’s title)
I want to expand and make SF more interactive. I want to make it where visitors can sign up for accounts (must be approved first; I’m an anti-spam paranoid freak) and then be able to comment on submissions. I want each tutorial to be able to have a mini-forum so that people learning can get specialized help. Also, so that each tutorial will also be able to have other visitors (with accounts) that can help explain it furthur if the author of the tutorial wasn’t detailed enough. The language sections will expand and be more stand-alone though they will still be part of SF.
There would be three levels of accounts:
Everyone with an account would either be labeled “artist” or “not artist” as well as “hostee” or “not hostee.” Artists would be able to submit through the site, edit their pieces (would go through moderation again), post/edit profiles through the site, and more. Hostees would be able to request information, request changes, cancel their sites, and contact me in relation to their site through the site. (As a sidenote on that, hosting will remain closed until changes are implemented and, depending on how I decide to change hosting, some things may change).
Everything (submissions, comments, forum) would be visible to the public so people wouldn’t need an account to view things but anything interactive would require an account. Update comments would remain open to the public as well.
As a side not, I DO NOT want to make it into a mini-DeviantArt. I want it to stay personalized and to remain a large part of it. Some people have told me before that SF is like a personal version of DA, which is how I want it to stay. Personal.
This would be a huge project for me so, before I start, I want to get people’s opinions on if they think it would work and be successful. If you have any comments, suggestions, thoughts, changes, expansions, whatever, PLEASE comment. I’m gonna need feedback.
Notes:
Reminder: You are now able to submit creative works in:
Post Script: Why do sites you love have to die?
thank you for your support! I’m glad you like my layout. it’s an honor coming from you. I hope all of your site changes go well, those can be a hassle. g’luck!
It sounds like a lot of work…
Personally, as a writer, I love getting feedback. And as a reader, I find that it is easier to give feedback if its just posting a comment on some website rather than having to email the person yourself [especially if your feedback is simply that you really liked reading something.] So I think it’d be a good thing to have.
Though, you know what’d be wonderful? - I’m not sure if you’ve already thought of it or not - email notifications. ‘Cause I wouldn’t read half the feedback I get if it weren’t for email notifications. And maybe [if its possible, I’m not sure how hard it’d be to code all of this stuff…?] a Livejournal-like commenting system, where there’s threading, instead of just normal comments? So you’d know if someone was replying directly to something you’ve said.
Response: I’ll definitely attempt at the email notifications but default would be not to recieve them; you would have to change it in your preferences. As for the threading, I’ll do my best at making it like that while keeping everything in mind. I read an article last night about commenting systems and it detailed problems with both flat and threaded commenting. Thanks for the suggestions!
I personally find your ideas to be fantastic and it would be really helpful for people that needs a little support to use the mini forum, I have experienced what it was like wanting to ask more about a tutorial I just read but didn’t know who to ask. I also love the ‘Hostees Account’ idea, it would be really handy and save us (your hostees) a little time if we have a problem. I am very excited about the expansion of Skyefairy and look forward to see any changes that will happen in the future.
I love your ideas. I think having your own, profile and being able to tell about yourself, which you already have. But, including the ability to have people comment on the profile itself, as well as individual pieces of artists work. Being able to rate the person overall, would also be a nice idea.
And is the song: Taper Jean Girl, by Kings of Leon?
Response: *dances* aaaha shaaake. heh. I’ll consider having commenting on profiles but what would be the main goal of it? Random messages or “I love all your stuff!!” or what? As for the rating, I’m not sure I want to get into that. Whereas comments can serve as outright approval or constructive criticism, rating usually has too many negative connotations.
That sounds like a great idea. It’s definately a great way to be more interactive but still stay personal. I don’t know if you mentioned this, but maybe it could be a separate forum that can be linked to through the pages of Skyefairy? Otherwise it could become very similar to DA.
Response: I’m sorry if I sound stupid here but I’ve never seen or used a forum on DA. As for their use on SF, my only plans forum-wise are different. It isn’t a random-chatting forum. The plan is for each tutorial to have a mini-forum so that users can get help for their progress with the tutorial.
Last night Aelyn helped me brainstorm and she brought up a prospect of a forum for random chatting. I’m not sure if I want to do that for a few reasons. For one I plan on coding as much of the expansion as I can myself. But also because that would add a higher chance of problems and a higher need for moderators. So unless things go perfect, I don’t plan on having a main forum–at least not at the same time as this. And if I did, I’m not sure where or how I would place it but I take every effort to make SF my own.
You don’t sound stupid for not seeing or using a DA forum, because I haven’t either.
But, I love all your ideas. You’re so dedicated! Good luck, I know it will work out for you! 
wow this sounds like a pretty big project, I think it sounds great. DA but personal. Awesome, I hope it turns out the way you want it to.
Hmm…. well, I definitely like it. My favorite idea is have the mini-discussions on the tutorials. It reminds me of some of the sites that I go to learn programming languages. People are able to comment on the tutorials, add to them, ask for help, or give other comments. I definitely like that idea. It gives the site a bit more of a personalized feel, and if people are curious on if there are different ways to do something, people might have already commented about that before.
Of course, I may be going off from your original idea… but I still like it, hehe.
I like Sakuya Kira’s suggestions, especially with the email notification. I love email notification. I’m not exactly sure what the “threading” is, as I’ve only been on LiveJournal a few times, but if it is what I think it is, it would be a great idea.
About the forum, I don’t think Joy meant that there was a forum on DA, just that perhaps you should have one main forum where, with each submission, a thread would be automatically created for it. The submission’s page could link to this forum thread where people could then comment on and discuss it. Instead of doing something like what DA has and have commenting directly with the submission.
That was my take on it, at least, and I can see her point. I’m rather against having strictly commenting for submissions, but if you have a discussion board? Oooh, yes, a discussion board. If you created something called a discussion board, people would know it would be for more than just “awsome tut! thanx!” Whether you had it seperated from submissions or not… I can see good and bad points on both ways.
I don’t like the idea of a random chatting forum. Those never sit well with me. I was talking to you earlier, I need purposes for everything. Random chatting just doesn’t cut it for forums for me, lol. I also never thought of Skyefairy being that type of site. Not that how I picture Skyefairy has anything to do with how it actually is…
I’m falling asleep here. >.<
—
My comment cut off. I have to stop using that smiley in posts. Anyways, erm… actually, I was just ending my post. Good luck with your “upgrades” and thanks for talking to me earlier. Or… rather, listening to me, hehe. It was much appreciated!