[theforum] colors & support block

Martin Burns martin at easyweb.co.uk
Sun Nov 16 15:26:59 CST 2008


On 16 Nov 2008, at 20:25, Erika wrote:

>> I think there's a few things here:
>>
>> 1) I'd agree with you if we were showing the support block to
>> everyone. But we are (were until it was disabled - BAD idea; I'd also
>> like to work out why when re-enabling it, it still fails to appear)
>> only showing it to logged in users, ie those who have an existing
>> relationship with us
>
> There are *so* many things that don't work on current site, esp for
> logged-in people (forms etc) ... anyway... beyond that...
>
> You can have an existing relationship w/ evolt and never make a user
> acct.

OK, so show me another way of knowing whether current user has a  
relationship stronger than J Random Visitor, and we'll talk.

> I personally think the donation option should be visible to all
> visitors, and not look garish to anyone.

Current block ain't garish; block on weo.easyweb.co.uk isn't even  
distinctive. And I believe the context is that you were proposing  
making it even less obvious a block.

>> dropping. Assuming we won't countenance ads on weo (and I think our
>> audience is so used to seeing them elsewhere that that wouldn't be
>> such A Bad Thing any more)
>
> worth revisiting if we need the money to survive.

Which we do.

> FWIW I would like to see us to continue our tradition of creative and
> nontraditional solutions to problems.

I'm fine for experimentation, but let's have something to compare  
against. Champion/challenger.

>> then we have to get the money from
>> elsewhere. Which means our members[2], and we have to get used to and
>> be comfortable with asking. As Mark Twain put it:
>> "The man who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers down a well is
>> not as apt to get the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers"
>
> This was before the internet and also before advertising burnout I  
> think
> we now experience.  Part of our brand IMO is "class." and creativity.

No, I don't believe the fundamentals have changed. And you can have  
all the class you like providing you have the money already.  
Advertising burnout or not, people do not give if they have to use  
telepathy to infer that donations are needed. Ya need to actually  
directly ask. 'n' shit.

And how do I know the fundamentals haven't changed? Because I had this  
*exact* conversation with a large number of non-profits while I was  
working in the industry, and there were those who listened, and  
thrived, and those who didn't, and declined.

>> Therefore, we downplaying it and making it the weakest block on the
>> page is the exact reverse of what we should do.
>
> subtle ain't the same as weak.  again, IMO visible to all.

There is already a thing for everyone; we're talking about a stronger  
ask for those who have an identifiable relationship.

IMO, I'd put in an extra role for those who already give, which would  
involve stronger asks (and yes, that's proven to be successful, tyvm),  
which might be the wikipedia drive thing.

> PS I asked last time I was on #evolt if we are going for the whole  
> "2.0"
> let's have two completely different navigation and options for  
> logged in
> or logged out users, or if we're gonna be more oldschool (flickr vs
> craigslist -- facebook vs ALA).  And I'd like to know why,  
> specifically,
> we should make one choice vs the other.


Because returning users already know stuff, new users don't and we  
should support each group's needs differently. Point 7 here:
http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
(dear Jakob - numbering the points would have increased usability of  
that list)

Cheers
Martin

--
 > Spammers: Send me email -> yumyum at easyweb.co.uk to train my filter
 > http://dspam.nuclearelephant.com/








More information about the theforum mailing list