[Theforum] another online community in trouble

[Paul Cowan]

aardvark wrote:
> so pay money, get a chance to be pimped on the home page?  do we pimp
> a text ad, or a link to their blog?  text ad isn't so bad, and
> perhaps we can encourage people to do more with it -- like not post
> an ad, but instead post some chunk of humor or whatever...

Indeed. Basically, it is (as Lachlan points out) only a minor benefit, but
it might just be enough of a value-added proposition to encourage someone to
become a member.

And hey, yeah, doesn't need to be an ad. Could be a free text area. And,
hey, could use a tiny thumbnail image of the "article author" image, if
they've got one (this may or may not be A Bad Idea). So:

Featured member: Mino
+-----+
|  o  | ASP GOD
| --- | With 4 years of ASP experience,
|  |  | Paul Cowan can take care of pretty
| / \ | much any slave-driving work you'd
|     | like to throw at him.
+-----+ Folio @ http://funkwit.com/

Or

Featured member: Marlene
+-----+
|  o  | JOKE OF THE WEEK
| --- | Tori Spelling walks into a bar.
|  |  | The barman says, "Why the
| / \ | long face?"
|     | Blog @ http://wherever.woot/
+-----+

So each member could maintain their existing details, plus
 - heading
 - content
 - link
 - (idea forming as I type) what d.e.o category their ad should
   appear under. So I could ask that my ad appear in the random
   rotation at http://dir.evolt.org/coding/server-side/asp/ ...

Ehh? Ehh? I would happily volunteer to help code some of this stuff, but
until *.e.o moves to ASP (ha!) I am pretty much a bottom-feeding suction eel
in a bicycle store as far as coding goes.

FWIW, I think the evolters.org domain is a great idea. Or, if the whole
having-another-domain thing is a pain (cross-domain login issues, etc) then
use m.e.o more for the purposes that Isaac talks about... beervolts etc. Or
have a community.evolt.org or something.

I'll keep thinking of ideas. I'm really keen to help out somehow here, and
if I can't code then I'll try and come up with ways to convince people to
pay for something they can get for free now (hehe).

Paul