Today we launched a new button on ActiveRain. The "Suggest Feature" button.
With the volume of great content and fantastic Blog posts being submitted daily from our RainMakers, we have created a new and powerful tool that allows members of the community to make suggestions for posts and articles they feel should be featured on our home page. This is a very powerful new tool, and with great power, comes great responsibility. :-) It is similar to the new Facebook "LIKE" button that we recently added.
As long as I can remember, the controversy of what does, and does not get featured has seemed a mystery or at best, a guess. ActiveRain's moderators have done a fabulous job in my opinion of sifting through the thousands of daily posts that go up on our network. It is a very difficult and time consuming task, and it's no longer humanly possible for us to review every post submitted by members for a potential feature.
The ActiveRain Community has been built and established based partly on our members "ideas and suggestions" and we're not changing our culture now! We are looking to our members, and the thousands of eyes (instead of just the few of our own) to suggest and submit to us, any posts you feel are worthy and have good content for our Feature Board. Now YOU (our community) can help us moderate and play a significant huge role in what our community stands for and represents.
By clicking on the new 
button, you'll be endorsing that member's Blog post, and sending us a link to consider for the coveted and infamous golden star. When you click on it, nothing will happen except the button will turn Grey. Behind the scenes, it will send the link to our staff for their review and possible selection. So here's your chance to help run the ActiveRain Feature Board. There is no limit to the amount of posts you can suggest to be featured, but you can only select the same post one time.
You may also notice that the "Flag" this post icon is no longer available at the bottom of each Blog post, we're currently working on a replacement option for reporting members concerns and flagging posts.
Our hope is that before members suggest a post, they'll keep in mind the culture, "The ActiveRain Weltanschauung" and the "Community Guidelines" upon which this network and vibrant community were created and built. What "BEST" represents not only ActiveRain and our community, but what Best represents us as an Industry. I truly believe that giving more of this decision to our members via this new option will benefit us all as a whole.
YOU have been "The Voice" of AR since its inception, and now YOU can be the "Eyes and Ears" as well. As we start relying more heavily on member suggestions, you may notice a change in the type of posts that make up the feature board. We're looking forward to your responses and responsiveness, and we're also excited about witnessing where this will take us in the future with the ActiveRain Feature Board. :-)
That is a great idea and will also demonstrate where most interest lies.
Brad, this is such a great Idea, now the community can feel part of this selection. I think it is a long over due idea. It is soo good I wish I thought of suggesting it to you guys:)))
I got a feature early on in my time here at activerain (thanks for that). I am glad to have got one, but havent really strived for it since then. I am one of those few (start the booing now) who believe that for whatever reason, the same 'dirty dozen' names always appear on the featured post page. I imagine that there are a few members who have 20, 30, or more featured posts. I can think of a couple who are on that page on an almost weekly basis. You know who you are and there is a 100% chance that your comment will appear further down this page. (as the words 'your so vain, you probably think this comments about you" ring in my head)
Over the months, it has been suggested that the reason is perhaps because they write prettier content, or more relevant content, or politically correct content, or perhaps they post at the times that the AR featured post picker is reading, or perhaps he/she is a subscriber or fan of their. Honestly, the reason is probably a combination of those things.
I have many members that I follow who write colorful and interesting posts. They write posts that are entertaining and informative. Most of those people are NEVER or RARELY on the featured post page. I dont know why, I flag them on occassion for a feature, but it just doesnt happen for them. Their posts roll on and off the blog page in minutes and are lost forever without recognition, audience, or comment.
Perhaps this new feature will give some of these less subscribed but far more interesting members a chance to see their posts up front and to expand their audience. Heaven knows I am so tired of reading posts from the dirty dozen that I now try to read the featured posts last. Maybe that will change.
We used to have the "flag" option, and one under it was "flag for feature" - this is a much more convenient way to do so, and hopefully folks will use the democratic process, so to speak, and "suggest" those posts of quality that should be featured...take an Active Roll in the Rain!
I saw that button this morning as I was making my daily comments, but I didn't click on it for fear of entering into some sort of black hole.
So glad you've cleared that up for us!
Brad, Here I was after our ARU thinking I would finally be FIRST to hit the comment section on one of your blogs. Fat chance! Oh well... I tried. Thanks for all the new goodies!
What I give high respect to is that you guys do look at the comments or posts to make this place better for everyone. I know you guys have lots to do instead of catering to over 180K members but thank you for listening. You guys do an awesome job already.
We'll continue to learn from each other.
Well this should be interesting Brad. Please tell me you guys had the forethought so we can't suggest our own articles? If not you are going to be very bust weeding through a bunch of posts.
Other than that I thinks it's a great idea.
As soon as I read this, I pushed that "suggest" button. Now you have over 180,000 helpers.
Sounds like a great addition. I always enjoy reading the Featured posts and it will be nice to see some new faces.
Great idea. It will be interesting in the coming days to see what everyone finds of interest and news worthy from those in the trenches of the Real Estate world.
And Broker Bryant...thanks for the laugh!
What about all the other features of the FLAG icon previously used.
If memory serves, there were about 4 different uses
Blog-N-Roll...
This will backfire on you Guys. Ever hear the term "RainGangs"? I made it up years ago when Gangs of Rainers would gather around the buttons and get each other featured. I don't think anything has changed when it comes to manipulating the system. Kinda the way Bloggers fill their Blog with reBlogs for extra points. Manipulation will rule the RainRoost. Really :)
TLW...ROAR!
Hi Brad,
I saw this this morning on Sally Cheeseman's post. I clicked it to see what would happen. Nothing. Now I need to check back and see if she got featured OK.I looked at my post and didn't see it. So I went in the settings to see what I needed to turn on and well, it is called chasing my tail. Fortunately I didn't catch it cause I'd a bit the thing clean clean off thinking I got left out, silly me huh?, LMAO!
Brad,
I think it simplifies the way we can suggest that a blog post is outstanding. Will there be mis-uses? Of course. However, I'd like to believe that there will also be more benefits of folks getting featured as it is now easier to do so.
There is no perfect world, but striving to improve makes sense to me!
All the best, Michelle
I like the idea...HOWEVER>>>>>>
I agree with Ray -- above - I see the same people every week, over and over again. How creative do you need to be to post the same thing again and again.
I was featured twice, I really have no idea what I did to get featured, except I just write, I write for the home owner and seller in my area (Localism) and I write to get feedback from AR member. Rarely are the posts the same.
I live the idea, I think as been mentioned, there will/may be "gangs" if you vote for me - I'll vote for you. Hence... how many people do you know on "the Rain". Oh that STILL makes it a POPULARITY contest .... geesh I thought I'd gotten over never being prom queen...
What TLW said!
I think this is a great idea.... I went back, to try to put the "suggest for feature" button for ALL of my own posts... but dagnabit... it ain't available for my own....
Hi Brad, I do have a question ,unrelated. Everytime I hit the LIKE button I get an error message. Is it broken?
Brad,
This is a great idea and one feature that is sure to be used more so than the flag. WTG AR.
Woo HOO!
I think this is a great idea. It will be interesting to see how it works out.
I think its a great idea and appreciate that you all are always working to make AR a learning and growing community for newbies and veterans alike.
I sure hope it works better than the flag button which I don't think ever worked. I'm not seeing that to be so, though. In fact, by making the feature button larger than the flag button ever was, I think you'll be inundated with people clicking on it. You say,
By clicking on the new
button, you'll be endorsing that member's Blog post, and sending us a link to consider for the coveted and infamous golden star. When you click on it, nothing will happen except the button will turn Grey. Behind the scenes, it will send the link to our staff for their review and possible selection. So here's your chance to help run the ActiveRain Feature Board. There is no limit to the amount of posts you can suggest to be featured, but you can only select the same post one time.
I see the same number of staff, and with "no limit" to the number of posts we can suggest, I just see it as the staff getting many more possibilities than they already get.
And abuse and gaming? I think we might need a new group called "What are the odds?"
TLW is right. I hope it works and gets quality posts featured but I doubt it. It's a nice thought but you'll have groups who will suggest each other's posts and you'll get the same people featured over and over. But that's just the game you'll have to play. Nothing new here. Instead of pleasing the AR Gods, you'll just have to please a small group of your advocates. Nothing really wrong with that. It's just a little different game.
You can't please all the people all the time, but hopefully this will please more Activerain members. I love the way you listen to us and respond the membership... Keep it up!
Oh look at this. Nino opens his mouth and bingo here it is.
I agree with Lenn & TLW.
Brad, I don't see the flag on posts anymore...So now if you see a spam post how can you flag it for removal? Just curious...
Nevermind, just re-read the post and totally skipped over the comment about the new flag the first time....Glad it will be re-introduced at some point.
If the same people repeatedly vote for their "gang" can we take away their button?
I totally want to jump on board and support the Active Rain Staff and all the work they do...so in support of AR, I am offering up my most recent blog post as a testing guinea pig for the "Suggest" button:
Real Estate Virtual Assistant Series "Drowning Out Complacency" - Part Three
Can't believe I was the first to think of it....LOL...feel free to test that little button to your heart's content!!! Thanks, Active Brad for letting us know about this lovely little button!
Ok clearly I haven't been around as some of the other folks above who have experienced manipulation - hard to believe that in such a huge group of individuals - and yes I'm just kidding in case you don't know me yet!
I like what Russel had to say
And abuse and gaming? I think we might need a new group called "What are the odds?"
Now that is funny.....it could be one wild group of which many of the folks above would enjoy.
wow, RAIN GANGs. I feel so naive, not having conceived of this possibility. Are people really that desperate to be featured? Pathetic. But if this button is just easier to abuse, I do not see it as increasing the abuse. these gangs could have done it the old way with the Flag feature, no?
And once again, what about teh other features that were available through FLAGGING :D
Brad - Yeah I just found it and clicked on it accidently oops... Good luck with it.. Hope it works...
Daniel...Brad tells us that the FLAG feature will be introduced soon in the original blog post above...it's in italics :-)
Howdy and evenin to ya Brad
Hope you and your family had a mighty fine and safe long weekend!!!
I really feel no matter how many new fancy little ole Feature buttons y'all come up with, its not at all going to make one bit of a diffeence. We will always see the same folks we always see Featured on a daily basis.
Some of those folks, posts that have been Featured sure did not go along with The ActiveRain Community Guidelines, little off best represent the ActiveRain Community and the Real Estate Industry. I have even seen jokes get Featured on the main board by y'all.
As for where this will take the Community in the Future, I really don't think we'll really see much of a change. We have heard all of this same kind of talk way to many times from the ActiveRain Staff. Back home in Missoura, us country folks have an old sayen. Don't piss down my back and tell me its rainen. That there sayen goes all the way back to the 1800's.
Just like the ActiveRain Staff, even have a habit of written replys back to comments of only a very few close hand picked members of the Community. Those are the same hand picked members that the ActiveRain Staff, always make sure they visit and leave a comment on their blog posts. Plus a lot of those members are the ones we always see on the main Featured board.
Like many of the other members that have left a comment on this blog post of yours, there are many little clickes groups in the AR community.
Have a good one
Dale
Hi Brad.
I tried it out on one of my favorites and so far her post still has not been featured.
Great move!
Lana - it is a "Suggest" button...just like the old "Flag for Feature" option was...it simply sends it to the powers that be and brings it to their attention...it's not an "automatic feature" button...oooh...I want one of those! Kind of like a Staples EASY button!!!
Interesting. I see you guys having a hard time sorting it all out. I've never understood the criteria for features. I've had a few featured posts and they are great fun, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Best of luck with this.
Thanks for all the great comments and feedback, now I just have to go through all these and really digest your responses. Thanks for your patience while I review your thoughts.... I'll be back to respond to some of these shortly.
Not to rain on your parade, Brad, but i just see the potential for way too many problems with this. And, in the meantime, there is no automated way to report spam? Sorry, but I don't think this was thought through completely.
Great idea. I always wondered how ya'll decided. This definately will make it easier for the powers to be.
You'll get no complaints from me. Unfortunately there will always be some people who want to "game" the system. The new "Suggest" Button will neither stop nor encourage it. Who cares? Just write good posts for the benefit of your clients, SEO and to share information with others here. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what if any change having the "Suggest" button makes.
That's a great idea. We've needed something like this. Thanks.
I'm not sure about this yet, I'll have to see how it goes. If only "the buddy system" works to continue to have your favorite buddies post featured then I don't think it would be fair..We'll see won't we.
Patricia
I agree with Robert,Susan and Dale! I have been reading blogs on Active Rain for about a year now and I see the same people over and over again. I seem to think there is a conspiracy myself. I have read featured blogs that would actually put me to sleep if it wasn't for coffee.
I believe that all posts should be featured (kinda like facebook) and then ranked based upon traffic and comments. The more active posts should get featured. AR staff hiding behind curtains is not the best method in ranking blogs. I believe that outspoken and "against the grain" agents like myself will never be featured no matter how "pretty" and "colorful" my blog is. I am not "touchy...feely" enough to get featured, but I do have great ideas and opinions and not afraid to tell the truth. Remember that the truth hurts sometimes. There are alot of GREAT people on here that would love to be heard and I am one of them. Seems as though the most featured bloggers are the ones who have been a member the longest and they seem to know the "TRICKS" of how to get featured.
SILLY AR TRICKS ARE FOR KIDS!.................
I am sorry AR but good true content about the real estate industry doesn't have to be pretty, colorful, and full of pictures for people to want to read them and comment on them. I am also going to seperate AR blogs from consumer blogs. We all know that consumer blogs need to be flashy and full of pictures for GOOGLE searches. I play the game when it comes to GOOGLE for my consumer searches and won't try and fight Goliath.
This just seems like another form of a popularity contest. We are adults now not kids in junior high. All you are going to have is people clicking on people who they like not for the blog itself. You could also just start emailing people asking them to vote for you privately. I am not being negative because I know that is is difficult to police 180K people but we can try this and see what happens. I am willing to try anything once.
AR is great and I look forward to seeing how this works.
One thing I wanted to mention real quick after reviewing some of the comments here:
The "flag" a post feature we used to have was not working as effectively on the back-end (internally) as we needed it to. We will be adding a new "flag IT" feature shortly as I stated in this post.
"You may also notice that the "Flag" this post icon is no longer available at the bottom of each Blog post, we're currently working on a replacement option for reporting members concerns and flagging posts."
Spam, Plagiarism, Violation Of Community Guidelines etc. will be available for members to report their concerns and issues, and the back-end tools for our staff will be much better and more efficient. We do consistently try to provide great tools and enhancements for our members, so let's not forget about a few nice enhancements and tools for the AR staff too. :-))
<sarcasm> Anything that makes Active Rain more like facebook is an improvement. Hands down. </sarcasm>
It's a strange dynamic. Facebook's motivation for a like button seems different than AR's
I hope this works and will be curious to see if TLW's concerns will come to fruition.
Thanks Christine in Comment #41. I was being sarcastic LOL My point was that I am seeing some of the same faces in featured posts over and over. I hope to see her face there soon.
is this how the same person got about 4 or 5 features in one day yesterday? I noticed several posts that really just looked like regular old house listings up on AR then.
Anybody want to form an alliance? lol! Rain Gangs - how funny. I wonder it that is like Mafia Wars on Facebook. Me, I really don't care one way or the other. But the featured blog roll has been a little boring lately. When there are 3 or 4 featured posts all dealing with one another I just glaze over.
Brad - I believe the button will bring more feature suggestions than the little flag at the bottom of the post did. I just hope we don't bury the staff.
Perhaps there shoud be a criteria for being featured that a post must meet regardless of the suggestion. Criteria that meets the overall expectations of the community
ps thanks for clearing up some questions I had when I posted about this feature earlier today
I'm not too sure this will do anything to change the way posts get featured. The button is now just too easy to use and you'll just get a monumental amount of suggestions that you'll have to sift thru. That being said, I'm in agreement with Kathy. What difference does it make; just continue to write good posts and share useful information that others will benefit from and if it results in a feature, then consider that an added bonus.
Here is the reality of the previous flag features that we had. No one used it! On a good day, we would get 7-10 posts flagged for feature. On a bad day, we would get two.
The new button is hopefully much more visible to allow people to participate. For all the posts that have been written about people's complaints about what gets featured, it's always shocking for me to look on the back end of the flagging console and see such paltry participation.
Russell and TLW,
Russell, you comment that we didn't hire new staff to keep up with the demands of more people suggesting features. In actuality the demand is super low, because no one used the old feature flag. We look forward to a time when we have hundreds, even thousands of people per day suggesting posts for feature. Why? Because then it will take 20, 50, 300 people suggesting one post for it to make the board. As it stands now, one person can suggest something and it usually makes it's way in front of one of our faces.
Having more input on what gets featured doesn't diminish the quality of the selection process, it enhances it. I promise you that Jorgen (our lead developer) is smart enough to create a system that minimizes the cheating and exploitation of the system. People can not flag their own posts for feature. But if everyone actively participates, then the ability to distort the system is wiped out by the volume of people using it in the correct manner.
So, it's incumbent upon everyone to make sure you take the one or two seconds to click on the posts that you believe are worthy of being featured.
TLW,
We still have the final say on what gets featured. If 'RainGangs' suggest crap, it's not going to make it there. And maybe we'll just turn off the feature for people who we suspect of manipulating it...........
I think we all need to take into consideration the blog and if it truly meets AR guidelines to be "featured". If it does, by all means press the button. Think before you press.
Okay, fellow AR members. I am willing to hit the suggest button on your posts for a quarter per click. Thanks, Brad, this sounds like a great thing!
Like someone above said, Nino said it and the next day it is so. Great job Greg!
I think this will be another great feature. I look forward to using it.
Thanks for the heads up.
I will do it for a dime and a nickel....... 180k clicks 100 times a day....sounds like blogging just might pay off after all.
I really enjoy AR. I seldom read the featured blogs because there are so dang many comments I get bogged down and bored before I get to the end. The cool thing is AR can figure out a way to weigh the feature button.
Can't wait! I always check the Featured Blogs first. I look forward to AR members suggestioned blogs
Just another button for Belonger to click 87 times on his own post.
(I kid, I kid.)
Hi Brad! Hi Bob!
Best wishes on your new endeavor. I hope that it is a wild success. I really would like to see some excellent posts featured.
I'm having trouble with an earworm right now, so gotta go. Seriously, I hope for the best. MWA!
Irene & Scott - Your coins are in the mail ;-)
Lana - #53 - Dang! I usually read sarcasm so well!!! Sorry I missed it ;-)
Howdy and evenin there Bob!!! comment #58
Just maybe the real reason folks did not use the little ole flag much, for letten y'all know of a mighty fine written blog post in the community that should be Featured . Is the same reason that I stoped even usein it, which was because not one ActiveRain members that I flaged for y'all to Feature were never Featured by y'all. Which there were many such fine blog posts. So I just stoped even do-en it, seein that it just did no good to do. Seein that only the same folks would be picked by y'all to have their blog posts Featured.
Have a good one
Dale
Can I flag a comment for "Endearing Illiteracy?"
I think this one is a really awesome idea. AR keeps getting better and better lately. I totally see where Bob is coming from. If most people use this feature correctly then it will end up being all about the numbers and things will end up being just fine.
Sounds like a good idea since many folks do not know that the red flag at the bottom has a smiliar purpose. Now, I've just got to start using it!
I think TLW and Lenn and others raise a good point..rain gangs... (: We'll see, but I am not sure the suggest button will solve the problem.... time will tell.
Brad - Glad to hear about this but I have to wonder...we did this before as I recall and there was lots of gaming going on. Maybe things will be different. My concern is that AR staff will NOT have the time to really review all the suggestions, given the number of members - isn't that part of the reason why moderators were selected?? Plus that was how features were decided initially as I recall. Hopefully folks will truly use the feature suggestion corrrectly, but being the cynic I am...
THanks for letting us know AND for listening to the feedback of members.
Jeff
Once again, the debate about the rules for debate is fascinating. Sort of like the endless student government meetings in college over interpreting Roberts Rules of Order. But that debate in and of itself is useful, and can create community in the long run. Just takes a while...trying something new can never hurt. Love the Rain Gangs quip....not sure if that is more like a sorority or the student newspaper group...scary to someone like me who hangs out on the fringes wondering what the cool kids are doing.
Brad,
This new button will certainly empower the membership even more, as long as they'll see that their suggestions are heard. So, early on at least, many eyes are watching how this thing plays out.
WOW, I always assumed people were hitting "flag" right and left with some of the posts that have been featured in the past. I don't complain about AR much, but I do get really sick of seeing the same 5-7 faces on that features list day in and day out, many of them saying the same thing with different words...
Paul, I charge $5 a click to flag one of your sorry posts for a feature ;-D
I take paypal.
Melina - Paul who?
(Don't go to the dark side, Melina!!)
Who knew you worked that cheap?
Comments 3,17 & 38 I concur with. I hear and see a lot of rhetoric about how many post did not get selected because of the lack of being nominated, & yet I have seen the same old individuals(members) get selected and as one of the comments made above-- you would need a ton of caffeine to stay alert to read the post.
I hope that this levels the playing field and other members get a chance at being feature --- looking forward to the results.
I'm glad AR now has this feature available. Flagging a post for a feature took some time, and not many people understood how that worked. This makes it fast and easy.
By the by, I feel for the faceless "favorites" who get lampooned repeatedly by the unjustly non-featured. Everyone who has ever had more than a handful of features must wonder if they are being ridiculed for their horrific content with every such generic condemnation.
Except for Melina. Her black heart harbors no concern for the opinions of her fellow man.
"With the volume of great content and fantastic Blog posts being submitted daily from our RainMakers..." what forum have you been reading? I've read some pretty average stuff and by pure volume, gems will be found. I'm kidding, kind of.
Wouldn't it be a wonderful little Internet World of "Social Networking" if nobody cared about that little gold star? But they do and I can't blame them. Heck, for every person shouting to the Heavens that they write for the consumer, for SEO, and strictly for business, there's the other side of the proverbial coin that cherish the five-legged yellow thing that brings an abundance of exposure which can lead to other opportunities ... including SEO, business, and ways to reach a consumer perusing a very popular Real Estate Dashboard.
My concern with this has already been addressed by several, but I have yet to read how someone just entering the fray (without much of a following or any following for that matter) will be noticed ... at least with a piece that would be deemed worthy of notice had they had a following. It's somewhat akin to having our Country truly run by the people because the Government just gets in the way and messes things up. With this option, you get the people (in theory) ... and it may just turn out to be just as messed up.
And with my testicles shoved up between my buttcheeks, I applaud AR for trying to find a better way to lay upon thee the gold star. While I don't think this way will work, I hope to somebody's God I'm wrong. In the end, I really only hope this gives those reading (Consumers, Real Estate Professionals, Crazy Shark Dude, and/or the like) a better chance at a more educated Real Estate World. And that's as altruistic as I can be.
Carry on with your bad selves, I've got to deal with "cranberry" as a graphic ... and I've also been accused of "Endearing Illiteracy." My case has been a little less than Texas, though;)
I love all the new bells and whistles of AR. We've come a long way baby! No complaints here.
E, I figure it'll take 100 clicks or so before the AR Gang finally caves and allows Paul to be featured considering all of his horrific content. Just trying to build his self-esteem back up. It's a charitable gesture, for sure.
Hi Brad - So if I understand this correctly, the functionality remains the same, but the button and its placement have just been revised to (hopefully) encourage more member response, correct?
Something wicked this way comes? Hope not, but we'll see...
John - in short, yes! :-)
Brad, I only noticed it in the last post I read, and of course, true to my personality, I CLICKED IT. Then I thought.. ooooops... what just happened?
I always tell people, aww.. just push the buttons, what's the worst that could happen anyway.
I promise to be a more responsible button pusher after this, LOL. Sorry.
PS, great idea. There will always be those who play the system, whine, moan and carry on. And sometimes that is even me, what can I say. Human nature?
Hi Brad ... this sounds like a genius idea and hopefully it works! pippa
LMAO at Paul's literacy comment--or lack thereof!! And, Sardi, you NEVER cease to bring a smile to my face--ranting or just being Sardi!
Brad, I have to say that I see both sides of the comments above--yes, we all love the little gold star! Yes, people WILL find a way to circumvent the system. And, yes, this may open up the door for more featured bloggers.
However, the ones that I worry about are the ones that will be further lost in the system--the newbies who have the rare reader who may never be flagged for a feature. I felt that before today, you guys did a good job of featuring the new kids on the block too! You had the 'regulars' who we all love to read but, you also included some newbies and even some awesome Localism posts. I hope that you aren't going to use the suggest button exclusively and will continue to focus on some of our newer members as you did before.
Thanks for listening to the community and making daily improvements to AR--I know one thing...you've made Nino hap-hap-happy!! LOL
Brad, what a great addition to the AR Community. I did use the old flag feature once in a while to flag a post I thought was feature content. I do agree with others that say some posts are featured and some writers featured over and over again and I don't know why and others I've flagged for feature weren't. Either way the improvements on AR and wonderful and this is still the best site hands down!!
Very cool!
Debe - No worries. The suggest button is just another option and tool, (just like that little flag was that Bob mentioned above) it is NOT the exclusive resource for selecting featured posts. There are many ways we can search for content to feature. These are not limited to staff moderators either, any member can use these to find content on AR. Take for example the Blog Roll, or the Recent Blog Posts link etc. There are multiple ways of searching out content on AR featurable or not. This is really no different than the little "flag" we use to have, except now members might actually use it since it's more visible and will work better for us internally.
Maybe we should just rename the BlogRoll or the Recent Blog Posts to the "Feature Board!" lol~
No, it seems to be MUCH easier! I hated cutting and pasting the link, etc. One more question--are the features going to be based upon the number of 'votes' that one gets? I was assuming so and that is where I was concerned that the newbies may be overlooked.
And, YES, I agree--Blog Roll = Feature Board!! :-)
Hi TLW...ROAR!,
I know that what you are saying is true. But we can only hope that who ever makes the decision knows that and will be watching out for the gamers.
Hi Brad. I think the "suggest" button is a great feature. I've flagged a few posts that I've felt were so good they should be featured, but I always have a hard time finding that little flag at the bottom.
Melina - Try and feed the bear and it will rip your arm off. Just sayin' Take your Karma points and run.
Brad,
I like this idea; we get some input. Frankly, some of the "Featured posts" I don't get how they get featured. (Mine included).
Man oh man are the comments getting more interesting by the day. I just learned about the flag recently. :)
Keep the comments coming, we're listening and always welcome your feedback and constructive suggestions and criticisms. We even let a few of you get carried away with your fun commentary antics, (LOL) but one thing that no one can deny, and you all know this to be true. If any tool is ineffective... doesn't work, gets "rainganged" or "gamed" etc.... well..... we giveth, and we can always taketh away. :-)
Hi Brad - It seems like ever since I started on AR there have been people questioning why some posts get featured. Maybe this will make it easier for them to suggest who they think should be featured. I think it's a good idea, and I hope it works.
The new button, conspicuously placed will certainly increase participation. But with anonymity for the people deciding which posts to feature, I doubt the quality of selections will improve much (though I hope I'm wrong). The name of the moderator who makes the feature decision should be noted on the featured post. Then the membership can direct constructive pressure based on visible data. If a particular moderator is featuring a particular bloggers posts, it'll be obvious. That'll work a lot better than the button at improving the feature process. No moderator is going to be perfect. It's a judgment task, and nobody has perfect judgment. But transparency will help reduce whatever unfounded complaining there may be, while exposing whatever cronyism there may be. It looks to me like there are roughly equal measures of both.
This would have been my top change so thanks for adding this to Active Rain.
Brad - getting two people to agree on what should or should not be featured is hard enough but getting 183,300 plus to agree impossible .
The number of blog posts that are turned out on a daily basis here in the rain must be phenomenal and this should make it easier for the feature editors to find good content to be featured.
I see the suggest button as a filter ..... yes there may be some who try to poke holes in it but it is after all a "coarse" pre filter with the feature editors being the fine filter.
Wow, whoda thunk a simple button would cause so many to chime in. And it's not like it's a new feature, you've always been able to flag posts for feature (well, not ALWAYS, but for quite some time),
So much heart burn and seemingly hurt feelings over what's featured and what's not. It's been a topic for discussion since the day of the first featured post.
Ah, the good old days. Heck, I remember when there were NO blogs on AR. But, who cares about that?
Want to know a secret? How to get EVERY post you write "featured"?
Write them on your own blog, on it's own domain! #JustaThought.
Maybe this will work better than the old flag-for-feature.
Hopefully it will be better understood.
This sounds like a great idea. I was wondering if people would reblog just to share information if there were no points. All it takes to reblog is to click a button.
Brad - The new suggest star button is considerably more visible to users and thus, I think it will be used more.
WidowMaker (Bob Stewart)...
Now that's a good idea. When the "RainGangs" start cheating they should have that button taken from them. It's good to know you all have given that some thought. I hate to see AR go backwards and that's what the suggest button may cause. The manipulators will be in the form of a group of people. Once they start their little games, it needs to be nipped in the bud. If you don't nip it, the suggest button will become useless and you Guys will be right back where you started. This, I don't want to see happen.
Let me give you a bit of history. Back when The Members had the flag for feature button, they would not use it to keep prolific Bloggers from being featured. At one point an entire group of people conspired to keep each other on the dashboard and keep high profile Bloggers off of it. They were a large group that made the mistake of inviting an honest person to participate in their conspiracies. That person made the whole thing public. All of this can be verified by asking Caleb about it. He put a stop to it, but unfortunately, it was too late. We lost many of our high profile Bloggers over the ickiness of it all. There was no way to do damage control, as the damage had already been done. I tried my best to get some of these Bloggers back, but was unsuccessful. For me, all of this is cause for concern. With The Membership as big as it is, the groups of cheaters will be much harder to nail down. I can only hope that the man power is available to spot the "RainGangs" before Bloggers drop AR, as their Blogging platform of choice. We need our leaders. I don't want to see them penalized because they are high profile. It just ain't right.
If you'd like, I can send you a private message with some names to keep to look out for. Some of The Members that abused the flagging system are still Blogger here. Let me know. And if you ask Caleb I'd wager he can provide names as well.
Now WidowMaker, I'm not trying to blow this new feature out of the RainWater. I just want you Guys to know what to look out for. As for me, I'll be using the suggest button on the Newbies. They deserve to be brought front and center. It inspires them. I'll also be using it to suggest blogs posts that are fun. What I won't be using the button for is to suggest either my Blog Boy, or my Son, get featured. To me, THAT is cheating. It's that whole conflict of interest thing.
P.S. Btw...Can I trade points to have my friends featured? :)
TLW...ROAR!
Power to the people! Great idea!
Brad, I also agree that this is a wonderful idea. But I will also suggest that those in charge keep this from becoming a popularity contest.
:)
RainJack logo is the sole property of TLW and Roar Productions.
Steal it and you die. Roar :)
Hi Brad -
I think it comes down to this - should featured posts be the most "popular" as voted by the AR members? If so, this button will work great because there are a handful of ARers that will have their posts Rain Jacked® (did I do it right TLW?) and we will continue to see these posts being featured.
But, with all of the technology that AR has on the "back end" you should be able to also feature listings that see a ton of "hits" or "views" and not necessarily "comments". I have seen some wonderful blogs that deserve to be featured (and I have clicked on the flag button), they have only a few comments, but they never get featured. On the other hand, I see a few familiar names that consistently seem to regurgitate nonsense and their posts still get featured.
Good thing you don't delete comments (see previous featured listing)! If you did, you'd probably only have 10 comments on this post when you are done!
LOL @ Bob Stewart's threat suggestion ... And maybe we'll just turn off the feature for people who we suspect of manipulating it...
It will be interesting to see if the line-up of features becomes a little less familiar with a lot more variety.
FYI, I suggested this entire thread for carpet bombing. I love the smell of tedious minutia in the morning.
Paul - is that the same as Minutiae? lol~ And what the heck is a "carpet bombing?"
Is that something that requires the RainGang "posse?" :)
I guess the flag wasn't good enough? I've already used it recently. Nice addition I think and more visible.
I would like to add (& hopefully not sound childish here) that I once sent in a few of my posts that I thought should be featured (AR's request for content) & was belittled by someone who shall remain nameless on what I sent in. I think that something with 40-60+ comments is popular, no? I am still in recovery from the whole thing & refuse to be embittered by it. I continue my therapy to this day!
Hi Lyn - sorry to hear that and congrats all at the same time. 40-60 comments is a great response for ANY post, hopefully you found as much value in that as your commentors found in your post. I'm glad to hear you refuse to be embittered by it and I hope you'll continue to provide great content for those commentors and readers. :-)
I love that you are relying on the members to help pick the featured blogs Brad. You always have, but my only feature ever was explaining the process in nominating a featured blog. Now, it is super-easy.
I think this is brilliant!
Minutia = singular
Minutiae = plural
Now, that Raingang looks imposing, but I'd recommend against bringing six shooters to a carpet bombing fight. Think Wagner and Robert Duvall ;)
Love it....it's way overdue. Very classy in look as well!!!!! Great stuff guys. Keep the improvements coming!
I think the idea is great. However, as has been previously mentioned there is the opportunity for manipulating the system, and I would hope there is a plan in place to guard against that.
Mr Synergy...
Nice work, Dude :)
Now let's clarify something here...
A post is RainJacked regardless of whether or not it's featured. We've been RainJacking for years. The posts that it happens to are normally found within Club Chaos. Anyone who posts in the group can find themselves flying somewhere over Cuba smoking a nice big fat ceegar :)
We do RainJackings because The Members love it. They just do. It's a wonderful way for The Members to get to know each other. I've always found, and many others agree with me, you can tell a lot about a person by what tickles their funny bone :)
Oh and Martin...
I tried to locate the Trademark character on my map. Couldn't find it. Time is of the essence ya know. If you know where that can be found on Win7, let me know. And thank you for that piece of respect for that which I invented :)
TLW...ROAR!
Oh and Blog-N-Roll...
I keep threatening people with death. I think there may be something wrong with me :)
And can I make a request? Could we please have some sort of translation feature so us stupid people will know what the hell Slaybaugh is talking about :)
TLW...ROAR!
I'm with TLW. The Prozac that does my blogging stopped making sense in 2008.
I've seen that button and wondered what it would do. Now I know. Thanks for the info and the forward thinking!
Lol Slaybaugh...
You so crack me up. Anytime you start talking weapons of destruction I get a little, dare I say it, turned on. Lol :)
Enjoy that visual, but good gawd, don't tell Brandy :)
Who the hell stole my Prozac? I need it. Corbett got my hormones all a flutter :)
TLW...ROAR!
Sorry TLW - no "suggest" button to feature comments, but the "Report a concern" link is still there! :-)
Oh me Oh my Brad, had you any idea how many cans opinions you'd be opening?!?!?
Howdy and evenin there Brad
Heres a thank you, to you Brad for helping me make one of my points in the comment that I left you last nighty.
Have a good one
Dale
No Problem Dale, glad I was able to help out.... whatever it was I helped you with. :-)
Brad: What a great idea. I think this new feature will help many folks who write fabulous posts that have gone unnoticed... finally get recognized. Thanks a bunch !
Brad, anything that helps bring us more out in the open (not the closet) in being positioned better for what we say, share & learn is a benefit ...that's why i joined AR & it hope the button works well...we'll see. thanks
This seems like a much fairer and less arbitrary way of arriving at featured selections. I'll bet you'll be inundated with new suggestions of posts to review!
TLW, just as a FYI, I think a Trademark must be registered prior to using the R inside the circle, which shows that the Trademark is registered. That is unlike the copyright that is in effect when one publishes it.
Brad, I love the idea of making it so easy. I had been on AR for quite awhile before understanding what the whole Flag thing meant. Making it just one click will get more response - and you put it in the upper third of the site! Kendra will approve :)
Will people game it? They will try. Glad you have anticipated it and I do hope this helps some newbies have Features.
It is a good thing you guys at AR have done..... it makes suggesting a post for feature so much easier..... I always thought the old system was just a little too cumbersome to use.....
=-)
Brad.. This is great news. I feel like I am now even more part of the ActiveRain family than I was before.
Thanks for sharing information about this button. I noticed it a few days ago, but have been away from AR quite a bit over the past few months. Trying to get caught up on some things. Anyway, I'll give this button a try and will comeback with feedback at some point.
You know Bill...
That really doesn't matter. The fact remains that it is indeed my intellectual property. So says my lawyer. He's the only one I take "legal" advise from and lucky for me, he's a member of Active Rain and keeps an eye on me. So there :)
TLW...ROAR!
Thanks Brad! This just shows that the AR forum is all about it's members! Ask and you shall receive!
This is a great addition!
Very cool feature. I was wondering what the button was for.
Aaron
I think is a great idea. Now more people have input into what posts get featured.
Blog-N-Roll...
As we are not allowed to game the "Suggest" button, I went around and played **Like** tag with all my Face Friends. We had a blast. So wish you could've come out to play :)
I single handedly put Hubba in hibernation by Liking him to death. He's now waiting for me to unplug or go to bed. Which ever comes first :)
P.S. You and Deb coming in August? Say yes even if it's a lie :)
TLW...ROAR!
Hey TLW - poor Hubba~ lol~
Not sure about August just yet, you know me, I live one day at a time. :-)
Hi Brad,
What is the status of the "Flag" this post icon replacement option?
Thanks.
Hi John - the flag button was removed and I have no status as to its replacement. You can always send a link to support@activerain.com in the meantime if you need us to see a post or comment that you'd like to flag. I'm sure the programmer is working on something for flagging in the future, I'm just not aware of it at this point. Thanks. :-)