by Ron Hall
Member since:
August 31, 2005

First Submissions

April 10, 2006 06:23 PM EDT
views: 17 | comments: 17

I would like to be able to go somewhere on Gather and browse through "first submissions".  The first time anyone submits something to Gather, I want to be there and welcome them and offer encouragement.

More than once someone has commented on my work and I went over to see what he/she might have posted, only to find one or two posts with not a single comment.

Well,  ____ oh, dear how discouraging is that!

I think reading first submissions would be a lot like digging through fresh soil looking for gems.

If someone has already suggested this, please consider my post a second to the motion.

Thank you.

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Comments: 17

Sandy (Site Psychic™) Knauer Apr 10, 2006, 8:35pm EDT
I agree, Wilhelmine - the titles broken down would be nice. Also, a list of our own articles without having to scroll through all the pages.

You can find new members by going to browse - members - and look for recent at the bottom of the page.
Ron Hall Apr 10, 2006, 8:46pm EDT
Thanks you Wilhelmine, and Sandy - it hadn't occurred to me to go through all the new members whether they had submitted or not. I'm also thinking of those who joined while everyone was busy with something else. No one responded and they think, "Okay, this is boring." Now they're not a new member any more, and are they going to be one of the 250, or one of the other 20,000.
AiLing K. Apr 10, 2006, 8:57pm EDT
I do browse our new member's work (even old ones too) when I am not busy. It is kinda fun and also it does boost the writer's spirit to continue writing. You are right, Ron, I am sure it is discouraging when a writer has no comments whatsoever on their works. I like Wilhelmine's idea as well. Thanks for briging this up.
Ron Hall Apr 10, 2006, 9:07pm EDT
How about this. It'll just be an unofficial welcome wagon. I'm going to start watching the new members for posts. It sounds like that's a simple way to get what I hope will happen, without trying to convince anyone to change anything.
Granny Janny H. Apr 10, 2006, 9:15pm EDT
Great idea Ron! I'll be looking for your recommendations of great submissions.
Sandy (Site Psychic™) Knauer Apr 10, 2006, 9:22pm EDT
Ron, I did that for a while. Many join and publish nothing. I'm not sure why I stopped - probably because you guys publish a thousand articles a day and I can't keep up ;-)
Ron Hall Apr 10, 2006, 9:27pm EDT
Well, I just paged back through about 200 new members, and yes, they don't publish, not right away anyway. I saw one article. If you're interested see my comments. Gather, I'd like a way to find the first submissions. The request lives. It's alive!
Cheryl W. Apr 10, 2006, 11:16pm EDT
Really good idea, Ron!
Nancy S. Apr 11, 2006, 9:38am EDT
A great idea! Perhaps each of us can take the responsibility of "sharing" with our groups and contacts when we find someone new.
Nancy S. Apr 11, 2006, 9:46am EDT
Hey folks... give daguivens@gather a look. my nephew, a very talented writer who is a little reticent about this new way of sharing his work....
Kevin (''The SiteWizard'') V. Apr 11, 2006, 9:58am EDT
In my opinion (I have plenty of those), many new members may not really understand Gather, and what 'it is all about'. There may a large percentage of new members that sign up thinking that Gather is another MySpace, FaceBook, blogging tool, or looking for more of a social interaction site....not with the intent of publishing any material. It would be interesting to know how many of the 20,000 Gather members remain active beyond their first few visits.
Nancy S. Apr 11, 2006, 10:07am EDT
Oh, and re: Sandy's idea - I agree. I like to look back at things I've commented on, maybe even weeks ago, to see subsequent comments, and it's really time consuming going page by page by page.....
i'd also like to go back to my earlier articles without the same proces... maybe a "go to..." option....
Ron Hall Apr 11, 2006, 10:18am EDT
Thank you Cheryl.

Nancy, I like the idea of sharing what we find. I'll submit that to the gray drive and let it process for a day or two. You have lots of other good ideas too, and I'm glad this resonated with you.

Kevin, I absolutely agree that someone may sign up for a site just so they can check out its functionality, with no real intention of using it. I have a list of sites and passwords a mile long, and I only really use about 15% of them.
Ron Hall Apr 12, 2006, 1:38pm EDT
Here's another route to finding new (or at least not the most read) contributors. When you browse members and set it on highest rated, you'll tend to see a lot of fresh faces. "Highest rated" seems to ignore all other factors that tend to float the 50 most common faces to the top. I think I'll check out some of these.
Lynn R. Apr 15, 2006, 7:21pm EDT
Hey guys! I'm coming to this a few days after it was written - I hope someone's still out there. I'm one of those almost-new members who joined with the idea of publishing some of my work and reading others'... I was very excited to find the site and browse through it, but it's a bit overwhelming... kind of like walking into a room where there's this huge party going on and you don't know anyone, but apparently quite a few of the guests know one another - and many are very prolific. Anyway, thanks very much, Ron, for thinking about the newbies!
Ron Hall Apr 16, 2006, 9:28am EDT
Lynn, don't be shy about inviting people into your network. If you like someone's writing, or someone commented on your piece, or they live in your vicinity - all of these are perfectly good reasons to invite. The larger your network, the more people will read your posts. I wouldn't invite everyone in the world, but they don't already have to be a "friend" or "colleague" already. Those are just Gather terms. I'm glad you found some encouragement in this post.

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