Oh Bloody Hell She's Woken Up Again....

All errors have been noticed and deemed soo not worth going back into edit yet again.

You get my point. Thank you, drive through.

Heya Lori,

I should be sleeping but your article caught my attention. I'm new to Gather so feel I have little room to make suggestions. But, I totally agree with you. I had thought this very same thing. I'm very visual, so I was literally *seeing* this branching strategy that you describe. It makes total sense. Would be fun to not have to wade through recipies and jokes when you want to just read serious stuff in the Articles section and would deter the gamers who want points for not working hard. The only "game" that I've enjoyed is the creative writing where a story is continued from one to the other. Usually some dumby puts a pornographic twist on it or something equally as stupid ending it, but it's fun while it lasts.

Thanks Heather. It seems so simple to me. I'm sure it is not so simple from an engineering standpoint... but it would solve a lot of strife and lessen animosities.

"I'm sure it is not so simple from an engineering standpoint"

Sure it's simple. Add some categories, and force people to put their article/essay/recipe into ONE category and one category only. You can still do tags too, but tags are a rotten way of organizing anything.

I don't think points should only go to "serious" stuff, because we're not all serious people. To me the POINT (pun intended!) of Gather is to communicate, and that's what we are all doing.

I think the idea of separate areas is a great one. The Gather wars notwithstnading, I often find myself overwhelmed when I come to the site because there is just so much going on. Too much for my mind to assimilate!

The tags and group names are not entirely helpful because unless you know what you are looking for you will never find them. A directory on the front page, articles divided by type of writing - yeah, I think you are on to something here.

And it really shouldn't be that difficult from a programming standpoint.

And it would be nice to be able to edit our comments after we have posted them so that we can fix the stupid mistakes we noticed just after we hit the button to post!

What do you say we split it up into Gather (for actual creative writing) and Blather (for everything that isn't) ?

Ok but Leah, do you really think stuff like email pastes (which I do myself) should earn as much as serious writing? Truly?

And 18 games per day? The only game going on there is the gaming of the point system. Yes, they can be fun. I am all about having fun. But again, should those be paid the same as something which took real thought and effort?

I think not.

Lori, I've made this a Feature in Unofficial Gatherholics.

I don't read ANY of the games articles.

Gather and Blather, I like that.

Some of the recipes are really good, others not so.

I can't get over how many posts some people are capable of on a given day, however. I mean, do you have to comment on everything? I have pages and pages on mine people page from single people who don't know when to unplug and give it a rest already. As a result, I pay no attention to their posts in articles.

But I'm new so what I think doesn't count. heh heh

What about Original Work. Shared Work. Garbage? ;>)

I absolutley agree with you, Lori. And to Leah, I don't think by "serious" writing, she means no humor allowed. Good humor is a wonderful thing, and that is serious writing. But games, copy and pastes, and recipes without commentary should not be regarded in the same way as a piece of writing wherein the author spent time and effort on research and/or editing.

There is room for both, but it should be separated.
Good article, even with the *errors*..... (-;

"Blather"

I like it!

More of us in the middle need to speak up and be heard. Thanks for coming up with some ideas to solve some of the Gather issues. I like Blather too. Gather, Blather, and Drivel come to mind.

Good points. Where do we sign up to pass the petitions?

Setting aside the ratings thing for a minute, aren't groups the separation you are talking about? I mean if you want jokes, click on your joke groups. If you want literature, go to your literature group. After a while here, people join groups to their interests and should look there when getting particular. You can avoid what you want in the same manner. I wish it was easier to find them in the beginning, but eventually you do.
As for ratings, that is supposed to change here by year end I think, I'm not sure exactly how though. Hopefully for the better.
Thanks.

Actually, no.

It is the whole points thang which needs to be separated. I find exactly what I want fairly easy these days... but a paste of an email joke or a silly word game currently makes more than an original article, which is something that is causing a lot of hard feelings around the site (for good reason.)

I'm fairlynew to this Gather thing. I thought it would be really awesome when I heard about. I thought I'd be able to read good writing, both fiction and non. I thought there would be poetry. I thought there would be intelligent, reasonable people who would be capable of carrying on a conversation. I was so wrong. I hate the fact that I can't just search for a topic. Searching for tags is worthless, trying to find the right groups doesn't work 1/2 the time. And I hate it even more when I'm looking through the most recent articles and it's full of recipes and crap. I try really hard to write thoughtful, intelligent pieces, and I'm very careful about what groups I post to. There have only been a couple times when I accidentally posted to the wrong group. Furthermore, this whole points system is stupid. Why do we need an algorithm to figure out who gets the most points. I don't think it's a matter of Gather fixing the problem, I think it's the Gatherites who can fix the problem. If an "article" is stupid, don't comment on it. Don't rate it. Don't do anything. I try not to even read anything if I think it's going to be stupid. That way you aren't giving the person points. And if you're moderating a group, throw out the inappropriate articles. I do that every couple days. I'm going to start working on the images too. If people were a little more mature, and took the time to post properly we wouldn't have so many problems.

geez, looks like there is a lot more going on then I know about...But I do like your ideas... more organized and catagories...sounds a bit familiar...but one thing I do like is to be able to write something without the need for a catagory like with the tags to make your own..but I agree, articles are hard to find, at least for me...I'm still searching tonight for your new epinions group..I want to send someone an invitation...can you guide me?

Thanks Heather. It seems so simple to me. I'm sure it is not so simple from an engineering standpoint... but it would solve a lot of strife and lessen animosities.

Ha.

If they're using something SQL based, I could do it in about a day.

Actually...

if Gather picks up on this, tell them I'll do it for free if they'll let me use them as a reference on my resume ;-)

"Sure it's simple. Add some categories, and force people to put their article/essay/recipe into ONE category and one category only. You can still do tags too, but tags are a rotten way of organizing anything."

For what it's worth, I agree with this 100%.

Lori, I have suggested categories almost since day one (well, day 90, since I didn't join until December). I believe that would solve many problems.

hmmmmm I like John S. comment if it not broke don't fix it. The article are out their just type in what your looking for. I read 4 to 5 pages of article I comment on the ones I like

Lori – I like your sensible ideas told in a refreshing manner.

The points have fun value rather than considerable monetary value. It is stretching of the 'points' idea to the limit without discernment that causes ill feelings and strains within the community. People who take 'points' seriously and put in a lot of effort to earn them feel cheated when they see others scoring far above them effortlessly.

Bifurcation of articles into scoring and non-scoring ones is definitely going to be very messy.

There are hundreds of interest groups on Gather. There is no limit to start new ones. People who dislike certain types of articles have the option to confine themselves within their interest groups. The group-owners have the responsibility to screen and see that the type of articles published under their banners conform to their stated policies.

Jay sed:
hmmmmm I like John S. comment if it not broke don't fix it. The article are out their just type in what your looking for. I read 4 to 5 pages of article I comment on the ones I like

Yes. And like John S, you either didn't read what I said, or do not understand what I said.

Sandy... Jaså!
Then I have shamelessly read, forgot, and then unkowingly stolen your great idea. I am shamefully bad about that. I blame it on mental pause.... I have found over the past month or two the increasing frequency with which I forget things, and then have a great idea a few days or week later.... only to find out..

You get the drift. My apologies to you. I was going to delete this, then figured that hey, if another article on the same ol' same ol' is needed to bang it through somebody's head, then maybe I have helped the cause in some miniscule way.

I am currently in that early morning fog caused by sleeping aids, so will edit to give you credit after my third cup of coffee.

I'm new here also. Basically everyone receives the same points for everything?

Groups accomplish nothing because people ignore the guidelines when posting. If you publish a recipe only to appropriate groups that's fine. But I get notices of them all the time in several groups. Same with jokes, and copy-and-pastes.
Some writers publish to every group they belong to, and that is just plain DUMB.

I'm too new to say a thing, sitll finding my way around, but, certainly enjoying myself.

Glad you made it over here, Susan ;)

There are issues here, just like Epinions and everywhere else, but damn am I havin a good time!

You're right, I didn't completely understand what you meant by "divide the site." I would love it myself if Gather had categories that groups fell into. They could have a link on the front page to those. Kevin V, used to do something similar himself in a group; it's still there, but doesn't keep it up anymore. People could see all groups that are available to join faster, there would be less duplicate groups, and much easier to go straight to the types of work you are looking for. If Kevin could do it, I don't see why Gather can't. It has been talked about and requested for a long time.
I wouldn't care if Gather categorized groups into different weight point systems either. I'm more bothered by the point system because people are bothered by it, than anything else. I've yet to use any points, and would still be here if they didn't exist at all, which could also get my vote. I see it as a perk only. Hopefully the new point system will make most people happy.
Thanks.

Thanks John.

From what I have gathered (snort), when the place first went live statements were made to get folks to join. Serious writers (though not necessarily serious content..errr.. yeah) were told they could look forward eventually to making enough money writing here to support themselves.

Now things like email jokes and one-word games are sucking up the points at the same level as real writing. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that there are X amount of points total, and they are distributed equally to each article regardless of how useless that article is (with slight variances attributed to the overall rating of the given article). So, when you have people posting 10 word games per day, the vast majority of the points available go to that person, when an article which was thoughfully considered and written and is original to the author then gets 1/10th pay comparatively.

It is no wonder the writers here are pissed off.

I do post jokes. They lighten the mood. I absolutely do NOT think those should get paid at all. They are just an extra fun bit in between real articles for me. I cringe when someone rates those over a 2.